interculturalism Archives

Aminkeng A. Alemanji: Anti-racism education is key to challenging social ills like racism

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Every now and then there are critical voices that shine through fearlessly. One of these is that of Aminkeng A. Alemanji, a Cameroonian researcher who defended successfully in October 2016 his doctoral dissertation on anti-racism education.

Migrant Tales spoke to Alemanji on anti-racism education and Otherness in Finland. Why should anti-racism education be the standard at our schools versus multicultural and intercultural education?

“When racialized victims cannot name their experiences of racism as racism, then racism, does not exist,” he writes in his dissertation, “the scope for local anti-racism activities becomes very limited, as it prevents antiracism efforts from flourishing or persisting.”

Alemanji’s dissertation got a lot of media attention in newspapers like Jyväskylä daily Keskisuomalainen.

It is a paradox but when we spread catchwords like social equality to minorities we play into the trap of Finnish exceptionalism.

Continue reading “Aminkeng A. Alemanji: Anti-racism education is key to challenging social ills like racism”

What does Mesolithic man, who had blue eyes and was dark-skinned, reveal about our European ethnicity?

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Our obsession with ethnicity or race is always exposed when our myths and cultural wise tales are exposed by science. DNA taken from a molar of a European hunter-gatherer, who lived around 7,000 years ago, showed the Mesolithic man to have blue eyes, black or brown hair and dark skin, according to the Guardian.

Read full story here.

Apart from supporting the theory that primates like us originated from Africa and migrated to Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, it reveals how much we are still bound by social constructs like ethnicity and the importance of skin color.

Arguing, like some racists do so often, that somehow ethnic groups have never mixed and that people who lived in Europe were “white” from the onset is, to put it diplomatically, pure rubbish.

Any sensible person understands that one of humankind’s secrets of survival has been migration and intermixing genetically and culturally.

Even so, you’ll find too many who argue that the later isn’t true. That somehow the Garden of Eden wasn’t in Babylonia but existed in some secret place in their own country. Those people that emerged from that fictitious Garden of Eden “just appeared” and never mixed with any outside group.

So-called interracial marriage and migration are the best examples and living proof of what primates like us have been doing since we became bipedal. We migrated because we were curious and hopeful that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill.

Who are those that feel threatened today by migration and cultural diversity? Aren’t they the one’s who are trying to maintain myths about our “whiteness” and “superiority” over other people?

Risto Laakonen, who have done a lot to promote greater acceptance of Finnish migrants in Sweden and of migrants in general in Finland, said that whenever a group starts to speak of itself as a tribe, that’s when we start to flirt with racism.

This used to be the logo of the regional council of South Savo.

While it is perfectly fine for any group to be proud of its heritage, can anyone claim the Mesolithic man and those hunters and gatherers that lived in these parts thousands of year as their exclusive cultural property?

Not really because those that wandered so far are nobody else but us today.

“Only Finnish spoken here” versus cultural diversity

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Migrant Tales

What would you do if you saw on an elementary school classroom door the following message: Only Finnish spoken here? Would you ask if speaking Swedish is ok? Would it raise disturbing memories of how minorities like the Saami were persecuted and discouraged at school especially after World War 2 for speaking their own language?

The Saami minority were one of many groups that were victims of white Finnish assimilation.

Here’s the double-standard and conflict: It would be disturbing to see such a sign at a school in Lapland today but we wouldn’t think anything of it if the message was intended for third-culture children, or those who have one or two immigrant parents.

One of the issues that we see over and over in the ongoing debate on immigration and immigrants is our acceptance of cultural diversity. In the last century, Finland dealt with cultural diversity in the following way:

discouraging “Otherness” and assimilation of minorities like the Saami, which began in the nineteenth century*
systematically prohibit immigration and foreign investment to the country

If we consider that it took Finland 65 years after independence to have its first Aliens Act in force in 1983, and that the Restricting Act of 1939, which severely undermined foreign investment to the country and was shelved in 1992, our assimilation policy included immigrants and foreign investment.

Finland is a very different country today than it was in the last century. We live in a globalized world and our society is becoming ever-culturally diverse. Since our assimilation policy was systematic in the last century after independence, it’s easy to understand why some Finns oppose and are hostile to cultural diversity.

A good example of the latter are anti-immigration parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which would never suggest to their voters the things they do for immigrants. It explains as well why we don’t think twice about “only Finnish spoken here” signs at schools.

“While I believe that our school system in Finland strives to promote cultural diversity, the truth is that we have a long way to go. Killing and discouraging diversity has distorted our view of ourselves and how we accept others in our society.

One example of the latter is how some schools continue to label third-culture children as “students with immigrant backgrounds,” even if they were born and grew up in this country. Such labels serve in too many cases to promote social inequality.

If you want a culprit that is holding us back today and which promotes intolerance, you’ll find it in our assimilation policies and the way we were brought up and taught to see ourselves as an exclusive national group. With more immigrants moving to this country, we need to promote inclusion and acceptance.

One association that played an important role in our assimilation policy in the last century was Suomalaisuuden liitto. Should it surprise us that the association, which has been taken over by the PS, has spearheaded a campaign to demote the Swedish language to elective status at schools.

* Vesa Puuronen: Rasistinen Suomi. Gaudeamus, Helsinki 2011. pp. 111-163.

Second-generation Finns: Revealing society’s ignorance and arrogance

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Migrant Tales

If we look at the ongoing one-sided debate on immigration, immigrants and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity, one matter is for certain: It does not help dispel prejudices that encourage racism and social exclusion.

While I am certain that most Finns are willing to make immigration and cultural diversity work, it is a totally different question how they think this should happen.

Finland has few immigrants compared with other European countries. In 2010-11, our foreign population stood at 167,954 (3.1% of the total population), up from 155,705 (2.9%) in 2009-10, according to the Population Register Center.

Our small immigrant population explains in part why a social ill like racism is still not seen by our society as a serious problem. Other factors discouraging action and debate on this front are ignorance and apathy.

When some Finns speak of language as the key to integration, only half of the issue is being debated. Stating to a newcomer that all he or she needs to do is learn the Finnish or Swedish language to be integrated is leaving out a crucial issue: acceptance.

I am always sadly surprised when I know an adolescent who speaks and writes Finnish proficiently but still feels like an outsider. The person in question has done part of his elementary and all of middle school in Finland.

A Somali who has lived two thirds of his life in Finland told Migrant Tales recently in perfect Finnish: “The worst thing in Finland is that if you have a different religion, culture and language, you are left on the fringes of society. No matter how much you try to integrate you are always left outside.”

Certainly the exclusion that some second-generation Finns feel is partly due to the person but it does reveals where our integration program fails miserably as well as our propensity to colorblind racism.

Instead of accusing some immigrants of not wanting to adapt, being welfare shoppers or other insulting terms, shouldn’t we shift debate in a totally new direction that would promote real integration?

If racism and other social ills faced by immigrants are not debated seriously by our society, the biggest losers are the children of these newcomers.

For them we have nothing to offer except our ignorance and arrogance.

The Migrant Tales Manifesto (for Finland and Europe)

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Thanks to the growing number of supporters, Migrant Tales has become that “voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.” During these past years we have read and debated many points of views and have complied some recommendations on how to move forward.

The list is far from being a final one. We can add and change parts of it but the overriding message should be mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities. All these three terms add up to social equality, or tasa-arvo.

Migrant Tales Manifesto

An effective way to make cultural diversity work is by heralding mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities
We like the term tolerance, or suvaitsevaisuus in Finnish, but acceptance, hyväksyntä, is an even better term that describes how we build bridges between different ethnic groups and minorities in our society
New studies should bring out — not hide — how Finns have been, are and will be a culturally diverse society
The first step in that acceptance of our cultural diversity are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the 1.2 million Finns that migrated between 1860 and 1999
Cultural management/diversity should be mandatory and started at elementary school
We must learn to forgive those countries and people that put us in harm’s way
When we advance the rights of minorities we advance those of all
A member of society can never learn mutual acceptance and respect if he has low self-esteem
Empowering all members of society, especially minorities, helps build self-esteem
Inclusion means asking people their opinion, empowering and encouraging them to take part especially in the decision-making process that affects their lives and future in the community
Racism, prejudice and all type of discrimination that excludes individuals and groups should be strongly discouraged
Discrimination should be seen as a threat to our values and community because it hinders inclusion
The biggest excluder in society is apathy and silence
Politicians that do not speak out against racism and prejudice when given the opportunity are just as responsible as those who encourage such a social ill
Inclusion does not only mirror one of our most important values of our society like social equality, it costs the tax payer less and is a more effective pathway to integration
In order to free up tax resources for more projects that strengthen inclusion in our society, we should strongly discourage building walls of hate in our society
Mutual acceptance means people in our society can make lifestyle choices. These are not only ensured in our laws, but are protected on an individual and group level
We treat people with the same respect we treat our own group
Equal opportunities are a key component to building a successful, dynamic and content society
The more opportunities we offer the more pathways we create to our culturally diverse community
Everyone should strive to learn the best Finnish and/or Swedish he or she can. This is as important as speaking other languages, like the one we learned at home
Since we are all different, we learn languages at different paces. Language should, however, never be a tool to discriminate
We should strive to keep politicians, policy makers and officials focused on our goal during this century as a country: mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities
The sum total of these terms is social equality
Finland is our home because we are a part of a wonderful country that has accepted and empowered us.

A good immigration integration policy for Finland and Europe

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

One of the biggest challenges to Finland’s new integration program is how effectively it promotes what it sets out to do. How passionate are we Finns about ethnic and minority equality in this country if the most important piece of the puzzle is still missing: the big picture and place new Finns and their children have in our society.

Migrant Tales believes that integration programs like the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS) Nuiva Manifesto would do more harm than good: It would create ghettos and punish people socially who are visible minorities. Moreover, the PS’ manifesto is more of a political statement that exposes the ignorance of its supporters.

Reading many of the thousands of comments on Migrant Tales, it is evident that some Finns and Europeans still believe that one-way integration is the only way to promote the integration of immigrants and minorities.

One of the first important steps that an integration program should take is change the anti-immigrant culture and language prevalent in a society. The term tolerance, or suvaitsevainen, is widely used in Finland but even more-effective terms that officials, politicians and the general public could begin using are mutual acceptance and respect.

Like any good government program, it must be one that is effective. But what does Finland’s integration program aim at accomplishing? Is it facilitating and speeding the integration of immigrants into our society or promoting the opposite due to lack of resources?

Jonathan Lawrence writes on the New York Times her views about how Muslims should be integrated in Europe. Her views are very much what Migrant Tales has been promoting on numerous blog entries.

She writes: “Granting Muslims full religious freedom wouldn’t remove obstacles to political participation or create jobs. But it would at least allow tensions over Muslims’ religious practices to fade. This would avoid needless sectarian strife and clear the way for politicians to address the more vexing and urgent challenges of socioeconomic integration.”

Thus one of the biggest obstacles to the integration, or adaption, of groups like Muslims and others in Europe has been our unrealistic and ethnocentric expectations of how other cultures should adapt to us.

Certainly we can promote as much ethnocentrism as we wish in our society, but the big question is what impact will it have: Will it integrate or exclude?

One of the most important matters to keep in mind when speaking about integration policies is that acceptance and respect must be a two-way process. This means that since we live in a culturally diverse society, it is important that everyone accepts and respects each other.

There is nothing new about this type of behavior. It is how we should treat people in our culture.

If we have the right, and have fought for greater acceptance of minorities like gays and women’s rights, why would we want to undermine the rights of other groups? The fact that we can make lifestyle choices in our society is what makes our society so great.

Another fallacy of the anti-immigration groups is that they believe that people don’t change. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cultures change constantly because they are highly adaptable. Free will ensures that we can never be ruled like robots.