Tag: Multiculturalism

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

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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”

YLE parliamentary working group: Broadcaster is “diverse but not multicultural”

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A parliamentary working group chaired by National Coalition Party (NCP) MP Arto Satonen to examine the role of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) is not proposing any drastic change to the system of funding but plans to make the broadcaster more nationalistic. 

One of the most surprising matters that the parliamentary working group will change concerning YLE’s role is exchanging the name “multicultural” for “cultural diversity.”

While the term “cultural diversity” is a good synonym for “multiculturalism,”  striking off the latter term from YLE’s role shows blatant ignorance and how nationalism and intolerance have crept into Finnish politics.

Continue reading “YLE parliamentary working group: Broadcaster is “diverse but not multicultural””

Case Downtown Helsinki: How the police ethnically profile people

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During the weekend, the police service together with the Finnish Border Guard wilfully targetted foreigners for spot identity checks in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa. Migrant Tales heard of a case in Kamppi where four young men were walking. The police allegedly stopped two young Finns, one who was black- and brown-skinned. 

The police did not stop their two friends, who were white Finns.

Both the black and brown-skinned young men showed their passports and told the police they are Finns. One at the officers turned his attention to the brown-skinned man and suggested that the passport didn’t make him a Finn.

 

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Read full story here.

“What’s your mother tongue?” the police asked.

Continue reading “Case Downtown Helsinki: How the police ethnically profile people”

Canadian Aboriginal activist and cross-cultural expert Sandi Boucher visits Finland

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Ahti Tolvanen

There was a historic encounter in Finland last week when the first ever visitor of North America’s Ojibwe Nation, Sandi Boucher, came to meetings in Helsinki during UN Anti-Racism Week.

Ms. Boucher presented a new modern approach to constructive cross-cultural relations developed by Canada’s aboriginal community and scholars at Atlanta University, called the Alexis Principles. Key figures in developing the much-lauded method are Chief Alexis , a Sioux leader in Alberta, Canada and Leah Taylor, professor of cultural anthropology in Atlanta, USA.

Suonsaari-9

Sandi Boucher and Ahti Tolvanen visited the Suonsaari asylum reception center on March 20. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

The Alexis method has been tried and proven effective in Canada, the USA and Australia, and last year drew considerable favorable attention in Hawaii at the World Conference on Aboriginal Education.

At a symposium in Helsinki’s Caisa Cultural Center March 23rd representatives of all the political parties were invited to meet Ms. Boucher and tell how they would address racism issues during the UN’s Anti-Racism Week. Only Green Party deputy city councillor Kati Juva , Social Democratic MP Erkki Tuomioja and Coalition Party membership holder Oge Eneh showed up. The evening’s theme was “silence on racism is not enough”. The Leftist Union, The Center Party, The Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Party presumably preferred to remain silent on racism as their representatives shunned the event.

Continue reading “Canadian Aboriginal activist and cross-cultural expert Sandi Boucher visits Finland”

What Finland lacks to become a successful culturally diverse country like Canada

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Anti-immigration populists and ultranationalist use the code term “immigration policy” to mean that they don’t want non-EU nationals especially Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to move to their country. Finland is no exception and some point to Canada as a good example we could copy when it comes to immigration policy.

Those that make such claims have no idea that Finland’s immigration policy is one of the strictest in Europe and they rarely if ever mention that Canada’s recipe for success is based on how Canadians perceive multiculturalism or cultural diversity.

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Read full story here.

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Writer Nura Farah is one of the bright hopes of multicultural Finland

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Nura Farah is Finland’s first published writer with Somali roots. She moved to Finland as a refugee in the early 1990s when she was 13 years old and when one of her countries became absorbed in a costly and painful civil war that continues to date.

Her first book, Aavikon tyttäret (Daughters of the desert), published by Otava last year, gives a glimpse of the lives of women in Somalia during that country’s struggle for independence in 1940-60.

Nura Farah. Kuva: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava.

Apart from being the first “Somali” writer to publish in the Finnish language, her latest milestone as a writer was winning in December the 2015 Suomi-palkkinnon award, which is given by the ministry of education to aspiring and established artists and writers.

This year’s prize was 24,700 euros.

“I’m not the only one who’s got the award there were others [like writer and film director Hassan Blasim and artist Abdel Abidin],” said Farah with a hint of humility. “This year’s [Suomi-palkinnon] awards reflect support by the ministry of education for multiculturalism.”

Farah said that there are many challenges as Finnish society becomes ever-culturally diverse. She believes that multiculturalism can work, but it’s important that migrants and minorities don’t isolate themselves from the rest of society.

“We live in difficult times these days,” she continued. “It’s even scary and I sometimes feel that we’ve returned back to the 1990s [when racism was more public].”

According to Farah, one of the problems that Finland should acknowledge today is that social exclusion is a problem we must challenge. She said that even if you were born in this country to non-Finnish parents you’re still not accepted as an equal member of society never mind as a “real” Finn.

Continue reading “Writer Nura Farah is one of the bright hopes of multicultural Finland”

Why are integration programs in Finland doomed to failure?

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Here’s the billion-euro question: Why are integration programs in Finland usually doomed to failure? What can Finland and Europe learn from countries like Canada that have a more successful approach to integration? 

One matter is for certain: A big part of the problem resides in between our collective ears. Do we see migrants as a problem or an asset to our society? Certainly factors like human and financial resources play important roles in determining how successful our integration programs are.

You don’t have to search too far to understand the challenges we face in making people feel that Finland is their home and that they’ll be treated with respect and as equal members of society. Even if the answer to the problem sits under our noses the big question is if we want to do anything about it.

Like in any other country, social exclusion in Finland is not only costly to tax payers but for migrants, who are obliged to go through a slow rites of passage, or integration ritual, which doesn’t even assure them of a job after all of their efforts.

Brandy Yanchyk, a Canadian documentary film producer, recently showed her most recent documentary, Finding Edge Road, in Finland.

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See Find Edge Road demo here.

Continue reading “Why are integration programs in Finland doomed to failure?”

Migrant Tales (March 22, 2012): Is Finland ready for cultural diversity?

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Migrant Tales insight: This opinion piece was published over three years ago. on an article published about 20 years ago.  Do you believe what J.W. Berry wrote still holds true for Finland? Are we closer or further away from building a successful culturally and ethnically diverse society? 

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In light of social ills like racism and social exclusion in Finland, J. W. Berry of Queen’s University of Canada offers us an opportunity to ask a very important question: Are we in Finland ready for cultural diversity? If we still aren’t quite there yet, how long will it take? 

Nationalism is a double-edged sword. It served to unite and mold a social construct like the national identity of the Finns but in the process it excluded other groups.

While great injustices were committed against us by Stalin, we have to learn to forgive and move on. This is necessary if we want to build a well-functioning culturally diverse society that reaps synergies and grows successfully. But taking into account the political situation in Russia, such a task can be challenging.

Continue reading “Migrant Tales (March 22, 2012): Is Finland ready for cultural diversity?”

Facebook: Does “Finnish labor” include migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities?

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One of the members of the new government, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, said that jobs will be created for Finnish labor. In the present anti-immigration environment in Finland, such statements have a hostile ring to migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities since they don’t promote inclusion and fair hiring practices. 

Considering that migrant unemployment is three-times higher than the national average, do you think that such statements, which stress “us” and “then,” improve the chances of such people getting hired?

Why can’t politicians like PS chairman Timo Soini, who likes to make nationalistic statements, drop the adjective “Finnish” and state that the efforts by the new government and policy will create new jobs?

Certainly that phrase sounds more inclusive than “Finnish labor.”

It’s pretty clear what Soini means by Finnish labor, or suomalainen työ, which is code for “don’t hire migrants and minorities. It’s your patriotic duty as an employer to hire white Finns.”

It would be great if at least one journalist could ask Soini if he considers migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities to be “Finnish labor.”

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* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

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Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Mar. 6

Yli puolet nuorista on kokenut syrjintää – ongelmia eniten kouluissa (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s the missing story in this story? Migrant Tales has written before about how migrants, or children of migrant parents, are together with sexual minorities victims of bullying. The findings of the survey, which is monitored every year,  doesn’t reveal anything new except that the problem persists. The survey showed that 85% of those aged 15-28 years, and especially migrants and sexual minorities, suffered greater bullying than white Finns. But there is an important question missing in the story: What steps are being taken to challenge this type of anti-social behavior? What do the politicians and policy-makers think about the findings? What do they plan to do about the problem? Continue reading “UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”