Tag: nationalism

Olli Immonen and the PS: I dream of a country that is inclusive, not racist and extremist

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I’ve been traveling during the last weekend until Monday in northeast Argentina, where the Finns established a colony in 1906. I had limited access to the Internet but when I read what Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen wrote on Facebook a cocktail of sadness mixed with concern overcame me.

What is surprising about what Immonen wrote is not what he wrote per se, since we all know that he is hostile to migrants and all minorities that live in Finland, but the complacent silence of his party to what he wrote.

That eerie silence is something that we’ve experienced many times before from the PS.

What did Immonen write?

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Here is my response:

Continue reading “Olli Immonen and the PS: I dream of a country that is inclusive, not racist and extremist”

Is Finland on the path of becoming an isolationist, nationalistic and xenophobic country?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland hasn’t been itself for a number of years, especially after a populist Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, rose to the political major leagues in the 2011 elections. 

Sadly Finland appears today lost politically. it is like a blind person using as its seeing-eye dog nationalism and xenophobia. It has become a country that has not only lost its self-confidence but in some cases fears its own shadow.

That shadow that it fears is in the form of the worst populism, nationalism and xenophobia. Challenging those three social ills is difficult for some Finns because what they are seeing is themselves in the mirror.

I am especially saddened by the present state of Finland. I am disappointed because I know this country has overcome great adversity and can do better. Blaming others and scapegoating is the way cowards do things.

Finland isn’t a country of the masses but of individuals who can make all the difference.

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The roots of Finnish xenophobia can be found in the media. This billboard from tabloid Ilta-Sanomat states that the Somalis aren’t leaving but staying in Finland. Source: Migration Institute.

Continue reading “Is Finland on the path of becoming an isolationist, nationalistic and xenophobic country?”

Get ready for even harder times in Finland if you are a migrant or minority

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I still remember vividly right after the 2011 parliamentary elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won 39 seats from 5 previously, that some weren’t worried by the result. “You’ll see,” one person said. “It’s only a matter of time when they implode.”

It’s clear after last month’s elections that the PS hasn’t imploded but become the second-biggest party in parliament after winning 38 seats.

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What does the writing on the wall say? Can we read what it says? (Photo by Enrique Tessieri)

Continue reading “Get ready for even harder times in Finland if you are a migrant or minority”

The ballot box in Finland has shown a very different picture of PS support than opinion polls

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The interesting matter to watch on election day is how well the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* will do and will it succeed in capturing undecided votes, which amount to about 40%, according to some predictions.

There is another matter that baffles some observers as well about the today’s election: Why does the PS continue to be the closet darling of the Finnish media even if the ballot box has shown different?

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The top 10 anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity MPs seeking reelection on Sunday are (top to bottom left to right): Timo Soini (PS), James Hirvisaari (Muutos 2011), Juho Eerola (PS), Teuvo Hakkarainen (PS), Pia Kauma (NCP), Päivi Räsänen (KD), Olli Immonen (PS), Maria Lohela (PS), Tom Packalén (PS) and Maria Tolppanen (PS). Don’t vote for these candidates because they are hazardous to migrants, minorities, Finns and Finland.

Continue reading “The ballot box in Finland has shown a very different picture of PS support than opinion polls”

Finnish NCP youth league gives thumbs down to cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Remember the proposals that the Youth League of the National Coalition Party (NCP) made last year concerning the type of society they’d like Finland to be in the future? Some of the many proposals that raised eyebrows and created quite a media storm back then included plans to scrap the Ombudsman for Minorities as well as ethnic agitation laws.

If last year’s proposals got them in hot water, their latest “wish list” could be criticized for what has been omitted or doesn’t say. For example, there is no mention whatsoever about Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity but it does favor plans to undermine religious freedom. If the youth league had its way, it would drop religion classes for migrants and concentrate more on teaching Finnish at schools.

Isn’t that what happens today?

 

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Read full NCP youth league program (in Finnish) here.

 

It is odd that those that drafted these proposals believe that by not teaching a non-Lutheran religion at school will automatically enhance these migrants’ and minorities’ chances of speaking Finnish.

There’s nothing new in this proposal. Youth Wing NCP former head, Wille Rydman, said the same thing when he suggested that multiculturalism should be substituted for Finnish-language courses.

Another proposal by the youth league is to deport those migrants who have been sentenced for a crime and that the government should do everything possible to invite skilled labor to Finland.

What the Youth Wing of the NCP means by inviting skilled labor to this country is that labor markets should give employers better opportunities to hire cheap labor.

It shouldn’t come to any surprise that the Youth Wing of the NCP has striking ideological similarities with the Perussuomalaiset.*

Both are in the business of coercion and domination of migrants by encouraging future Uncle Toms, or mamus.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party 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.

Too many Finnish politicians and parties are ignorant of their country’s migrant and refugee history

Posted on by Migrant Tales

-titta, en finne igen i fyllan!
-satans finjävlar!

-look, (a) drunken Finn!
-damn Finnish devils!

The infamous saying, en finne igen, yet another Finn, can be found in Urban Dictionary. The statement was used by Swedes to claim that Finns are “violent, primitive savages” because some have issues with learning Swedish and alcohol. After World War 2, hundreds of thousands of Finns emigrated to Sweden. 

Watching YLE’s Pressiklubi and the debate between rector Tiina Rosenberg of the University of Arts Helsinki and Simon Elo, the head of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* youth league, it’s clear that the PS is one party that is very selective about how it treats Finnish history and racism.

One of the ways of tackling the prejudices that the Swedish media spread and reinforced about Finns in the 1970s was an active campaign by the Finnish embassy in Stockholm to meet the editors of different media. One of the outcomes of such lobbying was not labeling crime suspects to national origin.

Elo states on the interview that the PS has renounced racism but the party continues to act in the same way as the Swedish media did over 40 years ago when labeling Finns.

A good example is the latest edition of the party’s newspaper, Perussuomalainen, which claims in the most sensationalist language and images that Jihadists use refugee centers in Finland as holiday resorts. The pictures and the message of the story labels Muslims and migrants in Finland in the same way as the Finns were labelled once by the Swedish media.

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Watch program here.

 

Moreover, when Rosenberg mentioned that many Finns emigrated to Sweden, Elo snapped back and stated that it was “an insult” to compare Finnish migrants to refugees that come to this country.

Elo, with his knee-jerk statement,  exposes in one sentence the prejudices that this country has for refugees.

This shouldn’t surprise us since the term is loathed in the Finnish language so much that the 420,000 Karelians that were forced to flee their homes after the Continuation War (1941-44) are called evacuees, or evakkot, not refugees.

For some strange reason as well, Soviet citizens that defected to Finland during the cold war were never seen as refugees, which they were.

Elo’s statement, that one cannot compare asylum-seekers that come to Finland to Finnish emigrants that moved to Sweden because they “were hardworking,” exposes not only the PS politician’s ignorance of this country’s history but the myths that his party is reinforcing and spreading.

What does it say about Finland as well, a country that has seen over 1.2 million emigrants between 1860 and 1999 and resettled 420,000 refugees, doesn’t have a clear idea and understanding about its own immigrant and refugee history and on top of this has a party (PS) that is openly hostile to them?

The answer to that question lies in our own collective deconstructed memory and our low national self-esteem.

Haven’t studies showed that people with low self-esteem are more prone to prejudice?

Elo also claimed on the program that the PS is a party that supports “healthy” nationalism.

Is there such a thing in a party like the PS that flirts with far-right ideology and nativist nationalism?  Certainly Elo is white so he can claim anything he wants to but I suspect that many migrants and minorities will disagree with his statement.

Rosenberg said that the seeds of fascism are planted in a party like the PS, which singles out others from being treated equally and with dignity in this country.

Migrant Tales has said it many times: Parties like the PS are not only a menace to this country but especially to migrants an minorities.

Alberto Coronel sums up well what is happening to us in Finland today with parties like the PS with the quote below. In this same questionable group we can place the National Coalition Party, Christian Democrats, Center Party and Social Democrats.

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In plain English the quote by Chris Rock means in our context that if the PS could, they would disenfranchise as much as possible migrants, minorities and Finns who don’t see the world in the same way as them.

Why?

Because that’s their political agenda.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party 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.

Why do we consider Timo Soini to be “a good cop” if he brought all these “bad cops” to power?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Doesn’t Perussuomalaiset (PS) leader Timo Soini bear responsibility for giving people like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Olli Immonen and a very long list of others a platform to spread their hatred and intolerance?  Why does the media let Soini get off the hook so easily?

Is Soini the culprit for anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia or does he represent something much deeper about ourselves that we’re not yet ready to openly admit never mind challenge in earnest?

If I’d draw a cartoon of Soini, I’d put him in a concentration camp standing in front of people like Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Teuvo Hakkarainen and many others. Soini would tell the media with a poker face and then smile at the end of the following statement: “I’m against anti-Semitism and racism.”

One matter that has perplexed me for quite a while is how the media and journalists, who should know better, is that they treat Soini as some “good guy” in the face of the party’s near-constant anti-EU, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, homophobic and conservative values.

If we search through the maze of answers and explanations, I believe that what we’ll find at the end of the day will find the word denial as the root of the problem.

I’ll never forget April 17, 2011 when the PS won their historic election victory, rising from the minor leagues with 5 to 39 MPs! Some thought it was something passing that wouldn’t last too long. They claimed that it’s only a question of time when internal bickering would cause the PS to implode like the Rural Party did in the 1970s.

One of the most incredible matters about the rise of the PS is how little opposition it has had and how easily it has been allowed to spread its intolerance. Institutions like the media have played a helping role. From a migrant’s or minority’s standpoint, however, the view is quite different since the PS is seen as hostile and dangerous.

Since one of the PS’ main messages is that non-white migrants and refugees should not be allowed to move to Finland never mind marry Finns because they are lazy and even stupid, it’s pretty clear how the PS exploits fear and racism.

Certainly the denial that takes place in our society of the PS wouldn’t be possible without the help as well of the other parties, which may have the same closest racists among their ranks like the most outspoken anti-immigration voices of Soini’s party.

The PS are not a threat to Finland per se, but our denial of them and our own intolerance are.

Cultural and ethnic diversity are who we are

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When you do everything possible to undermine diversity you end up letting out the genie out of the bottle.        

If we look at the political climate in Finland today with the rise of an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in 2011, it’s clear that the genie that came out of the bottle is out for blood.  

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Despite the hostility of some Finns and Europeans to our ever-growing culturally and ethnically diverse societies, the million-euro question is how to we challenge those very values that are stoking and fanning hatred?

Is the answer in educating present and future generations on how culturally and ethnically diverse we Europeans have always been?

Finland is a culturally and ethnically diverse society. For one, over 1.2 million Finns emigrated from this land between 1860 and 1999. Moreover, we all came from somewhere else. Some of us have been longer and others a shorter time in Finland.

We are all, however, Finns of different backgrounds and orientations. Most importantly we live in a society that permits us to determine our identity and lifestyles.

The interesting question to ask is why some Finns, or why our official history, still speaks of Finns in terms of one group if there are many?

We all came from somewhere else. Why did it take me so many decades to uncover the Jewish side of my family? Why did many of my relatives rarely bring this up? Why was it swept under the carpet for so many decades?

All Finns, like all Europeans, have a fascinating history to tell but which has been intimidated by intolerance, nationalism, war and a deep suspicion for cultural and ethnic diversity that still exists today.

As we race deeper into the new century,  we should take bolder steps to teach present and future generations about the our cultural and ethnic diversity and, most importantly, that we should respect such an order of things.

Cultural diversity is unstoppable – it exposes Finland’s white privilege and intolerance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A Silminnäkijä television program exposed Thursday something we all knew: how you are treated in Finland depends on the color of your skin and ethnic-national background. Should this surprise us?

What is more incredible? Is it the indifference of the police, bouncers and near-silence of society as people are openly discriminated right before our very eyes? Answer: all of the above.

How we got to become a society that condones intolerance and open discrimination isn’t difficult to understand. Look at the Romany minority, which has lived here for five centuries, the Saami and study closely our history. When you read our history, read it critically and don’t allow yourself to be spoonfed by the codewords that hide our intolerance.

Outright denial is the oxygen that intolerance, prejudice and Finnish white privilege use survive. No matter how qualified and how big the scoop you have on this issue, it will rarely receive the needed public attention and, most importantly, a long-overdue public response. Why? Because we’re still in denial mode.

Because too few really care enough about your rights in this society if you are an immigrant or visible minority, it means that you will be relegated to second- and third-class status. No matter how much you try or how qualified you are, you will never be able to compete, be treated equally and feel at home.

In the process you may become a mamu, a modern Finnish Uncle Tom, and rise a notch or two in status but never ever be equal and enjoy the privileges of white Finns.

Is it your fault that Finland is becoming a culturally diverse society? Is it your fault that white Finnish society has defense mechanisms to show its hostility and loathing for you in the form of politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Susanna Koski, Wille Rydman and many others including the media and the whole establishment?

Certainly it isn’t your fault. The cards are stacked against you in this society because that’s how they are meant to be.

And why wouldn’t they be? The police service is white, political parties are white, the media is white, universities are white, our history is painted with strong brushes of white paint that constantly remind “us” against “them.” Add to this mix the element of denial and self-righteousness at the cost of others, which drown out the New Finland, and we begin to understand the severity of the problem.

Do you have to be a social scientist to grasp that Finland is having a hard time accepting cultural diversity? Check out the Restricting Act of 1939, which made Finland a closed country to foreign investment, and the fact that immigrants got their firs Aliens Act in 1983, or 65 years after independence.

A Helsingin Sanomat article on Finland’s largest-ever march for immigrant rights in 1981 wrote the following: “Moreover, foreigners should be given the right, among other things, to join a political party, to be a member of a union, and the right to own a home.”

Folks! This article was written 32 years ago!

The Restricting Act of 1939 prohibited foreigners from owning real estate and acquiring a majority stake in Finnish companies – limiting this to 20% normally and 40% under special permission. The Act stipulated that foreigners could not own shares in sectors such as forestry, securities trading, transportation, mining, real estate and shipping.

Imagine how a society must educate its children and how it must maintain and feed certain prejudices in order to justify such a closed model of society?

Like it or not, Finland is a growing culturally diverse society. No matter how extreme and hostile the arguments become against the acceptance of other groups as equal members of society during this century, our culturally diversity will continue to grow. Nothing will stop it. Those who attempt to, will look like modern Finnish Don Quixotes charging against windmills.

As our cultural diversity grows and as our voices become louder and put intolerance on the defensive, the closer we’ll be to making this country a just place for everyone.