Prejudice Archives - Migrant tales

Why exaggerating about the dangers of “Sweden’s immigration problem” is racist

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Migrant Tales

You hear a lot from anti-immigration politicians like the Perussuomalaiset* and even the police about how we must contain “Sweden’s immigrant problem” from coming to Finland. If you analyze such a claim and weigh its truth you will rapidly arrive at the following conclusions: It is racist and untrue.

It is racist because it paints migrants with a single brush. The claim suggests that migrants are the cause of crime, rape, no-go zone lawlessness, abuse the system, and destroyed our near-perfect society.

Dead wrong. For starters, Sweden was never a near-perfect society. That is a myth.

A number of studies also confirm that migrants do not bring more crime. Here is an article on the myth of migrant crime in the United States. The link between immigration and crime only exists in the imagination of some people.

The Conversation writes about crime levels in Europe: “Similarly, a large-scale European study on the effects of immigration on crime concluded that while an increase in immigration generally does not affect crime levels, it does go hand-in-hand with increased public anxiety and anti-immigration stances.”

The argument by some xenophobic politicians that there is a link between immigration and crime is simply untrue and exaggerated.

Instead of fueling hatred and polarizing society between “us” and “them,” the fact that politicians and the media believe that there is a link between immigration and crime poses something more worrying about ourselves: racism, ethnonationalism, and denial with a capital “D.”

The fact that politicians and the media continue to support such untrue claims reveals as well their lack of leadership and deep-seated prejudices based on racism, which are alive and well and which have always existed in such countries.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Racism is an ugly monster that can and must be slayed and banished from our society

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Migrant Tales

Do you remember five years ago a brave young fourteen-year-old called Rebecka Holm? A letter to the editor about the racist harassment she regularly endured when going to school changed her life

In March 2012, the Red Cross gave her an award for her bravery on the UN Day Against Racism.

I had the honor to interview Holm. She said that silence isn’t the answer when confronting a social ill like racism.

“If somebody speaks bad about you and wants to make you feel inferior because of your background,” she said, “then we need to talk about this serious matter and hide from it.”

Racism is too ugly to hide and happens a lot in Finland.

The bravery that the then young adolescent showed has more worth than many adults and politicians together, who approve racist harassment with their silence or use it as fuel to advance their political careers.

I will try to make contact with her and see what her thoughts are on the topic today.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: White washing in Finland

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Migrant Tales

If Finland had a very effective white washing* process in place from independence, who dismantled it or was it ever dismantled? I have my serious doubts.

Blackfaces are still aired on Finnish television. The clip above was shown on Pressiklubi on October 6, 2017, and the full movie in 2016.

In the 1970s, when it was forbidden for Sami children to speak their own language at Finnish schools, children learned that “n” stands for the n-word. They learned that no matter how much an n-word washes her face, it would not whiten.

A racist ad of how a detergent literally whitewashes little black children published in a sport’s magazine in the beginning of the last century.

* Someone who is looked at as leaving behind or neglecting their culture and assimilating to a white, western culture. Source: Urban Dictionary.

Finland’s bigoted and perilous path

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Finland has become in a short time a country that has lost its way. The police service, public officials like politicians, even ministers, who should know better, don’t. The most shameful matter that exposes these wretched times is that we’ve allowed xenophobia and populism to not only enter through the back door but permitted it to grow before our eyes.

This strange and poisonous fruit of far-right and right-wing populism feeds on our silence, indifference, and mixed statements. It deceives us into believing that we won’t be its next target after we’ve got rid of groups they scapegoat.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be further from the truth.

We are not only seeing right-wing populism and fascism in Finland raise their ugly faces and take root in this country but with the help of mainstream parties, politicians, and the media.

Populist nationalism, be if from the right or left, and xenophobia have always been strong in Finland but kept in check. That is not the case any longer.

A good example of the latter is the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which now shares power with the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

The relationship that the PS has with the Center Party and NCP is in many cases disturbing. The PS gives its support to the massive cutbacks in social welfare and the Center Party and NCP allow the PS to pursue its anti-immigration policies in government.

It’s not only is a relationship of convenience but one that is clearly hostile to our ever-growing culturally diverse society since it aims to demote migrants and minorities in Finland from second- to third- and fourth-class citizens.

There are many sad examples of where institutions like the police service that should know better have failed but shown their hostility and prejudice towards migrants and minorities.

The hearsay, suspicion, and urban tales spread about asylum seekers and migrants in Finland is so thick that one blogger suggested that the next step would be using an anti-Dracula kit. Source: Saku Timonen and FB/The Vintage News.

A good example of the latter is an announcement by the Helsinki police that they have suspended their investigation into except for one case where alleged large-scale sexual harassment carried out by men “who appeared to be foreign-looking,” according to YLE News.

Continue reading “Finland’s bigoted and perilous path”

Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu”

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Migrant Tales

It’s a Sunday and we’re at a fast-food Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of Helsinki. I have an appointment with a twenty-six-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in September via Tornio and who is staying at one of Luona’s asylum reception centers. Like many who have the misfortune of staying at a reception center run by Luona, he too isn’t happy about the poor and humiliating treatment he’s getting.

Apart from traumas left by the violence in his country and the long journey to Finland, which hinges on a residence permit, the treatment he gets at Luona’s reception center only exacerbates his ordeal.

“I made a big mistake coming to Finland and I’m disappointed and feel mentally sick by the situation,” said the Iraqi asylum seeker. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

Mostafa* speaks:

“We are treated in a racist manner and like animals by Luona. In the first reception center I stayed at (managed by Luona) we were 10-12 asylum seekers in each room. We slept on the floor. People were forced to wear dirty clothes because there was only one washing machine for the whole center. The food that is served is horrible. It isn’t eatable and we don’t trust it. Even if the employees ensure us there’s no pork we can’t trust what they say. [Luona has accidentally served pork twice to asylum seekers].

Continue reading “Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu””

Researchers working for the police see falling support of the Perussuomalaiset as a danger to society

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

It’s incredible how even the police service feeds xenophobia in Finland. A column published by two applied science researchers on the Police College of Finland web page is a perfect example of the one-sided view that some people of the police service have of migrants and cultural diversity.

One of the biggest problems in Finland when researching migrant crime is in the collection of equality data. For example, researchers cannot tell you what best practices they use and what their responsibility is in fueling ethnic profiling and victimization of certain national groups living in Finland.

Read full column (in Finnish) here.

A good example of how partial crime statistics can be used to ethnically profile migrants is one by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula), which states that the number of suspected rape cases in 2013 was 473. Of these around one third were committed by persons with “foreign backgrounds.”

Why don’t researchers care about the groups they study and ethnically profile?

Continue reading “Researchers working for the police see falling support of the Perussuomalaiset as a danger to society”

UPDATE (November 20): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

November 20

Aukeavatko suvakin silmät? – (Tamperelainen)

What’s wrong with this community paper editorial? Community papers like Helsingin Uutiset and Vantaa Sanomat are just as bad as other media in spreading bigotry and urban tales about immigrants. They do this for two reasons: they don’t know better and because it’s a good way of boosting their advertising revenues. The editorial by the latest Tamperelainen spewed some pretty harsh rhetoric about asylum seekers. It claimed, among other things, that some asylum seekers are swindlers and that Europe should take a tougher stance against such people. The editorial by the paper’s editor, Karri Kannala, headlined “When will Kumbaya multiculturalists open their eyes,” claims the following: “Speaking of migration is racism, promoting Finnish identity is fascism. You can only talk about multiculturalism if you are a kumbaya multiculturalist, other opinions aren’t welcome.” Bigotry, racism and prejudice still attract big crowds in Finland. They are used by community papers as well and are an example of the worse type of journalism that you can find.

Read full story in Finnish here.

A new low in Finnish journalism: Forcing asylum seekers to like our food

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Migrant Tales

One more time I’m going to show one of the low points of the A2 Pakolais-ilta debate on refugees. Yes, right, it’s the porridge scene where the host Wali Hashi offers porridge to a Syrian family. Not funny but it reveals a lot about the media’s attitude.

If we are what we eat we do have to be careful when speaking about food. If you don’t like your host’s food it means you don’t like your host. Your host is what he eats.

The way that the Finnish media took the complaint of poor food by some asylum seekers is highly revealing. It shows, in my opinion, knee-jerk ethnocentrism.

If some asylum seekers are dissatisfied with the food don’t we have the know-how and resources to solve the problem? Why make such a fuss over it?

Why shove the issue in in their faces?

If the media gets offended at some asylum seekers because they don’t like the food it shows that we still have a lot to learn about cultural diversity.

Everyone should not forget as well that you are what you eat.

Migrants need greater voting rights in Europe to challenge the far right and ultranationaistic menace

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Bashy Quraishy made recently a very valid point on his Facebook wall: “Active political participation, voting in large numbers and support for the friendly politicians is Alpha and Omega for the protection of ethnic minority rights in Denmark.”

And adds: “We need to wake up, confront the far right movements in politics and defeat them.”

This cartoon depicts the DPP’s (and even the PS’) answer on how to deal with refugees fleeing civil wars.

The biggest challenges and threat facing Europe and countries like Denmark and Finland is the lack of democratic participation by migrants and minorities.

Continue reading “Migrants need greater voting rights in Europe to challenge the far right and ultranationaistic menace”

My identity is mine, not yours, so stop labeling me according to your prejudices

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Don’t let anyone, no one, ever define who you are. That’s your right and never give it away.

Why do some public services like the police even some migrants believe they have the right to define who are? The police do it constantly. Every time they label a person or group as a person with “foreign” or “migrant” background they are effectively relegating that person publicly to second- or third-class status in society.

Like in neighboring Sweden, where “a person with migrant background” is code for non-European or non-white, in Finland, it is used to remind you that white Finns run this country politically, culturally, economically and socially.

If a flag represents a country what represents a person’s personality and his or her identity?

Continue reading “My identity is mine, not yours, so stop labeling me according to your prejudices”

Tag: Prejudice