Racism Archives - Page 132 of 208

Julian Abagond: Was Hitler evil?

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Migrant Tales

MT comment: Was Hitler and the Nazis an aberration or a product of European racism and colonialism? Was the devastation that Hitler sowed the same beast that Europeans had imposed on others in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia? By blaming Hitler and the Nazis for what they did, are we denying the problem of our own intolerance? Was Hitler German and/or white?

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By Julian Abagond

Was Hitler evil?

Most White Americans will say yes: he killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust!

But to avoid any double standard we should apply the same moral reasoning White Americans apply to their own history:

Everyone does it. Tribalism goes back to at least the invention of the spear. History is full of mass killing of civilians: Rwanda, Congo, Darfur, Srebrenica, Hiroshima, Hanoi, Gaza, Dresden, Nanking, Tamerlane, Alexander the Great, Mongols, Assyrians, Iroquois, the killing of Armenians, Kurds, American Indians, Australian Aboriginals, Tasmanians, Namibians and on and on. If Hitler killed more people than some others, it was because he had better technology.
Technology made him do it. Anyone with Hitler’s technology would have done the same thing.
Europeans kill each other all the time. What’s the big deal?
Jews are racist too. They have forced Palestinians off their land, apply separate laws to them and regularly massacre Palestinian civilians.
Americans are no better. They have forced American Indians off their land, applied separate laws to them and regularly massacred American Indian civilians.
Hitler is not uniquely evil. See above.
Hitler’s intentions were good. He saw the Holocaust as doing the world a favour.
It was the times! The West back then was nakedly racist. Racism had the backing of science. The book Hitler called his Bible was bought by over a million Americans: “The Passing of the Great Race” (1916) by Madison Grant, a rich New Yorker. The word genocide was not invented till 1943 and not properly defined till after the war – by the winners to condemn Hitler! We should not judge the past by current morals.
We should be grateful. Germans invented the printing press, car, jet plane, rocket, etc. They gave us much of the modern medicine that allows most people to live past 40. Albert Schweitzer and other Germans have helped people in Africa. Condemning Hitler without pointing out all the good Germans have done is unbalanced and hypocritical.
Get over it! It took place a long time ago. My family did not take part in it. No one you know was affected by it. Why make such a big deal about it? The past is dead and gone. There are more important issues.
It is racist to talk about racism. Talking about anti-Semitism keeps it alive. Condemning Hitler is divisive.
You can dismiss what Americans say about Hitler: they were his enemies; many of their journalists and historians are Jewish; their schools teach patriotic lies.

Every single one of these arguments, with the names changed, have been used on this blog to downplay American racism, slavery and genocide.

W.E.B. Du Bois:

there was no Nazi atrocity – concentration camps, wholesale maiming and murder, defilement of women or ghastly blasphemy of childhood – which the Christian civilization of Europe had not long been practicing against colored folk in all parts of the world in the name of and for the defense of a Superior Race born to rule the world.

Read original story here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Dana: Forbidden questions

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

Questions need answers, silence is not an answer, silence has no wave, without a wave you can’t move, without a wave u cant build, without a wave you go and give up, without a wave u can’t wake up.

1. Is Sauli Niinisto your favor president? Why, if yes? Why not? Can you answer this question or are you afraid of something or someone? Why? Whom?

Why can’t you answer?

What’s so positive about his character? What’s so negative about it?
What would you ask him if you could hit him with a question?

I would ask him what he thinks about my rights and who takes responsibility for all the crimes against me and my life in this country.

2.Do you think there is freedom in Finland? What does freedom mean to you?

3.Have you ever been harassed or attacked in a racist manner? Physically? Mentally? How? Was it with words? Who attacked you? Could you share this with us?

4.Do you know who your ministers are? What are they really doing in parliament? Do you trust them or care at all about them? Why?
Aren’t the ministers those who influence your daily life and destiny? U should know what they’re talking about and what important things they do… but what are they? Do you know how much their salary is?

5. What are the major problems you have in this country?

6. What kinds of humans do you think and are your friends? Why?

Do you see yourself as a racist? Have you ever been a racist? Can you admit it? Not to me but yourself? Are you honest enough with yourself?

What language are you supposed to use with the doctor if you don’t speak Finnish or Swedish?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

What happens if you don’t speak Finnish or Swedish and need to take your one-year-old baby to the doctor’s? What about if the doctor isn’t a Finn? Migrant Tales got the following email from one of our readers:

Hi, I’ve lived in Helsinki for 3 years and would like to share a story that happened to me, my European husband and baby. I’m sharing this story with you because it was the most racist treatment my family had ever received in Finland.

On February 2013, I went to the children’s clinic because my baby was suffering from high fever. Arriving at the clinic in the morning, I was told that no doctor was available to treat my baby girl. The nurse was, however, very helpful. She took us to a room and gave medicine. The nurse recommended that we visit our local health center in [in the eastern Helsinki neighborhood of] Kontula, which she called on our behalf but there were no doctors available on that day. We were then sent to the Myllypuro health center, where we had an appointment with a doctor at 1:30pm.

We arrived to the Myllypuro health center at 1:25pm. Since it was the first time we’d been there, we didn’t know where to go. We asked a clerk at the information desk, who told us that we were in the right place. While this was happening, I heard from afar my name but wasn’t totally sure. We took a seat and waited for our name to be called by a doctor.

At 1:40pm the doctor called my name. In a very rude manner and speaking only Finnish, which we had difficulty understanding since we don’t speak Finnish well, the doctor said he wouldn’t treat us in English. He said in English that the health center doesn’t accept patients who don’t speak Finnish.

I asked, even insisted, why he couldn’t speak English since he spoke the language fluently. He answered back in a rude manner and we continued to argue. I told him that I wouldn’t leave until he treated my baby. The doctor then threatened to call the police if we didn’t leave. He said that we were in the wrong place since we should have gone to the Kontula health center in the first place. He also said that he couldn’t treat my baby because he didn’t have the right medial instruments. I told him that we were sent to the Myllypuro health center by a nurse and that she had made the appointment on our behalf.

I asked him why he treated another couple’s baby and not mine while we waited 20 minutes for the nurse at the Myllypuro health center to make an appointment with a doctor at the Kontula health center. I don’t understand why the doctor who wouldn’t speak English to us or treat our baby wasn’t attending any patients. Couldn’t he have checked my baby at that time?

We got an appointment with a Russian doctor at 3pm. The appointment given to us was that of an African couple, which had to wait before we were treated by the doctor. This was not fair to the African couple, I thought.

We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon before our baby was finally treated by a doctor. Why didn’t the doctor in Myllypuro help? No compassion exists in this country!

I made a complaint to the Ombudsman explaining exactly what had happened to us.

I got a letter from them stating that I had nothing to complain about since my baby got treated. I’m not happy with the response from the Ombudsman. I may have been slightly late to the health center because I didn’t hear my name called but the treatment I got from the foreign doctor, and that he wouldn’t speak English to us, is is pure racism and discriminatory.

Please tell me what I must do. I feel voiceless in this country, where most Finns want cover up racism at all costs.

Finnish primary school books still depict foreigners stereotypically

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Migrant Tales

It is quite incredible that one of the best school systems in the world still portrays people from different cultures in a stereotypic manner. Eeva Rinna, a doctoral researcher from Tampere University, claims that textbooks in primary school still depict Africans as bongo players, Cubans as happy and sociable and Germans as hard-working, reports YLE in English.

”In Africa people are playing bongo drums and maybe wearing loincloths. Finland is embodied by Christmas elves. This is interesting… this Australian. He has a loincloth and traditional instruments, but he’s western-looking,” said Rinna.

Considering that Finland has done a lot to bridge the gender gap between men and women, it’s odd that we’re still seeing in primary school books stereotypical descriptions of other cultures that only serve to fuel prejudice.

One of the matters that Rinne noted in such textbooks was that Russia is often portrayed as a threat to Finland.

“In geography books Russia is almost invisible in terms of Finland. Russia is not necessarily mentioned at all as Finland’s neighboring country,” she said.

It pretty easy to find the source of our present-day prejudices.

Read full story here.

Formerly Finnish children were taught the n-word at school.

This picture was used in elementary school books up to the 1970s. It says that the n-word’s face doesn’t whiten no matter how much it is washed.

Direct initiative to demote Swedish language at schools stands slim chance of approval

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Migrant Tales

What are we to think about a direct initiative that got over 50,000 signatures today to demote Finland’s second official language to elective status at schools? While this initiative stands a slim chance of passing in parliament, it shows how intolerance has raised its head in Finland recently.

Even if those that are lobbying against Finland’s 290,977-strong Swedish-language minority claim that by eliminating mandatory Swedish will help people learn more “useful” languages like Russian, the whole campaign is nothing more than a red herring.

Finland has lots of polyglots despite the fact that Swedish is mandatory at schools.

Swedish as a mother tongue is spoken by 5.36% of the population, according to the Population Register Center.

Vapaa kielivalinta, which has spearheaded the initiative together with Suomalaisuuden liitto, the youth associations of the Perussuomalaiset and National Coalition Party, claims the goal of the anti-Swedish-langauge initiative is:

freedom of choice of languages in schools
reduction of unnecessary language demands in public service
national action for these issues.

Even if those that are endorsing this effort claim with a poker face that it will further tolerance, it will actually do the opposite. At least three of the associations promoting the initiative have very strong anti-cultural diversity stands.

Suomalsiuuden liitto, for example, has played a key role in undermining cultural diversity in Finland from the onset of independence. The chairman of Vapaa kielivalinta, Ilmari Rostila, is a Tampere city councilman for the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset party.

If the initiative passed in parliament, we may well ask what is the next matter that we’ll try to dismantle of our cultural diversity, which has been on the defensive for quite some time.

If Swedish is the second official language of this country, why is it being treated with such contempt?

Because there are groups that are bent on destroying as much of our cultural diversity as a nation as possible.

Switzerland restricts the movement of asylum seekers in the town of Bremgarten

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The Swiss town of Bremgarten, located about 16km from Zurich, has banned asylum seekers from swimming pools, sports facilities and other sites, according to Spiegel Online International. The agreement, which has been criticized by human rights groups, was made by the Swiss Office of Migration (BfM) and the town.

Read original story here.

It’s not the first time that Switzerland, which has tightened its asylum laws, has restricted the free movement of asylum seekers.

Towns like Eigenthal in Lucerne banned access by asylum seekers to school yards in 2012. Other towns include Nottwil and Alpnach, which have enforced similar measures.

Swiss towns cannot prohibit asylum seekers to live in their towns but they can dictate the conditions. The agreement between BfM and Bremgarten listed 32 so-called sensitive zones, which included the public swimming pool, daycare centers, church squares, community hall, casino and retirement home.

According to BfM head Mario Gattiker, the aim of the ban is to prevent ”50 asylum seekers visiting a football pitch or a swimming pool all at once.” He believes that so many asylum seekers would lead to “friction and resentment.”

He added that the restrictions are aimed “to accommodate public concern.”

It is ironic that US talk show host Oprah Winfrey was a victim of racism during a recent visit to the country.

According to he US talk show host, who is one of the richest women in the world, a shop employee approached her and told her that one of the bags, which cost $35,000, was “too expensive” for her.

Winfrey’s claims are a public relations disaster for Switzerland, according to the BBC.

Internal investigation reveals Helsinki Court of Appeal judges use racist and sexist language

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

What are we to make of a classified internal investigation into the behavior of the Helsinki Court of Appeals, which revealed some judges sexually harassed women at parties, used racist and sexist language during recesses and in meetings outside of the courtroom? If this occurs in our judicial system, how common is it among the police, army, civil servants and teachers?

Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson spoke out against the conduct of the Helsinki Court of Appeals judges as an ”extremely serious matter.”

“Everyone understands that victims are in a very vulnerable position,” she was quoted as saying on YLE in English. “This type of behavior is unacceptable and does not create confidence in the judicial system. This kind of language will not be tolerated, even behind closed doors.”

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

The internal report, which was obtained by MTV 3, shows that Helsinki Court of Appeal judges used derogatory labels for blacks (n-word), Russians, Jews and gays as well as sexually harassed women at parties.

Even if the internal classified report on the unacceptable behavior of some judges is a step in the right directions, there’s been a lot of denial by other institutions in Finland when dealing with a serious problem like intolerance.

If you disagree, ask Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, who flatly denies that the police ethnically profiles anyone.

Such an absolute denial by her is the best evidence we have yet that it does occur in Finland. It reveals as well that the authorities are doing little to nothing to tackle social ills like intolerance.

The Council of Europe expressed concern last month in a report over ethnic profiling by the Finnish police.

Apart from denial, our society goes to great lengths to avoid the issue of intolerance altogether.

Why does the Finnish media ask immigrants on a program if ethnic profiling happens in Finland? Why doesn’t it ask the Roma, who have lived in Finland for five centuries? Certainly they should know how they are treated by the police.

It will be interesting to see how the authorities deal with the racist and sexist behavior of some judges of the Helsinki Court of Appeal and how many heads will roll as a result, if any.

Victimizing and labeling immigrants for political profit

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Migrant Tales

UK’s David Cameron is one European PM who is using immigration to bolster his Conservative Party’s poll ratings. It’s a recurring and worrisome political story across Europe: let’s get tough on immigration so we can gain a few percentage points in the polls. This type of campaigning is not only cowardly, but racist and disgraceful.

Source BBC.

In Finland, we do matters in the same way but the methods we use are different.

Finnish politicians have always been aware of the undercurrent of hostility and fear of foreigners. For decades they have been careful not to upset voters by speaking up for immigrants and cultural diversity.

Something happened in the April 2011 election, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) attained their historic victory. It was the first time that a party during modern Finnish times openly used anti-immigration rhetoric to lure voters.

This is understandable taking into account that Finland was effectively a closed country to immigrants and foreign investment up to 1995, when it became an EU member and matters started to change.

I asked a Social Democratic Party MP in the mid-1980s why doesn’t she doesn’t stand up for immigrants. She told me that it wasn’t a smart idea because you could anger voters. Anti-foreign sentiment was deeply rooted in Finland.

When I approached around 1984 National Police Commissioner Olli Urponen in parliament and asked him why Finland made life so hard for immigrants, his answer was straightforward: “We want to keep the criminals out of Finland.”

When I asked Urponen that question, 0.3% of Finland’s total population was foreign in 1983-86. according to the Population Register Center. Many of these so-called foreigners, who totaled in 1984 15,702 people, were Finnish expats.

Finland’s immigrant population totals today 195,511, accounting for 3.6% of the population.

While there are many Finns who believe in cultural diversity, there are still many who oppose it tooth and nail. A good example of Finland’s anti-immigration undercurrent was the April 2011 election, which gave the anti-EU, anti-immigration and anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) their historic election victory.

Coming to terms with our ever-growing cultural diversity isn’t easy. Unfortunately, Finns have been taught in the past at school and at home that this country is white and that foreigners should be perceived as a threat.

This perception of diversity is odd considering that over 1.2 million Finns emigrated between 1860 and 1999. If all of them would have stayed in Finland, our population today would be about 7 million.

We have a lot of work to unlearn what we have learned about ourselves and others.

The sooner we begin in earnest this task, the better for Finland.

Why aren’t we outraged enough by intolerance?

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Finnish department store J. Kärkkäinen’s Magneettimedia writings are a disturbing sign of how anti-Semitism, like anti-immigration and anti-Islam sentiment, have gained a foothold in Finland. And why shouldn’t it find fertile ground to grow in this country? During the past years, the genie of intolerance has been let out of the bottle and it shows.

We’re still not outraged enough by intolerance. If we were, it would be on the defensive.

Why aren’t we?

One of the reasons is that we fallaciously believe that our racism works in our favor.

If many of us have little idea how destructive racism is, some are at an even greater loss when it comes to finding ways to challenge it.

Why are we so much in the dark about the pernicious impact of racism on society? The answer sits right under our noses: It is what maintains the national and global status quo of power. There’s a lot of clout and wealth to be made by maintaing such a socially unjust national and global system intact.

Turn in a new leaf

While Juha Kärkkäinen, the owner of the retail company that carries his same name promises to no longer publish anti-Semitic pieces by the likes of David Duke and Ted Pike, the damage has been done.

But to whom?

Two matters are crucial in order for racism to thrive and survive another day: apathy of the victims (they’ve given up before the fight has even begun), and denial-secrecy (intolerance is the most effective and strongest when it works behind the scenes and is institutionalized).

By publishing virulent anti-Semitic opinion pieces by racists like Duke, who was the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, Kärkkäinen does a disfavor to all those confessed and closet racists in Finland and elsewhere because it exposes the problem.

After the horrors of Nazi Germany, which was responsible for the systematic death of some six million Jews, one way to ensure that Jews would not fall victim of such massive treachery was by lobbying and confronting anti-Semitism head on.

The many victories of the Simon Wiesenthal Center against anti-Semitism is a source of inspiration and a reminder that the only way to confront intolerance is by challenging it directly. Silence will encourage greater hostility, not undermine it.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a letter to President Sauli Niinistö expressing concern over the anti-Semitic writings on Magneettimedia.

But do other ethnic and religious groups have the same resources? If not, are they doomed to suffer for generations social exclusion and discrimination?

Perussuomalaiset

How do you explain and justify the rise of an anti-immigration and anti-Islam party in Finland like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in April 2011, and which is still as popular as ever as a recent YLE poll shows?

It suggests that we live in a society where intolerance is fruiting and continues to shortchange others of opportunities. It is the very undercurrent that has geysered in Denmark with the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party, in Holland with Geert Wilders, in England with Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Go Home or Face Arrest” campaign, in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “multiculturalism has utterly failed” statement, and Finland with the PS.

Even if the PS is the most vocal anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity political force in Finland, its popularity could have never reached present levels without the direct or indirect support of Finland’s political establishment.

As long as our collective denial, that we have intolerance under control or it is a “minor problem,” we will continue to feed it and it will continue to grow.

If we have learned little from the horrors of two World Wars and xenophobia, which is raising its head higher than before these days in Europe, it proves that our education is deficient and outright racist. We are not taught tolerance at school but more effectively, in fine print, code and in between the lines, intolerance.

It’s clear why we aren’t outraged by such a destructive force.

We are content with the way things are because intolerance doesn’t threaten us directly.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Magneettimedia of Finland will no longer publish anti-Semitic writings of David Duke, Ted Pike and others

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Magneettimedia editor and owner, Juha Kärkkäinen, will stop publishing anti-Semitic opinion pieces in the free newspaper, according to Helsingin Sanomat. The publication, which advertises the department store’s products, is published online as well.

“A decision has been made with the board and the content [of the publication] must be more market oriented and we must avoid publishing these types of radical stories [in the future],” said Kärkkäinen but added that restricting the publication of such columns “infringes on free speech.”

While public opinion and challenging directly anti-Semitism can prove useful as the Magneettimedia case shows, it should be applied to all groups. We can achieve a lot by working in a concerted manner against intolerance.

Islamophobia, which is only a modern version of anti-Semitism during the Nazi regime, is rife these days in Europe. The same arguments used by the Nazis against the Jews, but in a different time frame and historical context, are used today against immigrants and visible minorities.

In Finland, the most visible anti-immigration and anti-Islam party is the Perussuomalaiset party.

We can slow its path and cut intolerance’s wings if there is enough public outrage and resolve.

Magneettimedia is a case in point.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Some of the anti-Semitic writings that have been published in previous issues of the publication are by extremists like Ted Pike, David Duke and even cartoons that are similar from the former Nazi tabloid, Der Stürmer (1923-45).

The deputy state prosecutor has filed ethnic agitation charges against J Kärkkäinen’s Magneettimediaa for anti-Semitic writings that have appeared in previous issue of the publication.

Numerous anti-Semitic articles have been published in previous issues of Magneettimedia. These include:

The Jews Who Control the Media
Who Owns the Media in 2012?
A Great Video Shows What a Cheat Albert Einstein Really Was!
Zionist Terrorism in Norway
CNN, Goldman Sachs and Zionist Control
How to Break Down and Dominate the Zionists

The last two writings were written by former Ku Klux Klan wizard, Duke.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center – Europe expressed concern in a letter to President Sauli Niinistö about the columns that appeared in the publication.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center reveals the content of the letter to President Niinistö in a statement:

“The letter pointed to “the latest edition of July 2013 that sinks to a new low, featuring an article entitled ‘The Great Rabbi Rape Cover-Up’ (translated from the rantings of a so-called Oregon Pastor, Ted Pike). This is accompanied by a vicious antisemitic cartoon, that could have been taken from the 1930’s Nazi ‘Sturmer.’”

And adds at the end: “It behooves Finland to contain this revival of concepts once current during the 1941-1944 Finnish alliance with Nazi Germany. Mr. President, we expect your response to be prompt and unambiguous,” concluded [Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon] Sammuels.”

The organization that hunts Nazi criminals and challenges anti-Semitism globally believes “scapegoating” to be the reason why Kärkkäinen is publishing anti-Semitic columns.

In 2011, Kärkkäinen had to reschedule a 37-million euro debt, according to The Simon Wiesenthal Center statement.