Tag: Racism

OAJ union: Teachers (and immigrants) should report hate speech and harassment cases to the police

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland’s Trade Union of Education (OAJ) recommends that teachers should file a complaint to the police if they are victims of  hate speech or harassment at school, reports Helsingin Sanomat, citing Finnish News Agency (STT). Should immigrants and visible minorities follow OAJ’s example if they are victims of racist harassment in public?

Migrant Tales reported last year on the case of an African student who was harassed and bullied in public in Jyväskylä. Uncertain if the incident should be reported  or not, the student got in touch with the police and Ombudsman for Minorities. The police said the student should not report the case but the Ombudsman for Minorities advised to the contrary.

The announcement by OAJ reveals concern about the growing number of hate speech and harassment cases reported by  teachers at school. The union recommends teachers to get in touch directly with the police if the perpetrator is 15 years old and with social welfare officials if younger.

Your safety is the most important matter you should keep in mind if somebody harasses you in public. Walk away from the situation but get a good description of the perpetrator so you can report the person to the police.

Finland’s future recipe for success is based on social equality, mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Why would any political party seriously care about immigrants and their children if these newcomers form part of a fragmented group that has little political and economic power? Should they be concerned about high unemployment and ever-growing social inequality among such groups in Finland? 

Our success story as a society was never based on social inequality but on social equality, or tasa-arvo.  If you disagree, look at our violent history between 1918 and 1945. The crucial fuel that fed the wheels of internal and external strife back then was suspicion of other groups and nations.

Despite our rocky start as an independent nation, we have built today a model society that is the envy of other nations. Another welcome characteristic of our society is its strong sense of community and belonging. Not everyone, however, enjoys being part of such a great family. Some of these are  visible minorities like the Roma, Saami, non-white Finns, homosexuals and other groups.

As we race deeper into the depths of the new century, we need more than ever those tools that turned us into a successful nation and helped mend our differences as a society. We especially need values such as inclusion to rub off on those that form part of our ever-growing culturally diverse nation.

Are we putting Finland in harm’s way again by reviving those same class divisions, inequality and loathing that once impoverished us? Are those very values that fueled strife now entering our society through the back door as anti-immigrant sentiment and intolerance?

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that humans are social animals and that our successful Nordic welfare society is based on social equality.  Social vices like greed, apathy and even racism therefore constitute today the greatest threat to our society.

Some politicians in Finland and Europe naively believe that they can revive these above-mentioned social ills and control them with a short leash. Nothing could be further from the truth. The mass killings in Norway that we witnessed last year are tragic proof of the contrary. What attacked Norway wasn’t a mass killer called Anders Breivik but his racist values and fear.

Political parties are playing with fire if they fuel class divisions and hatred of other groups like immigrants and visible minorities.

It is an encouraging sign, however, that more politicians, political parties and common Finns are finding the courage to openly question racism and all forms of discrimination.

A lot more work is still needed on this front. We should hear more than ever those values, together with new ones, that turned us into what we are today:  social equality for all based on mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities.

 

PS MP Olli Immonen plans to boycott YLE “for a short while”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Far-right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP, Olli Immonen, said Monday he will boycott YLE “for a short while” since the state-owned radio and television company reports unfairly about the PS.  According to him, there is a systematic propaganda campaign against the PS by YLE

I doubt that many will lose sleep over Immonen’s decision, taking into account that his pet political topics include anti-Immigration, anti-Islam and an odd nostalgia for Finnish fascism of the 1930s.

Immonen has done the right thing, however. In English we say: “If you can’t take the heat stay out of the kitchen.”

It is clear that the PS MP from Oulu cannot take the heat.

Why are so many PS party members so hypersensitive about the media? Is it an indication that the party has lost touch with Finland, never mind its convoluted political program?

Immonen is a sad example of the illness that has inflicted Finland these days. Mention the magic word “Muslim” to a person like him and he changes into a political Mr. Hyde.

Ulla Pyysalo is another sad example.  She is PS MP Juho Eerola’s aide, who got her fingers burned when her name appeared on a neo neo-Nazi membership list.

Pyysalo was recently active on Facebook:

Ulla Pyysalo: …it’s been known for some time that a Muslim man can beat his wife. Maybe they didn’t believe this before… Ulla Pyysalo: and force them to have sex, or rape…

Pyysalo, like Immonen and her boss Eerola, belong to the same far-right faction of the PS. Others that form part of this same group are PS MP Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari.

Rasismin määrittäminen

Posted on by Sasu

Melkein jokaista ihmistä kohden on eri määritelmä rasismista. Jos Suomessa on suunnilleen viisi miljoonaa ihmistä, joten meillä on suunnilleen viisi miljoonaa eri määritelmää rasismille. Tämä voi olla vahvaa karrikointia, mutta ei ole kaukana todellisuudesta. Jos aiomme taistella rasismia meillä on oltava vähintään, jokin selvä määritelmä sille mikä on rasismi.

 

Rasismin voi ajatella Malcolm X:än sanoilla. ”Racism is like a Cadilla, they bring out a new model every year” (Malcolm X, 1964)

Sanojen ydin on siinä, että rasismi on alituisesta muutos tilassa. Se ei ikinä pysähdy. Tämä ominaisuus johtuu rasismin kulttuurillisesta luonteesta. Rasismi ei ole yksittäinen teko vaan kokonainen maailman katsomus ja elämäntapa. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että rasismiin sosialisoidutaan ja omaksutaan. Rasismia voisi kutsua kulttuurin syöväksi. Sillä on etäpesäkkeitä joka puolella Eurooppalaista yhteiskuntaa ja aina, kun sen uskoo voittaneen, se palaa aina vain vahvempana. Se on kuin Hydra.

 

Analyyttinen määritelmä on ennakkoluulo + valta. Tämän määritelmän voi löytää Englantilaisista sosiologian oppikirjoista ja netistä. Kaikki alkaa ennakkoluulosta. Sinulla on jokin stereotyyppi tai miellemalli joka on negatiivinen. Esimerkiksi, että Venäläiset juovat itsensä aina kaato humalaan. Sinulla on nyt ennakkoluulo. Koska kuulut enemmistöön, joka hallitsee alkoholin jakelun ja lainsäädännöt, pääset säätämään syrjiviä lakeja. Kiellät alkoholin jakelun venäläisille. Tämän esimerkin kautta voimme yleistää asian vaikkapa talouteen, politiikkaan, Lain ylläpito voimiin ja koulutus laitokseen.

 

Kaikista klassisin on, että rasismi on uskomus toisen rodun ylemmyydestä verrattuna toiseen. Tämän määritelmän mukaan teon motiivi tekee sen rasistiseksi. Ongelmaksi tulee nyt se, että määritelmä jättää rakenteellisen rasismin pois laskusta. Rakenteellisessa rasismissa toiminnan tulos määrittelee onko se rasistinen. Samalla tavoin määritelmä päästää poliittisesti korrektit rasistit läpi. Määritelmä sopii paremmin ääritapauksien ja selvästi rasististen toimintojen kiinni saamiseksi.

 

Jo sivuutettu ollut rakenteellinen rasismi perustuu systeemien tuottamien tulosten tutkimista. Määritelmän joustavuus antaa mahdollisuuden hyökätä päälinpuolin tasa-arvoisia palveluita ja yhteiskunnan rakenteilta vastaan. Hyvä esimerkki voisi olla lain ylläpito voimat. Jos käy niin, että musta ihminen tuomitaan suuremmalla todennäköisyydellä pidemmäksi aikaan vankilaan tai hellemmin annetaan kuoleman tuomioita verrattuna samaan rikokseen syyllistyneeseen valkoiseen. Se on rakenteellista rasismia. Jos poliisi suuremmalla todennäköisyydellä tutkii ja kysyy henkilöllisyys todistusta arabilta tai turkkilaiselta verrattuna vaikkapa venäläiseen niin se on rakenteellista rasismia. Mediassa se nähdään tavassa miten värillisiä esitetään ja miten paljon heitä nähdään siellä. Koulussa se nähdään tavassa miten opettajat reagoivat värillisen väärinkäytökseen ja opetussuunnitelman rakenteesta. Mitä opetetaan ja mitä on jätetty pois. Luetteloa voi jatkaa kaikkiin yhteiskunnan osa-alueihin asumisesta aina terveyden huoltoon.

 

Näistä määritelmistä voi helposti saada kuvan, että vain valkoinen voi olla rasisti. Käytännössä kuka tahansa voi olla rasisti. USA:sta voi löytyä pari afrocentristä ryhmittymää, jotka uskovat mustien ylemmyyteen. Saman laisia voi löytyä kaikista ihmisryhmistä. Suurin osa rasistisista värillisistä ovat silti rasisteja itseä ja vaaleampia siskoja kuin valkoisia kohtaan. Tähän on kaksi syytä. Ensimmäinen on, että värillisillä on harvemmin valtaa käyttää heidän vihaa tai ennakkoluuloa valkoisia vastaan. Niissä maissa joissa värilliset ovat enemmistöinä valkoisten syrjintä olisi taloudellisesti liian kallista. Useammin värillisten maissa värilliset sortavat muita saman rodun edustajia. Toinen on, että värilliset suurin osin ovat omaksuneet entisten sortajien arvot. Tämän omaksumisen mukana on tullut vahva itseinho ja kateellisuus vaaleampia siskoja kohtaan. Aasiassa tämä voidaan nähdä mustien karsastamisena, mutta valkoisen kauneus ihanteen sairaana palvomisena. Nopeiten kasvava kauneuden ala on  ihon vaalennut voiteet. Toiseksi tulevat kauneus leikkaukset joilla pyritään tulla mahdollisimman Eurooppalaiseksi.

 

Yksikään määritelmä ei ole täydellinen. Parempi olisi käyttää niitä yhdistettynä. Silloin saa hyvin laajan käsityksen siitä mikä rasismi on. Kannattaa ajatella asia samalla tavalla kuin psykologian malleja. Ne ovat syntyneet eri näkökulmasta, mutta eivät sinänsä ole väärässä. Jos yrittää ottaa jonkun määritelmän pois niin rasismin näkökyky sumenee pahasti.

 

Biologisen syrjinnän ja muunlaisen syrjinnän ero. Color Shock

“If one is rejected because, he is uneducated, he can at least consoled by the fact it may be possible for him to get an education.

If one is rejected because he is low on the economic ladder, he can at least dream of the day that he will rise from his dungeon of economic deprivation.

If one is rejected because, he speak with an accent, he can at least, if he desire, work to bring his speak in line wiht the dominant group.

If howewer, one is rejected because of his color, he must face the anguishing fact that he is being rejected because of something in himself that cannot be changed.” (Marti Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here Chaos Or Community? s.117)

 

Lisätietoa ja muita määritelmiä.

http://www.racialequitytools.org/glossary.htm

http://whyaminotsurprised.blogspot.com/2006/03/racism-prejudice-power.html

http://whyaminotsurprised.blogspot.com/2010/04/racism-prejudice-power-part-2.html

Black racism is not a mirror image of white racism

Värilliset ja valkoiset kokeilkaa  jos teillä olisi ennakkoluuloja.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/

 

Xenoholism is a behavioral disorder caused by foreigners

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Have you noticed how some people get violent and turn into Mr. Hydes from Dr. Jekylls whenever they start speaking about other ethnic or religious groups? Could we call those that suffer from such split personality disorders xenoholics?

Xeno derives from Latin meaning “foreigner” or “outsider.” Thus a xenoholic is any person who suffers from “a disorder caused by foreigners.”

Contrary to alcoholic, the xenoholic consumes dry rhetoric. There are different types of xenoholic like there are different types of alcoholic drinks such as gin, whiskey and vodka. Xenoholic “drinks” include: racism, prejudice, bigotry, ethnocentrism or a mix of the mentioned into one potent atomic-bomb cocktail.

Isn’t it incredible that some of these xenoholics are the nicest persons when they interact with their group. Everything changes, however, when they take a sip or shot of xenohol.

But let’s stop whining and look at what we can do to help xenoholics kick the habit.

Since its founding in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has played an important role in helping people rebuild their lives after alcohol addiction.  What about if we establish Xenoholics Anonymous (XA) to help those who suffer from xenoholism? I can see it now at the first-ever XA meeting in history… “Hi, I’m Jussi or James and I am a xenoholic…”

Since xenoholics, like alcoholics, rarely admit they have a “drinking” problem,  I suggest the following AA test* for potential XA members. Simply replace “drinking” to “consuming racist rhetoric” in the AA test below:

  1. Do you lose time from work due to drinking?
  2. Is drinking making your home like unhappy?
  3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?
  4. Is drinking affecting your reputation?
  5. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?
  6. Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of drinking?
  7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment as a result of drinking?
  8. Does your drinking make you careless of your family’s social welfare?
  9. Has your ambition decreased since drinking?
  10. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily?
  11. Do you want a drink the next morning?
  12. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
  13. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?
  14. Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?
  15. Do you drink to escape from worries or troubles?
  16. Do you drink alone?
  17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of drinking?
  18. Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?
  19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?
  20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution on account of drinking?

If you answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.

For alcohol and drug dependency issues, you can also get in touch with the National Council on Seniors Drug & Alcohol Rehab.

If you answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.

*Steward Brand: The Next Whole Earth Catalog. Sept. 1981. p. 328.

 

 

 

Ethnic minorities now make up more than half of all births in the U.S.

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

How did some pocket-calculator demographers in Finland and Europe take the news that for the first time in U.S. history minority births surpassed over half of all births?  

A pocket-calculator demographer is anyone who uses birthrate and calculates it with years to warn us that group x will outnumber us in numbers and take us over.   

Kyösti Tarvainen, a senior lecturer at Aalto University, is one such pseudo-demographer who has warned us with his trusty pocket calculator about the Muslim population threat in Finland.

Similar predictions were made about the Jews of Finland in the 1880s. Today, however, our Jewish population totals a mere 2,000 souls. 

The whole assumption that membership in our society is based on ethnicity instead of  values and inclusion reveals what is terribly wrong in the ongoing debate. People are not a group per se, but are individuals with free will. They are not robots guided by an autocratic god called Culture as some would want us to believe.

The most important variable missing from the calculation of these pseudo-demographers is that cultures change constantly. Cultures takes in, rearrange, exchange and balance new ideas from their environment on a constant basis.   

It’s wrong to think that we are first and foremost an ethnicity.  The fact that we have been educated and brought up to think in this way reveals why racism, ethnocentrism and prejudice are so ingrained in our society.  

Martin Luther King Jr. said it well in his famous I have a dream speech of 1963:  “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

 

 

 

Do we write too little or too much about a social ill like racism?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

A friend of mine recently said that one of the reasons why some don’t like Migrant Tales (MT) is because we write too much about racism.  Do we treat a social issue like racism fairly on MT? Do we write too much or too little about it?

Certainly I would be happy if there were no reasons to write about such a social ill in this country. I even hope that what I write on this blog isn’t true.

Having written a lot about this topic, given talks and debated with many Finns for a number of years, there’s one matter that must be taken into account:  Some Finns feel offended if a foreigner tells them that there’s racism in their country.

Our aim on MT is certainly not to offend anyone but to debate an issue openly. If we can identify the problem, we can take  steps to challenge  and correct it.

Racism, xenophobia and hatred are greater threats to our values and society than some may believe.  Apart from ruining lives and holding back the  potential of a country, these social vices have been the smoking guns behind almost all the wars that have ever taken place in Europe.

Why do we still write about Nazi Germany if the fall of Berlin took place 67 years ago?  Why would we even want to bring to justice, never mind write about the crimes committed by Bosnian Serb wartime commander, Ratko Mladic, whose trial began Wednesday in The Hague?

Among the many war atrocities that Mladic is believed to have been responsible for are the deaths of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995.

You may correctly ask why crimes like the Final Solution or ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia took place?  Haven’t we learned from our past wars and mistakes?

Even if our collective memory is too short for comfort, those same phantoms of xenophobia, racism and hatred that spooked us into war in the past continue to roam those same streets inhabited by our fear and ignorance.

But let’s return to the original question: Do we write too little or too much about racism on MT?

There’s probably no consensus, but there are two answers:  Those who are most affected by racism believe too little attention is given to the issue, while those who are least affected by it claim the contrary.

Whatever the case, we should never give refuge to a social ill like racism through our silence.

 

 

 

 

 

Language is not always your passport to inclusion and acceptance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Some politicians and social workers in this country believe that integration is only possible after an immigrant learns  the Finnish or Swedish language. This may be true but there are other factors that  play equally important roles in the integration process of an immigrant.  

An immigrant will have to pass many checkpoints before he is accepted as a member of Finnish society. How many and what those checkpoints are is open to debate.

Promising an immigrant that he’ll be integrated as soon as he learns the language is a bit like telling a child: “When you grow up you’ll have a wife, children and be successful.”

If language were a panacea to an immigrant’s integration problems, why is social exclusion still a problem among the Romany minority, which have lived in this country for centuries?

Another interesting group we could cite are the Latin Americans of Spain. The majority of them speak Spanish as their mother tongue, they are familiar with Spanish culture, and are even Catholics. Despite their command of the most widely spoken language of Spain and knowledge of the local culture, why do some groups like the Bolivians, Ecuadorians and blacks suffer from high unemployment and social exclusion?

What would you say if a person has lived most of his life in Finland, speaks Finnish as a native but admits: “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.”

Would enrolling in a Finnish-language course be the solution?

Probably not.

The three examples above suggest that integration is a more complex matter than just learning a new language. Attitudes and acceptance by the host society may play equally important roles in the integration process of an immigrant.

One of the reasons why too many politicians and social workers like to speak of integration in simple learn-language terms may be because they are unaware of a wider problem.

As long as we don’t address that side of the integration problem, which is acceptance by the host society, we will never challenge the wider problem of integration effectively.

Lieksa, Finland, continues to be a thorn in Pohjois-Karjala’s side

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Lieksa is a troubled city in the eastern Finnish region of Pohjois-Karjala.  We have read too many stories on Migrant Tales and in the Finnish media about the racism that has struck the city after some 250 immigrants mostly from Somalia moved there. The Joensuu-based  Karjalainen reported Monday that an immigrant’s car had been vandalized on Sunday.  

The car, which had its rear and side windows smashed, had the following text written in lipstick: “I hate niggers.”

The police are investigating the matter.

Karjalainen reported that the owner of the car is concerned about his safety in the city of 12,800 inhabitants. “If they can do something like this to my car they could come to my home [as well],” he said.

While the situation in Lieksa is problematic to say the least, the consensus is that matters are improving, according to Alain Minguet, chairman of Joensuun seudun monikulttuurisuusyhdistys (Jomoni).

Undermining the anti-immigration ideology of populist parties in the Nordic region

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

It is a tragedy that 77 people had to die at the hands of Anders Breivik on July 22. Ironically the mass killer did more than anyone to undermine the ideology of anti-immigration populist parties and hate groups in the Nordic region and Europe. 

The political fallout of Breivik’s deeds was clear: The first blow came to the Progress Party (FrP) of Norway, which saw its support plummet in the municipal election by 6.1 percentage points to 11.5%. That was followed by election setbacks in Denmark and Finland.

Not even the far-right Sverigedemocraterna of Sweden has been spared.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg became an exemplary leader after the mass killings of Norway. His reaction was totally the opposite from what we saw in the United States after the September 11 attacks. Contrary to President George W. Bush, the Norwegian prime minister said that his country’s reponse to the mass killings will be more openness and more democracy.

The question that hounds us, however, is if Breivik were a Muslim instead of a white Norwegian, what kind of an anti-immigration backlash would we have seen in the Nordic region and Europe?

On a BBC documentary, Stoltenberg said that Norway had become after July 22 “more tolerant,[and] more careful not to judge people” by ethnic origin.

Wise words by a wise leader of a country that suffered one of its worst tragedies in recent history.