Tag: Racism

Anti-immigration groups in Finland care less about immigrants and visible minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Behind all the rhetoric spread by anti-immigration groups in Finland and elsewhere a fact emerges: they are out to destroy the lives of as many immigrants as possible with their prejudice and racism. When a Justice Ministry official hands over rape statistics on various immigrant groups he gives a power weapon to slander and victimize people from various countries.

Such statistics have little value apart from hindering the integration of hard-working immigrants and those that want to make and build their future in this country.

Risto Laakkonen said on YLE’s Historiansarjoja: Raggarit, rasismi ja suomalaiset program how Swedish newspapers stopped linking crimes to national origin in 1970. The Finnish Embassy in Stockholm was instrumental in reaching an agreement with the editors-in-chief of Sweden’s major newspapers, who agreed not to publish the nationality of individuals committing a crime.

Things had gotten so bad in Sweden that the media had a common saying whenever a Finn was involved in a crime: En finne igen, or Yet another Finn.

Racist perceptions of different groups in Finland is more widespread than people would like to think, and the media have played a key role in spreading racism and prejudices among the population.

The fact that a political group openly spreads and distorts crime statistics about another national group is the worst form of chicanery.

If anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party are honestly interested in promoting the integration of various cultures in our society, why do they commonly single out immigrants and never suggest the same things for Finns?

A case in point of the latter can be found in a good opinion-piece by Hussein Muhammed.  PS MP Jussi Halla-aho has suggested that unemployed immigrants should be put to work, even if this means digging and refilling holes.  Muhammed asks: “…why must this kind of work only apply to “newcomers?” Shouldn’t it apply equally to “natives” or to the majority population that are unemployed?”

Why do anti-immigration groups apply two standards? One of these are for “newcomers” and the other for “natives?” Why are they so eager to use crime statistics and point the accusing finger at the whole group?

The answer to that question is simple. It is prejudice with a capital P, and racism with a fat R.

Migrant Tales to celebrate its fifth anniversary in May

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales will celebrate its fifth year in existence on May 30. By then we’ll have passed the 1,000 posts mark and have received and responded to well over 30,000 comments, the lion’s share of which we have got in the past two years.  Migrant Tales is a community of writers: JusticeDemon, Mark, Peter, eyeopener, Jonas, D4R, Sasu, BlandaUpp, Foreigner and many, many others.

What more wonderful occasion than our fifth year in existence to launch our new website http://migranttales.net?

I first used Migrant Tales in 1999, when syndicating columns for a number of English-language Finnish American publications in the United States and Canada.

Whenever a migrant moves to a new country he not only returns back to his former home a changed person, but has many tales to tell about his travels.

Those tales, which come from a large community of voices, can be read daily on our blog.

Our passion for social justice and our struggle against all forms of discrimination is our shield against the many vicious and hostile attacks that our blog and community has endured in Finland. The election victory of an anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS), is a clear challenge.

Our success as a blog would have never been possible without the support of many bloggers and publications. Migrant Tales has been contacted by Deutschlandradio, the National German Radio, Die Welt, BBC, TV channel 4 of St. Petersburg and others.

Here is a link to Dunia Magazine that published one of our columns. Migrant Tales earned a mention in Time Magazine right after the elections of 17 April 2011.  and The Finns Daily are Twitter publications that pick up our blog entries. We have also been mentioned on YLE’s Suora linja and on numerous blogs, such as the Community Activist and popular Facebook pages like My Finland is international.

Traffic to our blog has soared. We expect the number of visits for the whole of 2011 to be surpassed in June. Despite our growth and successes, Migrant Tales ‘ main reason for existence is to challenge an ever-growing social ill in Finland.

We seek nothing more than to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.

Apart from mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities, our aim is inclusion of all people in Finnish society irrespective of background.

Thank you for your support and don’t be afraid to get involved!

Migrant Tales May 16, 2011: Xenophobia and racism are the poverty of Finland today

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Some people claim that ever-growing poverty and social inequality in Finland were the reasons why the Perussuomalaiset (PS) scored such a big election victory last year. We read in the media about lengthening bread lines and how it has become more difficult for some people to make ends meet. Even so, does this justify growing xenophobia and racism in our society?

Some cast their only vote last year in the belief that our most pressing problems in this country would be solved by supporting an anti-immigration candidate.

Voting for such a person, however, is like calling a pyromaniac to turn off a raging fire. You need qualified firemen to deal with such a situation in the same way that Finland today needs leaders and politicians who have political experience and a strong background in economics, globalization and sociology.

Poverty is unacceptable in any society. In some parts of the world it means living on $1 a day, or even less. It means making hard decisions like choosing not to eat today in order to feed my children.

I remember a documentary I saw in university a long time ago about a poor family in the U.S. Appalachia Mountains. “In the same way that some rich folks may be proud of being rich,” the young father said standing next to his wife, “I’m also proud of being poor.”

The couple didn’t have enough money to buy milk so they fed their baby gravy from a bottle.

I am certain that when Finnish politicians and policymakers speak of poverty they don’t mean living on $1 a day or having to feed your baby gravy (läskisoosi).

Poverty means different things in affluent countries like Finland and in the developing world. Poverty teaches some of us two important lessons: our vulnerability in society and that nothing is permanent. If there is some wisdom we can learn from it, probably it is treating people with respect even during good times, because we never know when we’ll need their help.

The rise of racism and right-wing populism in Finland and Europe are proof that these lessons are not even being acknowledged by some. Moreover, the arrogance of some politicians is like adding salt to the open wound of Finland’s polarized society.

The more we boast our racism and suspicion of minorities in public and in private, the more our society will continue to slip into a more profound type of poverty. We will not throw extra weight overboard to slow our downward spiral, but instead stand by our most inalienable values like social equality for all.

Xenophobia and racism are the real poverty facing Finland today.

Lieksa Facebook court case begins today in Pohjois-Karjala, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

A court case involving eight suspects accused of inciting ethnic hatred in Lieksa via the Facebook page, “Mamu keskustelu ilman sensuuria (lieksa),” or “Immigrant debate without censorship (Lieksa),” began today. The deputy state prosecutor is calling for two of the accused to serve four-month prison terms, with lesser sentences and fines for the rest. 

Traffic on the Facebook site has now come to a near-halt, but racist jokes about groups like Somalis and Roma can be still found on the site’s wall.

The Facebook group is a good example of  the good name of a town and community can be ruined by a handful of people. Lieksa is a city of 12,800 inhabitants with roughly 200 immigrants.

There are many ways to shake off a bad reputation. When it comes to racism, the only way is through community action and the law. In both cases the message must be crystal clear: racism is unacceptable.

The face of racism, when it dares to show itself in public, is not only shameful but can threaten the community it claims to be defending. All the noble values that we consider dear, like social justice and equality, are destroyed in an instant.

There is much more at stake in the ongoing trial of eight defendants accused of inciting ethnic hatred than meets the eye.

What is at stake is who we are as culturally diverse Finns.

Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from June 14, 1993

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.

A common stereotype about Russia at the time — and still is — that it’s rife with Mafia criminal gangs. The billboard below claims that the mafia apprehended 70 Finns.

Instilling fear in the population, that the outside world and especially Russia are dangerous places, was and still is the main message of xenophobic groups in Finland. Around 1989, Keijo Korhonen became a household name by warning that the fall of the Soviet Union could bring hordes of refugees.

The argument used once by Korhonen is the same one used by the anti-immigration wing of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, which warn us of “Islamization.” The same high-birthrate argument was used against the Jews in Finland in the nineteenth century. Today, Finland’s Jewish population numbers, however, a mere 2,000 people.

*Migration Institute archive.

YLE poll: The Perussuomalaiset party suffers a new blow in the polls

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The many problems of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party worsened today after a poll published by YLE showed the popularity of the party further slipping by 1.7 percentage points to 14.1%. The biggest party was Kokoomus (22.6%), followed by the Social Democrats (up 1.8% to 19.1%) and the Center Party (16.4%).

The plunge in the polls is quite significant, taking into account that the PS’ popularity once stood as high as 23%. The party won 19.1% of the votes in last year’s election.

Without a doubt it’s been a scandal-rich year for the major tabloids, thanks to the numerous PS racist gaffes, foot-in-mouth displays, declarations of wars against immigrants and the media, members joining neo-Nazi parties, satirically suggesting Holocaust-style armbands to help police in ethnic profiling, decorating cold-blooded killers and recent internal bickering.

In the meantime keep your seatbelts fastened. This is only the first year and we still have three more to go. What kind of a country will Finland look like after four years of the PS in Parliament? Will we recognize it? How much damage will be done to the credibility of our institutions, never mind our international image?

The people who lifted the PS from a minor to a major party last year are now sending it back to where it came from.  There is no sympathy from the major parties, never mind the media, which has grown some teeth after initially treating the PS as some kind of sensation before the election.

Migrant Tales has constantly warned about the PS and the damage it is capable of inflicting on Finland.  Our editorial line, and the fact that we got it right, explain why our blog has seen unprecedented growth in the past year.

Migrant Tales wrote shortly after the election:  “Another factor that spurred the PS to new heights was a watershed statement in March 2010 by Kokoomus chairman Jyrki Katainen, who stated that being critical and debating immigrant issues in this country didn’t make you a racist. After that green light to racism was given, the Social Democratic leadership gave the PS another pat on the back with their infamous saying, maassa maan tavalla.”

Supporting the PS is not just being anti-EU, anti-immigration and anti-establishment but supporting a party that aims to change Finland into something that it isn’t quite sure of.  Some PS MPs want to take it back to the 1950s while others are fascinated by the fascism that mushroomed in the 1930s.

There is no room for dissent in the narrow-minded world of the PS.  All you have to do is repeat patronizingly after every other word fatherland, fatherland and fatherland.

Like Migrant Tales, Sweden got it right a year ago.

Immediately after the PS election victory the New York Times wrote: “In the European news media, particularly in Sweden, the True Finns have come under fire as right-wing racists. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and others have defended Mr. Soini from such accusations, though other members of his party hold more radical views on immigration.”

Even Social Democrat Lasse Lehtinen tried to assure Europeans that they have nothing to fear. “Timo Soini is actually a very civilized guy,” he was quoted as saying in the New York Times. “He reads a lot. He thinks a lot.”

If the leaders of the major parties and the majority of Finns had been visible immigrants for a day before the election, then they would have seen Soini and the threat of the PS much more clearly, as they do today.

Finland’s police service: see no, hear no, speak no hate crimes

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales reported since the end of January some gruesome violent crimes against Muslims in Finland with the most recent one happening Wednesday. Two of these led directly to the violent deaths of a Somali and Moroccan native, both Finnish citizens.  None of these were hate crimes, according to the police. 

What is a hate crime and why do some visible immigrants disagree flatly with the police’s conclusions?

A Police College of Finland report states the following:  “The traditional definition of hate crime also entails the notion that there is no prior relationship between the offender and the victim. Hate motivation is easier to understand in connection with crimes committed by extremist groups; i.e. in instances where the suspect and victim do not know each other and the suspect’s agenda is to harm the victim on the basis of his or her membership of a specific [ethnic]group.”

And continues: “This traditional definition, however,  is not suitable for describing all crimes committed against minorities that include prejudice against a group. Crimes or harassment can also occur between people who already know one another, and such acts are not always based on one particular hate motivation.”

One matter that sheds a dubious light on the Finnish police is their claim that hate crimes fell  by 15% to 860 cases in 2010 compared with the previous year.

While we don’t have the competence nor the resources like the police to investigate a hate crime, we are members of the community that the police serves.

Even so, the ever-growing discrepancies between some immigrant and visible minority groups versus the police show a distressing trend: lack of credibility.  This can never be a good matter for the police never mind the immigrant community because the effectiveness of the police service hinges on trust.

Trust in the police service can be hindered by many factors. One of these can be the immigrant, who may came from a country where the police are more feared than criminals. In light of this fact the police in Finland must do more work to win over the trust of these groups.

A recent statement by a policeman investigating the death of the adolescent in Espoo show that credibility between the police and the Somali community are significant to say the least.

Instead of reassuring the Somali community that Finland’s streets are safe and that the police are out there to protect them, the police investigator blamed the Somalis for planting racial hatred by spreading false rumors about the murder, according to YLE.

Alan Bruce wrote recently (26.2.2012) on Migrant Tales the following:   ” For far too long many police services have been reactive and cut off from the needs of all they are supposed to serve – through inertia, sloppy standards, poor levels of training or [as in the stated findings of the Macpherson Commission in London] sheer ‘institutional racism.’”

Bruce continued: ” Tackling these problems by a radical program of training, policy and pro-active engagement with [and support for] immigrant communities, ethnic minorities, migrants, women and other minorities is not just protecting the rights of citizens [and non-citizens] but it is also about creating a professional police service that sets standards and proclaims values.”

The tragic deaths and attacks that we have witnessed so far this year should be a wakeup call.  In the present political climate in Finland, matters will unfortunately get worse before they improve.

The police must stop treating crimes against immigrants as routine matters.

Why is the Perussuomalaiset party riling mad at the Finnish media?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

You know that there is something wrong whenever a group, never mind a major political party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), start accusing the media for their problems. This is exactly what Matti Putkonen and MP Jussi Halla-aho did Wednesday on  YLE, when they blamed the media for treating the PS unfairly compared with other parties.

This view was contested by Risto Uimonen, chairman of the Council for Mass Media in Finland and a guest on the show. He said that since the election, when the PS became the third-largest party in Finland, it’s only natural that it has come under greater media scrutiny.

Even though Putkonen, who was convicted of rape in the early 1990s, vows to restore the PS’ good name in the media, it’s pretty clear that any such attempt will end up in failure before it leaves the drawing board.

If we look closely at what Putkonen and Halla-aho said, it’s clear that the party is pretty much in the dark about the watchdog role of the media.  Statements by them and PS MP James Hirvisaari, who has called the media “bloodthirsty hyenas,”  should instead sound alarm bells.

I am certain that if these PS politicians had their way, they’d be the first to curtail press freedom in order that the media would write what they wanted. Putkonen said in a letter to journalists that the media should “serve the fatherland when writing the news.”

Does “serving the fatherland” mean distorting the news and self-censorship when reporting on the PS?

If the PS were fair and had a drop of self-criticism, they’d understand that much of the so-called negative coverage of the party is self-inflicted. Have they forgotten PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, sacked PS councilman Tommi Rautio, Ulla Pyysalo, Helena Eronen, Freddy Van Wonterghem and a long, long list of others?

Sad but true. Every month, sometimes every week, we are questionably entertained by some scandal that hits the front pages of the tabloids.

The ignorance and contempt that some PS members have for the media and for freedom of expression in Finland can be seen as well how the party addresses other issue like immigration and cultural diversity.

In their amateurishness and populist anti-democratic wishful thinking, they seek to rewrite history and move the goalposts of  society to fit their intolerant world.

The media is the best insurance that such a thing will never happen.

 

Update: Older woman assaulted at Myllypuro metro station in Helsinki

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Thanks to a tip off, Migrant Tales correctly reported that the  older woman who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by a group of white Finns, at Myllypuro metro station in Helsinki on Wednesday was a Somali. The woman suffered injuries to the face and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

These types of attacks, now apparently made by young men on older women, are an indication of the violence that some immigrants suffer in Finland.

Migrant Tales earlier reported three deaths of Muslims over a span of about three weeks. A Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman, Tommi Rautio, boasted on Facebook that he would decorate the white Finnish male who killed the third victim and seriously wounded another before taking his own life in a pizzeria in Oulu.

Migrant Tales believes that attacks of the kind seen in Helsinki are the tip of the iceberg, even though the police reported that hate crimes had fallen by 15% in 2010 compared with the previous year.

The low number of reported hate crimes could be interpreted as a vote of little to no confidence in the police from certain immigrant groups.

PS anti-immigration wing: “a new [Cadillac] model every year”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Helena Eronen, the parliamentary aide who suggested armbands for foreigners, is what Malcolm X once said about racism and Cadillacs:  “They make a new model every year.”* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s far-right anti-immigration wing led by MP Jussi Halla-aho have a new model: Helena Eronen.

Hirvisaari was fined in December for hate speech, which explains why he chose Eronen as his aide to write and be his ideological alter ego.

Taking into account the outright rejection by the media especially after the election of the Counter-Jihadist writings of Halla-aho, Olli Immonen and Juho Eerola, it’s pretty clear that this group needs a fresh new face, and a new writing style to get across the same anti-immigration message. That person is none other than Eronen.

Even if Eronen claims no political affiliation, she used to advertise her affiliation to the far-right Muutos2011 on her Uusi Suomi blog. Many of her blog entries confirm her anti-immigration views, such as the last one published in Uusi Suomi and headlined, “What on Earth would you do about exotic- [skin-] colored rapists.”

Hirvisaari shines through in the text, and Eronen also mentions MP Olli Immonen, who inquired in Parliament about rapes committed by immigrants.

Eronen fails to share one absolute figure with the reader about how many rape cases have occurred. This is for obvious reasons, because we are talking about tens of cases and not discussing the white Finnish males who commit the lion’s share of rapes in Finland.

At the end of her blog entry she warns that two dailies, Turun Sanomat and Karjalainen of Joensuu, may not quote the text unless they want to pay a 100,000-euro fine. This shows how little Eronen understands and her utter ignorance of the media. It’s a pretty ludicrous warning: how can you write a public blog and forbid someone from quoting you?

We mustn’t forget that PS MPs Hirvisaari, Halla-aho and Immonen – and Eerola herself – are all social media creations.

Noting how much their racist writings and victimization of certain immigrant groups brought them money and a ticket to Parliament, it’s clear that they will not abandon social media as a platform for getting their anti-immigration message across to their followers.

*Thank you Sasu Xinkang Ölander.