Tag: Racism

Finns vote today for their next president

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

While the biggest victor of today’s presidential election in Finland is democracy, I cannot help but look way past the awaiting fanfare of Sunday evening , when we’ll be hearing the victory speech of either Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party or Kokoomus’ Sauli Niinistö.  

In many respects, Finnish voters decided in the first round  of the election that they do not want a cliffhanger repeat of what we saw in April nor a president that is anti-EU, anti-immigration and colorblind with respect to our country’s ever-growing cultural diversity.

During the past ten-odd months, Finns have not only come to know racism, homophobia and anti-democratic credentials of some of the PS MPs, but the lame excuses justifying such shameful examples.

Few will deny that Finland faces many big challenges in the next six years. In many respects, our values will determine how we address those challenges. What kind of leadership will Haavisto and Niinistö offer Finns and immigrants living in the country on how to tackle ever-rising poverty, social inequality, streamlining costs that will weaken our social welfare state, and our general view of the outside world?

Should we invest more on programs that fuel social equality or on fear of ourselves and the outside world through institutions like the police and defense forces?

When I go to vote today, I will be weighing these issues.

Irish Examiner: Anti-immigrant or racist political rhetoric ‘must not go unchecked’

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Compared with Finland, Ireland appears like a distant world when it comes to anti-immigration groups and their hate rhetoric.  

Both countries have seen a lot of emigration since the nineteenth century. In Finland over a million people emigrated to other parts of the world during 1860-1999. A study in 1978 showed that since 1820 over 4.723 million people emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland alone. 

Apart from such similarities, there is one big difference: Ireland lacks an anti-immigration party whereas Finland has the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which became the third-biggest party in the April election.  

There may be many reasons why Ireland doesn’t have an anti-immigration party. One of these could be tolerance. In Ireland such anti-social behavior isn’t seen favorably by politicians and the public while in Finland it is. 

How many politicians would be forced to resign in Finland if they followed Ireland’s example? The Irish Examiner writes: “Last November, Mr [Darren]  Scully was forced to resign as mayor of Naas, after saying he would no longer deal with, as he described them, bad-mannered, aggressive, black Africans. The party has not taken any decisive action.” 

If we cited the comments made by many Finns concerning the death of a Somali in Oulu this week, we could conclude that too many think that racism is acceptable.

To show how serious the problem is in Finland, a Finnish-language teacher I spoke with on Saturday from Kouvola said that no politician would ever carry a sign in public stating that we should give more financial support to refugees and immigrants. 

One important lesson that we could learn from Ireland is that racism must be seen as something unacceptable in our society. 

Why? Because it is a direct threat to our society, our values and our common sense of decency. 

Racist political rhetoric must not go unchecked. 

___________

By Jennifer Hough

An example needs to be made of politicians who make negative comments about immigrants if Ireland is to avoid going down a route of an “accepted rhetoric or racism”, Integration Ireland has warned.

Read whole story.

Why write about a Somali immigrant who died in Oulu, Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that has surprised after Migrant Tales scooped more information about the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu Monday is the total lack of empathy for the victim.  Finland and the Nordic region have not been the same after the April election and when Anders Breivik went on the rampage in Norway in July killing 77 victims. 

In both cases above, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric were the smoking guns.

One gets the impression by some of the threads on Migrant Tales and My Finland is International that we should not give much importance to what happened in Oulu since it will not be seen as a hate crime by the police.

Some have gone as far as to claim that what happened in Oulu has nothing to do with immigration or ethnic issues.

I beg your pardon!?

What happened in Oulu has everything to do with immigrants and social ills like violence threatening our society. Somebody must speak out for the victim and we are very proud of being one of those voices.

Add to what happened in Oulu the horrific events in Norway in summer and Finland’s ever-worsening atmosphere for immigrants and minorities, it is only natural that we react to a crime involving an immigrant, especially one where three Finns break into his home by force and perpetrate his death.

Migrant Tales will continue to report crimes against immigrants and hopes it will have the opportunity to do so in the future.

Police unlikely to pin hate crime on the death of a Somali in Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The police announced Wednesday that the eighteen-year-old Somali national who died in hospital Tuesday slipped from the sixth floor while trying to escape three people who barged into his home Monday night, according to tabloid Iltalehti. Migrant Tales spoke with Seppo Leinonen of the Oulu police, who said it was unlikely that the death of the young man was a hate crime. 

The police will announce at noon Thursday whether they will imprison the three suspects.

One of the three persons, a woman, knew the victim. She apparently had a disagreement with the man and told her brother about it, who then went with a metal pipe to resolve the matter, reports Ilalehti. Since the victim did not open door, the brother kicked a whole in the door and opened it from the inside.

Both the brother and sister were under the influence of alcohol.

The victim tried to escape but fell to his death from the sixth floor.

JusticeDemon makes a good point on one of his threads by asking if what happened was a “Finnish honor crime?” Below are a list of sad examples of Finnish men mending their broken family with a shotgun, service revolver or knife:

November 2011, Tyrnävä
October 2011, Varkaus
April 2011, Ikaalinen
February 2010, Lappeenranta (fortunately nobody was killed)
December 2008, Lohja (that was a retired police officer)
November 2008, Hattula
October 2008, Helsinki
October 2008, Oulu
June 2008, Ylitornio
March 2008, Pori

Migrant Tales had got in touch with residents and acquaintances of the victim in Oulu. While they claimed the three entered that had apartment the victim’s home with a chainsaw, the police could not confirm this.

Somali victim of Oulu, Finland: The tragedy that brings us closer to the problem

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The reaction and threads concerning the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu, Finland, Tuesday after three white Finnish suspects barged into his home reveals the strong divide between “us” and “them.”We still have a long ways to go as a society to deal with social ills like discrimination. Paradoxically, tragedies like what happened in Oulu bring us ever-closer to the issue. 

While we should give the Finnish police the benefit of doubt and trust their professionalism, there are many cases that show the opposite and undermine the credibility of law enforcement officials. Some that come to mind immediately are the decade-long coverup by the German police of hate crimes by neo-Nazi groups, and the infamous L.A. riots, when three policemen were acquitted in 1992 after being videotaped beating a black motorist.

The L.A. riots caused the death of 53 people and as many as 2,000 were injured. The cost of the riots was between $800 million and $1 billion.

While the work of the police should reveal fairness and abiding duty to the cause of justice, factors like politics and prejudice do unfortunately get in the way.

If there are police credibility issues among Finland’s immigrant community, the police should find ways to increase trust.

While we believe in the professionalism of our law officers, we at Migrant Tales are concerned about the ever-worsening atmosphere for immigrants in Finland.  What happened in Oulu Monday night does not assure us that matters are getting better.

We do not have to venture far from Migrant Tales to grasp what is wrong with Finland today when it comes to the attitudes of some Finns. Here is one thread by Allan that is especially worrying: “Now if it so happens to be some gluesniffers on bad acid after drinking kärpässienikilju, where exactly are you blaming *them* ? No, you are blaming all Finns for having that as their social norm.”

Another blogger, Depressed N Worried Immigrant, writes: “I went to read iltalehti chatting room and i was shocked literally, there is no one single person condemning the death of this young man theye’re giving all kind of excuses…”

The police is one important source in resolving the tragedy that took place in Oulu Monday night.

It is the second incident so far in Oulu in a month where a person has fled perceived danger by jumping off the balcony. You can read the story (in Finnish) here.

 

Let’s wait for their verdict.

UPDATE 2: Somali young man leaps to his death in Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Oulu police have now admitted as Migrant Tales did first in Finland that the victim who leaped to his death from a sixth floor was a Somali.  Kaleva, the Oulu daily, quotes Antti Räsänen of the police stating that “nothing points to racism [hate crime] but we haven’t ruled out that possibility.” 

What next?

The interesting matter to watch is how long it take the police to announce the motive of the crime.

We know from a police statement on Tuesday that three people barged into the home of the Somali before he leaped from the sixth floor.

 

UPDATE: Somali young man leaps to his death in Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The cause of the death of a Somali male in Oulu on Tuesday appears to be as Migrant Tales correctly reported a hate crime involving three Finns who entered the man’s home by force and caused him to leap from his sixth-floor apartment balcony.  The young man died the same day after taken to hospital. 

Police have not yet confirmed the nationality of the victim but Migrant Tales understands the person to be Somali.

Here is a statement by police statement stating that they have detained three suspects in the crime.

“We don’t have that much information [about the causes or whether he was assaulted],” the police told Migrant Tales earlier.

A resident of the neighborhood claimed that the Somali was attacked by a group of Finns who forced their way into his home with a chainsaw.

“They [the Finns] entered the [Somali’s] home and fearing for his life he tried escaping by leaping from the balcony,” said a Somali resident of the neighborhood  who knew the victim.

The apartment, located in the neighborhood of Toppila, houses many immigrants.

Somali young man leaps to his death in Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The cause of the death of a Somali male in Oulu on Monday night is still unresolved after he leaped to his death from his sixth-floor apartment balcony.  Police have not confirmed the cause of death but neighbors contacted by Migrant Tales claim that the eighteen-year-old was attacked by a group of Finns who had entered his home by force

“We don’t have that much information [about the causes or whether he was assaulted],” the police told Migrant Tales.

A resident of the neighborhood claimed that the Somali was attacked by a group of Finns who forced their way into his home with a chainsaw.

“They [the Finns] entered the [Somali’s] home and fearing for his life he tried escaping by leaping from the balcony,” said a Somali resident of the neighborhood  who knew the victim.

The apartment, located in the neighborhood of Toppila, houses many immigrants.

Adolescent says visible minorities get attacked "several times a week" in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Rebecka Holm, the fourteen-year-old who rallied enough courage to write a letter to  HBL, asks in an interview on Monday on the Swedish-speaking daily an important question: “If Finland is now the most secure and stable country [in the world], why do people of [different] ethnic backgrounds get attacked every day?”

Holm said that she wrote the letter to the editor because her friends and herself were being harassed too often in public.  When asked how often by HBL, she responds: ” I see it happen several times a week and it happens to me personally.  I am subjected to [those types of] attacks maybe once a week.”

Like many others in Finland, even an adolescent understands that there is too little debated publicly in society about racism.

We have heard it too often from the you-know-whom politicians: Racism isn’t a problem in Finland. It’s a media fabrication.

As long as adolescents, children and adults get harassed openly in public in Finland because of their ethnic background, the further we will venture from those values that make us proud of those noble values that unite us as a society. In those values racism and prejudice have no place.

Even if they are a minority carrying out these attacks, it is the the apathy and silence of the majority that gives them a tap on the back and whispers: Go ahead.

LiveScience: Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Before you jump to any conclusions, the story does not claim that liberals are smart and conservative-minded people lack intelligence. What the findings of the study claim is that low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate towards conservative ideologies. 

Here is a link to another blog entry in February 2011 that showed a correlation between low self-esteem and racism. 

If there is a link between low IQ and prejudice, what would we call a politician, who appears to have a head on his or her shoulder,  but uses racism to get more votes and popularity?  

“Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice,” lead researcher Gordon Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience. “Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood.” 

 Here is an important point that should be highlighted from the story: “People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races [in Europe we call them ethnic groups].”

Finding the causes of racism are important because such a social ill is the cause of a lot of hardship and is one of the main culprits behind most if not all wars. Hodson said that many anti-prejudice programs encourage participants to see the world from another group’s view. 

“That mental exercise may be too taxing for people of low IQ,” he said.

__________________

Stephanie Pappas

There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy. The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. 

Read whole story.