Tag: Racism

Who remembers Ulla Pyysalo and her links to the neo-Nazi PVL?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

By Enrique Tessieri

Remember Ulla Pyysalo, Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Juho Eerola’s aide? She’s the one who got her fingers burned when her name appeared on a hacked membership list of the neo-Nazi Pohjoismaisen vastarintaliike (PVL).  Pyysalo said that she would resign if she found a new job by the end of last year. Well, folks, surprise, surprise… My sources in parliament tell me that Pyysalo is still working for Eerola.

The Pyysalo affair demonstrates beyond any doubt that it is perfectly fine to be a PS member and belong to a neo-Nazi association like PVL as long as you were drunk while applying for membership or didn’t quite know what you were doing but thought it was a patriotic act.

What is not acceptable to the PS, however, is to threaten people’s lives.  Hemmo Koskiniemi was informed by Soini that he did not want the Rovaniemi city councilman to run for the party in the October 28 municipal election.

Prior to the death threat, Soini appears not to be worried at all by the racism and xenophobia spread in Koskiniemi’s writings.

Migrant Tales had got in touch with Uusi Suomi, the City of Rovaniemi and Council for Mass Media in Finland (JSN) about a blog Koskiniemi blog entry published on June 7, 2011.

Thus if you are a PS member, it is perfectly fine to get fined for hate speech, spread urban myths about immigrants, pile racist rhetoric deep and high, belong to a neo-Nazi association as long as you are drunk  but don’t threaten people’s lives!

Is full integration and ethnic equality possible in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What would happen if different ethnic groups switched their roles in society and promoted their history and justification of the domination of other groups? Below is a satirical video clip about that switched view  of white Australia’s ongoing program of racism and oppression of black indigenous people.

Setting satire aside for a moment, is the fear that those who oppress us driven by ignorance or by a stark fact: If people ever woke up and understood how they’ve been exploited and deprived, would that lead to a revolution?

A 1960s black activist from Harlem, Elder Lewis Michaux, raises some serious questions even about our integration program in Finland. He said about the black man’s and woman’s plight in the United States: “Integration will never happen. You will never, as long as you live, integrate into the white man’s system.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uyEYqb7L48o#!]

Is Finland’s integration program really serious about raising the immigrant, never mind their children and grandchildren, to the same status as white Finns? When can they remove the “immigrant background label” off and be accepted as Finns on their own ethnic and cultural terms?

Here, I believe, we have to look at expectations versus reality. Expectations are noble but the results are so far dismal. The rise of a populist anti-immigration party in April like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) raises a lot of questions not only about where Finland is heading but how passionate we are about ethnic and minority equality in this country.

If you are an optimist you may believe that Finland’s noble social welfare system and the values that give it its reason for being will promote and encourage even ethnic equality. If you are a pessimist, however, you may believe that the social welfare system is only an effective way of brushing the sticky issue of equal rights under the rug.

In order for this society to take that giant first step towards ethnic and social equality, we must have mutual acceptance. How many politicians use the term acceptance in their daily speech?

Is full integration and ethnic equality possible in Finland?

At this point we are pretty far from that ideal.

Colorlines: How to Be a Racial Justice Hero, on MLK Day and All Year Long

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States. Like many who lived in the 1960s, MLK and the Civil Rights Movement he led in the 1950s and 1960s continues to inspire many like me today. 

I still remember the day when in junior high school in Hollywood we were told that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.  It was in the afternoon in California since King Jr. was killed at 6:01 pm at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  Of that day I remember two things: a sense of despair since, like the John F. Kennedy assassination, another great man had been killed; a white man on the radio said that he was happy that King Jr. had been killed. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eD_joYaasM&feature=youtu.be]

What can we learn in Finland about MLK and others that fought for social justice at the time like Malcolm X?

The most important lesson is that we can change and make history. 

_______________

by Hatty Lee, Terry Keleher

As we celebrate a new year and another Martin Luther King holiday, it’s a good time to reflect on how you can be part of some positive change in the year ahead. Rather than the typical resolutions, which can get a bit self-absorbed, why not resolve to step up your game in making social change? The good news is that you already have everything you need, just as you are, to become a powerful force for racial justice. You can be a Racial Transformer. 

What’s that, you ask?

Read whole story.

What should an immigrant do if he cannot find work in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What should you do if you live in Finland and cannot find employment? The lucky ones can move to another country but for many it is a crude dead-end street lined with little hope: fragmented work life, lower salary than average, health problems and, worse, discrimination that will discourage you to integrate.  

There is an interesting article in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat on page A8 about a U.S. citizen, Ryan Savage, who is married to a Finn.

“USAmerican Ryan Savage is a dream come true for the immigration officials:  university graduate that moved with his spouse to Finland. He speaks the most widely spoken language in the world [English]. The problem is that Savage cannot find any work in Finland.”

Helsingin Sanomat claims that immigrant men make on average 10,000 euros less than Finnish men, while the difference [6,000 euros] is less between immigrant and Finnish women.

Other sad realities about being an immigrant in this country are that you have a greater chance of living in poverty than Finnish families and have twice as greater chance of being attacked by another person than a Finn. One study showed that immigrant men have 50% more ear ailments than Finnish males.

If the above is true, we should be especially concerned and critical about those parties that play down the role prejudice and racism in this country. All these social and physical symptoms mentioned above are indirectly or directly related to social ills like exclusion.

But if a politician, political party or society deny that racism is not a big social problem in this country and that everything is fine, it is effectively telling you that they will not do anything to tackle the problems of our ever-growing immigrant community.  Thus you do not exist. Since you don’t exist there is no reason to even worry never mind begin addressing your problems.

There are many ways of confronting the apathy or denial of the majority concerning our community: get involved in a political party, form a social movement, start up a blog like Migrant Tales or Facebook page like My Finland is International, or simply leave Finland for greener pastures.

Everyone isn’t that fortunate that he or she can just move to anther country. Some are forced to face that depressing  music that eats away at your self-esteem and keeps you from realizing your full potential in this society.

A society like ours that claims to be for social justice and equality cannot accept prejudice, exclusion and inequality in any form.

While first-generation immigrants should raise their voices in Finland and demand changes, it is their children  that are our hope.

Some of them have seen enough of how their parents have been excluded from the labor market and are getting the short end of society’s stick.

They, rightfully, have a valid gripe and should demand far better than what their parents got.

It’s time to organize, be and think proactively.

The question that exposed Timo Soini’s good-cop-bad-cop strategy on racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The televised presidential debate on Thursday is probably one of the first times when Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini’s good-cop-bad-cop strategy was uncovered to the tee. His usual response, “I don’t support racism and hate speech,” didn’t work because it was unconvincing and even had a grotesque quality. 

We should thank again the high school students of the city of Järvenpää for their good question that brought Soini’s political house of cards down.

The question inspired as well other presidential candidates taking part in the debate, namely Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democrats, Swedish People’s Party Eva Biaudet and Paavo Arhimäki of the Left Alliance, to continue to grill Soini and not let him off the hook as easily as in the past.

With young people like the ones we saw on television this week and their good questions, we can rest assured that Finland is in good hands and will not fall victim to nationalistic populism and hatred.

The startling discovery that one will make when studying Soini’s ideology and the PS is that at the end of the day he thinks just like those worst racists in his party.  The big difference between Soini and those “bad cops” is that he is a good talker. Soini does not insult any group directly like some of his more cruder MPs.

But don’t be mistaken, it’s the same beast with the difference being that the message comes in sugar-coated words.

There is a very good column by Pekka Vasala of Kainuun Sanomat that catches Soini in his good-cop-bad-cop role.

How can a politician like Soini be against racism and prejudice when he prizes politically people like Jussi Halla-aho with the chair of the administration committee? How can he lead by example if he attracts Nazi-spirited members that belong to associations like Suomen Sisu and SKV? The PS chairman literally shakes your hand with a smile but then clobbers you with the other.

Once we understand how a political beast like Soini and the PS operate, we can begin to tackle an ever-growing social ill in this country: far-right nationalism, inequality, prejudice and racism.

It’s not complicated. It’s as simple as that.

Finnish high school students ask tough questions on racism to PS candidate Soini

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Thanks to hard questions asked by high school students on Thursday’s Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) televised debate to Perussuomalaiset (PS)  Timo Soini, the issue of racism in Finland finally got the scrutiny it deserved in the presidential campaign.

Taking into account that an anti-immigration party like the PS won its historic election victory in April, a social ill like racism has got dear little attention in the presidential election.

This fact reveals that Finland is either in deep denial or in shock-and-awe concerning the rise of the PS and the xenophobic atmosphere it has helped to fuel in this country.

But the critical and persistent questions by the high school students on YLE’s presidential debate on Thursday to PS leader Soini on racism in his party encouraged other candidates to grill the populist leader on the topic.

Thanks to the example of the students, there is hope that the beachhead the PS has got in Finland is seriously questioned by those that will lead this country in the future.

Those candidates that denied on the YLE debate that racism had lifted its head in Finland were the usual ones:  Soini as well as Christian Democrat hopeful Sari Essayah and Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party.

Soini backed his claim by hiding behind a Police College report  in October that showed that hate crimes had fallen by 15% in 2010 versus the previous year.
Social Democrat Party hopeful Paavo Lipponen, who said he had become a candidate because he was concerned about the rise of racism and the PS in Finland, hit Soini the hardest.
“Even if [your party] had 50% support I would still be against this type of [racist] politics,” Lipponen said on Helsingin Sanomat quoting the YLE debate. “This must come to a stop…”
Lipponen said that the PS’ connections to far-right European parties is shameful.

Uncovering the tree of hatred

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If we could draw a tree that bares these fruits of hatred how would it look like? Would our surprise be to discover that it’s the same-looking tree that continues to cast its shadow on all of our societies for centuries? It still stands mighty and tall because we continue to feed and protect it. 

If we strive and aim for social freedom and social equality we must understand the terminology. It’s a bit like being imprisoned but having never heard the word freedom.

The same could apply to an immigrant or minority, who is discriminated by society but cannot place his finger on the words that he needs to know to help him break out of his predicament. How can you demand greater rights from others if you never heard and grasp key social concepts like mutual acceptance, respect and equal rights?

In order then to understand how fear, ignorance and hate promote racism, we’d have to understand the big picture like the one below.

Degrees of Us vs Them / Gloria Yamato’s Degrees of Racism.  Source: Community Village Activist*

Let’s take Finland and use Gloria Yamato’s tree to study how it could work in our context: fear leads to action (Russification, the 1918 Civil War, for example), fear leads to hate (Winter and Continuation War), and fear thoughts (we are such a small country that will be devoured by foreign hordes).

If we understand that fear+ignorance = hate (racism), what would you call a political party like the Perussuomalaiset in Finland that uses fear to attract public attention and votes?

I would call that the worst case of political opportunism and chicanery!

*Thank you Glenn Robinson for the heads-up!   Glenn is a European-American married to a Mexican-American. They have two children. Glenn is interested in progressive immigration reform, and desegregation within schools and communities. He is a life long learner with interests in sociology, anthropology, psychology, history and politics.

Christian Democrat candidate does not see Finland "more racist" than before

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Christian Democrat presidential hopeful, Sari Essayah, was quoted as saying on Jyväskylä-based daily Keskisuomalainen that racism hasn’t increased recently in Finland. She blamed the media for increasing such perceptions for following more closely what is written on different anti-immigration online  forums. 

The socially conservative candidate said, however, that society should have zero tolerance for racism.

What is unclear by Essayah’s statement is how serious of a social problem she believes racism is in Finland and how it should be tackled. Playing down the problem by blaming the media for doing its job will not help racism and prejudice to go away in this country.

Different anti-immigration forums like Hommaforum, Scripta and others gave a big boost to the Perussuomalaiset (PS) election victory in April.

PS leader Timo Soini plays down the  role that the anti-immigration vote in the recent election.

Like Soini and Sauli Niinistö of Kokoomus, Essayah did not see the far-right posing a threat to Finland, according to an MTV3 poll in December.

Is Finland's path that of Hungary's?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

This is not a far-fetched question taking into account what is happening in Hungary and the rise of populism in Finland. How many in Hungary ten years ago could have envisioned what is happening today in that country?  

The architect of Hungary’s ever-autocratic grip over its democratic institutions has been  Fidesz party prime minister, Viktor Orbán. Daniel Cohn Bendit, the leader of the European Green group in the European Parliament, is not too happy in the video clip below about the reforms that have taken place under Orbán.

Says Bendit: “Europe was born in a struggle against totalitarianism and the basis of democracy, the basis of liberty, is quite precisely freedom of expression. And that disturbs. A democracy never died of too much freedom, democracies died through throttling freedoms.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65AT_yJpAw]

Here is a link to a massive protest in Hungary by tens of thousands of people against the government’s reforms.

What we are seeing in Hungary last decade and especially today is of concern: The rise of Antisemitism, xenophobia, hostility towards the Romany minority, increased government monitoring of the media and other institutions like the central bank by the government to name a few.

The guardian.co.uk sums it up pretty well: “…the new constitution is the source of most anguish. It came into effect on 1 January, and, combined with at least 350 laws that have been rushed through during Fidesz’s 20 months in power, has, say critics, all but removed checks and balances to the power of the government and ruling party…There have been crackdowns on Roma rights, and funds for education and social care have been shredded, campaigners say.”

The question that I’d like to ask our bloggers is if Finland could ever follow Hungary’s xenophobic and increasingly anti-democratic path if a party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) got an absolute majority in the election as did Fidesz in 2010.

Fidesz election victory, which gave them two thirds of the seats in parliament, is as impressive as what the PS gained in April.

Another big winner of the 2010 election in Hungary was the Antisemitic and neo-fascist Jobbik.

If any party were to swing Finland on Hungary’s path, the place to start is the Constitution.

I am certain that there are a lot of sympathizers in the PS and in Finland of the anti-democratic reforms  in Hungary.

Thank you JusticeDemon for the heads up!

We can contain the PS' populist threat to Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The more I read about Timo Soini the more I am convinced that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is a threat to this country, especially to those who do not fit the PS’ narrow view of the world. I am not contesting the election result, which I respect, but what the  cat has brought in from the back door.

Marianne Lydén will publish in a few weeks a book, Jag är inte rasist. Jag vill bara ha främlingsfientliga röster [I’m not a racist. I am just out to get the votes of those who hate immigrants], that highlights the role of the media and political parties in fueling the rise of the PS,  according to HBL.

Fear = Hate forums in Finland (Hommaforum, Scripta and others), Ignorance = bloggers who visit these sites, and hate = hostility towards immigrants and visible minorities. Thank you Hannele Kosonen for sharing this very revealing cartoon with us.

While we at Migrant Tales have repeatedly criticized the media’s lack of teeth and the complacency of the largest political parties to the xenophobia and racism of the PS,  Lydén raises the important question again in her book.

If anything, the media and politicians can learn from their past mistakes and now see what can happen when we are too complacent to parties that hold in contempt the rights of other groups in society.

“We journalists did Soini’s work by spreading his hatred of foreigners sometimes unknowingly,” the staff reporter at the Swedish-language daily HBL is quoted as saying, “but if we wouldn’t have written about him we wouldn’t have been doing our job.”

Lydén points the finger in her book at the following politicians for boosting the PS: Kokoomus MP Ben Zyskowicz, Jutta Urpilainen and Eero Heinäluoma of the SDP as well as Center Party veteran politician Paavo Väyrynen.

While you’ll find the same anti-immigration hardliners in all Finnish parties as in the PS, it explains why a politician like Urpilainen can flirt with Soini’s one-way integration model for immigrants and why Wille Rydnman has been christened by his party as Kokoomus’ Jussi Halla-aho.

The HBL reporter shows how an Islamophobist like Halla-aho and Soini complimented each other in the historic April election.  “Without Halla-aho Soini would have never got the anti-immigration vote. Without Soini Halla-aho would not be chairing the administration committee,” she said.

Another important observation that Lydén makes is that nothing happens immediately or by chance in Finland. Racism has been festering in the undercurrent for a long time in Finland.  “What is it and nothing of the sort happens [xenophobia] in Finland was the normal answer,” she said of the 1990s.

I have worked as a foreign correspondent and journalist in Finland for a long time and totally agree with Lydén about turning a blind eye to racism, bigotry and prejudice. If you didn’t you were blacklisted by the foreign ministry which did everything possible to smear your good name.

I am certain that Lasse Lehtinen, Rolf Friberg, Pekka Karhuvaara and Finnfacts can give us more details about how the foreign ministry “worked” with foreign journalists during the cold war and tried to convince us that Finlandization did not exist.

We are in big trouble if we deal with this threat of the PS in the same manner as we did before the election.

However, I believe that Finland is slowly but surely learning a stinging lesson from its pre-April 17 mistakes.