Tag: Racism

How to effectively burn cultural bridges in Finland and elsewhere

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If you want to build bridges of understanding between different cultures, you have to learn acceptance, respect, have an open mind and good social communication skills.  The total opposite of the above are racism, ignorance, pigheadedness and the inability to learn about other cultures never mind effective communication skills.

Most of us learn to communicate socially in our country. Why? Because it is an effective way to speak to others and make your point.

Thanks to such a valuable skill we’ve been able to build and live today in a society that isn’t yet too polarized.

That has now changed especially after the April 17 election. Even if there may be many socio-economic factors at play,  disrespect stands out as one of the culprits.

If we visit some websites in Finland like Hommaforum and Scripta, it becomes clear that they are forums where some people let their hate and racism hang out freely. How many of these bloggers would speak in such a tone to their own group? Maybe some, but not the majority because they know it is inappropriate and offensive.

For some odd reason, some Finns believe that it is perfectly fine to insult other groups. If they are criticized on this point for spreading urban legends, they point to the First Amendment, or freedom of speech.

There are ways to express opposition and other ways that are totally counterproductive.  Racism and disrespect are ineffective ways to get your point across.

Kokoomus presidential hopeful, Sauli Niinistö, said in a recent interview on STT that disrespect is one of the key issues that has poisoned the debating atmosphere in Finland. “…since that person said it like that, I’ll show him (and hit him harder). Probably the person did not mean to be so offensive,” he said.

Glenn Robinson publishes a lot of interesting material on Community Village Daily Activist. One of the blog entries is on multicultural etiquette.  He gives the following advice:

1. It’s okay to speak the language of another culture.

2. It’s okay to eat the food of another culture.

3. It’s okay to use the technology of another culture.

4. It’s okay for actors to dress in the clothes of another culture.

5. It’s NOT okay for you to dress in the clothes of another culture on Halloween.

6. It’s NOT okay to tell an African American that they sound like a ‘White’ person – even if you’re joking.

Do you think the following points apply to Finland? What would you add or omit from Robinson’s list?

Here is another link to seven innocent gestures that can get you killed overseas.

Should Finland adopt a citizenship test?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What would an anti-immigration hardliner like MP Olli Immonen of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party seek when he believes that Finland should adopt a citizenship test like in countries like the United Kingdom? Immonen offered a written question Thursday on the matter to the speaker of the house.

Before we get to the bottom of what is behind Immonen’s written question, please visit his website and check out who he is. Behind him stands a smiling PS head Timo Soini.

One matter that becomes clear from his official website is that Immonen does not like Muslims: “Just say no to Islamization” together with links to Hommaforum and Scripta, both are multiculturally challenged websites that regurgitate urban legends about immigrants.

Moreover, you’ll find a link as well to the Nuiva manifesto, a far-right assimilation model for immigrants, never mind a “I support free speech” icon.

Migrant Tales defines multiculturalism to mean cultural diversity and the right of people to practice and be proud of their cultural backgrounds.

I personally believe that if we live in a culturally diverse society, mutual acceptance and respect are crucial. A culturally diverse society should work like any society with the difference that it is made up of different cultural groups that accept, respect and treat each other as equals.

Britain is officially a multicultural country, which promotes two-way integration not one-way, or assimilation. The other two officially multicultural countries in the world are Canada and Australia.

Taking into account Immonen’s extremists views on immigration and especially on Muslims, does he want Finland’s citizenship test, if ever adopted, to measure assimilation?

If that is the case, which I believe it is, his proposal should be flatly rejected as a sham.

Mail Online: Apartheid row at Oslo school as teachers segregate ethnic students so white children don’t feel ‘in a minority’

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Migrant Tales has published a few blog entries on calls by Finnish teachers to place caps on students with immigrant backgrounds. This actually happened at a school in the Norwegian capital of Oslo and sparked, rightfully, an outcry. 

The reason? “Teachers at the school claim the segregation in one of the three general studies classes was a result of many white Norwegians changing schools after feeling they were in ‘the minority’ in classes,” reports the Mail Online. 

Why is segregating or placing caps wrong at schools? For one, it’s not the teachers who decide who their pupils will be but the school board. Moreover, aren’t the children “Norwegian” if they have lived in the country most of their lives? How do you define “a student with immigrant background?”

One of the most valuable matters that white and students with culturally diverse backgrounds could learn is from themselves.  

But there are different opinions: “…Robert Wright, a Christian Democrat politician and former head of the city’s schools board said authorities had been wrong to block the move claiming other Oslo schools follow Bjerke’s example to stop a situation of ‘white flight.'”

Torge Ødegaard, Oslo education minister, said segregation of classes by ethnicity was unacceptable.

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By Lucy Buckland

A Norwegian school segregated ethnic minority classmates because white children were feeling ‘in the minority.’  The move, at Bjerke Upper Secondary School in Oslo, divided students and parents, sparking an protests across the city.

Read whole story.

Thank you @getgln for the heads up!

Who is Finland’s Uncle Tom?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What are Uncle Toms called in Finland? @HelsinkiObs helped me out with this question: “It’s Setä Tuomo (older style) or Tuomo-setä if you mean this context.” 

A New York Times opinion-piece gives the meaning of Uncle Tom: “Today, of course, the book has a decidedly different reputation, thanks to the popular image of its titular character, Uncle Tom — whose name has become a byword for a spineless sellout, a black man who betrays his race.”

In Finland the definition would, in my opinion, be a bit different. A Tuomo-setä could be any immigrant who betrays other people like him by becoming and adopting the same values that fuel racism.

The Finnish Uncle Tom is a pretty opportunistic person. He or she believes that the only way to escape discrimination is by accepting those values that promote social exclusion of other groups like immigrants.

There are a lot of Tuomo-setäs out there who are more racist than some Finns.

What do you think would be a good name for an Uncle Tom that lives in Finland?

Mamu-setä, maybe?

Community Village Activist: When Worlds Collide

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: The more we read about how racism and greed have destroyed so much beauty before us, the more we should be concerned about fighting these types of social ills. 

The Community Village Activist publishes an interesting opinion-piece that asks some timely questions: “But I digress. What I wanted to ask is: When worlds collide, who’s interests should win? The group with the bigger guns?”

We know the answer to that question. However, look at the misery and hatred we have sown due to our greed and racism, which is an important fuel of the former. 

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I’m European American and I’ve been trying to unpack what it means to be living on the land of First Nation Peoples / Indigenous Native American land. Every sane individual would agree that people are not supposed to steal, and yet, Non-Native Americans live on stolen land every day. 

Read whole story.

Thank you @getgln for the heads up!

Spiegel Online International: Racism in Germany – A Story of Death Threats and Casual Insults

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is another story published by Spiegel Online International on the harrowing experiences of a family in Germany perpetrated by a far-right group.

Migrant Tales has published and commented on a number of stories about the worrying rise and crimes of the far right in Germany.  In Finland, we have seen the rise of similar parties as well. If we want to know what kind of a threat they represent to our society, Germany would be a good place to begin. 

Writes Spiegel Online International:  “Four weeks was the amount of time that passed between the two death threats the Krause family (eds. note: not their real name) found in their mailbox. The first letter came in August 2011. The sender had cut letters out of a newspaper to form a message warning that Mr. Krause and his family would be killed if they didn’t leave Germany.

Why? Because Mrs. Krause and the couple’s two children have dark skin. Because Mrs. Krause comes from East Africa.

The second letter came in September, and the sender spent far less time on it. He simply drew four crosses on a sheet of white paper — one for each member of the family. For the son, for the daughter, for Mr. Krause and for Mrs. Krause.”

What is the lesson we can learn from Germany on racism and far-right groups? 

Silence is a poor response to such an ominous threat to our society. 

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Germany was shocked to learn the extent of the crimes committed by a recently uncovered right-wing extremist group. But racism is hardly an anomaly in Germany. One family’s experience shows just how widespread prejudice and hate really is.

Read whole story.

Denial, ignorance and racism are the lamentable side of the same coin

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

When do immigrants and Finns with culturally diverse backgrounds become their worst enemy? Does it happen when we become blind or play down the existence of social ills such as racism and prejudice in our society?

Martin Luther King (1928-68), sheds some light to this question: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

In the same manner, we can highlight the “appalling silence” and denial of some immigrants.

It’s misleading — to put it very lightly — to think that just because a person is an immigrant  he or she does not hold any prejudices. There are ample threads on Migrant Tales that reveal how some immigrants  can be more racist and nationalistic than some Finns.

Where do you expect racism in the Americas came from? It did not spring from nowhere.  Some immigrants brought it with them as part of their baggage to the New World from their former home countries.

The need to adapt in a new society may be so strong for some that it may encourage them to become more nationalistic and racist than some Finns. The other lamentable side of the coin is denial of the existence of any problems such as discrimination.

One person that comes to mind is Belgium-born naturalized Finn Freddy Van Wanterghem, a Perussuomalaiset party city councilman from Kotka who has pretty extremist ideas especially about Muslims and Africans.

I recently read an interview about with a black African on Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo. The person denied that he had ever been mistreated in Finland.

“I have never faced racism in Finland,” he was quoted as saying. “There was more of that in Egypt, where people thought we were stealing their jobs…Young people may sometimes comment things (in public). It’s more teasing than racism. Usually they are surprised when I speak back to them in Finnish.”

If we are fair, it must be pretty depressing if you are black to be constantly asked the question “have you suffered racism in this country?” Even if this may be the case, denial isn’t the correct path.

Denial, ignorance and even racism of some immigrants are even greater challenges than the institutional racism we find in society.

MTV3: Janne Virkkunen: Tulevan presidentin puututtava Suomen ahdistavaan ilmapiiriin

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Former Helsingin Sanomat editor-in-chief, Janne Virkkunen, expresses concern over the anti-immigration atmosphere in Finland. He partly blames its rise on the Perussuomalaiset (PS), whose head, Timo Soini, is well aware of the racism issue of the party. 

Globalization is another factor which has motived some Finns to look for a scapegoat for the country’s problems, according to him.  

The former editor-in-chief said that curbing debate on the Internet will not undermine hate speech. He believed that one matter that could be done now is for the presidential candidates to take a strong stand against such a social ill. 

Migrant Tales agrees totally with Virkkunen’s analysis and medicine for Finland. The only way that racism can be beat is to react and confront it with facts. Too many politicians in Finland have, however, chosen to remain silent on this front. 

Silence is racism’s best ally because it feeds its delusional view of the world. 

If we permit racism to enter our society through the backdoor and allow it to grow unchecked, it will impact Finland politically, socially and economically.  

By racist parties we mean those that encourage and spread urban tales about immigrants for their own opportunistic means. The most notable of these are the PS in general and the anti-immigration wing in particular led by MP Jussi Halla-aho. 

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Helsingin Sanomien entinen päätoimittaja Janne Virkkunen on huolissaan Suomessa leviävästä ulkomaalaisvastaisuudesta ja vihakirjoittelusta. “Minua ahdistaa. Yhteiskuntamme ilmapiiri on tällä hetkellä sellainen, että suvaitsemattomuus vain nousee nousemistaan,” Janne Virkkunen sanoo.

Read whole story.

The snow job of the far right in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The shocking revelations in Germany, whereby 140 people have died since 1990 as a result of far-right violence, is a wake-up call for us in Finland as well.  How is it possible that so many people are killed by a far-right terror cell without anyone raising a question? 

Writes Spiegel Online International: “Now, Germany has been startled from its slumber. Ever since the discovery of an underground far-right terror group which apparently targeted Turkish small businessmen all across Germany for many years, the law enforcement agencies have been asking themselves how they could have overlooked something that is actually impossible to overlook.”

The guardian.co.uk reports: “The German parliament has passed a cross-party resolution expressing ‘deep shame’ that a neo-Nazi terror cell was left unchecked to murder 10 people during 13 years on the run.”

Supo assured Finns in early November that while it takes the far right seriously, it does not consider these groups dangerous, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

What does “dangerous” mean? Should we be concerned?

Any person with some understanding of what has happened this year should be concerned. A party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which got 19.1% of the votes in April from a tad over 4% in 2007, has received a dubious reputation in only eight months after its election victory. Just over a week after the election, it became pretty clear what some of their MPs thought about racism. Then came other issues concerning democracy, sexism, homosexuals never mind links to neo-Nazi associations like the Suomen Kansalinen Vastarinta (SKV).

Denial is one of the oldest snow jobs in the books: Racists never admit they are racists never mind the far right telling us that they are extremists.  That is why the role of  academics, analysts, writers and journalists who are on the ball are crucial at exposing these groups for what they are.

Some sectors of Finland, especially the police and Supo, have pretty conservative views about Finnish society. For some of them, the PS and groups like Suomen Sisu aren’t an issue because they identify with their ideology.

Even so, we at Migrant Tales see a worrying trend in Finland after April even though we feel that more Finns than ever expected are standing up to this menace posed by racism and nationalism.

By extremists we mean the SKV, Suomen Sisu and “light” versions of the latter like the PS, especially the Nuiva manifesto faction led by Jussi Halla-aho.

Should we be concerned or not in Finland?

I would be.

Further momentum against racism in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Here is a story published Sunday on Savon Sanomat of Kuopio that shows members in the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) party giving the thumbs down to racism. Jukka Kotimäki, PS organization secretary of Siilimäki near Kuopio,  states that he does not want openly racist people to be a part of his party. 

Even though we are speaking of a small community in Eastern Finland, it shows that there is already debate in the PS on this important issue. We should applaud a member of the PS, who states that racism has nothing to do with his party.

While this is a very good sign, the PS still has a lot of work and issues to resolve concerning its stand on discrimination and racism. One of the persons we’d be happy to hear and make a break with this type of anti-social behavior is PS head Timo Soini.

Migrant Tales wrote recently about how most parties in Finland are giving the thumbs down to racism.

In my opinion, the mere idea that Finland could turn into a Denmark or that some politicians believe that they could become a Finnish Geert Wilders or even a modern Arthur Seyss-Inquart exposes not only their delusional opportunism but their ignorance on immigration.

While there is still a lot of work to do on the anti-racism front in Finland, there is hope  especially for our children and grandchildren so they may live in a country where racism and hatred of other groups are shameful and rare.

Shortly after this latest blog entry was published, @HelsinkiObs tweeted the following:Please also note that @anon_finland have taken a very strong stance. #anti-racism.

Thank you for the heads up!