Tag: Racism

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Swiss deportation referendum success puts human rights at risk

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Amnesty International urges the Swiss authorities at all levels not to enforce the deportation of foreigners convicted of certain criminal offences if this will result in human rights violations after voters backed the move in a referendum on Sunday.

If the results of the referendum known as the ’Deportation Initiative’ are implemented, the Swiss constitution would be amended to permit the “automatic” and immediate deportation of non-citizens convicted for certain criminal offences to their countries of origin.  According to media sources 52.9% per cent of the votes were in favour of the amendment.

Foreign nationals convicted for several criminal offences, including murder, rape, (armed) robbery, trafficking in persons and in drugs, as well as welfare benefit fraud, will be immediately stripped of their residence permit and right to remain in the country.

The Swiss People’s Party used xenophobic publicity materials. © Qtea

“If put into practice, the amendment to the constitution risks violating Switzerland’s obligations under international law, in particular the obligation not to return anyone to a country where they would be at risk of torture or other forms of persecution,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.

“Switzerland cannot, and must not, allow popular — and xenophobic — initiatives to override its obligations under international law. Switzerland should also grant persons subject to deportation the opportunity to appeal any decision.”

The amendment required by the referendum removes any possibility of appealing the deportation order, which would be made by a regional migration office. The removal of the right to appeal would also put Switzerland in breach of its international obligations.

The move could put many second and third generation migrants at risk of deportation. Those whose parents were not Swiss citizens at the time of their birth, and retain the nationality of their families’ country of origin, could be deported if the amendment is implemented.

The Deportation Initiative took place following a campaign launched by the populist Swiss People’s Party that resorted to openly discriminatory and xenophobic publicity materials, including a poster with a slogan “Ivan S. – a rapist and soon Swiss?” and another with a cartoon graphic depicting a black sheep being kicked out of Switzerland by white sheep.

A just ending for racist graffiti in Mikkeli in eastern Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I got an email from Zuzeeko who writes the neat On the Road to Success blog and recently launched with some other people a new magazine called Dunia. This is what he wrote: 

Wow! Glad to hear the racist graffiti are now history. I consider this a success for Kansainvälinen Mikkeli Ry and the good people of Mikkeli. Sincerely, I never thought the graffiti in the pedestrian tunnel would be removed. Congratulations! This is worthy of an update on the blog. Don’t you think?

He is absolutely right.  We wrote about the matter on Migrant Tales but nothing about how the second graffiti was removed. The fate of the second spray-painting in Mikkeli in eastern Finland was reported by Kansainvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) on Facebook on November 2.

This wall had sprayed blacks out while the other one on a school wall read “White power.” Both were painted over by city employees in early November and early October, respectively. This shows what a group of determined people can do to make Mikkeli a more pleasant place to live.

Ridding the graffiti was not only a victory for Kansainvälinen Mikkeli but for all the people of the city. It is a clear message that we take a very tough view of racism.

I was surprised, however, that even if a teacher had seen the “White power” graffiti on the wall he had done nothing about it after he had noticed it in spring.

When I approached the teacher about the matter in September, he considered it more important to tell me that whenever anti-immigration parties like the True Finns and Muutos 2011 are labelled racists whenever they criticize foreigners.

Was this the reason why he preferred to do nothing for so many months and in the process put in question the values of our world-class educational system?

The lessons from Tampere

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some Finns took a deep sigh of relief when the deadly fire that cost the lives of three innocent victims wasn’t racially motivated but one perpetrated by the immigrant owner in a failed insurance scam.

All the political gains that far-right members of the True Finns led by Jussi Halla-aho expected to make from this tragic event didn’t materialize because it was a false-alarm wake-up call to what kinds of scars racism can leave on society.

One of the greatest threats to our image abroad is racism. Imagine what would happen if our country turned into a Denmark after the April 2011 election? Where would our noble egalitarian values be? What about our world-class educational system? Would we start teaching students to loathe those that are different from us?

The Tampere fire also caused a few red faces, namely that of Social Democrat MPs Päivi Lipponen and Kimmo Kiljunen. Even before the official police report came out, both claimed that the fire was an act of racism. Lipponen apologized today in her blog for her remarks.

Adding salt to injury, tabloid Ilta-Sanomat‘s editorial slammed Lipponen and Kiljunen.  It asked whether Lipponen and Kiljunen trusted “the people” of Finland. Ilta-Sanomat said that both politicians see their people so “racist, aggressive and criminal that whenever a crime happens against immigrants they automatically blame Finns.”

Pretty strong words coming from a tabloid that has shaped in many respects some Finns’ racist perceptions of foreigners especially in the early 1990s when Somalis started to come to Finland.

Despite all the questions and concern that the fire in Tampere caused, there is one matter it will not change: the challenges that Finland faces concerning its ever-growing immigration population.

It will not, unfortunately, also bring back the lives of the three persons that died.

Now the law must take its course and find suitable punishment for those that caused the crime.

Racists out of the Finnish closet

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If I had to ask a question about racism in Finland today, I would try to understand its extent and how it manifests itself. Why has racism raised its head today in Finland? Should we thank those that have exposed this murky side of ourselves?

It was easy in the past for some Finns to be racist because they did not have to acknowledge it as a problem. Since it was rarely identified if ever debated for as long and passionately as today it was therefore not seen as an issue.

Those that insult other immigrants with their populist statements commit a grave blunder: They believe racism and exclusion are normal and a part of our heritage (sic!).

What makes their platform even more suspect is that they take such stands for the purpose of getting elected never mind offer any effective solution on how to build good ethnic relations in Finland.

Whom am I speaking of? Those that use funny arguments like “freedom of expression” to justify their far-right nationalistic agendas. Even so, it is a good matter that they have come out of the closet in droves in Finland.

Coming out has given sensible Finns the opportunity to address effectively once and for all this social ill. If it is a small or big problem is not the issue. The most important matter is that it is out in the open for all of us to see.

We can now address this issue more effectively than ever before. Finland has all the resources and good will to do so.

Polls are polls in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The recent rise of the anti-immigration True Finns in the polls should be taken with a generous dose of salt. Does it represent the will of the people and how much of it will translate into MPs for the True Finns in the April 2011 elections is another story.

What is interesting, however, is how the other parties are reacting to the poll results.

In many respects the polls have helped a lot of extremist views to get out of the closet. Such people mistakenly believe that it is now normal to have far-right views on matters such as immigration since the “polls tell us that we are no longer a small minority.”

Some members of the left are labelling the True Finns a fascist party while those in the right like to call them populists.  What about if we called them an anti-immigration party that does not like anything foreign? By foreign I mean the EU, immigrants, diversity etc. Is that the type of Finland Finns want to build in the future? I doubt it.

There are many reasons why the True Finns have fared well in the polls. The recession is a key factor as well as the scandals that have ridden Finland’s ruling political parties.

Should we be worried about the rise of xenophobia in Finland? Certainly yes. Is it a problem? Not really but could become one if we continue to give it more attention than is necessary. In every society there will be extremists. The best defense against these radical groups is our democratic liberal system that permits freedom of speech no matter how outrageous their message is.

A lot of things can happen until the April elections. One matter is for certain: The extremists of the True Finns party are a minority in every sense of the word.

Their dubious success does not depend on their message but on our reaction to it.

Keep a cool head, Finland.

Thank the immigrants of Finland!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

While some parties like the anti-immigration True Finns boast that they are responsible for bringing the debate on immigration and refugees to the national spotlight, nothing could be further from the truth.

Those that have brought the issue to national attention are none other than immigrants and refugees of this country.

They if any have shown the weaknesses and the strong points about our society. In the process they have also revealed pleasant and unpleasant matters about ourselves like the role of racism.

Would there be such a big debate if only a handful of immigrants lived among our ranks?

Probably not.

The national debate on immigrants is nothing more than reaction to the ever-growing immigrant population and its future role in our aging nation.

Too many of those taking part in the national debate are busy reacting to immigration as opposed to taking proactive stances and asking how do we make it work.

If a country wants to be receptive to immigration it has to see it through many angles. Why would any sensible person want to move to a country that vilifies certain groups and has a schizopohrenic view of the outside world?

Thus some of us want to slam the door on Muslims but promote “good” immigraition to the country; we want Finland to be a springboard to the Russian market even though prejudice against Russians is a serious issue.

Handing Finland’s future immigration policy to groups like the True Finns or succumbing to a policy of fear to the outside world will be like shooting oneself in the leg.

These groups, and those that side with their cause, will be the ones that will end up creating those ghettos and social inequality that they claim to be defending us from.

The tale of two racist spray paintings in an eastern Finnish city

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A new association called Kansavinvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) was registered on September 23. One of its most important aims is to serve as a forum where Finns and immigrants can openly debate topics that affect each other and create a greater sense of community.

One of the first matters that the association tackled was racist graffiti on the walls of the Kattilansilta School and underpass in Mikkeli.  To our surprise, the disturbing messages of both spray paintings had been there for months. The first one, at the school for children with learning disorders, had been noticed by one of the teachers in spring. The second one had been seen for the first time about seven months ago.

This spray painting was first noticed in spring by a teacher at the school for students with learning disorders. The school states on its website the following: We aim to foster the development of young people by meeting their needs and giving them the confidence and competence to lead independent, purposeful and enjoyable lives.

Even though the work of these spray-paintings is that of a deranged person, the most worrying matter is that some of the teachers didn’t think it was an urgent enough issue to address immediately.

Here is a discussion I had with one of the teachers of the Kattilansilta School in September:

“That sign has been there since spring,” he admitted. “They don’t represent my values.”

After a brief silence, the teacher continues: “Why is it that groups such as the (anti-immigration) True Finns and Muutos 2011 are labelled racist whenever they criticize immigrants for getting more social welfare than Finns?”

I asked him how he knew that some immigrants got more social welfare than Finns. He responded the local media as his main source.

This case at the school and my brief discussion with one of the teachers is,  in my opinion, a case in point why racism is still acceptable among some circles in Finland. It is done through silent approval or disapproval. The reaction could be compared with what happens in countries where human rights violations are the order of the day. Nobody dares to say anything in the erroneous belief or fear that nothing will ever happen to them.

After a call to the principal of Vanamo Special School, the graffiti was pained over the next day. The principal has his office in Vanamo Special School,  which reveals that the teachers of Kattilansilta School never brought the matter to his attention.

Here is one of the walls of the school where two of the three “white power” graffiti was sprayed.

The “Niggers Out” (apologies for the racist content of the photograph below) is still on the wall of an underpass after the association had got in touch in early October with the municipality.

This graffiti was first noticed on a wall of a Mikkeli underpass about seven months ago.These spray paintings appear to be the work of a neo-Nazi sympathizer(s).

Two questionable eras in Europe with the same message

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two posters (apologies for the offensive content) from different eras: One that is anti-semitic from Germany in 1940* and the other from a referendum in Switzerland in 2009 on a ban of building minarets on mosques.  Even though these posters were printed in different periods, the message is the same: barbarization of a group.

*The first source I used claimed the film was released in 1937. It was released in 1940. If you wish to see this horrible film, click here. Note the claims that the German narrator makes: “Jews are lazy, criminals and incompatible with our Aryan way of life.”  Sounds familiar, no?

If you still disagree, go to about 18 minutes of the film and pay close attention to these claims:

The parasite nation of Judah is responsible for a large part of international crime.

In 1932 the Jews, who made up only 1% of the world’s population, accounted for 34% of the world’s dope peddlers, 46% of robberies, 47% of crooked games of chance, 82% of international crime organizations, and 98% of dealers of prostitution. The most common expressions from the jargon of international gangsters and criminals… stem from Hebrew and Yiddish words.

At the end of the film the narrators affirms:  Keeping one’s race pure is one of the legacies of the National Socialist movement leaves to the German nation forever. In the spirit the unified German people march on into the future.


Populist chatter and a tale of elk flies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is a True Finns candidate in the April 2011 elections that spreads elk flies every time he opens his mouth to bash immigrants. His multicultural name, James Hirvisaari,* gets a lot of free publicity whenever blogs like mine comment on his extremist views.

Hirvisaari has a problem: He is another True Finn that has been charged for incitement of ethnic hatred.

His campaign catchphrase is: Finnish language, Finnish spirit, Finnish nature, Finnish flag. This phrase, in my opinion, shows how low xenophobic groups in Finland have stooped. They now use our sacred icons to drive home their racist views.

Hirvisaari’s first campaign promise, I support a Finnish Finland in a European Europe, is a phrase that looks sound at first glance but after closer study it raises disturbing questions. If he is so Finnish, why is his first name, James?

His second campaign promise, I support Western and Christian values, is another kick in the groin that leaves you with a question mark: What does he mean? Yes, true, James, spreading hatred, strife and insulting other European ethnic groups are part of our Western and Christian heritage.

If you go back to the Nazi Germany era, he may have a point.

Hirvisaari states in his third campaign promise that he is for local democracy and against European federalism.  I am totally confused now: Why doesn’t he speak straight and state that he wants Finland to leave the EU?

I really “love” his fourth promise. He supports a selective immigration policy but would he, seriously, hand on heart, give a residence permit to a person person like himself from another country who shared the same extremist views?

In order to simplify things, why doesn’t Hirvisaari state in plain Finnish that he loathes a certain religious group? That his whole political ideology is based on this and nothing more.

* If you want to read some funny comments about Hirvisaari’s political ideas visit Facebook. His real names is Erkki Kalevi.