Tag: Racism

For some asylum seekers Kemi, Finland, is a dangerous place after 8 pm on Saturdays

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some asylum seekers in the northern Finnish city of Kemi claim that they do not leave their homes after eight pm on Saturdays because it’s too dangerous. One asylum seeker, who got a residence permit, said that this was advice that he received from the Red Cross.

“There are many drunks on Saturday night, and this could lead to problems,” the former asylum seeker of Kemi, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Migrant Tales. “We still get a lot of mean looks from strangers [in the city] and sometimes they give us the finger as they drive past in cars. I would say that 5%-10% of the inhabitants [of Kemi] don’t like us.”

Feelings of insecurity in Kemi was fueled by the 2016 shooting of an asylum seeker and by the Soldiers of Odin, who harass and broke another asylum seeker’s finger.

The city of Kemi is located in northern Finland near the Swedish border. Source: MTV.
Read the full story here.

Virpi Pakisjärvi, the head of the Kemi asylum reception center, denied that the Red Cross gives instructions to asylum seekers about leaving their homes on Saturday evenings.

Continue reading “For some asylum seekers Kemi, Finland, is a dangerous place after 8 pm on Saturdays”

Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Brown is beautiful just like black and white are beautiful, right? Add to the latter equation power and privilege and a more sinister picture emerges: White is beautiful but brown and black aren’t. 

Finland is such a racialized country and so conscious of its whiteness that it only sees people through a very narrow lens: white Finns or non-white Finns.

Whiteness is such a powerful matter in Finland that some non-white children learn not stay under the sun too long for fear that their skin won’t become too tanned.

Some, like Rosa Emilia Clay, Finland’s first African-born naturalized Finn and primary school teacher, kept her African background a secret from her children.

Clay’s granddaughter, Normalee Johnsson, wrote in a letter in 2009 that was partly published in Helsingin Sanomat:

“When mother died, we learned her secret: we had African blood in our veins! Finally we understood why mother always wore a bonnet and long sleeves in the summer. What we could not understand is why she kept our African, Arab, and English heritage a secret. For a while it was shocking that I didn’t know who I really was.” 

Those who know a little about Clay’s life in Finland, are well aware of the racism she faced and suffered.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Finns, Clay emigrated to the United States in 1904.

She never returned to Finland.

 

Various shades of brown. Source: Citizen by Chance

White Finnish privilege #43

Racism and white privilege are such powerful forces that some people spend their lives passing as white, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin”

We have only to blame ourselves for the rise of vigilante gangs, racism and fascism in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

                                                                                              Shortly, we’ll look at this period as the lost decade where we openly and shamelessly flirted and sided with racism and fascism.

Remember these quotes about the vigilante white supremacist Soldiers of Odin? They were made by public servants that should know better. In a Facebook posting, the far-right vigilante group is threatening (surprise, surprise) Africans, Arabs, dark-skinned people, vegetarians gays liberals, humanists and others with acts of violence. 

Any sensible person could have seen the writing on the wall: Groups like the Soldiers of Odin are white supremacists supported by other white Finns and the establishment.

Their rise is similar to the Perussuomalaiset* (PS), whose ascent to political power was assisted by the media, politicians (and I wouldn’t be surprised by Russia’s troll army). The fact that too many don’t see these groups as a threat to our Nordic democracy and society is the best indication we have of our denial of the issue.

Is it a coincidence that the police service gave support to such vigilante groups when they started to show up more in Finnish cities and towns? This year, an openly racist Facebook page was uncovered with over 2,800 police or about one-third of the country’s police service. Does a survey in 2016, which reveals that 80% of the police see asylum seekers as a threat, say anything about racist attitudes. What about if 25.1% stated that they voted for an openly anti-immigration party like the PS?

Let’s look at these public representatives that are supposed to defend our society but failed miserably in the task:

Detective Chief Inspector Markku Tuominen. Marshall Carl Mannerheim’s portrait as commander of the White Guards is highly suggestive. Source: Nurmijärven Uutiset.
  • Detective chief inspector of southern Finland, Markku Tuominen, surprised a lot of people In January 2016 when he was quoted in the media as saying that Finns should avoid contact with foreigners. In December, we even read that the police service of Häme welcomed street patrols in the town of Asikkala, according to Hämeen Kaiku.

Deputy Police Chief Ilkka Koskimäki. Source: Twitter.
  • Finnish deputy chief of police of Helsinki, Ilkka Koskimäki as saying in January 2016 in the Daily Telegraph: “This phenomenon [sexual harassment] is new in Finnish sexual crime history. We have never before had this kind of sexual harassment happening at New Year’s Eve.”

Really? Have Finnish women ever before been harassed sexually by Finnish men?

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and Minister of Employment Jari Lindström. Sources: Uutismaailma and Turun Sanomat.
  • National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and Minister of Employment Jari Lindström openly supported in 2016 vigilante gangs while Interior Minister Petteri Orpo was skeptical.

  • Add to the above the complacent silence of politicians like former PS leader Timo Soini and a long list of others and a clear picture emerges: It’s fine for white folks to be racist and fascist as long as they are hostile to Muslims and other non-white groups they scapegoat.

  • Another worrisome phenomenon that helped fuel the rise of vigilante groups was the Finnish media’s fascination, their toothless editorials and lame reaction to vigilante groups and the rise of racism and fascism in the country.

I consider Pohjolan Sanomat of Kemi as one o the best examples of media fascination for racism and fascism. Today we know that the vigilante group has a lot of members with criminal records. Read the original story here.

Continue reading “We have only to blame ourselves for the rise of vigilante gangs, racism and fascism in Finland”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Finland’s lost decade

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I asked a Finnish MP in the mid-1980s why she didn’t speak out against racism if she knew it was an issue. Just like the hatred of the Soviet Union and Russians made us go to bed with Nazi Germany in World Wr 2 (1941-44), the same hatred permits us to be racists and bigots today. 

Over 20 years later, we saw the rise of the Perussuomalaiset*, the first political party in modern Finnish history to capitalize on racism. The result: their numbers swelled to 39 MPs in the parliamentary elections of 2011 from 5 MPs in 2007. Our rendezvous with racism and fascism gave us a lost decade. Instead of building “us” we were tempted to polarize and fuel “them.” 

It is a very high price to pay to grasp that racism and fascism are hazardous to a country’s health and well-being. 

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS

Cultural appropriation of Saami in Northern Europe: “Make as much noise as you can”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The most recent case of cultural appropriation in Finland was seen in October when a Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) host put on a Native American feathered hairpiece. To add insult to injury, the YLE TV host aired on the same programme a clip of a Finnish 1960 “comedy” with blackfaced actors.

Politicians are another group that were named and shamed this year for cultural appropriation. In Norway, the country’s finance minister, Siv Jensen of the right-wing populist Progress Party (FrP), landed in hot water in October after posing with a Pocahontas dress at a ministry costume party. In the spring, Finnish Social Democratic Party MP Satu Taavitsainen posed on Instagram wearing a fake Saami costume and this caused a vigorous debate in social media between the MP and representatives of the Saami community.

If there is something that unites Jensen and Taavitsainen it is their hostile views of minority and migrant rights. Jensen has gone as far as to call for the dismantling of the Saami Parliament, an elected body, in her country.

 

 

The the full posting here.

In 2012, Jensen stood on a podium of the Saami Parliament and vowed to shut it down. The FrP minister said that the building would make a beautiful museum and that such institutions hinder the development of North Norway.

In the face of these hostile speeches coupled with a long history of encroachment and assimilation policies in the Nordic region, Petra Laiti, Chairperson of the Finnish Sámi Youth Organization believes that cultural appropriation cases that pop up offer an opportunity to bring to public attention a number of issues facing the Saami today.

“While unfortunate, recent cases [of cultural appropriation] offer an opportunity to raise awareness in public about the issue [as well as our struggle for greater rights],” said Laiti. “Cultural appropriation is about power and minorities are never consulted. Our costumes are sacred and are the only thing we have left.”

Continue reading “Cultural appropriation of Saami in Northern Europe: “Make as much noise as you can””

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Racism is everywhere. Our denial allows us to pin it on one group

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“When people speak of racism in Finland they refer to the Perussuomalaiset* and Blue Reform. They do so to wash their hands of the social ill by claiming that it is a minority fringe group that is the country’s racism problem. Racism is everywhere in Finland and so well-entrenched that it forms part of our institutions and permits us to deny and deceive ourselves of the existence of the problem.”

Racism is not granting public spaces to Others but denying the right of migrants and minorities to have such spaces as equal members of society.

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales published in 2015 a Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism that aimed at highlighting the too frequent shoddy reporting by the national media of our ever-growing non-white community of Finland. A story published by Iltalehti on October 27 is not only an example of shoddy journalism but one that is racist as well. 

One of the oldest stereotypes about the Roma minority in Finland is that they are thieves and cannot be trusted.

The Iltalehti story reinforces such a stereotype with a story about a 30-year-old woman, who shoplifts food from a market and hides it under her skirt. While the story doesn’t use the term “Roma” once, they use code to identify the ethnic group:  “hides produce under her skirt.”

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

White Finnish privilege #42

One of the ways that white Finnish privilege exposes itself is through the media. The story by Iltalehti of the suspected Roma shoplifter is an example of how stereotypes of specific ethnic groups are maintained.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming”

Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A campaign for gender equality by Naisjäjestöt NJKL is an excellent example of white privilege and denial. In the tweet below with four pictures of only white women, we know that Elisabeth Rehn and former Helsiniki Bishop Irja Askola have spoken out against racism and hate speech. However, on the top right hand of the picture we find Blue Reform* (New Perussuomalaiset) MP Maria Lohela, who made her political career by spreading Islamophobia and hatred towards migrants.

I remember before the 2011 elections Lohela’s hostile posts against Muslims. She was one of the signatories of the Nuiva Manifesto in 2010. What does the it propose? In the simplest terms it is a manifesto that aims to further disenfranchise migrants and minorities in this country.

Here are some of the policy recommendations that Lohela endorsed in 2010:

  • Finland should not copy Sweden’s “multicultural” policies;
  • The Finnish state should stop financing immigrant groups’ culture, language, identity and religion;
  • They want to keep neighborhoods white with a red herring argument that they are against them becoming ghettos;
  • Endorse white supremacy by keeping neighborhoods “white” and peppering migrants as far apart from each other as possible so they will lose their culture and identity;
  • The manifesto recommends that new migrants should only be given social assistance for a year maximum. This, as anyone understands, is unconstitutional;
  • Deport migrants who commit crimes even to countries that are responsible for gross human rights violations;
  • Finnish citizenship will be granted on a conditional basis and can be revoked.

The policy recommendations of the Nuiva Manifesto are a far cry from social equality never mind gender equality. That is why Lohela’s picture in the Naisjärjestöt NJKL campaign is problematic.

Read the original tweet here.

White Finnish privilege #41

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality”

Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we wanted to give an extreme picture of how people are “integrated” into society, we could go back to the 1940s when Jews, the Roma and other undesirables of the Nazi regime were transported in boxcars to death camps. Just like those that were separated and sent to go the gas chamber or would be worked to death, migrants face the same process but in a different context. 

Instead of sending people to their deaths or keeping them alive for a while, the system separates migrants into two general lines: whitewashing potential and disenfranchisement.

A good example of systematic whitewashing that took place in Finland happened right after the turn of the last century and in the 1930s when the dark shadow of fascism descended over Europe.

Suomalaisuuden liitto (the Association of Finnish culture and Identity), whose chairperson is today none other than Sampo Terho, boasts on its webpage that in 1935-36 there were over 200,000 people (about 6% of the population) that changed their surnames into Finnish ones. The Association of Finnish Culture and Identity claims that it “has played a remarkable role in Finnish cultural life.”

True, they have played a remarkable role in whitewashing and destroying diversity in Finland.

The document below shows how my grandparent’s family changed their surname in 1931:

“In light of the petition made by military instructor Harald Vilhelm Handtwargh, the governor of the province of Mikkeli grants his family permission to change their  surname to Harvo; this is backed by statements from the vicar [of the Lutheran church], Suomen Sukututkimusseura [Finnish Genealogical Society], and the Suomalaisuuden Liitto [Association of Finnish Culture and Identity.”

 

In my opinion, this form of whitewashing was an aberration and did nothing more than leave question marks for future generations to answers.

I sent an email to Finnish Genealogical Society and asked on October 14 how they define Finnish identity, cultural and ethnic diversity.

I am still waiting for a reply from them.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise”

Saturday was a day of marching neo-Nazis and coded populist anti-immigration rhetoric

Posted on by Migrant Tales

 Blue Reform (formerly Perussuomalaiset*) MP Sampo Terho took part on Saturday in YLE’s Ykköaamu talk show. Later in the day in Tampere, neo-Nazis and other fascists held demonstrations. 

One of the matters that struck me the most about Terho’s interview was when the host, Seija Vaaherkumpu, asked him about what differences there were between the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and his newly formed party.

One of the matters he said was that Blue Reform doesn’t like to “yap about migration” in the opposition but wants to influence policy in government.

Yes, right, Terho. When you were head of the PS parliamentary group, your former party and you spearheaded the tightening of immigration policy by making family reunification an impossible dream for many migrants. You did away as well with residence permits given on humanitarian grounds; you shortened appeal times, you undermined the legal rights of asylum seekers and poisoned the air with your oversimplified rhetoric.

One good distinction between Blue Reform and the PS concerning immigration policy is how they express their racism and contempt for cultural diversity (anti-white supremacy). Terho’s group speaks more in code while the PS says it straight out. Terho is also minister for European affairs, culture and sport as well as chairman of the Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, which systematically destroyed – and continues to undermine – cultural diversity with the help of whitewashing.

Watch the Ykköaau talk show here.

Another important matter that arose in the interview is Terho’s hostility towards asylum seekers and Muslims. He showed as well that he is still an anti-immigration populist with a deep love of neo-liberal economic policies.

Meanwhile, around one thousand people took part on Saturday in Tampere in neo-Nazi and anti-fascist demonstrations, reports YLE News.

Continue reading “Saturday was a day of marching neo-Nazis and coded populist anti-immigration rhetoric”