Tag: The United States

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.

Coming out into an identity: gay, lesbian, pariah…

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

There is one line of a film review of Pariah on Colorlines that really caught me:  “The film hinges on the belief that there’s no one way to be young, or black, or queer. And while it’s a struggle to come into any identity, those fights are always punctuated by moments of resilience and triumph.”

That resilience and triumph that the author speaks of is when when we take that giant step and succeed at accepting who we are.

Even if accepting who we are may be easier said than done, society must help by being acceptant and even encouraging diversity.  Advancing the rights of one group has a positive ripple effect on the whole of society, especially on different minorities.

The greatest threat to societies like ours in Finland and elsewhere doesn’t come from abroad but from within. Attacking and undermining the rights of others and retarding their acceptance have an adverse  knock-on effect.

Since selective hatred is a myth promoted by far-right, populist right wing and anti-immigration groups  for political and personal profit, we should be especially alarmed by such groups and people that hold in such contempt the rights of others.

Contrary to what these groups want you to believe, you cannot control racism, hatred nor can you contain it to impact one group. Selective hatred affects everyone.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=R0fZOxAcljQ]

By promoting gay and other minority rights we are advancing the rights of everyone in our society.

Immigration laws reveal what kind of a society we are

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Tell me what your immigration laws are and I will tell you what kind of society you live in. Show me how those laws defend minorities and encourage cultural diversity and I will show you hypocrisy.

There is a saying that a person’s true character is not exposed during good times but when there is great adversity.

The global financial meltdown of markets in September 2008 and the euro financial crisis today  is testing our “good will” to breaking point.

Far-right, populist and even right-wing conservative groups in countries like the U.S. have succeeded in making  racism sound fair, according to Colorlines.*

There are worse examples of how the spirit of the laws and that of deeds show how our societies are flirting and have succumbed in some cases to the ways of despotism.

A case in point is Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona, who got his wings clipped after the Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security stripped him of several federal tools for immigration enforcement, according to Police Patrol. *

Arpaio has been accused of racial profiling and targeting Hispanics in his county. But he isn’t the only case. There are too many others that do what Arpaio does but without such revolting fanfare in the media.

In Europe and Finland anti-immigration parties and politicians are arguing as well that it is ok to be racist and homophobic.

What kind of a society do we have in our country with immigration laws getting tougher and anti-immigration groups gaining strength? What do our laws and deeds reveal?

That we have a chronic leadership crisis and have lost our way.

*Thank you Community Village Daily Activist for the heads up!

 

Rosa Parks’ humble example lives on

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Of the many Civil Rights Movement icons that emerged during the 1950s, the late Rosa Parks is one of my biggest heroes. With her humble example on a December first afternoon of 1955, Parks changed US history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Back then, black passengers were obliged to sit in the back of municipal buses. If the bus was full they were required to give up their seat to a white passenger.

Parks refused and was arrested.

                                                                             Rosa Parks. Source US Information Center. 

Four women and a man had taken similar steps as Parks but none of them had sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place on her trial on December 5.  She was found guilty by the court and fined $14.

The bus strike that Parks sparked lasted for 381 days and was led by a 26-year-old Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. In a groundbreaking 9-0 decision in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on municipal buses was illegal.

Parks’ civil disobedience became an important symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. She became famous internationally as an icon of peaceful resistance against racial segregation.

This brave woman, who died in 2005 at the age of 95, proved that people can change the course of history with their humble example. No weapon, police brutality, state terrorism or racism are a match for a woman like Parks.

If she was able to challenge with a simple refusal to relinquish her seat on a bus fifty-six years ago, imagine what we can do today with our examples.

Here is an interesting clip about Parks’ life.

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.

Who is Sarah Palin – what’s going on in the United States?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

With only two months left until the November US presidential elections, one wonders what the world will be like after George W. Bush retires back to Crawford, Texas, after plunging his country and the world into an abyss led by colorful-named crusades such as “the war on terror” – an enemy that is everywhere but nowhere. Since we are fighting terrorism, which is a problem, the Bush administration saw it as a carte blanche to go above the law and the constitution.

While I do not think Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden will change very much the balance of power in the United States, they do offer a hope after two ruinous Bush administrations . Another big question mark that some have been asking is what will G.O.P. (Grand Old Party = Republican Party) John McCaine and his number 2, Sarah Palin, bring to the White House if elected? Will it be an extension of the Bush administration or something worse?

McCain’s acceptance speech on Thursday at the Republican Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, was filled with so much trite nationalism that it was scary. If only the United States was and could be like he pictured it… But taking into account the challenges of global warming, the loss of the US’ economic might, the military quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, all he could do was put the United States on a pedestal and talk about its nobel cause his world order of things.

One of the things that you got to watch out for — especially after the United States elected Bush — is who these candidates really are. What are their real agendas. If enough voters would have had more information about Bush in 2000 when he ran against Al Gore, the world would probably be a different place today.

But we have to thank Bush for one thing: he messed up so badly that it paved the way for a new refreshing era in US politics: We have today a black presidential and woman vice presidential contender for the White House.

There was a really good editorial in the New York Times which, I believe, exposes what is McCaine’s and Palin’s real agenda.

Here is a letter from a person who knows Palin in her home town/village of Wasilla. The letter was a real eye-opener for me.