Tag: True Finns

Anti-Immigrant: calling a spade a spade in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The use of the term maahanmuuttokriittinen, or immigration critic, reveals what some journalists think about immigration to or in Finland. It can very well reveal that the journalist may hold the same opinions of anti-immigration groups.

The odd term immigration critic, which has been used to refer to groups such as Muutos 2011, True Finns and Hommaforum, has a basic message: keep Finland white. We don’t want people who are different from us.

Can we call a political group that openly insults immigrants through their ignorance and political opportunism “critical” of something? I don’t think so.

Better names for such groups could be populist, anti-immigration/xenophobic group,  or ultra-nationalistic. Since in Finland we haven’t seen many far-right wing groups until the early 1930s like the Lapua Movement, it will be interesting to see what their real colors are.

What would you call a party or movement that has the following agenda:

(1) Change the Constitution and shelve the Non-Discrimination Act;
(2) Treat different groups in society unequally;
(3) Ethnocentric and racist;
(4) Pass policy on minorities that would never be accepted by their group;
(5) Fear everyone that is different and make a big deal about it;
(6) Bow-tie racism (smiling cordially and denying that they taking away your civil rights).

Would you call such a group that has such aims simply  “immigrant critical?”

No way!

I would call it populist, anti-immigration/xenophobic group,  or ultra-nationalistic.

Note:  You can check out the Finnish-langauge verison of this post on Uusi Suomi.

True Finns to announce official stance on immigration policy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The anti-immigration True Finns will make public their official stand on immigration on Saturday, July 24. Should we now hold our collective breaths?

According to Verkkouutiset, the True Finns’ immigration policy has been drafted by Jussi Halla-aho, who enjoys bashing Muslims for fun and political profit, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala, the True Finn’s youth leader and Vantaa city council member, Johannes Nieminen.

I had the opportunity to sit next to Saarakkala at a panel in October on immigration. The first matter he mentioned about immigrants  in Finland was that Muslims were “demanding” that mosques be built without paying any taxes.

I asked Saarakkala if he Finns were protected by one set of laws  and that these did not apply to immigrants? I asked him if he wanted to change the Constitution and the Non-Discrimination Act. He never answered my questions.

Nieminen said that the aim of the document is to “speak out on the problems of immigration” because present  policy will prove “fatal for Finland.”

One of the biggest flaws of parties like the True Finns is that they see immigration as a threat. Leaving immigration policy to these people would be like allowing a child to play with nuclear weapons.

Taking into account Saarakkala’s and Halla-aho’s past statements on immigration tell me that nothing constructive will come out of the announcement on Saturday.

It will be nothing more than an opportunistic statement to lure votes with the April 2011 elections in mind.

(Another) poll on what Finns think of future immigrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When will these end and when will these what-Finns-think-of-immigrants polls stop? Name one country where a native believes there are too few immigrants and therefore more foreigners should move to their country? Why are these types of polls important and what do they reveal?

The YLE poll asks a similar question if it polled white members of a community in the United States and asked them if they want minorities to move to their neighborhood.

The recent poll commissioned by YLE and done by Taloustutkimus shows that the majority of Finns (surprise! surprise!) don’t want to encourage more immigrants to Finland.

Here is the full story published Friday by YLE:

Nearly two thirds of Finns say Finland should not encourage more foreigners to move here, according to a YLE survey. Supporters of the right-wing True Finns Party were the most opposed to more immigrants. However, Centre Party and Social Democratic supporters were not far behind.

According to the survey, 63 percent of respondents said Finland should not try to entice foreigners to live here. A whopping 82 percent of True Finns backers were of the same opinion. For Centre Party supporters the number was 70 percent, while 68 percent of Social Democratic backers felt the same way.

Supporters of the Green League were the most receptive to more immigrants. A total of 65 percent of Green respondents said that Finland should work to attract foreigners here.

Meanwhile, 45 percent of backers of the conservative National Coalition Party said they supported more immigration while 53 percent were opposed.

One third of respondents said that immigration would play a significant or very significant role in their voting decisions in the next elections.

A total of 2,399 people responded to the survey carried out by pollster Taloustutkimus.

The poll shows that the majority (63%) are against luring more immigrants to Finland. Source: YLE

The poll shows that the most critical party towards luring future immigrants to Finland was none other than the True Finns (PS), followed by the Center and Social Democratic Party.  Source: YLE

Social Democratic interim report on immigration policy strengthens old fears of the outside world

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The title of an interim report on immigration policy published by the Social Democratic Party on Friday not only reveals the party’s greatest fears but strengthens age-old views of outsiders.  Apart from the political malarkey that SDP sees immigration as an opportunity, it likes to use pet catchwords – like the populist anti-immigration True Finns – such as “managed immigration.”

How can a country aspire to have a successful immigration policy and speed the integration of these people into our society if its first and foremost aim is to be on the defensive? How can it show leadership and promote good ethnic relations if it labels future and present newcomers, as it does almost constantly, as second-class employees, tax-dodgers, guilty of fuelling racism and working illegally in a two-tier market?

Even though the report claims that one of SDP’s aims is to lower unemployment, what has the party done in the past 25 years to improve the labor situation of immigrants?

The sad fact is that political parties in Finland have done dear little for immigrants in the past. Unemployment figures speak for themselves: the jobless rate has gone down from about 54% in 1994 to an estimated 26% today.

One of the mentors and strongest allies of the SDP’s anti-immigration wing is MP Kari Rajamäki, who was interior minister in 2003-07. Just like Jarmo Rantanen, another hardline SDP interior minister in 1987-91, Rajamäki’s view on immigration is so far off the mark that under his leadership immigrants and refugees will always be a target of suspicion.

Social Democrat MP Kari Rajamäki. Source: Savon Sanomat

For a person who has lived many years and heard countless promises by politicians that immigrants’ rights in Finland will improve, I take with a large grain of salt SDP’s interim report, especially where it states that surveillance of the labor markets should be stepped up.  Racial profiling is one cause for alarm if the SDP gets their way.

One could rightfully ask as well why do we need new rules to scrutinize labor markets because more immigrants are moving to the country? No trust? Are Finnish workers honest and immigrants dishonest?

Taking into account the small size of the immigrant community in Finland and the fact that little has been done to improve their rights, what assurances do we have that anything will change if the Social Democrats are members of the next government?

The problem with the SDP interim report is one that has inflicted Finland throughout its history: Immigration and outsiders are basically seen as a threat.

One reason why Finland has such a small immigrant population is because some sectors still suffer from a bad case of xenophobia. Why would anybody want to move to such a country where the laws and atmosphere are generally hostile?

Apart from the few political sound bites in favor of  immigration, the SDP interim report should be seen as a disappointment and even a greater one in the context of a party that has shifted closer to the populist True Finns on immigration policy.

Fallacies of Finland’s immigration-refugee debate

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we look at the ongoing immigration-refugee debate in Finland, there are six seven fallacies that one should look at critically in order to understand the debate. I have compiled a list of the top six seven claims that I consider the most absurd and politically questionable but are used constantly in the ongoing debate:

1. The SDP “love it (or leave it)” or “In Rome do as the Romans do” (maassa maan tavalla) stand on immigration. This rhetoric is nothing more than a good-cop-bad-cop tactic to bash immigrants while saying that the SDP party “welcomes newcomers.” Have you noticed that nowhere in the statements of SDP chairperson Jutta Urpilainen and MP Eero Heinäluoma do they tell you how many immigrants they are speaking of and from where? Last year some 4,000 immigrants got residence permits from outside the EU. Both Heinäluoma and Juttilainen speak as if Finland were not an EU member where people can work freely in different member-state countries.

2. SDP MP Eero Heinäluoma: “immigrants will fuel racism.”  This statement was made in the Swedish-language daily HBL. The MP does not consider racism a problem in Finland since it is the immigrants’ fault. They “will take jobs away from Finns,”according to him.  Heinäluoma’s argument is as ludicrous as those given by some sexual offenders,  who claim that “the devil made them do it” because the woman looked so sexy and therefore it was her fault she got raped.

3. Finns fear being labelled racists and therefore don’t speak freely enough about immigration issues. All one has to do is check the media in Finland to see that there is a very lively and passionate debate on immigration and refugees. Those who disagree are anti-immigration groups like the True Finns, Hommaforum, and Jussi Halla-aho, who would inflame discussion by fuelling it with more nationalism and racism.

4. True Finns: We are defending Western values. Since when was spreading hatred and populism defending modern Western values? I am certain that the National Socialist Party of Germany in the early 1930s used the same arguments to seize power. If parties like the PS and others would get in power, their aim would be to undermine civil liberties and create a many-tier society where anything different from their point of view would be seen as a threat. The first civil liberties that would fly out of the window are acceptance of diversity, freedom of speech and equality. Like the Nazis and other ultra-nationalist groups, they would argue that diversity is bad and therefore we have the right to kick out everyone who we do not like from the country (see Lebensraum). If you ever meet a representative from an anti-immigration group, ask him/her what should be done to people they consider “threats” to our values. You will get back as an answer a modern version of Lebensraum.

5. “We aren’t racists.” Too many speak about racism in Finland without being a minority nor having an adequate background to understand the social ill. Just because one has an academic degree is no guarantee that they understand racism. Some of the big deficiencies in Finland concerning the integration program is that it takes too little into account what immigrants want and need. Racist groups use the argument “we aren’t racists” to maintain a hate discourse in public. When you threaten to sue them for slander, they argue that their freedom-of-speech right has been violated. In English we call that type of defense a generous dose of phony baloney.

6. Being “critical on immigration.” This is a funny term made up by the anti-immigration groups that do not want to be labelled racists. Thus we are critical NOT racists when we bash immigrants and refugees with colorful adjectives. If one studied what they are actually saying, it would be easy to conclude that their “critique” of immigrants and refugees is a gross understatement. It is only a flowery diplomatic term that hides their real agenda, which is not acceptance of other cultures in our society.

7. Foreign workers are being abused and working illegally. This is favorite of the Social Democratic Party. If we were to believe them, the majority of the foreign workers in Finland are working in the black for slave wages. If this is the case, why aren’t we hearing of any huge busts in the media or of officials clamping down on the serous problem? The answer is simple: It is a scare tactic by the SDP to spread and maintain a climate of racism in Finland.  The last thing that the likes of Heinäluoma and others are worried about are working conditions and discrimination that immigrants face on a daily basis.

Racism in Finland and elsewhere

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Every society has its racists but the question is where we draw the line. For a country like Finland, the problem of drawing a clear line hinges on the fact that there are still too few immigrant and ethnic groups living in this country, amounting for 2.7% of the population (143,256).

Even though foreigners in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century had a big impact on Finland (Stockmann, Fazer, Rettig, Paulig, Finnlayson and others), our view of cultural diversity as a normal characteristic of  society is mixed. Some Finns don’t have any qualms with this while for others it is a life-and-death issue.

If we look at the laws, educational system and the ideals we want to pass on to our children, however, it is easy to conclude that immigrant-and-refugee hate groups in Finland are a minority whose presence and arguments are storms in a tea-cup.

A good example is the present one-sided immigration-refugee debate. While the anti-diversity-and-populist True Finns, and to many sad respects the Social Democratic party under chairman Jutta Urpilainen, have not seen their popularity soar in the polls despite their stiffening rhetoric  on immigrantion and refugees.

If we look at the definition of racism and agree that it means “discrimination or prejudice based on ethnic background,” we still have to look at the specific society where this type of social ill is taking place. How do people discriminate in Finland, how do we define racism and what does the law say? The Equality Act, for example, gives clear definitions of discrimination and harassment.

In my opinion, an excellent example of discrimination in this country is high immigrant unemployment. Since racism attempts to exclude and keep other groups from realizing their potential in society, high immigrant unemployment serves this purpose and shows where we have a lot more work to do. Immigrant unemployment in Finland at the end of 2009 stood officially at 26%(!) compared with 9.2% nationally.

Even though anti-immigrant-and-refugee groups in Finland attempt to change the ongoing debate and their hate agendas with funny catchwords like “immigrant-critic,” and “freedom of speech/democracy,” we must draw the line as a society and call a spade a spade.

What would we say if there were anti-women’s-rights groups that used the same arguments to justify oppression of women in public as they do when stereotyping immigrants and refugees?

I am certain that many of us would be outraged.

EDITORIAL: Are Finns ignorant about immigration?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Some claim that one should forgive some Finns for their outrageous statements on immigrants and refugees since they are fuelled by ignorance. If there are serious shortcomings in our immigration and integration policy, it can be blamed on our lack of experience.

If we were to give Finland the benefit of the doubt, it could offer us an effective solution to brush all the problems related to immigrants under the rug and blame it on inexperience.

Can, however, an issue that affects tens of thousands of people’s lives, their children and grandchildren, be conveniently blamed on ignorance?

A recent editorial by Jyväskylä-based Keskisuomalainen, which was against Finland taking the multicultural road, incredulously suggested that refugees should be helped in their home countries and brought to Finland as a last resort.

Helsingin Sanomat, the countries largest daily, continues to use the demeaning term “mamu” in headlines to refer to immigrants.

What about politicians such as Jutta Urpilainen, Timo Soini of the True Finns and others, who knowingly or unknowingly vilify all immigrants in this country by suggesting that they must follow the law because in this country we do things the Finnish way?

What about the Finnish Border Guard, Finnish Immigration Service and others that create and maintain a climate of fear and suspicion of certain immigrant groups through their statements that Finland is in danger of being “invaded” by these people? They even play at being social scientists by suggesting that these groups can never adapt to our culture.

One could correctly turn the question around: Are these examples of misinformation intentional and what role does ignorance play?

Or is this the shape and way racism manifests itself  in Finland?

A-Talk: What is wrong with the Social Democrats?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

At least for me, the debate on immigration on A-Talk on Thursday was a disappointment. The only sensible persons on the show were Anni Sinnemäki of the Greens and  Jyrki Katainen of Kokoomus. The two opposition leaders, Jutta Urpilainen of the Social Democrats (SDP) and Timo Soini of the True Finns, were a disappointment spewing the usual hollow catchwords that reek of populism, protectionism and heavy doses of obnoxious nationalism.

One matter that came clear is that Urpilainen has a very superficial idea of  immigration. On the one hand she vilifies the immigrant community in Finland by stating that they must follow the law (duh?!), but then claims to be for equality.

Why is the SDP leader making such no-brainer statements? Her aim appears to be to steal votes from the True Finns with the immigrant-bash card and thereby become the biggest party in Finland. If the SDP succeed in this dangerous game, anti-immigrant sentiment and life for the common non-Finn and their families will get much worse.

This will be a tragedy for Finland since we need to bring labor immigrants (not scare them away) to plug the labor gap left by an ever-large group of people retiring from the workforce during this decade.

I am just as confused as some of you. Maybe somebody should show the Constitution and Non-Discrimination Act to Urpilainen. Thanks to these laws, Finland permits as a democratic liberal society cultural diversity. We are not in the habit of ramming narrow-minded cultural habits down people’s throats.

Another statement that caught my eye was her criticism of foreigners she knew that had not learned to speak Finnish even though they had lived many years in the country. Certainly this is unfortunate but what are the causes? Lack of equal opportunities? Hostility by society? Racism? Lack of motivation? Attitudes like Urpilainen’s? Or a combination of all of the latter?

The Social Democratic stance on immigration is an unfortunate one. It looks like a house of cards that is maintained upright with the help of fear and populism.

The most disgraceful aspect of this type of populist rhetoric is that it does not help further a sense of community among immigrants and Finns but keeps alive old suspicions that fuel hatred.

And all this for the opportunitic goal of securing more votes in the 2011 parliamentary elections.