xenophobia Archives - Page 50 of 92

Facebook: Thumbs down to Maria Lohela and hurray for our side!

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Migrant Tales

When big mainstream parties play along with populist and anti-immigration parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which base their campaign on one part hot air and two parts xenophobia and nationalism, you get the government we have today and a speaker of parliament called Maria Lohela.

Christian Thibault has been a tireless activist for migrant and human rights in Finland. Here he is below with a group of activists holding up signs to MPs going to vote for the new speaker of parliament.

Good for you! I take my hat off for you Christian and those other brave activists that were with you holding signs that read: Don’t vote for Lohela and Stand up against racism.

In one picture below there is Green Party MP Jani Toivola standing together with the activists.

And that is what Lohela’s questionable track record is: She has said some pretty racist and horrible things about migrants and Muslims. Her whole political message is based on xenophobia.

Those terrible things she has said are the skeletons in her closet that will creep behind her for the rest of her political career, which I and many hope will be short.

* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Facebook: Does “Finnish labor” include migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities?

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Migrant Tales

One of the members of the new government, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, said that jobs will be created for Finnish labor. In the present anti-immigration environment in Finland, such statements have a hostile ring to migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities since they don’t promote inclusion and fair hiring practices.

Considering that migrant unemployment is three-times higher than the national average, do you think that such statements, which stress “us” and “then,” improve the chances of such people getting hired?

Why can’t politicians like PS chairman Timo Soini, who likes to make nationalistic statements, drop the adjective “Finnish” and state that the efforts by the new government and policy will create new jobs?

Certainly that phrase sounds more inclusive than “Finnish labor.”

It’s pretty clear what Soini means by Finnish labor, or suomalainen työ, which is code for “don’t hire migrants and minorities. It’s your patriotic duty as an employer to hire white Finns.”

It would be great if at least one journalist could ask Soini if he considers migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities to be “Finnish labor.”

The violent and hostile language of Finnish populists against Others

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Migrant Tales

For those that sighed with momentary relief and claimed that the new government’s immigration policy won’t be as bad as they expected haven’t seen anything yet. Behind the populist and nationalistic rhetoric coming from people like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini, there’s nothing but suspicion and hostility against Finland’s migrant and ever-culturally diverse community.

What are we to make out of the new government’s policies as the mist clears? Soini gave us an eyeful Saturday when when he stated that “the blue and white” can be clearly seen in government policy.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

What are we, Finland’s migrant and culturally diverse community, supposed to make out of such a nationalistic catchphrase?

Are we, the migrant and minority community in this country, who are struggling to survive by working and paying taxes, belong to that group that Soini labels Finnish labor?

What is even more shameful is that mainstream parties like the Center and National Coalition Party (NCP), who should know better, have with their complacent silence gone to bed with such rhetoric. The reason why they have accepted such rhetoric and a party like the PS in government is because they generally agree with the PS leader.

Continue reading “The violent and hostile language of Finnish populists against Others”

New book on Somali community of Finland highlights what we’ve known for long: social hostility and blatant discrimination

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Migrant Tales

A new book called Suomen somalit by Yusuf M. Mubarak, Eva Nilsson and Niklas Saxén reinforces what has been already known about some of the challenges that Finland’s Somali community faces: racism and social exclusion.

“I have never felt that I am a Finn,” said Suleqo Yusuf, 23, a Somali Finn, was quoted as saying in the book. “Here you’re always an outsider and different, never a part of society.”

The feeling of being an eternal outsider in Finland is felt by many migrants and minorities as well.

Migrant Tales recently spoke to a Somali Finn who said that she does not identify with a country like Finland because of its hostility towards her.

“I am a citizen of the world,” she said. “Not a Finn. I don’t identify with this country [even if I was born and bred here].”

You don’t have to have a PhD in sociology to understand where some of the problems lie. If the Somali community has been in Finland since the early 1990s. Check the discrimination and hostility that the Romany minority, which has lived in Finland for about 500 years, has suffered at the hands of the white Finnish majority.

While matters are improving, the Roma in Finland continue to face discrimination and racism daily.

Mubarak, one of the three authors of the book, states that its clear that a lot of problems will arise if children are told that they are equal to white Finns but rapidly find out that this isn’t the case.

So what is the value of such a book and what does it reveal?

Continue reading “New book on Somali community of Finland highlights what we’ve known for long: social hostility and blatant discrimination”

An apology from a former Islamophobe

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Kathrin Oetrel of Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, formally apologized for her role as spokeswoman in the far-right Islamophobic movement. When will Islamophobic and xenophobic politicians in countries like Finland apologize in the same manner as Pegida’s former spokeswoman?

Don’t hold your breaths, however. There will be no apologies coming from such politicians in this country as long as Islamophobia sells to voters and the media.

Contrary to politicians like Perussuomalaiset* MEP Jussi Halla-aho and a long list of others, it still pays in too many cases handsomely to be Islamophobic and xenophobic.

One of the most important messages that some of these Finnish politicians should pay special attention to is when Oertel states that immigrants and asylum seekers in Germany and Europe are not the root cause of the region’s socioeconomic problems.

“Those still belonging to the Pegida movement need to understand that they are advocating for the wrong cause,” she said and continues: “I want to apologize to all migrants and to all Muslims among them who live peacefully and are assimilated with German society, who respect our culture and laws. They are in the vast majority and most Germans overlook this fact.” |1]

Continue reading “An apology from a former Islamophobe”

Get ready for even harder times in Finland if you are a migrant or minority

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Migrant Tales

I still remember vividly right after the 2011 parliamentary elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won 39 seats from 5 previously, that some weren’t worried by the result. “You’ll see,” one person said. “It’s only a matter of time when they implode.”

It’s clear after last month’s elections that the PS hasn’t imploded but become the second-biggest party in parliament after winning 38 seats.

What does the writing on the wall say? Can we read what it says? (Photo by Enrique Tessieri)

Continue reading “Get ready for even harder times in Finland if you are a migrant or minority”

Treating immigrants in Finland as the problem IS the problem

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Migrant Tales

What’s wrong with the ongoing debate in Finland concerning immigration, refugees and cultural diversity? The problem is that they are treated as a problem by politicians, the media and public.*

Instead of treating these three matters as “a problem” we should make an effort to think outside of the current anti-immigration political climate and see them as a solution and opportunity for our country.

By treating immigration, refugees and cultural diversity as problems we begin to despair and give space to the ugly side of ourselves: hatred, intolerance and bigotry that mutate into populism, hate speech, intolerance and xenophobic political parties.

Want to solve the problem? Then repeat after me:

* Special thanks go to Markku Ikonen in Australia for sharing this idea with us.

Finland 2015 is a sinking ship: Throw overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and our Nordic values

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Migrant Tales

What destiny can befall a country or a political party that retreats into its own fears and scapegoats migrants for its own blunders and inaction? As one friend pointed out, Finland resembles today a sinking ship that is throwing overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and Nordic values.

The situation is dire, very dire. All you have to do is take a whiff of the political atmosphere in Finland. Today the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* a populist anti-immigration party that still believes the sun revolves around the Earth, are the second-biggest political party in parliament.

Finland resembles a sinking vessel in the present anti-immigration and nationalistic political climate coupled with a diehard recession stretching back to 2008.

Continue reading “Finland 2015 is a sinking ship: Throw overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and our Nordic values”

Christian Thibault: Don’t let fear intimidate you but watch your back!

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Christian Thibault, chairman of Rasmus, an anti-racism NGO, asks how safe are our streets for migrants and minorities after Sunday’s parliamentary elections? Thibault is concerned but doesn’t want anyone to live in fear.

“Don’t withdraw into safe ghettos,” he continued, “but be careful especially this coming weekend [when people of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* will be celebrating the party’s election victory].”

Just like after an ice-hockey world championship, or after an election victory, fans and followers can get pretty violent when celebrating.

We’ve already seen some violence after Sunday’s elections reported in Facebook. Two of these are are by JT and “Abdulah” (see below). JT wrote about a group of white Finns that attacked this week a migrant on a commuter train.

“The ice is thawing but can we say the same about intolerance and xenophobia in Finland?” Thibault said. “I don’t think so. The elections have emboldened some Finns to act in a hostile manner against migrants and minorities.”

Continue reading “Christian Thibault: Don’t let fear intimidate you but watch your back!”

PS MP Immonen wants “a nationalistic revolution” in Finland

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen appears to be on a crusade lined with pipe dreams. Immonen, who is chairman of the far-right Suomen Sisu association, which discourages white Finns from marrying foreigners, wrote that “the people” should grab power and start “a nationalistic revolution.”

Pekka Venamo, the former leader of the Finnish Rural Party (SMP), has linked Immonen’s ideology to that of the Nazis.

Certainly Immonen, who got reelected with 4,875 votes, believes his racist and far-right views are ok since this is what his voters want to hear.

But how is it possible that a country that claims to have one of the best educational systems in the world has so many people that house hostile views of people who are different from them? Finland should watch itself and a remarkable amount of leadership is needed from us to ensure that we don’t drive a stake through the heart of this country by isolating ourselves from Europe and feeding off our bigotry.

This is Suomen Sisu’s view of multicultural marriages.

Continue reading “PS MP Immonen wants “a nationalistic revolution” in Finland”

Tag: xenophobia