Tag: xenophobia

Can Finland deal with the challenge of immigration?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some claim that Finland is at an important juncture concerning immigration and its role in our society. There are already clear signs that the Finns want to deal with this challenge in a civil manner without the usual dose of  fear-mongering and nationalistic bravado.

How can I make such a claim? Because Finns from all walks of life want to make immigration work.

Even if the anti-immigration True Finns win a few percentage points in the next election, it will not be enough to turn them into a major party. Their xenophobic views of the world are only shared by a minority in this country.

One of the most interesting matters worth pointing out  is that for the first time in our history we are debating and challenging  racism openly. By debating this social ill we are also giving the thumbs down to a minority of Finns that want to take the country down the same questionable path like Denmark and the Netherlands.

Those that are not buying the anti-immigration rhetoric are giving the following message: Finland is independent and self-reliant to deal with immigration in positive and effective ways.

The biggest losers in the next elections will be those that use immigration as a scapegoat for all of our woes and opportunistic tool to win over votes. Even if a few get into parliament, there will never be enough of them to have a simple majority never mind two-thirds majority in the Eduskunta (Parliament).

Finns are pretty intelligent and have learned how to survive during trying times before. Spreading hatred and revenge as a justification to attack another country or group never worked, even if some want to take us down that path again.

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. 

Finland: A taste of one’s medicine

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Can an immigration policy of country take us on the right societal path if it hinges on suspicion of other groups? With the April 2011 elections nearing, some are asking if a big election victory for the anti-immigration True Finns will take us down the same questionable path as Denmark, which has the tightest immigration controls in the European Union.

Does Finland have the potential of turning into a Denmark? Wandering down such a path would be a perilous mistake because basing an immigration policy solely to exclude one group would lay down the foundations for failure.

In many respects the rise of xenophobia in Finland is self-inflicted. While great improvements have been made in teaching and accepting cultural diversity at schools, racist views of other cultures and ethnic groups still prevail because they were/are actively promoted.

This picture (apologies for the racist content) which was used before in books to teach children to  claims: The Negro washes his face but it does not whiten at all.

There are many sad examples of how racist ideas have entered the minds of Finns from the backdoor. Here is an excerpt from a book on “European races”* published in 1929 by Professor Rolf Nordenstreng:

You cannot expect exceptional children from a Gypsy horse thief and a light-minded Negro wife; but I have heard that French fur traders, who were excellent men that took as wives the Indian chiefs’ daughters, bred splendid children…*

Unfortunately, too many in Finland and Europe still see other cultures with the help of antiquated and racist concepts taught not too long ago. If we do not study today directly Nordenstreng or one of the eugenics master minds of Nazi racial policy, Eugen Fischer, their ludicrous claims of “different races” still live deep inside some of us.

Education, therefore, has to and must play a key role in how we model new Finns irrespective of their background to be the defenders of our values.  If we do not face racism and grab it by the horns, our xenophobia will always be self-inflicted and destructive.

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* Rolf Nordenstreng: “Euroopan ihmisrodut ja kansat.” Kustannusosakeyhtiö Kirja. Helsinki 1929. p. 48. The original Finnish text reads: Mustalainen hevosvarkaan ja heikkomielisen neekerivaimon lapsista ei voi odottaa juuri erinomiaisia; mutta olen kuullut sanottavan, että ranskalaiset turkismetsästäjät, jotka olivat oivia poikia ja ottivat vaimoikseen intiaanipäälliköiden tyttäriä, saivat mainioita jälkeläisiä.

The Finland we all want

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By many standards, Finland is an exceptional country. Newsweek magazine recently named it the best country in the world to live according to education, quality of life, economic dynamism as well as other factors.

One of the greatest threats to our well-being and international reputation are xenophobia and racism. If the Newsweek staff would have looked more closely at this social ill, would Finland have been named the best country in the world?

Is it possible that a country that is so innovative and dynamic has immigrant unemployment many fold higher than the national average?

What would the newsmagazine say about the Social Democrats’ maassa maan tavalla policy, which thinks that nothing should or will change and that immigration should be a one-way process? Such catch phrases from a party that fought for social justice and our social welfare system is quite incredible to put it lightly.

What would it say about other political parties that instead of showing leadership against racism are starting to use adjectives like ”hordes” and ”uncontrolled” before immigration and accuse a pretty defenseless group of ”taking away our jobs?”

The best way to defend Finland’s image is to treat everyone who lives here with respect. Our laws and way of life guarantee that this can be achieved.

A lot of work has to be still done to build those vital pathways of incorporation to our society for people who have made Finland their new home.

One of the greatest threats to Finland in the new century is not immigration but xenophobia and racism.

RPT-Swedish govt still short of majority after recount

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This election is going to be a real nail-biter…

(Reuters) – Sweden’s centre-right government was still just short of a parliament majority after a preliminary recount of Sunday’s election, though it picked up one more seat.

The election commission said in a statement that the preliminary result of the recount, which included overseas and postal votes not counted on election night, gave Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt 173 seats in the 349-seat parliament rather than the 172 announced on election night.

A total 175 seats are needed for a majority.

The new centre-right seat was gained from the Social Democrat-led opposition bloc, which went down to 156 seats.

The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, shunned by both blocs, stayed at 20 seats and still held the balance of power, the count showed.

Swedish center-right wins ballot, loses majority (Reuters)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

STOCKHOLM, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Fredrik Reinfeld became Sweden’s first sitting center-right prime minister to win re-election, but was deprived of a majority by the first-time entry into parliament of an anti-immigrant party.

Analysts had said before Sunday’s election that a hung parliament, with Reinfeldt’s center-right Alliance coalition having no overall majority, would unsettle investors and the Swedish crown weakened in early trading on Monday.

More

Click here to inform yourself on who the Sweden Democrats are.

If there is a comment that can be made concerning Sunday’s elections in Sweden, it is how much it will encourage Finns to vote for the anti-immigration True Finns, which have five members in parliament.

The mea culpa of a former Finnish immigrant basher

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There was a very interesting interview of former anti-immigration Muutos 2011 president, Juha Mäki-Ketelä, in Suomen Kuvalehti, who surprisingly resigned from his post in July. Muutos 2011 is close to registering as a political party to take part in the April 2011 election. Its campaign platform is strongly based on the usual anti-immigration rhetoric found in similar xenophobic and ultra-nationalist parties in Europe.

Even though the interview sounds like a mea culpa by Mäki-Ketelä, one gets the impression that his hardline stance against immigrants scared him because of the  people that rallied around Muutos 2011’s cause.

The Suomen Kuvalehti journalist asks Mäki-Ketelä if he was surprsied that ”racist-oriented” people were attracted to his party.

“Yes…  I did not understand how many crazy people gathered (around the party),” he said, adding that he was ignorant of ultra-nationalistic groups like Suomen Sisu and admitted having read a few times Jussi Halla-aho’s blog.

Muutos 2011, which has effectively imploded, is a good example of how the majority of Finns don’t want to join the let’s-bash-immigrants bandwagon.

Muutos 2011 aims to win three seats to Parliament in next year’s election.

If I were an ultra-nationalist immigrant basher in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If I were an ultra nationalist and enjoyed bashing immigrants for fun and political profit, Finland is the country to be in today.

I could open my mouth and say almost anything I please no matter how offensive and absurd my statements would be to other cultures and groups. Nobody can call me a racist because I am only exercising my right to free speech and being “critical” of immigrants and immigration to this country.

In the process of  “defending free speech” and requiring immigrants to follow new xenophobic  laws, which I would never dare enforce on myself never mind my constituents, my popularity would soar to stellar heights. I could get a lot of votes by spreading distrust and hatred of people who are different from me.

There are so few immigrants in Finland, never mind Muslims and Roma from Romania and Bulgaria, that I can actually name those that I am bashing. The countries biggest dailies allow me to print my xenophobic statements because some of them stand behind, albeit silently, with what I say.

Yes, it is an excellent time to be an ultra-nationalist immigrant basher in Europe!

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.

Finland’s Kokoomus now flirts with simplistic immigration integration models

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland’s conservative Kokoomus youth leader, Wille Rydman, makes an incredible statement in a letter to the editor to Helsingin Sanomat: The state should not support nor fund multiculturalism because it would hinder the adaption of immigrants into our society.

So, what he is suggesting is that funds from Finland’s well-intentioned but semi-wayward integration program have been earmarked for enhancing multiculturalism in Finland. If Rydman wants to look at Finland’s integration program seriously, he will note that it fails on many fronts, like instilling a sense of dignity in immigrants.

The issue is much simpler: work and acceptance. If you want newcomers to embrace and grow in their new home they will have to be inspired by it. Our society must offer them opportunities and, most importantly, acceptance.

Some Finns like Rydman have a simplistic view of how immigrants should conform and adapt to our society.This is understandable because they have never lived in societies, and if they have have never fully grasped, where immigration is normal and where synergies occur.

One of the most flawed components or Finland’s integration program is that adaption of immigrants is one-way: that is, we will tell you how to adapt to our society and what is important to us. This is Rydman’s simplistic recipe: throw away your culture and learn Finnish as a Finn or Swedish as a Swede and, presto, full integration.

This type of recipe for immigrants is not only a disaster but leads to exclusion. Could he please tell us where this type of integration has occurred successfully?

Another saddening aspect of Rydman’s discourse, who is a member of Finland’s largest political party, is that he thinks that all these civil rights goodies in our constitution and laws, like equality and the right to diversity, do not apply to immigrants.

These types of simplistic solutions to the dynamics of immigration is not only irresponsible but shows how little some politicians understand the issue. Certainly with elections in April 2011 around the corner, politicians such as Rydman are eyeing the elections with opportunistic gleam.

Rydman looks at two extreme examples of immigration policy: France and Sweden. Why didn’t he look at how the “major leagues,” countries like the United States, Canada, Australia or England in the European Union, handle large immigrant populations?

Europe is a sad case lined with too many politicians such as Rydman and an unfortunate list of others who forget our dark and xenophobic past.What happened in the 1930s in Nazi Germany and most recently in the former Yugoslavia should serve as extreme rude wake up calls.