Tag: prejudice and racism

Study: Homophobia and racism hinder young minority athletes from joining Finnish sports clubs

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Helsingin Sanomat reported that homophobia and racism are two factors that hinder young minority athletes from joining a Finnish sports club, according to a study. If the story is true it is not only another indication that some Finns live tucked deep in the values of the previous century, but for this to be going on still today is shameful, self-defeating and above all unacceptable. 

Another factor that stops minorities from joining a sports club is cost.

Even if  discrimination is an obtacle in some sports clubs it is a reflection of our society as a whole and our acceptance by too many of these types of social ills.

Like any social ill, racism and homophobia are difficult but not impossible to show.  Even so, the study shows that prejudice and racism do not foster inclusion but fuel social exclusion.

What to do? When battling discrimination we have to first make a decision that we will actually challenge this social ill. Secondly, we must be persistent and patient because eradicating decades of near-unchallenged racism and homophobia in Finland will take many generations.

Despite the challenge, the sooner we begin the better for the sake of our future generations.

Anti-immigration groups in Finland care less about immigrants and visible minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Behind all the rhetoric spread by anti-immigration groups in Finland and elsewhere a fact emerges: they are out to destroy the lives of as many immigrants as possible with their prejudice and racism. When a Justice Ministry official hands over rape statistics on various immigrant groups he gives a power weapon to slander and victimize people from various countries.

Such statistics have little value apart from hindering the integration of hard-working immigrants and those that want to make and build their future in this country.

Risto Laakkonen said on YLE’s Historiansarjoja: Raggarit, rasismi ja suomalaiset program how Swedish newspapers stopped linking crimes to national origin in 1970. The Finnish Embassy in Stockholm was instrumental in reaching an agreement with the editors-in-chief of Sweden’s major newspapers, who agreed not to publish the nationality of individuals committing a crime.

Things had gotten so bad in Sweden that the media had a common saying whenever a Finn was involved in a crime: En finne igen, or Yet another Finn.

Racist perceptions of different groups in Finland is more widespread than people would like to think, and the media have played a key role in spreading racism and prejudices among the population.

The fact that a political group openly spreads and distorts crime statistics about another national group is the worst form of chicanery.

If anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party are honestly interested in promoting the integration of various cultures in our society, why do they commonly single out immigrants and never suggest the same things for Finns?

A case in point of the latter can be found in a good opinion-piece by Hussein Muhammed.  PS MP Jussi Halla-aho has suggested that unemployed immigrants should be put to work, even if this means digging and refilling holes.  Muhammed asks: “…why must this kind of work only apply to “newcomers?” Shouldn’t it apply equally to “natives” or to the majority population that are unemployed?”

Why do anti-immigration groups apply two standards? One of these are for “newcomers” and the other for “natives?” Why are they so eager to use crime statistics and point the accusing finger at the whole group?

The answer to that question is simple. It is prejudice with a capital P, and racism with a fat R.

Let’s stop fooling ourselves about the Romany minority in Finland and Europe

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

I’ve been following with disappointment the stories published in the Finnish media about the East European Romany minority beggars coming to Finland.  If politicians don’t get it, it’s pretty clear that a part of the media never mind the public won’t either.  Social ills like xenophobia, prejudice and racism are not “fixed” in a few days, months or years but take generations for the open wounds to heal.

Moreover, a great part of the Romany minority problem in Europe is not only due to these people, but to our own prejudices and racism that we have seen erupt recently in countries like Slovakia, Hungary and others.

So far we have two apparent political solutions in Finland on how to solve this so-called “problem:” One of them is to deport them out of Finland and another is to seek help from the Romanian authorities by sending a fact-finding mission to that country.

Let’s get serious for a moment folks.  What we should be really doing is ask why an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) has raised this issue and how the government is responding.

It’s pretty clear that the PS, worried about its poor standings in recent opinion polls, is using anti-Roma sentiment to lure disappointed voters back to its party.  The government in turn has no choice but to be seen doing something as the PS attempt to raise this issue as a matter of national security.

But let’s try to understand the recent red-herring debate in parliament between the opposition PS and government. Why are we so concerned about these people coming to Finland? Is it our racism and loathing that reflects back on us when we see them begging? Is it our failure as a society to deal with our own Romany “problem?” Are we shocked to see that there are actually people in Europe who are poor and exploited?

In Finland we have about 10,000 people belonging to the Romany minority. Political parties have rarely if ever spoken up for them.  If our handling of our own Romany minority problem is anything to go by, we are very far from finding any solutions to these people from Eastern Europe.

Another important question we should ask is how many people are we speaking of? Hundreds, thousands or maybe tens of thousands? Why don’t we have any ball-park figures? Is this the way politicians and the media victimize a group like the Roma and show them to be a bigger threat than they actually are?

One of the matters I’d recommend to all parties concerned in this country is that we should stop treating racism and social exclusion as something that we can fix instantly.  No matter how much we try, the Romany minority problem will not go away tomorrow nor after tomorrow.

It will take a lot of time to solve and heal.

In order for us to do something effective in the meantime, we should take a totally different approach to the problem. We should start to look at our history and our own prejudices as part of the problem.

 

What should an immigrant do if he cannot find work in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What should you do if you live in Finland and cannot find employment? The lucky ones can move to another country but for many it is a crude dead-end street lined with little hope: fragmented work life, lower salary than average, health problems and, worse, discrimination that will discourage you to integrate.  

There is an interesting article in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat on page A8 about a U.S. citizen, Ryan Savage, who is married to a Finn.

“USAmerican Ryan Savage is a dream come true for the immigration officials:  university graduate that moved with his spouse to Finland. He speaks the most widely spoken language in the world [English]. The problem is that Savage cannot find any work in Finland.”

Helsingin Sanomat claims that immigrant men make on average 10,000 euros less than Finnish men, while the difference [6,000 euros] is less between immigrant and Finnish women.

Other sad realities about being an immigrant in this country are that you have a greater chance of living in poverty than Finnish families and have twice as greater chance of being attacked by another person than a Finn. One study showed that immigrant men have 50% more ear ailments than Finnish males.

If the above is true, we should be especially concerned and critical about those parties that play down the role prejudice and racism in this country. All these social and physical symptoms mentioned above are indirectly or directly related to social ills like exclusion.

But if a politician, political party or society deny that racism is not a big social problem in this country and that everything is fine, it is effectively telling you that they will not do anything to tackle the problems of our ever-growing immigrant community.  Thus you do not exist. Since you don’t exist there is no reason to even worry never mind begin addressing your problems.

There are many ways of confronting the apathy or denial of the majority concerning our community: get involved in a political party, form a social movement, start up a blog like Migrant Tales or Facebook page like My Finland is International, or simply leave Finland for greener pastures.

Everyone isn’t that fortunate that he or she can just move to anther country. Some are forced to face that depressing  music that eats away at your self-esteem and keeps you from realizing your full potential in this society.

A society like ours that claims to be for social justice and equality cannot accept prejudice, exclusion and inequality in any form.

While first-generation immigrants should raise their voices in Finland and demand changes, it is their children  that are our hope.

Some of them have seen enough of how their parents have been excluded from the labor market and are getting the short end of society’s stick.

They, rightfully, have a valid gripe and should demand far better than what their parents got.

It’s time to organize, be and think proactively.

The question that exposed Timo Soini’s good-cop-bad-cop strategy on racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The televised presidential debate on Thursday is probably one of the first times when Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini’s good-cop-bad-cop strategy was uncovered to the tee. His usual response, “I don’t support racism and hate speech,” didn’t work because it was unconvincing and even had a grotesque quality. 

We should thank again the high school students of the city of Järvenpää for their good question that brought Soini’s political house of cards down.

The question inspired as well other presidential candidates taking part in the debate, namely Paavo Lipponen of the Social Democrats, Swedish People’s Party Eva Biaudet and Paavo Arhimäki of the Left Alliance, to continue to grill Soini and not let him off the hook as easily as in the past.

With young people like the ones we saw on television this week and their good questions, we can rest assured that Finland is in good hands and will not fall victim to nationalistic populism and hatred.

The startling discovery that one will make when studying Soini’s ideology and the PS is that at the end of the day he thinks just like those worst racists in his party.  The big difference between Soini and those “bad cops” is that he is a good talker. Soini does not insult any group directly like some of his more cruder MPs.

But don’t be mistaken, it’s the same beast with the difference being that the message comes in sugar-coated words.

There is a very good column by Pekka Vasala of Kainuun Sanomat that catches Soini in his good-cop-bad-cop role.

How can a politician like Soini be against racism and prejudice when he prizes politically people like Jussi Halla-aho with the chair of the administration committee? How can he lead by example if he attracts Nazi-spirited members that belong to associations like Suomen Sisu and SKV? The PS chairman literally shakes your hand with a smile but then clobbers you with the other.

Once we understand how a political beast like Soini and the PS operate, we can begin to tackle an ever-growing social ill in this country: far-right nationalism, inequality, prejudice and racism.

It’s not complicated. It’s as simple as that.