Rassismus in Finnland

[Omega]

Mein Beitrag bezieht sich immer noch auf die Ureinwohner Finnlands. ;)



Omega

[sunny1011]

Ein sehr interessanter Vergleich von den Rassismusformen in einer Klassengesellschaft wie die Britische gegenüber der homogenen finnischen Gesellschaft.

COMMENTARY: Unabashedly racist?

By Annamari Sipilä

Racism takes many forms and there are distinct differences in how it shows itself in different countries.
In Finland, racism is straightforward enough: either you are a racist or you are not. It is not hard to spot those with racist tendencies in these parts. Their prejudices are visible and audible. Education and higher social status do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with greater tolerance in the Finnish experience. There are racists to be found at every social level.
The more tolerant side of the Finnish population tries to shape the attitudes of the racists with factual arguments. Their aim is to produce a country free of prejudice and discrimination. The battle-lines are clearly drawn.

The ways in which racism manifests itself
in Britain, on the other hand, are a good deal more complex. It is not possible to perform such a brisk analysis.
Take the current debate, for instance. For the past few weeks, British television viewers (those who admit to watching reality-TV) have been following Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother.
Even the Finnish news threshold has been crossed by stories of how one contestant, an Indian Bollywood star, has been the object of bullying racist remarks from some of her fellow inmates in the CBB household.
Some viewers have been horrified at what has gone down - for modern Britain is proud of its tolerance and multiculturalism. There have been questions in Parliament and the government has been obliged to comment in an attempt to calm down the national and international outcry.

But the picture one gets of the furore is incomplete without an understanding of the background of the people who are alleged to have bullied and taunted the Indian actress.
One of them is Jade Goody, a 25-year-old whose claim to "tabloid celebrity" status stems from her having taken part in an earlier incarnation of Big Brother - this time for ordinary folks - in 2002.
Another in her gang is Danielle Lloyd , a glamour model and the winner of the 2004 Miss England beauty pageant. She was also chosen as Miss Great Britain 2006, but was stripped of her title after a topless spread in Playboy magazine and suggestions that she had been dating one of the judges.
Both women have, on several previous occasions, demonstrated to British TV viewers their complete lack of education. Back in 2002, Goody professed to know that Cambridge was in London, and when told that it was actually in East Anglia [north-east of the capital], replied "Where's East Angular [sic], though? I thought that was abroad". She was also under the impression that Rio de Janeiro was a person.
Danielle Lloyd, for her part, guessed on a TV quiz programme that Winston Churchill - Britain's wartime Prime Minister and voted the greatest-ever Briton in a 2002 BBC poll of the "100 Greatest Britons" - was the first black President of the United States.

The ignorance of the two TV-bimbos does not, of course, excuse their prejudices. And yet the stupidity of these celebrity representatives of British "chav" culture has its own role to play: it is a means for more intelligent Britons to outsource their own racist thoughts in a socially acceptable fashion.
The middle-class Brit does not feel he or she can be openly racist. It is perfectly acceptable, on the other hand, to despise the uneducated underclass. The end result is that the middle class sneers at the underclass that says aloud what should not be said aloud, and the middle-class condemns them (and at the same time feels comfortable about themselves).
In this way the racism is hidden, and is directed elsewhere.
This process is known as the sublimation of racism.

...

[sunny1011]

...

Such a process will not work in Finland, as Finland is not a class society in the same way. In the Finnish experience, everyone gets much the same education. We do not have an ignorant underclass on the lines of the British model, through which others can channel their own prejudices.
And yet an apparently egalitarian and homogeneous society such as this one is a trap for immigrants.
When the Finns find it practically impossible to despise their own, they despise instead those who have come from elsewhere. In a country of direct, unsublimated racism it is not necessary even to hide your prejudices. It is by no means out of the question to hear somebody in Finland describe themselves as "unabashedly racist".
It is difficult to saywhich of the two models, the British or the Finnish one, is the less pernicious. Both have their repugnant features.
One thing is certain, all the same. Unless the Finns can shake off their prejudices, our economic growth is pretty soon going to run into a brick wall of our own making. We are shortly going to need new workers desperately, and they cannot all be blue-eyed, flaxen-haired specimens.

Personally I would not be in the least astonished if the Finns were ultimately to spring a surprise and weed out their prejudices in record time. It would be that famous Finnish pragmatism in action; a ready desire to recognise the economic realities.
Quite another matter, though, is who would end up being kicked around in this future scenario. It could be that Finland has a demand for a new underclass.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 21.1.2007 http://www.hs.fi/english/article/COMMEN ... 5224516923

The columnist is a former Helsingin Sanomat correspondent in London.

[Hans]

Ja, und Fazer will das freundliche schwarze Lakritmännchen eliminieren - auch schlimm!

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Fazer+ ... 5224346504

[Risto]

@Hans: Ich sehe das genau so. Durch die Eliminierung von Lakupekka wird eigentlich nur bestätigt, dass dunkelhautige Menschen in der Tat als irgendwie minderwertig betrachtet werden, denn sonst müssten sie doch gar nicht mit solchen besonderen Massnahmen, die auf hellhautigen Menschen gar nicht adaptiert werden, gegen irgendwelchen Beleidigungen geschützt werden. Ginge es hier nämlich um eine allgemeine Tendenz zur Abschaffung von Warenzeichen phänotypischen Charakters, müsste auch die Elovena-Frau der finnischen Haferflocken verboten werden (http://www.finnishfood.net/store/popup_ ... 304cb4082c), denn Blondinen, über denen gemeine Witze wegen Haar- und Augenfarbe erzählt werden, könnten die Elovena-Frau für durchaus provokativ halten. Der Entschluss zur Eliminierung von Lakupekka während über die Elovena-Frau aber gar nicht diskutiert worden ist, spricht leider für sich, was die allgemeine europäische Haltung dunkelhautigen Menschen gegenüber angeht.

[sunny1011]

Sagen wir mal, kein Rassismus... nur Benachteiligung. Wo haben sie das denn wieder her? Ich will ja hoffen, dass es auf EU-Mitglieder nicht zutrifft.

Ausländer sollten "ein hohes Gehalt" von mind. 2880 Euro nachweisen, bevor eine Familienzusammenführung möglich ist. Dies ist ausserordentlich hoch, sagt Frau Bremer, weil ein Sozialsatz für eine fünfköpfige finnische Familie 1400 Euro beträgt (ts ts, vielleicht haben die Ausländer irgendwelche Mehrausgaben ). Gerade Asylanten kommen idR alleine nach Finnland, weil die Reise teuer und oft gefährlich ist. Der sog. Aliens Act besagt, dass ein Ausländer, dem die Aufenthaltsgenehmigung erteilt wurde, nicht automatisch das Recht hat, seine Familie ins Land zu bringen. Um die Genehmigung zu erlangen, hat man mitunter die o.g. Nachweispflicht.

Diese "hohe Verdienstgrenze" ist fast unmöglich (je) zu erreichen für einen Immigranten.

Also Operation gelungen, Patient tot. Würde ich sagen...

Immigrants required to earn high salaries before bringing family to Finland

21.2.2007 at 15:27

According to Finland's SOS Center, a support centre for foreigners, immigrants are required to earn an exceptionally high salary in order to be entitled to bring their family to Finland. In a press release on Wednesday, senior expert Lena Bremer from the centre noted that an immigrant in possession of a residence permit is required to earn a minimum of 2,880 euros per month before they are deemed capable of supporting a five-person family.
(Man beachte, 2880 Euro gilt als "ausserordentlich hoch" hierzulande )

Such a requirement is surprising, says Ms Bremer, given that a five-person Finnish family is considered able to support itself through income support payments, which would total 1,400 euros per month.

"Asylum seekers frequently come to Finland alone, as the journey is already both dangerous and expensive for one. Very few, however, are aware upon leaving that the asylum application process can take over a year," added Ms Bremer.

An immigrant's ability to bring their family to Finland is dependent upon the particular article of the aliens act under which they have been granted residency. Official residence in Finland does not, however, entitle the immigrant to bring their family to the country. In order to be entitled to this, they must be able to prove that they are able to support the family.

Ms Bremer notes that the required earnings to support a family are almost impossible for an asylum seeker to attain quickly, if ever.

/STT/ http://virtual.finland.fi/stt/showartic ... up=General

[sunny1011]

Interessante Zahlen bzgl. der sehr aktuellen Umfragen zu Einwanderung, Werbung der Arbeitskraft aus dem Ausland, etc.

Laut STT, 36%, mehr als ein Viertel ( ?( ist doch mehr als ein Drittel?), möchten einen kompletten Stop von Einwanderung. Die Zahlen waren geringer, aber mit einem noch schärferen Hintergrund in der Hesari Nyt Umfrage, wo es um rassistische Äusserungen im Zusammenhang mit Einwanderung ging. Davon gab es 12%. Die Mehrheit hat nix gegen Einwanderer oder arbeitsbedingte Immigration. Je älter der Befragte, desto ablehnende die Antworten. Auch das Einkommen und Herkunft spielte eine Rolle. Menschen mit geringen Einkünften, aber auch Bauer und Rentner sind am meisten verschlossen. In der Gegend von Helsinki ist man offen für Immigration.

More than a quarter of Finns would stop admitting immigrants

2.3.2007 at 10:45

Some 56 per cent of the respondents in a poll printed in the latest issue of Nyt, Helsingin Sanomat's Friday supplement, said Finland should continue admitting immigrants while 36 per cent said the country should refuse entry altogether.

Juhani Iivari, a researcher at the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (Stakes), was quoted as saying by Nyt that he was concerned about racist undertones in Finnish views about immigration.

"Among the respondents as a whole, 10 to 12 per cent expressed racist-type thinking. With these kinds of numbers one could get about a dozen MPs elected to Arkadia Hill, to the highest caste of the political system," Mr Iivari said.

Commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat, Taylor Nelson Sofres interviewed 1,000 Finns.

/STT/

Poll: More than half of Finns want more immigration - Over ten percent express openly racist views

A majority of Finns feel that Finland should take more immigrants, according to a poll commissioned by NYT - the weekly Friday supplement of Helsingin Sanomat.
Of all respondents, 56 per cent answered "yes" to the question "should Finland take more immigrants?", while 36 per cent did not want any more immigrants in Finland.
The most frequent explanation for a negative view was that "problems should be solved in the countries of origin", or that "Finland should primarily take care of its own citizens". The older the respondent, and the lower the person's income, the more negative the attitude toward immigration. Residents of the Helsinki region were more positively disposed toward immigrants than those living in other parts of the country.

Analysing the results, Juhani Iivari, head of research at the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) notes that in a comparison of political party affiliations of the respondents, supporters of the centre party were the most conservative, with 43 per cent saying that Finland should not take any more immigrants. At the other end, 90 per cent of those identifying themselves as supporters of the Green League wanted more immigration.
The respondents' place of residence also had a bearing on the matter: the closer to the Helsinki region a person lives, the more open he or she is to immigration. Iivari attributes this to the fact that immigration is a more visible phenomenon in the Helsinki region, and that people are more used to it.

Those opposing more immigration were given a list of possible reasons for the view, and were asked if they agreed with the argument.
Iivari divided the arguments into three different categories: rational, conservative, and racist. An example of the latter is "it is unnatural for people of such different races to live in Finland".
The poll indicated that 28 per cent of men felt this way.
"Fortunately, the rational argument predominates. But what is interesting are these racist arguments", Iivari says, and continues: "First, the older a respondent, the more frequent it is for an argument to be racist."
Racist attitudes are most prevalent among farmers and pensioners. Supporters of the Greens had the fewest responses that can be considered racist.
"Racist fears can be found among those who do not vote at all, and among supporters of the Centre Party and the Social Democrats."
Those earning less than EUR 20,000 a year had the greatest proportion of racist attitudes. The lower the income, the stronger the negative feelings.
Among all of the respondents, 10 to 12 per cent express racist thinking. Iivari notes that a political party winning all of their votes "could conceivably win more than ten seats in Parliament".

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Poll+M ... 5225518285

[sunny1011]

Unser dunkelhäutiger Warenausleger ausm Lidl hat es geschafft und ist an der Kasse. Zwar ähm Lidl als Arbeitgeber ist ja wohl ziemlich umstritten, aber sowas hierzulande ist ein Riesenfortschritt. Man denkt endlich um :thumbsu: Er spricht wieviel er sprechen können muss und die scheinheiligen "die Sprache reicht nicht aus" Floskeln sind schlichtweg bullsh!t. Freundlich wird man bedient, also kein Problem!

[Klaus]

Die Fremdenfeindlichkeit erreicht in Finnland neue Dimensionen:

Astrid Thors, Migrations- und Europa- und Ålandministerin von der "sfp" (Svenska Folkspartiet - Schwedische Volkspartei) hat mehrere Drohmails von fremdenfeindlichen Personen erhalten. Thors wurde in einer Mail aufgefordert, nach Åland auszuwandern. Diese Mail endete mit dem Satz, "wir ermorden dich", so Hufvudstadsbladet. In einer anderen Mail wurde geschrieben "Du wirst innerhalb eines Jahres ermordet, wenn du etwas machst, was wir als falsch ansehen". Nach den bedrohlichen Mails hat Astrid Thors ihre Internetseite geschlossen.

[Syysmyrsky]

Und woher weiß man, daß das nun aus "Festland"-Finnland kam? Das kann doch ebenso ein Trittbrettfahrer aus - öhm - dem Sultanat Oman gewesen sein ;)

[Klaus]

Allerdings. Der Sultan von Oman. Es war aber nirgends die Rede von einem "Festlandfinnen", sondern nur von E-Mails, die die Ålandministerin bzw. Einwanderungs- und Europaministerin Astrid Thors bekommen hat. Also erstmal allgemein, was dahinter steckt, wird vielleicht nie geklärt. Aber hinter der Mail, dass sie nach Åland auswandern solle, würde ich einen sehr nationalistisch eingestellten Festlandfinnen vermuten, aber wie gesagt, das ist auch nur eine Spekulation. Es könnte neben dem Sultan ja auch ein Unruhe stiften wollender Åländer sein. ;)

[sunny1011]

Ich hab ja von der Multikulti Veranstaltung der obigen Partei berichtet. Da kommen schon komische Vögel im Publikum vor 80 . Mit dem Beigeschmack "Geht doch zurück wo der Pfeffer wächst" und zwar nicht nur im Bezug auf Åländer

[sunny1011]

Traurige Altlasten.

Teil 1

An increasingly influential minority
By Mika Parkkonen

I ask 53-year-old Irma Iho, a member of the City Council of Salo what is obviously an impertinent question: Does Russian President Vladimir Putin use Russian immigrants in Finland as a tool of his power politics?
The question makes the eyes of the Ingrian-born woman well up. She is all too familiar with suspicious attitudes that many Finns have toward Russians, and what is even worse is the habit that Finns have of confusing Ingrians with Russians.
Iho is sitting in her favourite café, Kultainen tuoksu ("Golden Fragrance"), on Inkerinkatu in Salo. She has lived in Finland for years already, but her habit of sitting up with her back straight resembles that of an upstanding committee member - as if there were still some traces of the chubbiness that the Soviet Union inflicted on its citizens.
"This paradise often feels like a hell, but things would hardly be any better in Russia", Iho answers.

At the end of last year there were 41,758 people in Finland, who said that Russian was their mother tongue. In 20 years their numbers have increased nearly 20-fold.
The largest group among them are the Ingrian returning migrants such as Iho. The Ingrians are the descendants of Finns who moved onto the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the area between modern St. Petersburg and the Estonian border at a time when the entire area, and Finland, were part of the Russian empire. Currently about 25,000 of these ethnic Finns from Russia live in Finland.
The second-largest group are Ingrians and Russians who have married Finns. At the end of last year there were 8,194 such people in Finland. There are seven times more women than men in this group.
The third-largest group are Russian managers with work permits in Finland, as well as experts and other professionals. Last year 3031 work permits were granted to people from this group.

Russian-speakers living in Finland have set up dozens of associations, and are taking part in municipal politics. Promoting their interests is the League of Finnish Associations of Russian-Speakers (FARO), which hopes to get Russian the status of an official minority language in Finland.
Meanwhile, Russia's is adopting a more hard-line foreign and security policy than before. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted that he will do all he can to improve the lot of Russian-speakers living in Europe. One example of this is a Russian-language newspaper financed by Moscow, which began to appear in Finland. The name of it is Russkaya Mysl, or "Russian Thought".

...

[sunny1011]

Teil 3

Iho admires the Finnish welfare society: "When you go to the office of the Social Insurance Institution or the tax office in Salo, you can be confident that you will get service there. Here officials are there for the customer . In Russia you always need to be afraid of what kinds of problems the official can cause the customer." 80
Iho feels that the Ingrians and the Russians have not split into different camps in Salo. However, Iho still does not want to be confused with Russians, because she feels that it is time that the Ingrians would become known as their own nation: <span style="color:red;">"In Russia we have been labelled Tshuhna (Finns), and in Finland we have been labelled Russians."[/color]

She is nevertheless annoyed by the Russian nouveau riche who spend holidays in Finland. "It is not possible to become filthy rich in just a couple of years without resorting to dishonest means. I believe that they have stolen property that belongs to the people", she huffs. Although a poll showed that Finns see Russians as being among the least desirable immigrants, alongside Arabs and Somalis, the prejudices have eased in areas in which there are many Russian-speakers, as is the case in Salo. Iho also believes that Finnish attitudes will change gradually.
"Immigrant is no longer a dirty word, and not everyone who comes from the east is seen as a hooker or a drug dealer. Finns understand that we have come to stay", she says.
Iho also points out that discrimination against Russian and Ingrian immigrants in Finland is milder than the open racism that exists in Russia. "People there are being killed simply for coming from somewhere else", she says.

Iho herself was shocked by the killing of a 9-year-old Tajik girl by skinheads in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago. The news of the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya last autumn also upset her very much.
"There are not many people left in Russia who are capable of thinking for themselves, and then they are treated like this! Politkovskaya's fate made me feel ashamed that I am from Russia", she says, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.
"And then you come and ask if I, as an immigrant, am bringing the politics of Putin to Finland!"

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.4.2007

Erinnert ebenfalls an den Fall aus der Gesellschaftsfarcé "Mogadishu Avenue", die russische Ärztin.

Den Satz: "In Russia we have been labelled Tshuhna (Finns), and in Finland we have been labelled Russians." kann ich sehr gut als Aussiedlerin nachvollziehen. In Deutschland tun es dennoch nur ungebildete und man lernt dies zu ignorieren :P

[sunny1011]

Teil 2

The purpose of the paper is to help unite expatriate Russians and to inform them about the policies pursued by the Kremlin. This is one reason why the Russian-speakers of Finland are often asked if Putin uses them as a tool of his policies.
In spite of their large numbers, Russian speakers remain a fairly unknown minority for Finns. The image that Finns have of the Russian minority is influenced by news of crime, prostitution, and tough speeches by Russian leaders. Although decades have passed since the wars, many continue to see the Russians as a threat.

Irma Iho knows how life in Finland can feel hellish for a Russian immigrant.
Iho is a Finnish teacher and interpreter by profession. She moved to Finland from Petrozavodsk eight and a half years ago along with her 23-year-old daughter Sofia Martyugova. The daughter has completed school and served in the Finnish Defence Forces. Iho herself has gone into municipal politics. Both are dual citizens of Finland and Russia.
However, settling into their new home country was not without difficulties.
"An immigrant is not always treated equally", Iho says.
"It is hard to think of one's self as a second-class citizen."
Iho feels that Russian-speaking immigrants continues to suffer from discriminatory hiring practices. More than one in three Russians living in Finland are unemployed.
Even highly-trained immigrants easily find themselves working at menial jobs, as agricultural hands, or cleaners. Of all Russian-speakers in Finland, the Ingrians are in the most difficult position, because Finland was unprepared for the flood of thousands of returning migrants. Those who came to Finland as spouses of a Finn, or who came here to work usually had either a family or a job waiting for them.

Iho herself had 30 years' experience as a teacher in a Russian comprehensive school. In Finland she tried to get into primary education. However, those responsible for hiring did not feel that a Soviet university degree or lengthy working experience were applicable to Finland. (Anm. Jodelühüdü-Diplom - mal wieder!) Now Iho teaches Finnish to immigrants on a fixed term and part-time basis in Salo.
<span style="color:red;"> "You can always find some little accent in the language. Employers do not want to hire a person even on a trial basis, or look to see how they do. The old prejudice against us wins out too easily", Iho sighs. [/color]

Sofia, who works as a teaching assistant, has found things easier than her mother. "She came to Finland at the age of 15, and has lost her Russian identity. She dresses, behaves, and thinks like a Finn, but does not feel ashamed about the surname of her Russian father."

Attitudes toward Russian leaders vary considerably among immigrants. Those like Irma Iho, who have lived in Finland for a longer time, are usually more critical toward their country of origin, because they have learned the rules of the game of Western democracy. Critical attitudes are also common among immigrants who speak foreign languages, because they have access to what is said about Russia in other countries.
When Iho herself lived in Russia, she was not interested in politics. She was not a member of the Communist Party, and did not even vote in the final years of Soviet power.
In Finland, she became interested in politics. She noticed that contrary to what was the case in her home country, it is possible to influence events in Finland. Iho went into local politics in Salo, hoping to improve the lot of immigrants. The Social Democratic Party was her group of choice.

...