Floods, Part 3: Prime Minister Vanhanen on refugees

As the editorial here at JeesJees was preparing to entertain you all by borrowing Hesari’s tongue-in-cheek speculations about the origins of the mystery hole in the metro (two types of mutant rodents seem the most plausible) it stumbled on a somewhat different story about “floods”.

According to MTV3’s website Prime Minister Vanhanen (Centre Party) is afraid of a flood (tulva) [sic] of asylum seekers coming to Finland. He reckons (in Aamulehti) that the last few years’ growth in refugee numbers is just the beginning. Around 6000 asylum seekers, it is estimated, could arrive in Finland this year.

The website then reports the Prime Minister’s words thus:

– Ei pitäisi julkisesti sanoa, mutta jos meidät löydetään yhtä laajasti kuin muut Pohjoismaat, hakijoita voi olla jopa 20 000, Vanhanen sanoo. [You shouldn’t say this publicly, but if we’re discovered like the other Nordic countries have been, the number of applicants could be as high as 20 000, Vanhanen says]

“Home, sweet home” in Finnish is “oma maa mansikka, muu maa mustikka” (home is strawberry, abroad is blueberry – work that one out!) In 2008 the UNHCR‘s (The UN Refugee Agency) estimated that there were 11.4 million refugees worldwide. As ever, there’s room to quibble about the terminology and numbers, but it seems rather churlish to do so in this context with these figures. It’s also quite clear that the poorest countries receive about 80% of these homeless people anyway, so such homely sayings are presumably a privilege that only a very few can afford.

P.S. Finnish figures are indeed up. Not long ago they were almost non-existent. Debate is ongoing and extremely fraught about where to put those asylum seekers who do arrive and whom Finland has agreed to assist.

No consensus on Finnish hospitality

The trees are almost bare now. Winter is coming and it’ll soon be even colder than it is now, and darker. What a time to arrive as a stranger. Particularly if you feel unwanted.

Mark Twain once said about land, “they ain’t makin any more of it” or something. Meawhile the global population is rather large compared to years gone and with income polarisation, endemic violence and environmental degradation pushing people out of places they once considered home (a process that’s happening within countries and cities not to mention across different parts of the planet) it’s the poor who are generally being squeezed. So anyone with an interest in the way places look, even lucky places like Helsinki, is going to have to factor that in.

This week a new reception centre for refugees is to open in Punavuori, as reported by Vartti online magazine. Like many others probably, I found out by reading the week-end paper’s interview. But it was an asylum article with a difference, a portrait of a group – OK, two engaged women – who have established the “Refugee Hospitality Club Punavuori” to make sure that as well as cries of “not in my back yard” we get a compassionate message of “why not in our back yard?” What exactly their activities will consist of is yet unclear (at least to me) but the idea is that there is a volunteering opportunity here for us already-locals that these folks are ready to organise. Oh, and they are on facebook!

The balance (?!) between mobile and sedentary, local and foreign isn’t one that Europeans (or many others, I suspect) have found that easy to negotiate, but it’s good to see that the shrill views of those wishing to restrict hospitality to a narrowly defined type of human being, are not the only ones circulating out there.

On which note, Finnish users of facebook have set up a rather lovely group, loosely translated thus: I accidentally wound up on Helsingin Sanomat’s internet discussion site: shouldn’t have

P.s. just some thoughts on the political background to all this. Finland has been known for its consensus politics, at least until recently. Some now feel that the country has lost the common sense of purupose it once had and that any consensus there might once have been surely is now gone. Related to this, Finland is now also a land of differences and that appears to be a problem. The Finnish media in 2009, however, is busily producing a new consensus or at least a political truth: asenneilmapiiri on kiristynyt literally translated = attitude atmosphere become tighter/tenser. Presumably they are trying to find an inoffensive way to say that racism, fear of difference and readiness to be hurtful have become understandable, even acceptable. I’ve read this phrase in 2 papers (not necessariy fresh) in recent days, and of course, on online discussion threads. Shouldn’t have.

“Refugees drop litter and move around in groups”

Through that trusty and sometimes interesting medium of communication, facebook, our protagonist heard of nasty dealings afoot in rural Finland. Helsinki itself is, she feels, trying to address the collision of historical homogeneity and contemporary diversity in a number of ways. The things it’s possible to say in this country, about people who are ‘not like us’ that stereotype and thus limit people’s lives, still startle her, but she is somewhat used to it and appreciates that for a country where homogeneity and consensus have been raised to such prominent political positions international immigration is bound to be challenging.

Alas, a controversial piece of news which was later denied in part, demonstrates the depth of the problems Finland faces. Even if the article’s claims about the role of the Finnish Red Cross turn out to be invalid, the contents are pretty f***ing shocking.
Here’s a synopsis based on the YLE report on the story, which demonstrates quite well the kinds of processes and thought processes associated with migration:

Asylum seekers’ movements restricted in Kontionlahti

In the village of Kontioniemi the Finnish Red Cross (FRC) and the Village Association (Kyläyhdistys) have made a mutual agreement to recommend that the residents of the reception centre for asylum seekers avoid, among other places, the municipality’s public football ground. The agreement stipulates that the local indigenous population (kantaväestö) has the right to request reception centre residents to vacate the field. Kontionlahti municipality claims no part in the agreement.

The Village Association had earlier written to local authorities to complain about problems with the centre, opened last March.

According to the member of the Village Association responsible for asylum seekers, the authority has not undertaken the necessary steps to remove the problems.

–       The refugees drop litter, move around in groups, are noisy and they use the village football pitch. The municipality washes its hands of the affair, so we’ve started to create the foundations of our own refugee policies, he explains.

Local agreement on restrictions

The Village Association has pressured the FRC into agreeing on use restrictions for the residents of the reception centre. It is now recommended that asylum seekers avoid the football pitch as well as the viewing point on Kontioniemi peninsula. Use of the public beach is being negotiated and the FRC is looking into creating new facilities specially for use of refugees.

In the mean time, the Village Association rep emphasised that asylum seekers can be guided away politely.

FSR: We’re not refusing, we’re recommending

According to the FRC it is not a question of refusing access.

–       We’re talking about a recommendation. We have informed residents in the centre of the situation and they’ve been told there’s no more going into those areas.

The FRC rep is unable to answer the question, how is it possible to restrict the use of public space by specified social groups. He acknowledges that such an agreement has no legal force, they are simply trying to do what’s best for both the asylum seekers and the local indigenous population.

Local leadership unaware of the agreement

The municipality prefers to wash its hands of the entire story. According to a representative,

–       We don’t recognise these kinds of agreements between local groups. We can’t after all prevent our beach or sports ground from being used by someone from Juuka or a German. (translator’s note:  juuTalainen = Jew, juuKalainen=inhabitant of Juuka).

–       The Village Association claims asylum seekers haven’t understood traffic regulations. But not all Finns know traffic signs either. If there have been real problems, the only people authorised to deal with them is the police. Under no circumstances can the municipality restrict people’s movements.

He added that he didn’t believe all locals agree with these statements by the Village Association.

Based on story by YLE – Northern Karelia

Later the Finnish Red Cross denied its part in the agreement but acknowledge it was looking for alternative venues for the use of asylum seekers. YLE published a retraction of that part of the story.

FRC: Asylum seekers’ movements are not being restricted

it headlined.

Friday evening in Kamppi

I thought I’d post a picture of some others who move around in groups and tend to drop litter. Though our narrator says she is beginning to be a bit more tolerant of them. Is it just getting used to them, as well as trying to see things from their perspective? Though I gather she is keeping her eyes open for initiatives to try and domesticate their increasingly feral habits!