Dålig timing!

Jag har sällan, kanske aldrig skrivit här ur ett politiskt perspektiv, och vill inte göra det idag heller. Men (alltid en MEN) igår läste jag igen att vår stadsminister Vanhanen sa att regeringen ska inom de närmaste dagarna se över lagstiftningen då det gäller utvisningsbeslut och överväga om den borde ändras. Naturligtvis detta uttalande baseras på den tragiska händelsen i Esbo.

Mig irriterar faktum att vår stadsminister inte har intresserat sig för invandrar frågor någonting nämnvärt förre tragedin i Esbo. Alla vi som har jobbat med integreringen och andra invandrar frågor vet det. Stöd från ”högre” ort kom alltid från minister Thors. Och vi alla är medvetna vilka smällar hon har fått.

Sociala media idag lever eget liv. Att kommentera anonymt, och bilda hatgrupper ute i cyberspace har blivit mycket vanligt. Men så länge jag viste att våra ministrar (jag säger våra för då är de folkets, inte partiets ministrar) var sakliga och såg till allas väl,var jag lugn. Om Vanhanen har kommit med det här förslaget förre tragedin, skulle jag förstå den! Jag skulle tänka ÄNTLIGEN har han åtminstone sett att det finns problem och kanske ska han nu också se till att vi får tillräckligt med medel att börja agera och hjälpa! Äntligen skulle migrations minister få lite feedback i sitt jobb!

Men nej, han var tvungen att komma med den här uttalande nu, efter tragedi i Esbo!

 De som är mot invandringen måste veta att invandrarna försvinner inte med hatgrupper som bildas överallt. Problemen med invandringen försvinner inte heller. Barn och kvinnomisshandeln försvinner inte om man bildar en hatgrupp mot en misshandlare.  Lika så försvinner inte politikerna som vi håller inte med, om vi skulle bilda en hatgrupp mot sådana…Problemen är till för att lösas. Enligt det som man läser nu i Vanhanens uttalande, drar man slutsats att problemen kommer att lösas om vi utvisar folk som kan göra skada här i Finland. Att samma människa kan döda i ett annat land bekommer inte oss, det är inte vårt problem, nej! För Finland är inte en del av den globala världen…

 Tänk om Vanhanen har kommit nu med ett förslag att regeringen ska se över vilka stödåtgärder finns för familjen, socialarbetarna, hälsovården och polisen när en människa är våldbenägen? Tänk om han kom med ett förslag om att Finland strävar efter nollan i statistiken när det gäller kvinnomisshandeln här i vårt land? Och tänk om han då, samtidigt kom med förslag att se över invandrar situation i Finland, även lagen om utvisning?

 Men nej, han var tvungen att agera ensidigt och sprida ännu mera missnöje hos de missnöjda, och öppnade dörren till de som alltid har grundat sin politik på främlingsfientlighet!

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Dålig timing!

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Wanted: a coherent, sane Finnish political party

In more than 11 years in Finland, I've been politically involved in a couple of political parties on the Right side of the spectrum - mainly because those parties tend to favor a free market economy and a work-oriented immigration. In one case, I was invited by fellow immigrants to attend the meetings of their favorite party's English section, because of my expertise on Immigration legislation and common practices. In an other case, a member of the Finnish parliament invited me to participate in his party's immigrant workgroup, which resulted in my getting involved in a number of proactive initiatives and eventually joining that party as a card-carrying member.

Simultaneously, I was approached by no less than 4 Finnish political parties to become a candidate in the municipal elections (in Finland, foreigners who have lived at least 2 years on an A-status residence permit can vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections).

Despite this, I've come to the conclusion that none of these Finnish political parties is genuine:

On one hand, there's politicians who claim to know everything about the Immigration question and yet their speeches tell an entirely different story than what immigrants experience. On the other hand, there's politicians who complain about the immigrants' lack of participation in political life, but who quickly add that their personal group of supporters is all they're interested in hearing from.

Correlating these facts, it's been found by many politically-involved immigrants that Finnish political parties don't genuinely want to involve immigrants; all they are interested in is acquiring a few extra votes from the immigrant population and in transferring those votes to their party's star Finnish candidate, who often is someone favored by the party's old-timers but disavowed by the majority of grassroot members. In a few more extreme cases, party brasses will sheepishly admit that all they want is «a couple of niggers in the candidate list» to show a vague sense of adhesion to the multicultural agenda - despite the assurances they have given to often naive immigrant candidates that they "genuinely" hope that they'll be elected.

As it turns out, many immigrants are actively involved at the grassroot level and receiving the praises of their Finnish colleagues for their innovative and proactive initiatives. As a result, genuinely interested Finns have joined forces with active immigrants to launch various initiatives for improving Finland's competitive position in the global economy through a thriving cosmopolitanism and a stronger culture of entrepreneurship. For instance, I am personally involved at several public and private sector initiatives.

Nonetheless, grassroot initiatives can only ever accomplish so much; without the unflinching support of Finland's significant political players, several key elements of these innovative solutions cannot be implemented. However, given the grassroot's frustrating experiences of the political scene, one cannot help but wonder:

Is there any Finnish political party whose actions are coherent with its stated political agenda and in sync with the grassroot initiatives being put forward by the immigrants and their Finnish associates?

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Social Educators in a Globalized World: Copenhagen congress

With pleasure permit me to share my experience and interesting moments from a world congress in Copenhagen Denmark.

Lessons learnt

According to the Copenhagen Declaration, the mission of the congress is to analyze and evaluate the possibilities of our profession in the light of a globalised world; no wonder the theme of the congress I attended some months ago was The Social Educator in a Globalised World.

The current economic crisis increases social hardship for many people and makes other people even poorer. The crisis threatens the life possibilities of children and young people and has severe negative influence for people with disabilities and all other impairments.

It never occurred to me that social educators have a direct role to play in order to fight the current crisis. Even if it would have crossed my mind it was hard for me to figure out how. Thanks a lot to this congress because I learnt that as social educators we must specifically point to the consequences of the crisis in the lives of vulnerable children, exposed adult groups (people with functional impairment, abusers of drugs and alcohol, the homeless people and many others). The crisis only worsens the situation.

I also leant that besides specifically pointing to the consequences, social educators must put pressure on national government and international associations and demand that they take care of the ones who are hit most severely by the crisis. We must encourage international relief organizations to devote targeted resources toward children, young people and adults facing exclusion from the society.

Social educators must fight for a globalised world, which benefits all, and contribute to social cohesion. We must create new alliances across national borders; develop new and progressive ways to obtain global justice. We must take advantage of global network and media technology to develop and share knowledge on how to put the professional theories to work. This exchange of knowledge and experience will strengthen the profession and benefit the ones we seek to help.

I was pleased to learn that this kind of work requires ongoing training and continued improvement.

As a matter of fact I hereby welcome invitations to any future training program that would enable me to grow, should the opportunity arise.

I learnt from Jakob von Uexkull, one of the keynote speakers of the congress that the greatest problem we face today is that we have the means but are not using them to solve the pressing problems and challenges in the society. He cited the slave trade (slavery), which was once politically and economically accepted and profitable, but a group of courageous few individuals, out of their conscience decided to abolish it. Social educators can do something to the current challenges in society as well. There are times in history when, to doubt is the highest wisdom.

Dr Karl Elling Elling Ellingsen another keynote speaker inspired me with his lecture on Self-determination for persons with Intellectual Disabilities. The right of self-determination does not exist if the right is disrespected. Violations against legal rights undermine the legal protection and challenge the right to make decision. He also stated that participation without redistribution of power is an empty and frustrating process for the powerless. To make a change, be the change!

Interesting moments

In the congress I found two instances interesting to me. The first was the opening event and the second (to be posted later) was a lecture from Dr Martin Brokenleg, a Canadian.

In the opening event, the President of the International Association of Social Educators, Benny Anderson, welcomed every one by calling the names of the different nations present and their respective flags being displayed on the large digital screen. He started from A to Z. When he approached F, I found myself caught up in this dialogue with a colleague next to me:

Jay:  Hey Peter, guess what?

Peter:  What?

Jay:  We’re going to run into trouble now

Peter:  How?

Jay: I am originally from Cameroon, West Africa, but I have registered as a student living and studying in Finland, which means I am representing Finland and I am not sure who to stand for when called upon

Peter:  Well…Jay, we live in a globalised world

Before I ended my statement, I heard the President saying ´and now ladies and gentlemen lets welcome our colleague from Finland´ I stood up. The whole hall (over 650 participants from 44 different countries) was cheering and smiling and clapping and the President was laughing and smiling. I am sure that at that moment I was blushing, if I were white.

During coffee break one Danish participant came to me and asked.

Excuse me sir; did you say you are from Finland?

You are right, I confirmed.

And he added, ´but sir, the last time I visited Finland, the Finns didn’t look like you´

`That’s correct` I admitted. And then I continued ´however that was the last time. Due to global warming, the Finns have become darker and nowadays they look like me´

It was an interesting moment. The media immediately rushed for an interview. You can find the interview in a video (Getting Started) from this link

http://www.aieji2009.dk/

Wishing you all a lovely jolly merry Christmas.



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