The fantastic bassist/guitarist and soul shoutin' sista'! Debra Killings on "Fat City!" 8th & 11th February! 
All You Need Is Love
(Raselationernas - ÖB scanned article)
All You Need Is Love Finland has long been regarded as a model for race relations but recently there has been a sharp increase in racist incidents. Attacks by skinheads and other racists on innocent blacks are increasing, and the Finnish authorities are not treating the problem seriously, or putting their own laws into practice. This was reported by one foreigner living in Joensuu.
Another man from Ethiopia was shopping over the holidays when a group of notorious skinheads violently attacked and injured him at a supermarket in Joensuu. Despite his cries for help, the supermarket shoppers ignored him. Police came too late, and instead of rushing him for medical attention, took him to a police station. The man stated to the papers that he was discriminated against because of his color... This is typical of growing racism here, a country once regard as a model for race relations.
Race crimes are estimated to have increased four-fold in the past decade. What is going wrong? Most academics say that racism is increasing because the law is not being enforced properly. They say the laws exist, but the authorities do not take the racism seriously enough. Some authorities actually set a bad example to ordinary people.
A Finnish member of the European Parliament and former Mayor of Helsinki, Raimo Haskivi, said of immigrants: "They should not compete and snatch Finnish jobs, souring the unemployment situation." They are lazy and sponge off our social welfare system." Such statements set a bad example for our teenagers and encourage skinheads to carry out racist acts without fear.
Although racism is not institutionalized in Finland, official behaviour aggravates the situation. Most racial incidents that are reported, are in Helsinki, Joensuu and Mikkeli. A senior police inspector in Joensuu, estimates that the number of racist crimes have increased three-fold since the first group of Somali refugees arrived in the country in the early 1990's. In 1995, he goes on to say that the number of crimes increased to 60, up from a thirty in 1997 and 1998.
In Joensuu, a town of 50,000 people, at least one in three policemen recognize the rise of racism against blacks. He states that racism in Finland is not as serious as in many other European countries, but there is no denying it is making headway fast.
Two thousand Somali refugees were the first Africans to arrive in large numbers in 1991. They were seeking asylum following the civil war in Somalia. They arrived in a country of only five million people, many of whom had never seen Africans before, and could not understand why they should want to settle in Finland. The first group of refugees were accommondated in hotels and appeared to enjoy a better lifestyle than many Finns who had been laid off following closure of many timber industries and other jobs. The Somalais were seen as taking advantage the welfare system.
The Finnish press also shared some blame by sensationalizing racial incidents. All blacks were tarred with the same brush. When war-hardened Somali refugees raped a Finnish woman, all blacks were branded as racists also. When Afro-American Stephen Thomas was convicted of purposely spreading the HIV virus to some Finnish women, some blacks were also accused of having HIV and wanting to spread it. One student said that he was asked whether or not it was true that one in three blacks has HIV...
Newspaper reports of female circumcision among Somalis lead Finns to think that all Africans induge in such. Most press reports are negative. Recently a Liberian business administration student was attacked and seriously injured by a group of six racists near his apartment in a living area designated for students. In this case, the racists were arrested.
Another black from Gambia said that he was beaten and hustled out of a restaurant in Helsinki on racial grounds. He claimed damages from the restaurant , but the police and prosecutors insisted that he should present at least five witnesses before his case could be brought to court. No lawyer would fight his case.
Many Finns suffer if they epouse the Black cause. The senior police inspector in Joensuu earlier mentioned, was relieved of his responsibilities as a criminal investigator where he could tackle racial cases. Now he has been assigned to economic crimes.
Some feel that blacks are not tolerant enough of Finnish cultural ways. That finns are quiet and reserved and this is often misconstrued by blacks as racism. We have got to find a way to live together in peace. Children learn from what we teach them, and how they see us living our lives. Let us all try to be good examples, so that they will grow up to be people with open minds, and respectful of all human beings. no matter what the color.
Christian-Charles Milton "Risto-Kalle" de Plicque Angel House International r.f. Association Karleby Finland
june 2010
www.deplicque.net
