42 posts tagged “immigration”
- Its portrayal of the immigrant integration challenge: the mother, a low-skilled Finnish immigrant to Gothenburg in Sweden in the 1980's, doesn't speak any Swedish and cannot understand her surroundings, and
- The tackling of the situations a kid growing with two languages and cultures can face: supporting her parents in the local community and being harassed for her background.
Mexican education has a very strong nationalist component, and we are taught to view with a certain suspicion foreign influences, which is quite ironic when you consider that everybody came from somewhere else. Phrases like "México lindo y querido" (beautiful & beloved Mexico) or "Como México no hay dos" (there is no other country like Mexico) are commonly heard, and Mexican naturalisation and investment laws are extremely restrictive, which everybody seems to find normal.
When I moved to Finland, after going throught the whole language and acculturisation process, I realised that many of those views held while and where I was born were rather chauvinistic, when I found similar situations in the country where my home is. Phrases such as "On lottovoitto syntyä Suomeen" (being born in Finland is like winning the lottery) and the sad state of the immigration debate in Finland currently have shown me how wrong the attitudes I encountered when growing up are, since they assume that one group or the other hold a monopoly on truth and are categorically better than the rest.
I'd rather learn the best from everybody I encounter.
At Uusi Maailma, a Finn's view from Canada.
A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to visit Stockholm, to finally see Nortec Collective live. Nedless to say, we jumped around like crazy and enjoyed the gig immensely, especially since instead of Banda samples they actually had live musicians backing them up (who played an encore of their own). We even ended up backstage with them after the gig, and naturally welcomed them to come to the Helsinki Festival whenever they could.
It was a very welcome pause, and it was nice to see that Stockholm still looks the same. An interesting note was that everybody spoke to me in Swedish (even though I had a tejana on most of the time), while that seldom happens in Finland with or without funny hats.
After a couple of months of campaigning, the municipal elections in Finland took place yesterday. The main outcome of this democratic exercise was a general shift to the right in this country, where both the centre-right and populist right parties won more seats in municipal councils across the nation.
Especially the wins by the Perussuomalaiset, or True Finns, are rather troubling for a guy like me, as many of their candidates have openly expressed racist attitudes. I might sound a little paranoid, but I believe in this country, I've invested in it and I cannot bear the thought that 1 out of 10 people in the bus or the mall would like to kick me out of this country just because I look different, even if I've contributed to this society too. Sad.
I was reading this article in Helsingin Sanomat, and was quite amazed by the following passage:
The Sokos Hotel in Pasila has 12 cleaners, only one of whom is a native-born Finn.
“It is surprising”, Thors says.
Aila Forsström of the cleaning company Sol, says that 80 per cent of the 550 cleaners employed in her district have foreign backgrounds.
The cleaners include engineers, PhDs, , kindergarten teachers,
bookeepers, teachers, dental nurses, interpreters, and one ballerina.
Just think about the amount of untapped potential in that list.
Reminded me of this study by the Ministry of Labour, where they discuss the adaptation of Finnish society to the presence of immigrants here. I read it on my last holiday and left me a little uneasy. Furthermore, the situation won't improve with the current economic downturn.
Mexican immigration in the US is not limited anymore to the border states. More and more often, Mexicans are to be found in areas of the country they weren't before. NY, which has had for long a Puerto Rican and Dominican Hispanic community, has received for the past 10 years or so an influx of people specifically from the state of Puebla in central Mexico. They are as inconspicuous in the city as any other immigrant community.
Some joke about Puebla York (instead of Nueva York, as it is called in Spanish). I was glad to have found a decent taquería in a recent business trip (as long as you're willing to go for some pastor or lengua).
No "Chipotle Mexican Grill" for me.
I witnessed a very interesting event on the public transport a couple of days ago. I was taking the bus on Sunday back to my place in Espoo when the bus driver started an argument with a man of dark complexion since he was having a beer in the bus, which is forbidden.
His answer was quite interesting, as he said "Why can't I do that, if you see plenty of Finns who do?" which regardless of being prohibited actually is the case, especially during weekends or holidays such as Vappu. Even I have done so on a couple of occasions in my student days.
This strengthened my resolve to follow the rules to the T even when some people might not, regardless of whether it is fair or not. It's the easiest way to stay out of trouble.
I guess after all the stereotype is changing, as I saw this guy on MTV3's morning show and he was speaking flawless Finnish. From his name only I'm assuming he grew up here and has at least one Finnish parent.
Update: His name is Alex Nurmi and seems to be quite a popular guy, judging from his Google egosearch results.
And yes, his mom is Finnish, his dad African. We need more examples like him on the media.
When I was a high school student in Mexico, some of our classes had to do with the different characteristics of our North American neighbours, so I had some understanding on Canadian multiculturalism. However, I was pleasantly suprised in my visit to Vancouver when I basically didn't feel like a foreigner there, as they're very much used to people of varied appearance and culture, and their approach tends to be curious and inquisitive rather than hostile or uneasy.
There were three instances where their approach to multiculturalism showed through.
- The first one was on TV, where you had an Islamic preacher in one channel and a Christian in the next, both speaking English.
- Then they had a report in the CBC about their transmissions of the Stanley Cup, a quintessentially Canadian sports event... in Punjabi. I wondered if the Finnish Hockey World Cup games would ever be broadcast in Somali or, God spear me ;-), Russian.
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Finally, there was the Terry Fox Memorial at BC Place. What struck me was not only the story behind it, but the fact that their advertising includes the face of a girl of slightly Asian features. Given that Finnishness seems to be rooted in ethnicity that was a very refreshing, and at the same time sad detail, as I thought that in the end it would be easier for people like me to be Canadian than Finnish even though I've never even lived there. Somebody has to be the pioneer, though ;-).
