LIFE AS AN IMMIGRANT IN ROVANIEMI, FINLAND

Nafisa Yeasmin

LIFE AS AN IMMIGRANT IN ROVANIEMI, FINLAND

Introduction

Immigrants today form a heterogeneous population, one that defies easy gen-eralisations (Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco ). Receiving immigrants entails both advantages and disadvantages with respect to the receiving coun-try’s national interests. This chapter focuses on local attitudes towards immi-grants and refugees in a northern town in the Finnish part of the Barents Re-gion and discusses the multiple daily challenges they face. I have chosen the city of Rovaniemi for a case study, as it is a place where I have lived since  and have established my own business. In addition, I have worked as a cultural me-diator, teacher of tolerance education in the elementary school, and interpreter for immigrants residing in the city; in all of these capacities, I have sought to promote tolerance and equality. As an immigrant, I have also sometimes faced some difficult situations. The chapter is based on a literature review, participant observation and my personal experiences of immigration issues in Rovaniemi.

Attitudes towards immigrants

Rovaniemi is the capital city of the northern part of Finland, the province of Lapland. More than ,4 people live in Lapland, a number that includes over

, immigrants. Rovaniemi has a population of more than , people, of whom 5, or .%, are immigrants. These immigrants come from some 5 different countries, and approximately 5 to  % of them are refugees.

Table . shows the number of foreigners who were living in Rovaniemi permanently in the period -. Those who are now Finnish citizens are not included in the figures.

In , the City of Rovaniemi received an award from the Ministry of the Interior for its contribution to the well-being of immigrants. However,

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this does not mean that the attitudes of all local people towards immigrants are particularly positive or that the experiences of immigrants themselves have all been encouraging.

Attitudes towards immigrants are shown directly and indirectly by civil so-ciety in many stages from the labour market to individuals’ feelings. Local peo-ple’s attitudes towards immigrants vary on the basis of the dress and situations they encounter, the immigrants’ country of origin and educational background, the views of the respective groups, and so on. The cultural and national iden-tity of an immigrant also plays an important role in how he or she is treated by local residents. Another factor that may figure significantly in this regard is how ambitious immigrants are economically, and this varies from locality to locality. For example, people viewed foreign job applicants and refugees more favourably in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere than in the countryside and smaller cities. Young Finnish men clearly have more negative attitudes towards foreign job applicants and refugees, particularly Somalis, than young Finnish women do. Such attitudes have concrete consequences for immigrants. In , almost half of the Somali nationals in Finland were unemployed and in that same year negative attitudes towards Somalis appeared in a police report (Jaakkola ,

-). Somalis socialise mainly with other Somalis and do not have much

Table 13.1 Number of foreigners residing in Lapland 2000-2010

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contact with Finns (Perhoniemi and Jasinskaja-Lahti ).

Native Finns’ attitudes towards immigrants fluctuate depending on the im-migrants’ religious beliefs, practices and level of commitment. The “ethnore-ligious” perspective (Green ) is one lens through which the influence of religion on individuals’ attitudes can be understood. This theoretical perspective views particular religious traditions as a key factor in the putative link between religion and individuals’ attitudes (Benjamin , -). In Rovaniemi, some individuals occasionally exhibit negative attitudes towards immigrants openly, while others either do not express their attitudes publicly or hide their negative views. Some native-born Finns do not like immigrants from specific countries, and some immigrants have had difficult experiences. There is a clear social distance between various groups in this context. The attitudes of Finnish civil servants working with immigrants and immigration were surveyed and analysed using factor and variance analysis (Pitkänen and Kouki , -4).

The results showed that the attitudes of the respondents were primarily related to their specific type of work and to the experiences they had had with immi-grants as clients. The experiences of teachers, social workers and employment agency personnel were mainly positive, whereas the majority of police officers and border guards surveyed reported that their experiences were negative or neutral. The most negative views were expressed by police officers and border guards, and the most positive by social workers and Swedish-speaking teachers.

(Pitkänen and Kouki , - 4).

Categories of immigrants

The majority of immigrants in Rovaniemi are refugees, whereas the others are students, asylum-seekers, or spouses of Finns. Quite a few Russians have moved to Rovaniemi through marriage and for other reasons, such as education and business. The five most common nationalities living in Rovaniemi are Russians, Swedes, Iraqis, Myanmarese and Somalis. (See Table .; Lapland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment ).

Many immigrants come as students or professional trainees and then decide to stay permanently after finishing their training to secure a better career or brighter future. Some immigrants, however, have come as refugees and have experienced poverty, financial insecurity, and a lack of peace and daily

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ties in their own country. Many other immigrants have come as asylum-seekers due to constant political unrest and violence in their country. Asylum-seekers leave their country to find bet-ter living conditions, whereas refugees are driven from their home countries, fleeing into camps in neighbouring countries and eventually seeking asy-lum in different countries (e.g. Fin-land). Rovaniemi accepts a quota of some 5 refugees and  asylum-seek-ers per year. In Lapland, the figures for the year  were  and 55, respec-tively.

Students come from many coun-tries to Rovaniemi because of Finland’s high-quality schooling system and free tuition. For example, there were  foreign university students and 5 ex-change students in the year  (Rovaniemi Municipality ). Student immigrants develop their skills in many disciplines and receive various forms of support from local people. One example is what is known as the “Friend Fam-ily” programme, through which many students get a family. This programme helps foreign students become more knowledgeable about Finnish culture; yet, some students – mainly those of colour – have to wait longer than others to get a friend family.

The Finnish government welcomes students from all over the world to study in Finnish educational institutions. This is one of the attitudes of the Finn-ish government towards immigrants that is considered most positive and is most highly praised. The impact of immigration in the field of education is very specific. One aspect of it is that it greatly increases the overall expenses of the education system in the country (Brimelow 5). Many countries are receptive to students as immigrants and earn money from foreign students by imposing fees. However, Scandinavian countries such as Finland do not charge tuition fees, since they guarantee education as a basic right, although this entails more costs for the national educational system. Nevertheless, attitudes towards student immigrants in Rovaniemi are more liberal than towards other immigrants.

Table 13.2 Country of origin of the largest immigrant groups in Rovaniemi (2010) Source: Lapland Centre for Economic

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In Rovaniemi, the local people would like foreign students to go back to their native countries when they have finished their studies in Finland. Students cost the government less than other categories of immigrants, such as refugees, and thus the attitude of local people towards students is comparatively friendly.

By contrast, it is clear that the attitudes of the government and the general pub-lic towards children and adolescent immigrants differ: immigrant children are treated the same as Finnish children in the schools and need not pay any fees.

Moreover, Finnish authorities make extra provision for immigrant children to address special circumstances. For instance, the government provides them with language teaching as well as religious education in the school. The School Service Centre in Rovaniemi offers instruction in the mother language for im-migrant children if there are at least four students from the same country and religious teaching if there are at least three students who have the same religion.

(Multicultural education and guidance -)

According to the Finnish National Board of Education (), the objective of immigrant education is to provide people moving to Finland with opportu-nities to function as equal members of Finnish society and to guarantee them rights to education that are equal to those which an ordinary citizen enjoys. In fact, Finland spends a considerable amount of money to this end, and it could be seen as a laudable policy on the part of the Finnish government for immigrant children. By contrast, the children of immigrants in American society live in fear because of their different culture, priorities, and ways of acting and thinking. Im-migrant parents there create informal parallel structures to aid in their children’s learning - ´shadow schools’ for example – in what is a frightening environment for immigrant children. (Suárez-Orozco ) However, immigrant children in Rovaniemi do not have to face such a serious situation in the schools.

The attitude of local Finns towards immigrant children is to some extent the opposite of that of the Finnish government. There is much evidence that a local child may react dramatically to an immigrant child even in a small matter. For example, some groups of immigrant children eat their lunch in school using their right hand, which many Finnish children cannot accept and will react to. In such cases, the school authorities provide the children with supportive measures de-signed to teach them to use their left hand, which is against their traditional cul-ture. This approach reflects the maxim: “When in Rome do as the Romans do”.

Sometimes local children annoy immigrant children by referring to them using the term “dark rye bread” (fi ruisleipä) in the school because of the

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migrants’ dark skin colour. These attitudes of local children target only a few groups of immigrants, however, such as those from Somalia and Afghanistan. All in all, it is quite a challenge for immigrant youth to live within and between two cultures (e.g., Berry et al. ). Many early studies note that immigrant children are at increased risk of mental health problems (e.g., Munroe-Blum et al. ). The most frequently suggested reason is that the immigration process causes stress, not only because it entails extensive loss of family and friends, customs and surroundings (e.g., Hicks et al. ; James ), but also because immigrants have to adapt to a new cultural environment, one which often en-tails different moral values and standards, as well as a new language (Berry ;

Pawliuk et al. ; Stevens and Vollebergh , –4).

Some Finns are very much against such negative attitudes towards immi-grant children and treat all children equally irrespective of their immiimmi-grant status. Some also protest if a teacher in school distinguishes between local and immigrant children on school premises.

Immigration and refugee policies in Rovaniemi

There are different opinions about receiving refugees in Rovaniemi, as in Finn-ish society at large. During the period - (as of  August), approxi-mately 55 refugees were received by the municipality of Rovaniemi from different countries (See Table .).

Some Finns like receiving refugees while others dislike it. The local newspa-per ran a headline saying that the arrival of foreigners and refugees in Rovanie-mi has perplexed local residents. I have found positive as well as negative com-ments on this issue. Some Finns agreed with the headline; others disagreed with it entirely. Rovaniemi has a football club and many of the players, as well as the coach, have been foreigners and even refugees. Nowadays football and support-ing the team are one of the host citizens’ favourite hobbies. Here one sees an optimistic group of Finns – football fans – criticising those opposed to accept-ing immigrants and refugees. Refugees are a vulnerable minority who need support from the local people in the host country to adjust to Finnish society.

Every Finn reacts to refugees in his or her own way. However, in gen-eral Finns do not like refugees’ manners and customs. One Finn expressed the view that the customs of civilised people are essential to everyday life, but that

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unfortunately some groups of refugees (e.g., Somalis) do not adhere to these customs. He did not like the way in which refugees from Third World coun-tries talk; he found their normal talking to be more like shouting. According to Tiilikainen (), among the immigrants to Finland, Somalis in particular have faced discrimination both at work and in everyday life; in the eyes of many Finns, Somalis embody cultural and religious otherness, social and economic problems and increasing global security threats. Ironically, in Rovaniemi there are also critical feelings on the part of some refugees towards other refugees: it has been observed that some refugees from the Middle East behave aggressively towards Somalis. Yet, these are not the only attitudes: there are people who have enough patience towards refugees and do not have any complaints about them.

Individuals’ educational background sometimes influences their attitude to-wards refugees, with educated persons reacting more positively than less educated ones. Persons with a low social and economic status are assumed to be more prone to fearing foreigners and expressing xenophobic sentiments than persons with a higher status (Ervasti 4, 5-44). The usual trend is that adult Finns do not like to show others that they are racist. According to one refugee, “Before

Table 13.3 Refugees and asylum-seekers received by the municipality of Rovaniemi (2006-2011) o r e The ap and entre or E ono i eve op ent Transport and the Environ ent

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coming here I thought that Finland was a rich, civilised country. People are well educated and the society is free of corruption; they cannot be malicious towards immigrants. However, in living in Finland for three years, my experiences have shown that there are good and bad people, racist as well as non-racist, in every nation; some nations express this openly while others hide it”.

Aggressive attitudes towards refugees on the part of local children are found fairly commonly in Finland (Lindsey et al. ), although negative group at-titudes towards refugees or immigrants are not officially acceptable in Finland, a country famous for its anti-discrimination laws. The children of refugees are discriminated against by host children. Some immigrant groups play together amongst themselves in the school and outside of the school. (Valjakka 5) Few host children play with immigrants; most of them avoid playing with the children of refugees. In the school, host children tease refugee children, who may experience culture shock at being discriminated against because their skin is a different colour. Adults understand everything, but it is difficult to explain all the negative feelings to a child; such negative and discriminatory attitudes might cause mental depression for children as well as for their parents.

Refugees are a minority group in the host country, and it is thus the duty of host citizens to receive them warmly and enthusiastically. Refugees from a Muslim or conservative family in a European country experience a new environ-ment and culture, ones that differ in many ways from those in their native society.

Sometimes immigrant parents become worried that their children may learn bad habits from Finnish adolescents, such as sex before marriage and drinking alcohol, both of which are prohibited in Muslim society (Valjakka 5). In ad-dition, children meet unfamiliar people and experience culture shock. Refugees in Rovaniemi come from countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Myanmar and have already suffered a great deal before coming here. They need a positive reception and treatment from the host society to cope with their new environment. Otherwise both refugees and the host society may experience problems: for example, different dress codes, using mobile phones even in a meet-ing, and a commanding rather than requesting style make Finns uncomfortable.

Refugees from Third World countries would like to change their life style, thinking that, if they do, they will receive treatment similar to that given Finns in their daily and social life. However, in a short period of time, they realise that they are not in the same position as native Finns. Then they become de-pressed and think like disadvantaged persons; they may become unbalanced

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mentally and behave aggressively. This aggression may affect their whole group and sometimes they are treated as outsiders in the host society. These changing attitudes may ultimately lead to criminal behaviour.

Immigration and its impacts on the Finnish labour market

Immigration is a contentious issue in the industrialised nations of the world - not merely in the traditional receiving countries but, in recent decades, in Europe as well (Friedberg and Hunt 5). A large number of immigrants come as job-seekers to Finland from within and outside Europe and have an impact on the Finnish labour market. For local Finns, the policy of admitting immigrant workers is seen as an economic threat to the Finnish government, even though the unemployment rate of immigrants is much higher than that of native Finns; nationally, the rate is about % for immigrants as opposed to

.% for Finns. (Finnish Statistics Centre ) The situation in Rovaniemi is worse, with  % of immigrants unemployed and many of the rest either pursuing some form of education with the support of the employment of-fice or working as trainees. (The Lapland Centre of Economic Development, Transport and Environment, )

The numbers of foreign job-seekers in Rovaniemi (as of  July ) are set out in Table .4.

Table 13.4 Immigrant job-seekers in Rovaniemi (as of 31 July 2011)

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The five largest groups of job-seekers by nationality ac-cording to the employment office are described in Table

.5 (as of  July ).

The job opportunities for immigrants in Lapland are very limited. Few immigrants find work in the region, a fact that made the headlines of the Finn-ish Broadcasting Company YLE (Sarjas ). I have found that many local people comment on the reports of immigrants finding jobs; all of these comments have been negative and through these comments the host people in Rovaniemi express their negative attitudes toward immigrant job-seekers. Their view is that there are many Finns in Rovaniemi who are unemployed and they ask why it is important to give work to im-migrants. If there is a job available, it should be offered to a Finn first. They also ask why the newspaper does not run headlines such as ‘Finns do not have work in Lapland’. One of the comments was, “Immigrants will be a growing problem for us Finns if we do not deal with them with a firm hand.” (Sarjas ).

To some extent, foreigners come to Finland to do low-paying jobs – unfor-tunately. Immigrants may compete with native workers in the labour market and

To some extent, foreigners come to Finland to do low-paying jobs – unfor-tunately. Immigrants may compete with native workers in the labour market and