Ethnic differences between neighbours lead to cultural misunderstandings and conflicts

New guidebook examines everyday ethnic conflicts

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A Finnish family complained that an immigrant family in the apartment below them was playing music too loud. The immigrants denied the accusation: they said that as devout Muslims they do not even listen to music.
     The Finnish mother had tried to approach the immigrant family to discuss about the noise, but the approach was perceived as a racist attack.
     Mediating in these kinds of disputes has been Abdirizak Mohamed. He is one of the volunteer neighbourhood mediators trained by the Finnish Refugee Council.
     The aim of the Kotilo project, which began in 2006, is to help resolve disputes between native-born Finns and those with an immigrant background. The project has been cited as a good example in a new guidebook Puhumalla paras - Ratkaisuja arjen etnisiin konflikteihin ("Best to Talk - Solutions to Everyday Ethnic Conflicts") recently published by the Ministry of the Interior.
     
The guide, written by Mai Salmenkangas and Elina Ekholm, is the first of its kind in Finland. Salmenkangas feels that it is important that problems linked with multiculturalism should be raised. The book details the resolution of conflicts at schools, in family life, at work, in neighbourhoods and in services.
     "The small seeds of conflict should be discussed before they grow into huge lumps", Salmenkangas says.
     The conflict concerning noise, which was mediated by Mohamed, was resolved when it was noted that the sound insulation in the building was inadequate, and should be upgraded in connection with an upcoming refurbishment. It also came out that the sound that the upstairs neighbours had heard was from the reading of the Koran.
     "There were problems in communication", Mohamed says. In his view, this is one big reason for conflicts involving immigrants. It is not just language problems, but the fact that neighbours do not interact with each other.
     "This is urgent, urgent, urgent", says Mohamed, who moved to Finland from Somalia many years ago. He now works as a researcher at the University of Vaasa.
     
Finnish Refugee Council coordinator Terhi Joensuu says that the disputes have often been connected with the use of common facilities, such as saunas and laundry rooms, children in the playground, and annoyance caused by differing customs.
     In the Helsinki region, in Turku, and the Tampere area, most of the dozens of disputes in which mediation has been applied, has led to a positive result. "We have had good experiences", Joensuu emphasises.
     
Mohamed says that many of the conflicts result from the fact that immigrants do not know the rules of living in Finland. It might be unclear for some of them what the requirement of silence in the evening really means, and how waste should be sorted for recycling.
     "Finns assume that once information has been posted about rules, they will be known, but for Somalis, for instance, an oral message is more valuable than a written one", Mohamed observes.
     Immigrants often accuse Finns of racism. "It can be true, but can also come from a misunderstanding", Mohamed points out.
     In many cases cultural differences have nothing to do with the problem. People are simply individuals, and those coming from the same background can have completely different interpretations of their own culture. Neighbourhood mediators have also arbitrated in a number of disputes between native-born Finns.
     
Cultural factors could be one reason why Somalis, for instance, are often eager to take part in a mediation effort. Mohamed says that similar methods of conflict resolution are the tradition in Somalia.
     "Mediation is something that Finns should learn from immigrants."


Links:
  Puhumalla paras - Ratkaisuja arjen etnisiin konflikteihin (Interior Ministry publication - in Finnish (PDF)

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