Immigration experts face racist harassment

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Finnish researchers into issues related to immigration have increasingly become victims of online threats against themselves and their families.
      Some of them have withdrawn from public discussions rather than face the intimidation.
     
University of Helsinki Chancellor Ilkka Niiniluoto does not know of a time when the Finnish scientific community had faced such attacks.
      “It could be compared with situations in history such as the Soviet Union of the time of Stalin, or when Galileo Galilei was victimised by the Inquisition”, he says.
     
“Few know the kind of direct harassment that researchers undergo today”, says Veronika Honkasalo, a researcher at the Youth Research Network.
      Honkasalo pointed out that Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party) said last spring that people should be able to speak critically about immigration issues without being labelled a racist.
      “With that excuse it would be possible to say anything at all”, Honkasalo said.
     
Withdrawing from the public eye would mean conceding victory to the attackers, which is why Honkasalo feels that it is the duty of researchers to counter the negative tones in the debate.
      “One has to be ready for powerful reactions, but there has to be a limit”, she says.
      Niiniluoto says that if fear goes so far that experts avoid expressing opinions, society has to react.
     
The Finnish constitution guarantees that university researchers are free to choose their topics, apply for funding, and defend their views with scientific arguments.
      But how is society to make sure that a researcher is not victimised by threats. An anonymous contributor wrote in the Helsingin Sanomat letters to the editor column on Monday that police did not investigate online attacks against the writer, saying that the process would be expensive, and that the matter is of little societal importance.
      “I cannot take a stand on this individual case, but I am surprised at what was said. The cost of the process is not an argument in our investigative culture. Many forget that it is possible to commit largely the same crimes on the Internet as in life in general”, notes Robin Lardot, Chief Inspector of Police at the Ministry of the Interior.
     
Illegal threats and libel on the Internet are crimes that require a complaint from the victim before police can investigate.
      However, Lardot says that the police understand the seriousness of the problem of online racism. On Thursday last week the police introduced the “blue button” tipoff system, which makes it easy to report to police all types of improper content.
      “It is possible to collect evidence from the Internet. The police has agreed with prosecutors on how to make sufficient note of racist motives”, Lardot says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Survey: Finns´ attitudes toward immigration have become more negative (15.3.2010)
  Poll: Rural residents and blue-collar workers most negative toward immigration (17.3.2009)
  NEWS ANALYSIS: Death threats have become an everyday phenomenon (3.3.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat