– I knew there were many stereotypes about Poles, but I didn’t know how they worked in practice, says art critic Sofia Ciel. Ciel means sky in French. Recently, she changed from having a Polish name to a French-inspired version of the name. When she first came to Norway in 2020, she used her Polish name. Then the pandemic broke loose, and the tight collective gave no rest. This set off an apartment hunt for Finn that Ciel was not prepared for. – A month passed without an answer. I asked a friend to check my Norwegian, but he reacted instead to me using my real, Polish name. He said: “Everyone knows, but no one says it out loud, that you simply have to change your name.” Ciel changes Finn’s name to a more Scandinavian-sounding name. Then I got an answer like that, she says, and snaps her fingers. – Well-disguised racism Poles make up the largest immigrant group in Norway. Around 115,000 Poles live in Norway today, statistics from Statistics Norway show. – Poles are often referred to as cheap labor and petty criminals, with fake covid certificates. We only hear about them, not from them, says author and sociologist Ewa Sapiezynska. Author Ewa Sapiezynska calls her book a message of concern and a declaration of love for Norway. Photo: Linda Bournane Engelberth Based on her own and around thirty other Poles’ experiences in Norway, she has just published the book I am not your Pole. Discrimination in the housing market has also been experienced by the author himself. – The neighbors sent a letter to my landlord and asked her to remove my surname from the mailbox. They wrote that my surname could cause the price of the other apartments to fall. It was well-disguised racism, says Sapiezynska. Sapiezynska calls the book a message of concern, where the main theme is to shed light on challenges that many do not think apply to this group. – The Poles are not the most discriminated against in Norway. It’s just that we haven’t talked about it that much before, she says. Author Ewa Sapiezynska lacks Polish voices in the public debate in Norway, but hopes that her book can contribute to more voices reaching up and forward. Photo: Linda Bournane Engelberth – Gets too little attention – The new blacks in Norway are Poles, says Akhenaton de Leon, leader of the organization Offentleg organization mot discrimination (OMOD). Through OMOD, he has met people from Poland who do not feel believed when they talk about racism, mainly because they are white. – Skin color is one of many grounds for discrimination. Those who are white skip this additional dimension. But they are exposed to discrimination in any case, and this has been the case since it was opened up to immigration from Eastern Europe. This can be seen, for example, in poor working conditions. In a FAFO report from this year, almost half of immigrants stated that they had experienced discrimination in the past year, especially in the workplace and partly in the housing market. Somali immigrants reported the most discrimination, and Polish immigrants the least. – As a large group, Poles have a great potential to influence the public debate. This is a process and things take time, but it is going in the right direction, says de Leon. He is not surprised by the story about the mailbox, and has heard many similar stories about residents in housing associations who have agreed not to rent to immigrants for fear that housing prices may fall. – More people have to tell their stories. For the past three months, Ciel has been looking for a new apartment. This time she has not only changed the name of Finn, but she has also changed it officially. – I want to avoid the problems you get with having an Eastern European name, says Ciel. She has a PhD from Poland, but is constantly asked if it is as good as a Norwegian PhD. She too recognizes the stereotypes Sapiezynska brought up. – It is tiring to be looked at like this. She wrote about the experience she gained at Finn in a reader’s article for Morgonbladet. – It is rare that one can show concrete racism or discrimination. You can talk about your experiences, as Camara Lundestad Joof does in I talk about everything or Yohan Shanmugaratnam in We still breathe. And in order to bring about change, it requires more people to tell their stories.
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Had to change my name to get a flat – news Culture and entertainment
