After being the editor of Migrant Tales for about five years, I get the message: Finns with international backgrounds, immigrants never mind Muslims are not allowed to take part in the ongoing debate on Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity. The reason that we doing exactly that, debating openly issues like racism, exclusion and Finnish identity openly explains why we are no longer such a faint voice in this country.
Month: March 2012
Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet (Part 3)
It has been a very busy weekend for Migrant Tales: ?defamation, insults and even a death threat from a forum called Ylilauta. The administrator, Tuomas Siitonen, visited our blog yesterday and said he is not responsible for what has happened. Even if a typical Ylilauta blogger is eighteen years old and still living with his parents letting out his steam on the Internet anonymously, there is a deeper issue at stake here.
Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet (Part 2)
Since Wednesday Migrant Tales and I personally have been harassed by persons from a website called Ylilauta that made it a point to defame and insult me publicly. When I got in touch with the administrator, Tuomas Siitonen, and told him that I was being attacked again, he pleaded the First Amendment (freedom of speech).
Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet
I was pretty surprised Thursday that a blogger from a forum called Ylilauta had hijacked my Facebook picture and started defaming me and our blog, Migrant Tales. I got in touch with the administrator of the site, who took the offensive content off the site the following day. Fortunately I took a snapshot of what was written.
Finnish human rights activist and writer reports threats by two PS members to the police
Every month the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party offers us a scandal. Well, here is the one for the month of March: two PS members, Klaus Eovaara and Jani Viinikainen, have threatened on Facebook writer and human rights activist Jussi K. Niemelä, who has reported the matter to the police.
Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from October 5, 1992
Migrant Tales will begin to publish Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic and racist views.
Adolescent to receive Red Cross Award against racism
Rebecka Holm, 14, will get the Red Cross Award on the UN Day Against Racism on March 21 for her noteworthy example in denouncing racial harassment against her friends and herself, according to Swedish-language daily HBL.
Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from September 21, 1992
Migrant Tales will begin to publish Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic and racist views.
Soviet refugees in Finland: No escape to freedom
I met Aleksander Shatravka in 2009 thanks to Migrant Tales. Finally after over twenty years searching as a journalist for such a person. He was one of twelve former Soviet citizens documented by Amnesty International who was forcibly returned to the USSR.
Finland’s darkest period: 2011-15
In the future, when Finnish historians with different ethnic backgrounds look at the present parliamentary term 2011-15, they will most likely conclude that it was the darkest period for Finland and immigrants. A prelude to this sombre period between two parliamentary elections will be the municipal election of 2008 and how it reflected the negative mood of the country.