After over a year of following countless scandals, fines for hate speech, racism and exposures of their far-right ideology, a question begs an answer of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party: Who is Timo Soini? If we asked Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, a social democrat, his answer would be moral weakness and opportunism. Tuomioja writes a day after…
Month: June 2012
Abagond: What this blog has taught me about white people
Comment: Abagond is a very successful blog that debates issues like racism in the United States. We at Migrant Tales like to ask serious question about such a social ill as well. What about if we asked that same question as Abagond did in the headline? For me personally, Migrant Tales has taught me that…
Migrant Tales December 30, 2011: Timo Soini and the beast behind the sugar-coated words
Comment: It shouldn’t have come as any surprise that after the Supreme Court ruling to fine Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho for defaming a religion and incitement against an ethnic group, PS chairman Timo Soini would end up eating his words. Soini said in 2009 that if Halla-aho was criminally convicted of racism, he’d be…
Halla-aho should resign as chairman of the administration committee of parliament
In light of the Finnish Supreme Court (KKO) sentence on Friday fining Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho for defaming a religion and incitement against an ethnic group, the next step that the PS MP should take is to resign as chairman of the administration committee of parliament. PS head Timo Soini was quoted as saying on YLE…
Halla-aho gets convicted for defamation and inciting ethnic hatred
Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Jussi Halla-aho was convicted today by the Finnish Supreme Court (KKO) for defaming a religion and inciting ethnic hatred. Halla-aho, who was fined in 2009 for defaming religion, was now criminally charged as well for inciting ethnic hatred. The sentence dates back to Halla-aho’s blog writings of 2008, when he claimed…
Eino Parkkulainen’s home in Argentina becomes a community library
The late Eino Parkkulainen, a Finn who moved to Argentina in 1924 from Kitee, would be proud to see part of his former home in the hamlet of San Martín being used as a library. Built in the mid-1930s, his home is probably the last one in existence built by the Finns that colonized Misiones…
Second-generation Finns: Revealing society’s ignorance and arrogance
If we look at the ongoing one-sided debate on immigration, immigrants and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity, one matter is for certain: It does not help dispel prejudices that encourage racism and social exclusion. While I am certain that most Finns are willing to make immigration and cultural diversity work, it is a totally different question…
Maailman Kuvalehti: Kuka tahansa presidentiksi?
Husein Muhammed* Toukokuussa Euroopan turvallisuus- ja yhteistyöjärjestön (ETYJ) vaalitarkkailijat luovuttivat vuoden 2011 eduskuntavaaleja koskevan raporttinsa ja suosituksensa oikeusministeriölle. Samalla järjestettiin kuulemistilaisuus, johon osallistui eri puolueiden, ministeriöiden ja kansalaisjärjestöjen edustajia. ETYJ:n edustajat esittivät myös presidentinvaaleja koskevan suosituksen, joka ei kuitenkaan tilaisuudessa juurikaan herättänyt keskustelua. ETYJ piti valitettavana sitä, että Suomen perustuslain mukaan tasavallan presidentiksi voidaan valita…
Finnish anti-immigration party seeks to ban begging
Three Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs plan to present a bill to Parliament that would ban begging in public places, according to YLE in English. The aim of the bill has nothing to do with helping the Roma, a group that has suffered persecution in Europe for centuries. Its main aim is to reap political points for an…
Prejudice discourages employers from hiring deaf people
I read an interesting news story on YLE in English about how prejudice hinders deaf people from getting jobs. Sounds like a familiar excuse heard commonly by immigrants, right? The jobless rate of deaf workers and immigrants in Finland is about three times greater than the national average. Unemployment in Finland in April stood at…