While OECD countries have made progress over the last decade in helping immigrants to adapt to their new home countries, there’s still much room for improvement most notably in helping children to excel at school and employ more immigrant women, according to an OECD report. The proportion of highly educated immigrants in Finland had plummeted during the last decade by…
Month: December 2012
Institute for Strategic Studies: Preventing and Countering Far-Right Extremism – European Cooperation
Here’s a good country-by-country report on the history and modern growth of right-wing extremism in ten European Union countries (Sweden, UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic). Read full report here. As Migrant Tales has correctly reported time and again, the biggest sources of right-wing extremism in Finland are the…
UPDATE: Former Finnish PS councilman slapped with 120-euro fine for inciting ethnic hatred
Tommi Rautio, the former city councillor of Köyliö in western Finland, who suggested giving a medal to a killer after he shot and killed a Muslim at an Oulu pizzeria in February, was convicted and fined 120 euros Wednesday by a Satakunta regional court for inciting ethnic hatred, reports Uusi Pori. Rautio, who said he was not…
Former Finnish PS councilman to be charged for inciting ethnic hatred
Tommi Rautio, the former city councillor of Köyliö in western Finland, who suggested giving a medal to a killer after he shot and killed a Muslim at an Oulu pizzeria in February, will be charged for inciting ethnic hatred, reports YLE. YLE reported that the Satakunta region prosecutor wants to slap Rautio with “a heavy fine”…
Common Ground News Service: Spreading “anti-rumours” about immigrants
By María-Paz López Barcelona, Spain –“They are invading us”, “They don’t respect the rules”, “They don’t pay taxes”, “They don’t want to integrate”, “They get special subsidies to open businesses”, are just a few of the often repeated accusations against immigrant communities in Spain. To deal with rising prejudices, Barcelona City Council is now beginning…
How discrimination works in Finnish basketball
If there is a game that is played by people from diverse backgrounds, that game is basketball. When I moved to the United States as a child, basketball was my door to new friends and acceptance. Basketball was a way of life in Hollywood, California, for many young people like me. In Finland it is…
Social inclusion is never voluntary in a land where racism is king
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King Jr. Even if the late King Jr. was gunned down in 1968, that quote is still valid today. In Finland it would read in the following manner: “Social equality is never voluntarily given by the majority; it must…
FRA: Hate crime a daily matter in the European Union
Two recent reports published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) confirm that hate crime happens daily throughout the European Union (EU). One of the reports reveals that 32% of Somalis interviewed by the agency that live in Finland reported being victims of hate crimes during the past 12 months. Other countries in…
Mulitucltural Ireland’s vision should be ours as well
Why is it that we don’t hear Finnish politicians speaking in the same manner as Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins, who said that a major task of the country’s EU presidency should be to remove ignorance and misunderstanding, which lead to “incipient forms of racism,” writes the Irishtimes.com. Speaking at the launch of the Neighborhood…
Police College of Finland: 2011 hate crime statistics will be published before end-year
The Police College of Finland is taking a long time to publish its hate crime statistics for 2011. A spokesperson of the Police College told Migrant Tales Friday that hate crime data will be published “in a few weeks,” or before end-year. Migrant Tales spoke to the Police College in early November. A spokeswoman…