Torstaina 28.11. järjestettiin järjestyksessään toinen International Mikkeli Day Stellan Tähtitorilla. Yhtenä tapahtuman tärkeimmistä tehtävistä on luoda foorumi, jossa pohditaan kansainvälistymisen merkitystä kaupungin tulevaisuudessa. Kehitys ja hyvinvointi ovat pitkälti riippuvaisia siitä, kuinka hyvin sopeudumme ja hyödymme kansainvälisyydestä. Vaikka kansainvälistyminen ei ole ainoa ratkaisu alueemme ongelmiin, se on kuitenkin yksi monista ratkaisuista johon pitäisi tarttua erityisesti Itä-Suomessa….
Month: November 2013
The PS are now hoping that Kouvola stops receiving asylum seekers and quota refugees by 2016
If you believe that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has toned down its xenophobia and loathing towards refugees, check out what they are doing in the municipality of Kouvola. According to the local daily, Kouvolan Sanomat, the PS wants the city council to stop receiving asylum seekers and quota refugees by 2016. While the PS blame…
Does social welfare hinder or encourage migrants to integrate into Finnish society?
Abdi Osman, 44, a naturalized Finn who came to Finland fifteen years ago with 50 dollars in his pocket from his native Somalia via Moscow, is a good example of how refugees and immigrants bring vitality to the economy. His story is that of millions of other immigrants and refugees who made it in their…
Finland and Europe must not forget its culturally diverse history
Why have so many in this land forgotten our culturally diverse history? Why don’t we teach it more at schools? At homes? If over 1.2 million emigrants left this land between 1860 and 1999, certainly that says a lot about the source of our diversity. It’s fortunate that Finland wasn’t a former European colonial powers like…
Migrants’ Rights Network: Migrants are undermining working conditions? No – blame 30 years of government deregulation for that
By Don Flynn* There’s a lot more discussion nowadays about the exploitation and rock bottom standards in the way the British labour market operates. But it looks like we’ve needed the presence of migrants to show us all just how bad things have become. Read full blog entry here. The Institute…
Reija Härkönen: Hyytävää politiikkaa
Reija Härkönen Kun viime eduskuntavaalien jälkeen luin Helsingin Sanomien 8.6.2011 julkaiseman artikkelin Hitlerin varhaisesta kirjeestä, jossa hän kertoi vastenmielisyydestään juutalaisia kohtaan, sain kylmät väreet lukiessani tämän Hitlerin lauseen: “Vastenmielisyyden aiheuttajana on enimmäkseen henkilökohtainen kontakti ja vaikutelma, jonka yksittäinen juutalainen aiheuttaa – ja joka on lähes aina epäsuotuisa” Yhteys nykypäivän Suomeen oli järkyttävä. Juuri samalla tavalla argumentoi tuolloin…
Is your attitude towards racism determined by your upbringing and where you grew up?
Some immigrants and visible minorities fight against intolerance their own way. Others, however, shy away from such a challenge by preferring to live in denial. Is the way you fight against intolerance dependent on what you learned at home and in your home country? If a white Russian learned to hate blacks and Muslims in his society,…
Finland’s Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen’s blog entry on the Roma reveals why Europe has done so little to help this minority
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen’s opinion piece on Uusi Suomi about the hardships that the Romany minority face in Europe today. As she expressed concern about their plight, I could not forget her intolerant views of gays, non-Christian refugees and her silence in the face of strict…
Finnish bus company continues to prohibit Sikh employee from wearing a turban
Migrant Tales reported in September a landmark case in which a Sikh busman could wear a turban while at work. Helsingin Sanomat reported Thursday, however, that matters didn’t turn the way that the Vantaa Sikh busman, Gill Sukhdarshan Singh, thought. According to Helsingin Sanomat, the Sikh busman is still not allowed to wear a turban at work. Migrant…
Finland and Europe must not be lured into populism and xenophobia
Denials by party leaders like Timo Soini that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) isn’t a xenophobic party, and the meek response of Finland’s mainstream parties to such a threat, speak volumes of the present state of this country. Who helped the political careers of xenophobes like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others? Soini and the PS. Why…