For Finland’s ever-growing culturally and ethnically diverse community, 2014 will be remembered for many good and bad things. At the top of the good things, there’s the Olen suomalainen video but the list of toxic news far outweighs the latter like Tom Packalén’s “racist youth mobs with migrant backgrounds” and Pia Kauma’s “baby carriages.” Migrant Tales…
Month: December 2014
Finland’s PS see its support plummet to all-time low since 2011
A latest poll commissioned by YLE showed that if elections were held today, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* would receive only 13.3% of the votes, which is the lowest drop ever after it won the 2011 elections with 19.1% of the vote, writes Yle in English. The PS saw its support slip by 1% from the previous month….
What do Jim Crow, Nuremberg Laws and Finland’s Restricting Act of 1939 have in common?
All forms of intolerance have one factor in common: They are violent ways to disenfranchise and control groups through social exclusion. Jim Crow laws in the United States sought to ensure that blacks remain marginalized in the same way as the Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany took away all power from the Jews. In Finland, foreigners…
Sweden calls off snap elections in March 2015 after reaching agreement with the opposition
The minority government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has abandoned plans to hold snap elections in March 2015 after reaching an agreement with the Alliance, comprising of opposition parties like the Moderates, Center Party, Liberal Party and Christian Democrats, according to The Local. The far right Sweden Democrats, which caused a political crisis this month, blasted…
Arson attack against mosque in Sweden is another red light flashing in the roaring silence
A mosque in Sweden that was hit by arson on Christmas Day is the latest warning that we cannot stand idly to the ever-rising tide of Islamophobia and far-right violence griping Europe these days. Words are not regular bullets that kill instantly but are time bombs that can explode anywhere and anytime. The attack against the…
PS MP Vesa-Matti Saarakkala’s anti-immigration message + shoddy journalism = piling hatred high and deep
Populism is an ugly political force because it’s based on hearsay and on the victimization of migrants and minorities. Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Vesa-Matti Saarakkala claimed Friday on Ilkka that schools are censoring traditional Christian festivities to appease migrants and atheists. Saarakkala felt so strongly about the matter that he sent a written question to the government. …
Migrants’ Rights Network: Out with the old, in with the new: 2014 ends as it began
Awale Olad* It seems that 2014 will end with yet more news on immigration. This time it involves the Home Secretary, Theresa May, and her push to change the immigration rules in order to require that all international students graduating at UK universities leave the country on completion of their course. Read…
You can live in Finland as long as you are culturally invisible (and conform to our stereotypes)
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Vesa-Matti Saarakkala’s statement on Seinjäjoki-based daily Ilkka is another clear example of how some politicians, and even the National Board of Education, continue to deny our ever-growing cultural diversity. There is a lot of talk about “multiculturalism” and little action. This leaves us with a hostile message lingering above us: We, white Finns,…
Populist parties of Finland are a direct threat to our prosperity
A recent poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat reveals an important trend: How the National Coalition Party and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are in a semi-tailspin mode. The Center Party continues to strengthen its position as the most popular party among voters with the Social Democrats slowly but surely overpassing the National Coalition Party. Certainly this is an…
Michael McEachrane: Seeing Sweden’s race problem for what it is
Michael McEachrane* Two things seem abundantly clear regarding the rise of ultranationalism in Europe today. First, it is symptomatic of a broader form of nationalism which all European states are steeped in. Second, it is this broader nationalism that ultimately needs to be confronted if equality is ever to become a reality in Europe. Read…