The Youth League of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* launched a competition to defend free speech in light of last week’s Charlie Hebdo attack, according to YLE in English. It is surprising that an anti-immigrant and especially anti-Islam party like the PS are the only ones who are organizing such a contest and so eager to defend…
Month: January 2015
The motive of a suspected migrant who killed two people in Oulu will always be shrouded in mystery
The northern Finnish city of Oulu has seen its fair share of violence in recent years. Transexuals and city councillors are attacked, activists are pepper sprayed at gay pride events and a Muslim can be killed in cold blood in a pizzeria, while another one leaps to his death trying to escape attackers who forced their way…
PS MP Packalén is still in the dark about integration and cultural identity
The media is part of the problem when it comes to racism in Finland because it gives such people and politicians inflated respectability and importance. A good example of the problem is a story on MTV3 where Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén asks Social Democrat MP Maria Guzenina if she would root in a football match…
Racism Review: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie: A Critical View
To be frank, the magazine Charlie Hebdo deserves criticism, not praise—despite the horrific events that have unfolded. While I am certainly not condoning the murder of its staff members, I do find them guilty of Islam-bashing and inconsiderately expressing religious intolerance, cultural ethnocentrism, and extremely poor human judgment, issues that should be important to antiracists…
Are the sour fruits of the Charlie Hebdo attack the usual ones of hypocrisy and denial?
What fruits will the Charlie Hebido attack yield? Will we engage in debate or find comfort in denial? Will we succumb to easy answers and hypocrisy or to openness? Since some claim that free speech was attacked last week, a tweet by Daniel Wickham raised some poignant questions about Sunday’s march against terrorism. The London School for Economics…
Are Bush’s Iraq War and Abu Ghraib torture to blame as well for the Charlie Hebdo attack?
When I reflect on what happened this week in Paris my thoughts drift to George W. Bush and his proclamation that the United States is on a crusade against terrorism. Juan Cole, an expert on Middle East politics, asks an important question on his blog: Having American troops occupy it [Baghdad] for 8 years, humiliate…
European and Finnish politicians that opportunistically exploit the Charlie Hebdo attack
As the pieces settle and attempt to find their places after the Charlie Hebdo attack, it is surprising how not only anti-Islam and anti-immigration groups are taking political advantage of what happened but even those who you thought didn’t have such agendas. Another important expected narrative is what the media is telling us and what it’s…
ENAR: Charlie Hebdo killings in France: Time for mourning, not for scapegoating
As a member of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), we repost the following statement below in light of the terrible news that we heard from Paris. If you want to read good insight on the tragedy, check out Juan Cole’s Why al-Qaeda attacked satirists in Paris (thank you Gaven Titley for the heads-up). ___________________ Brussels,…
UPDATE (December 5): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism
How does the Finnish media give politicians that spread xenophobia and racism inflated respectability and importance? How can they spread their prejudices and lies about immigrants and minorities without the help of the media? Migrant Tales will begin to collect stories from January 7 written by careless journalists that have been taken for a ride by such…
Migrants’ Rights Network: Reasons to be cheerful about migrants’ rights in 2015
Don Flynn* When someone gets around to writing the history of the UK immigration debate, there is a good chance that they will come to see 2014 as the year when things began to turn around and, eventually, tack off in a progressive direction. Read original blog entry here. Okay, against this sunny optimism…