I came to this country as a refugee in 1990, at the time of recession and when foreigners where a rarity. As a result, we had become a “Somali shock” overnight. It was common at the time to hear racial slurs, to wake up to the sounds of “perkele”, to drink tea to “mutakuono” and to dance to “vitun neekeri”. People would stop to gawk on the streets, kids yelling “look mommy, a nigger”. Grandmothers would ambush me in the swimming hall shower and scrub me down, hoping to wash the color off. Others, after a few pints, would come over to touch my hair and make inappropriate propositions. I went from being an individual, with aspirations, feelings and rights, to a degraded sub-human: a “mud face”, “nigger”, “whore”, and “social loafer”.
Month: May 2015
Tino Singh: Kuinka kulttuuriälykäs toimittaja olen?
Toimittamani sisältö koetaan epäreiluna. Väitetään, että en ollut objektiivinen tai etten miettinyt miten julkaisemani sisältö vaikuttaa yhteiskuntaan ja niiden elämään joita sisältö koskee. En ole tietoinen epäreiluudestani tai vahingosta, jota sisältö on sattunut aiheuttamaan. En myöskään tunnista olevani asenteellinen tai rasisti. En ainakaan tahallani.
How hate crime goes unreported in Finland
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR), an anti-racism NGO, reported the previous week that there were in 2013 a total of 47,210 racist crimes reported by NGOs throughout Europe. It claimed that those reported cases were only the tip of the iceberg of all recorded hate crimes. Migrant Tales was informed recently about a case in Helsinki of…
The Third Eye by Marshall Niles: The waves create the sand
By Marshall Niles
While the rest of the world moves forwards towards gay rights, the Christian Democrats of Finland go the Putin way
Päivi Räsänen has a lot to say for herself. As a god fearing, christian woman, Minster of Interior for the Finnish government, and the official representative of the Christian Democrats, Her party managed to hold on to 6 seats, the lowest number amongst any Finnish political party. Yet, as we read this, instead of wondering…
Facebook: The “True Finn” versus the Saami woman
Migrant Tales insight: What is this party that steals and hogs Finnish identity for itself and decides who is or isn’t a “true Finn?” They are called the Perussuomalaiset in Finnish, which means something like “basic” or “fundamental” Finn. After calling themselves True Finns in English they went for it all by calling themselves “the…
The new Finnish dream: Become a member of the PS and speak out against migrants, minorities and cultural diversity
Live by the sword die by the sword. The saying found in the Gospel of Matthew, verse 26:52 is dedicated to Perussuomalaiset (PS)[1] chairman Timo Soini, who is also a devout catholic. This saying, live by the sword die by the sword, must haunt Soini. If I were him it would give me the creeps. …
Finland, the PS and their racist improvisations
What is wrong with Finland? Just because of 221,900 immigrants, which account for about 4% of the population, and since only about 8% of those live in Finland on humanitarian grounds, a party like the PS is on the warpath poisoning the air and soiling our good names.
UPDATE (May 15): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism
Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link. May 15 Brittilehti: Kreikka, varo “karhumaista” Timo Soinia! (Ilta-Sanomat) What’s wrong with this story? The Finnish media has been criticized in the past for being toothless when…
Kati van der Hoeven-Lepistö: Change the world
”Change the world” funny, isn’t it? All this talk about changing the world for the better. This world is not in need of changing; this planet is amazing with the birds and the bees, apple trees, blooming roses, sunrise, sunset and the moon that lights up the night. This planet is one heck of a…