Month: July 2015

Migrant Tales (January 26, 2013): Making torture and hate acceptable

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: It always amazes me how the United States and the media conveniently forget that torture has been used by many administrations as a means of scaring and getting information from its imagined and real enemies. Torture isn’t a recent interrogation technique used by the CIA and did not appear after 9/11.  That is why linking the American Psychological Association (APA) to the CIA in making torture a more effective tool in interrogation is vital to ensure that the United States or any government prohibit such an outlandish practice. 

Writes the Guardian: “For more than a decade, the American Psychological Association (APA) has maintained that a strict code of ethics prohibits its more than 130,000 members to aid in the torture of detainees while simultaneously permitting involvement in military and intelligence interrogations. The group has rejected media reporting on psychologists’ complicity in torture…”

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Even if the media in the United States speaks of torture as something recent, the truth is that it has been going on for a very long time. These type of barbaric interrogation techniques were widely used in the last century in regions like Latin America. The CIA and the United States trained and promoted torture and state-sponsored terrorism in places like the School of the Americas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4eLYXJIZfg

Torture is not only a part of my history, but the legacy of millions of Latin Americans, Africans and Asians who are gripped today by drug wars, violence and poverty.  Matters have got so bad in the underdeveloped world that people are ready to risk their lives to migrate and work for slave wages.

One has to connect the historical dots when looking at undocumented migrants and immigration in general. It’s the same story taking place over and over again: we colonize, enslave, pillage, support dictatorships; we reap the greatest profit by promoting poverty and underdevelopment in these regions.

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The PS, like the Confederate flag, is a symbol of racism and hatred for most migrants in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In states like South Carolina, where Dylann Roof mass murdered nine people on June 18 at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and after an ongoing debate the Confederate flag was taken down from senate house grounds today. Instead of starting a race war which Roof wanted to ignite, his killings awoke us to the oppression and suffering that the Confederate flag continues to represent. 

This is not an essay about the Roof killings or the Confederate flag per se, but an opportunity to ask what are today the symbols of racism, hatred and white Finnish supremacy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future an activist like Bree Newsome below, who took the Confederate flag down last month, would do the same thing to the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* flag.

The PS has not only victimized, ostracized and attacked migrants in a hostile manner in its climb to claw power, it has become for the majority of migrants and minorities in Finland a symbol of oppression just like the Confederate flag is to blacks in the United States.

Disagree? A recent example of this hostility is Olli Sademies, a PS substitute councilman, who wrote that Africans should be forcibly sterilized.

The PS may want to play down this incident but we won’t forget. We cannot forget because we love our children and grandchildren and want them to live in a country that is inclusive and respects them.

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Bree Newsome takes down the Confederate flag on June 27. Read full story here.

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PS Substitute Councilman Olli Sademies to be investigated for hate speech

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Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Helsinki substitute councilman, Olli Sademies, will be investigated by the police for hate speech, reports the Swedish-language service of YLE.  

Migrant Tales first reported the story in the end of May. A few weeks later Sademies resurfaced launching a new attack against Muslims by suggesting a “business idea” to create a pig’s blood spray that would be used against people of that faith.

In our opinion, using such violent and hostile language against any minority by a politician belonging to a party in government is unacceptable. His suggestion on Facebook is, in our opinion, tantamount to inciting ethnic agitation and violence against black people in this country.

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Racism Review: The epidemic of colorblindness

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Is it also an epidemic in Finland and Europe?

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Lessie Branch

There is an epidemic in our country. Other epidemics like obesity and AIDS create injustice in the body, but this one creates injustice in our society and the ways in which we relate to one another. We have a name for this disease: colorblindness.

What are the symptoms of colorblindness? The most notable is the refusal to admit that the color of a person’s skin affects that person’s opportunities in America. Other symptoms include a callous rationalization of racial violence, a denial of one’s own racial prejudices, a minimization of ubiquitous bigotry, and, in extreme cases, a belief that race is a personal choice.

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Read full opinion piece here.

Let’s take a look at some recent cases of this rampant disease. Several weeks ago, Tahera Ahmad ordered a can of soda on a United Airlines flight. For sanitary reasons, she requested an unopened can, but she was denied. “Big deal,” you might think. “It’s probably just some obscure airline regulation about canned drinks, right?” Unfortunately, no. This was a symptom of America’s insidious disease.

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Unfriend those Facebook friends that are openly racist, homophobic and sexist

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

The old saying claims the latter but does it have to be that way? 

There’s one matter that continues to baffle me about Finnish politics: How openly xenophobic and Islamophobic politicians are Facebook “friends” with people who claim to champion cultural diversity and anti-racism. If we look at the US Civil Rights Movement (1955-68), there’s one key lesson: Don’t flirt with those that are your enemies, name and shame them. 

The Civil Rights Movement had a big impact on the United States depending on where you lived. Many parts of my former hometown of Los Angeles were “liberal,” or in favor of the aims of the Civil Rights Movement.

How did the Civil Rights Movement impact my life in the 1970s? For one, we openly named and shamed those that still lived in their racist mindset of the pre-Civil Rights Movement. If you had issues with racism, you had to tread with extra care so you wouldn’t be branded a racist.

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Migrant’s Rights Network: How the legacy of racism continues to make ‘others’ out of migrant people

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Anna De Mutiis* 

The ongoing crisis on the Mediterranean has shed light on an old unsolved – and clearly so often poorly addressed problem at the heart of Europe: namely its relation with its Other.

Europe’s favoured perspective seems to concentrate on a diplomatic, political or geopolitical crisis – as suggested by the very notion of a ‘Mediterranean’ crisis – which leaves aside the tragedy of human losses, drowned hopes, the expectation of finding shelter, and the dream of a safe place to live and the chance to survive.

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Read full opinion piece here.

The European and International media have played a big role in how this tragedy has been appropriated and narrated especially to EU citizens. Even if some headlines have clearly condemned European powers for neglecting their responsibility and remaining indifferent to more than 28.000 death in the last 15 years, many media accounts rode on the old rhetoric (echoing Thatcherite themes) of fearing an ‘invasion’ of migrants.  The implication that ‘we can’t take them all’ contains the inevitable suggestion that we should let some, at least, die in the sea.

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Because I am a girl

Posted on by Maarit Snellman

Sahar asuu Pakistanissa äitinsä ja viiden veljensä kanssa. Sahar on aina halunnut lääkäriksi. Siksi hän on opiskellut ahkerasti, kunnes kaikki muuttui. Saharin äiti ei enää uskalla päästää Saharia kouluun happoiskujen pelossa. Sitä ei enää katsota hyvällä silmällä – Koulunkäyntiä. Koska hän on tyttö.

Kiinassa Bik syntyi maalla vähävaraiseen perheeseen. Vanhemmat toivoivat itselleen poikaa tulevaisuuden turvaksi, mutta sai Bikin. Bik on nyt orpo, sillä vanhemmat hylkäsivät hänet. Koska hän on tyttö.

Illalla Jarul oli kävelemässä kotiin ystävättärensä luota, jonka luona hän oli ollut tekemässä kotitehtäviä. Hän on intialainen. Joukko paikallisia nuoria miehiä raiskasi hänet. Oli kuulemma liian myöhään ulkona ja hän menehtyi. Koska hän on tyttö.

Tina viettää iltaa paikallisessa pubissa kuten tavallisesti. Lontoon ulkopuolella Isossa-Britanniassa paikallisten suosimassa paikassa. Hän herää sidottuna sänkyyn tuntemattomassa paikassa. Illan tapahtumat eivät ole muistissa. Hän ymmärtää saaneensa tainnutustippuja. Koska hän on tyttö.

Suomessa Jaana hakee kovin töitä. Hän on nuori ja hyvinkoulutettu. Kantasuomalainen. Vielä lapseton. Työhaastatteluissakin päässyt käymään, mutta häviää aina mieskandidaatille, jolla on poikkeuksetta vähemmän asiantuntemusta kuin Jaanalla. Jaana on törmännyt lasikattoon. Koska hän on tyttö.

Tämän kevään kohun aiheita Suomessa ovat mm. olleet raiskaustapaus, jossa tekijöinä oli kolme ulkomaalaistaustaista nuorta miestä. Raiskauksesta on tehty uskonnon, ihonvärin ja etnisen taustan asia. Siitä huolimatta, että kyse on sukupuolittuneesta väkivallasta ja halusta alistaa nainen. Joskus kohteena on satunnaisesti valittu nainen ja toisinaan sitten taas tuttu ja jopa oma kumppani.

Halu alistaa ei liity automaatin lailla uskontoon ja etniseen taustaan, joskin kulttuurilla saattaa olla siihen vaikutusta. Kuitenkin valinta on aina yksilön eli miehen. Kohteleeko hän naista yhdenvertaisena yksilönä vai valitseeko hän alistavia ja syrjiviä toimintatapoja. Mies voi valita, koska hän on mies.

Is PS MP Laura Huhtasaari an Islamophobe?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jay Smooth offers some valuable advice when dealing with racism. He divides the plan of action into two strategies: the what they did conversation and what they are conversation. 

As some are well aware,Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari, who is no stranger to our readers, got her fingers burned last week by Helsingin Sanomat when they found her profile picture on a racist Facebook page.

Even the name of that Facebook community, Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! or “The racist background of rapists [hiding] in bushes,” would set alarm bells ringing.

Anti-immigration, or particularly anti-cultural diversity politicians, leave a lot of smoking guns about their ideology. They commonly hide behind red herrings to cover up their real intentions. Huhtasaari is no different.

In a Facebook thread there’s an Afro Finn who claims on a video clip to not have read Jussi Halla-aho’s writings but considers the PS MEP, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, a “nice guy.” He even wishes him “the best of luck in his political career.” 

Fine, but isn’t that falling into the what they are conversation as opposed to the what they did conversation?

Let’s give the Afro Finn a helping hand. He claims to not have read Halla-aho’s Islamophobic and xenophobic writings. We’ll help him out. Is he joking or not? No, folks, he messaged me and said that it wasn’t a joke.

Below are some quotes to challenge Halla-aho on the what they did conversation:

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Jussi Halla-aho, published in Gates of Vienna Inter Arma, November 30, 2007.

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Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta guest book, May 19, 2006.

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Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Lisää rikollisuudesta, September 30, 2005.

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Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Mietteitä kansainvaelluksesta, April 20, 2005.

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Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Mietteitä kansainvaelluksesta, April 20, 2005.

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Maarit Snellman: Mitä yhteistä on Olli Immoksella ja Dylann Roofilla?

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Maarit Snellman

Tämä tekstini oli liikaa Uuden Suomen Puheenvuoroblogi-palvelussa ja sain varoituksen kursivoidun kohdan vuoksi. Se perustuu kuitenkin alla oleviin lähteisiin ja erityisesti Olli Immosen itse antamiin haastatteluihin, jotka eivät jätä mitään epäselvää. Kommentteja en jaksa tähän kopioida – ei niissä sen ihmeellisempiä ollut. Lukuun ottamatta, että minun  olisi pitänyt perustella, että ihminen ei ole lajityypillisesti rasisti, vaan se opitaan. Saa vihata, uhata etnisen taustan vuoksi henkeä ja rajoittaa vapautta tai uhata ei-rasistisen mielipiteen vuoksi raiskauksella. Se on sallittua, mutta Suomessa ei saa tehdä reflektoivaa kriittistä analyysia siitä, miten rasismi ilmenee mm. mediassa. Sanavapaus ei siis ole tältäkään osin kaikkien oikeus. Se on rasisteilla ja fasisteilla, mutta minä, joka en näitä ihmisyyttä vastaan koskevia rikoksia tule koskaan hyväksymään, en saa sitä harjoittaa.

Tässä alkuperäinen kirjoitukseni Ollista ja Dylannista:

Molemmat ovat viime aikoina näkyneet lehdissä. Olli kotimaassa ja Dylann kaikkialla. Dylann toteutti sen, jota Olli ihannoi – poliittisen murhan. Dylannilla on rasistinen ajatusmaailma. Olli edustaa Suomen kansaa eduskunnassa sekä fasistista kansalaisjärjestöä. Olli kannattaa kansalaismielestä kansannousua. Dylann on sitä mieltä, että tarvitaan rotusotaa. USA:ssa Dylannin ajatusmaailman jakaa ne amerikkalaiset, jotka kuuluvat maassa vaikuttaviin 784:ään viharyhmään.

Suomessa avoimesti rasistinen puolue, jolla on fasistisia ja uusnatsikytköksiä, johtaa eduskuntaa ja istuu hallituksessa. Vapaa-ajallaan Immonen saa kuulemma tehdä mitä tykkää. USA:ssa Dylannin rasistinen vihaisku on sitten yksittäistapaus. Kun värillinen vie kaupasta karkin, poliisi vie oikeuden kautta vankilaan kulkematta lähtöruudun kautta. Konservatiivien globaali tapa sivuuttaa rasismi.

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PS MP Laura Huhtasaari’s problems deepen concerning her alleged membership in a racist Facebook community

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Migrant Tales understands that a complaint had been made to Facebook about a racist community called  Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! or “The racist background of rapists [hiding] in bushes.” Facebook concluded that it did not breach community standards.  

Does this mean that the Facebook site doesn’t insult and degrade minorities like blacks and Muslims? Not at all!

Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are responsible for much of the racism and bigotry that you’ll find on social media today.

But at least Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari considers the Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! Facebook community to be so racist that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. 

Huhtasaari is in hot water this week after  Helsingin Sanomat exposed her belonging to that racist Facebook community.

Posting a picture on that Facebook site of a black child in a pail eating a watermelon that reads “a bucketful of shit” does not apparently breach Facebooks’ community standards. Fine.

But at least Huhtasaari has more sense than Facebook since she considers her membership in that community could either hurt or boost her political career.

Racism and xenophobia are crowd pleasers in today’s Finland and can do wonders for your political career.

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