December 2015 - Page 2 of 3

A Finnish lawmaker who states that human rights don’t apply to everyone

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Migrant Tales

With a populist anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in government, it’s clear that issues like human rights and the right to asylum would be questioned by such a bigoted party. Laura Huhtasaari, right, the PS MP with the kindergarten teacher smile, has stuck her foot in her mouth again.

This time, it isn’t for denying that evolution exists but for suggesting that human rights don’t apply to everyone.

PS MP Huhtasaari tweets: “Human Rights have been founded to protect civilians, not terrorists, war criminals or criminals.”

If the PS MP would have read carefully the UN Declaration of Human Rights she’d know that human rights apply to everyone, even suspected terrorists, suspected war criminals and suspected criminals.

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Why do the police identify Others as “person with migrant background” even if this is confusing, even illegal?

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The tabloid story below picked up by Koko Hubara on her Facebook wall is an excellent example of how the define ethnicity and race. The police service is one of the most eager institutions in this country when it comes to labeling who are “real” Finns and those who are not.

By law, a person is considered a Finn if he or she is a Finnish citizen. Even so, the police don’t care if you have Finnish citizenship or even if you were born in this country.

The Ilta-Sanomat story below is a prime example. It states that that “people with a migrant background” tried to rape a teenage girl in the southwestern Finnish city of Pori.

What does “people with migrant background mean?” Is it code for people who aren’t from the EU? But wait a minute! Europe is culturally and ethnically a very diverse place, Finland as well. Why then is the police defining on its own accord so-called “ethnic” Finns, or kantasuomalaiset, and non-white Finns, or “people with a migrant background?”

A classic example of the way the police arbitrarily puts Finns into different ethnic categories was the Tapanila rape case in March.

Migrant Tales spoke in spring with the policeman, Jyri Hiltunen, who is in charge of the Tapanila rape case. He confirmed that some of the suspects are Finnish citizens.

“I don’t know exactly if all of them are citizens or not because this isn’t an essential piece of information in the case,” he said. “But some are [Finnish citizens].”

Not an essential piece of information? I disagree, considering some of these then suspects were born and raised in Finland as well.

Read original Ilta-Sanomat story here.

A person’s ethnicity and national background are defined the following manner: by nationality, place of birth and mother tongue.

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What ever happened to the PS politician who said god had answered his prayers after an asylum reception center was a target of arson?

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Remember Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP Juha Maenpää who said god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was going to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground on December 1? It appears that all he got for writing such a comment was a lot of publicity and a soft slap on the hand.

Jaakko Leiniö, chairman of the Ilmajoen Perussuomalaiset chapter, told Migrant Tales over the phone that what Maenpää wrote was “his own ideas” and that sacking him isn’t possible because it “would be against the associations act.”

Leiniö added that Maenpää had apologized for what he wrote. “According to him, what he wrote was [widely] misunderstood,” the Ilmajoen Perussuomalaiset chapter chairman added.

PS substitute MP Maenpää wrote on his Facebook page on December 1:“Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered” after a building that was going to house asylum seekers was burned to the ground. He has apologized for what he wrote but hasn’t taken down the controversial posting on Facebook.

If we look at Maenpää’s Facebook page there is nothing to suggest that he feels any remorse or shame for what he wrote. A member of the far-right white Finnish supremacist Suomen Sisu association, Maenpää continues to spread his usual dose of xenophobia on his Facebook wall.

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UPDATED: How long will reception centers and asylum seekers be under attack in Finland?

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Remember 2015? It was the year when over 30,000 asylum seekers, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, came to Finland. Do you remember the reaction of some Finns who attacked fourteen asylum reception centers? Why weren’t these acts of violence classified as domestic terrorism?

This disgraceful story is dedicated to Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtiainen, who is in the news for all the wrong reasons and, who, was convicted in 2018 of inciting violence against the Finnish Red Cross, which manages many asylum reception centers. The conviction has its roots in 2015 Facebook post that was liked by PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari.

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Migrant Tales wrote in 2015:

The fact that fourteen asylum reception centers have been attacked in Finland since mid-September is scandalous. According to the police service of Kangasala, an asylum seeker was beaten by two or three men Saturday evening near the Kaivanto reception center, reports YLE News.

And the news doesn’t stop here: Neo-Nazi vigilante patrols, one Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP from Kankaanpää, Juha Maenpää, stated in December that god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was supposed to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground. If an asylum seeker commits a crime there is a social media lynch mob ready 24/7.

If it is a Finn that rapes a woman the public, politicians and the media don’t appear too interested.

Double-standards and xenophobia are rife in Finland today.

In the ever-worsening anti-immigration atmosphere, some politicians and the government are even showing some understanding to the hostility against asylum seekers, which has spread and affected all migrants and minorities living in this country. Interior Minister Petteri Orpo blamed asylum seekers on YLE for these attacks by stating that is would calm matters down by tightening immigration policy even more.

You may be asking why the National Coalition Party and Center Party aren’t even raising a finger against the PS’ obsession against immigrants and asylum seekers. These two parties need the support of the PS to streamline the welfare state. In return, the PS can tighten immigration policy and thereby appease their racist voters.

Like in all the attacks against the reception centers this fall and early winter, only one suspect was caught in Kouvola (24.9.2015), a middle-aged man was charged and given a one-year prison sentence.

How big will this disgraceful list grow below?

Attacks against asylum reception centers in Finland

December

Turku (25.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.

Asikkala (12.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.

Tampere (10.12.2015): Possible arson attack still under investigation.

Pori (6.12.2015): Windows of the reception center were broken.

Rauma (4.12.2015): Successful arson attack of a building that was supposed to house asylum seekers.

A building that was supposed to house asylum seekers in the western Finnish city of Rauma. Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

Continue reading “UPDATED: How long will reception centers and asylum seekers be under attack in Finland?”

A Finnish government that bolsters anti-immigration populism and nationalism

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

It’s sad to watch how the present government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is not only destroying our welfare state but bringing out the worst form of anti-immigration fear and political cowardice. When asked on YLE’s Ykkösaamu talk show about the attacks against asylum reception centers, the only thing Interior Minister Petteri Orpo had to say was that he was “saddened” by such “illegal” attacks and that the 80-point plan to tighten immigration policy would help calm matters down.

Thank you very much Minister Orpo but being “saddened” by what is happening is “sadly” not enough. What you are doing, as Helsinki city councilwoman Veronika Honkasalo correctly stated in a Facebook post, is blaming the victims, the asylum seekers, for the attacks and hostility against them.

The xenophobia against asylum seekers is a cancer that spreads rapidly in our society and impacts the whole migrant and minority community of Finland.

What’s going on?

Orpo, who is a member of the National Coalition Party, is worried together with the Center Party about the nosedive in support in the polls of their third partner, the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* By getting tough on immigration policy and turning a semi-blind eye on the security situation of asylum seekers and that of all migrants living in Finland, the government hopes to bolster the PS in the polls.

If the PS left government it would most likely mean new elections. Would the next prime minister of Finland by from the Center Party or a Social Democrat?

In a letter to the editor of Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, Professor Martti Koskenniemi wrote that the government “has bowed” to social media pressure:

The government has drafted a straightforward policy [80-point immigration tightening program] to bolster support of the Perussuomalaiset [in the polls].

Considering the overdose of bigotry we’ve seen in recent years in Finland, and which people like Orpo have not had a taste of because he’s not a migrant or asylum seeker, it’s clear that not too many Finnish politicians are worried about the hostile atmosphere against migrants and ever-rising tide of racism.

See full interview here.

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Neo-Nazi group now claims to carry out street patrols in as many as eleven Finnish cities

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Neo-Nazi groups like Suomen Vastarintaliike (SVL) and the Solidiers of Odin are carrying out street patrols in a number of Finnish cities, reports Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa. Migrant Tales reported Saturday that SVL started street patrols in Pori, which have now expanded to three neighborhoods of that southwestern Finnish city.

The founder of The Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, has admitted being a nationalist socialist, according to MTV3.

SVL states on its website that it carries out street patrols in the cities of Pori, Lahti, Tampere, Hyvinkää and Oulu. Likewise, the Solidiers of Odin claim on their Facebook page to carry out street patrols in Kemi, Rovaniemi, Tornio, Oulu Kajaani, Ylivieska, Pori, Joensuu, Helsinki, Tampere and Hämeenlinna.

The immediate question that arises concerning these neo-Nazi street patrols is what are they doing patrolling our streets. What’s the reaction of the police service and politicians?

Are non-white people safe and could they be attacked by such neo-Nazis who are openly hostile to them?

It appears that not too many are worried. It’s a bit like the rise of far right nationalists in the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who are just “letting off some racist steam” in parliament and municipal councils. White Finns aren’t too worried since they aren’t the target of their hateful anti-immigration rhetoric.

Western Finland deputy police chief, Timo Vuola, had nothing else to state in YLE except that such street patrols aren’t allowed to keep order.

If a Soldiers of Odin Facebook post is true, some Finns wouldn’t care less what the deputy chief said:

“I caught two of them and the rest escaped…I sat on top of one and held the other one with a hand-lock after a couple of minutes until man came to help me. The police arrived and thanked me stating that these types [asylum seekers] are a real problem…I nodded and stated: You don’t damn say! I was surprised that I didn’t get charged [by the police] for assault. I don’t care if I did. The grandmother’s and grandfather’s words [of gratitude] and expressions = priceless…?”

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Neo-Nazis now patrol the streets of Pori in southwestern Finland

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Neo-Nazis are today patrolling the streets of the city of Pori, the home of Islamophobe Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari, according to YLE News, which cites Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa.

Writes YLE News: “Satakunnan Kansa reported that the SVL had started the patrols on Independence Day, and it has already extended those activities to other towns in the Satakunta region that host reception centers for asylum seekers.”

Here’s the catch and the reason why neo-Nazis are patrolling the streets of Pori now after before patrolling the streets of the northern Finnish city of Kemi. Too many white Finns, politicians, the media and police service, aren’t too outraged about this. They’re just a few young lads letting off some steam they probably reason.

We know that Huhtasaari, the PS MP with the kindergarten-teacher smile, probably thinks these types of patrols are justified because asylum seekers are mostly criminals and “illegal refugees (sic!).”

Read full story here.

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Researchers working for the police see falling support of the Perussuomalaiset as a danger to society

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

It’s incredible how even the police service feeds xenophobia in Finland. A column published by two applied science researchers on the Police College of Finland web page is a perfect example of the one-sided view that some people of the police service have of migrants and cultural diversity.

One of the biggest problems in Finland when researching migrant crime is in the collection of equality data. For example, researchers cannot tell you what best practices they use and what their responsibility is in fueling ethnic profiling and victimization of certain national groups living in Finland.

Read full column (in Finnish) here.

A good example of how partial crime statistics can be used to ethnically profile migrants is one by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula), which states that the number of suspected rape cases in 2013 was 473. Of these around one third were committed by persons with “foreign backgrounds.”

Why don’t researchers care about the groups they study and ethnically profile?

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Ongoing debate on asylum seekers in Finland: Lawmakers who play or are ignorant of our laws and basic human rights

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

As I watched the A-studio: Talk debate about the record number of asylum seekers in Finland, I thought about Kadar Gelle, an anti-racism activist who watched Monday’s A-studio debate, where Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén, a former policeman who has built a political career on racist rhetoric, debates with Somali Finn Mukhtar Abib about the government’s plans to tighten immigration policy.

Writes Kadar on his Facebook wall:

I turned on the A-studio program and saw Tom Packalen speaking about immigration. My blood started to boil from zero to one hundred until I understood that I can change television channels. It’s a waste of time to listen to a narcissistic and racist loudmouth [like Packalén] who suffers from a personality disorder. I turned off the television and my pulse went back in an instant to normal.

It’s interesting to note when watching Thursday’s A-studio debate on the record number of asylum seekers that have come to Finland how politicians capitalize on people’s fears.

Politicians like Eerola and many other act irresponsibly and recklessly especially during these times by spreading fear and xenophobia among an already frightened population. This shouldn’t surprise us since they have worked relentlessly to instill fear of migrants and asylum seekers. They have built lucrative political careers with the help of xenophobia and fear-mongering.

Juho Eerola is another PS MP who has built a political career on bigotry. The way he speaks about migrants is not only insulting but reveals his true political colors and what he wrote in 2010 about Benito Mussolini.

He wrote: “I myself am attracted to Benito Mussolini’s fascism, and in particular the economic policy [the country] pursued.”

Do you think that a person who sympathizes with Mussolini and who is a far right anti-immigration politician has anything constructive to say about how migrants should be integrated and become equal members of society?

PS MP Eerola’s pet topic is now one-way adaption or assimilation. Why? Because he wants to keep Finland white. See full TV program here.

One of the most crucial matters that these types of debate programs forget is Section 6 of our Constitution, which states:

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The Finnish government’s eighty-point tightening of immigration policy is all politics and saving face, nothing more

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced Tuesday an eighty-point tightening of Finnish immigration policy, according to YLE News. The new plan by the government means very bad news for asylum seekers and refugees living in Finland.

Some of the areas where immigration policy will be tightening family reunifications, implement fast-track deportations, grant bare-minimum financial aid to people awaiting decisions on their asylum status, even terminate a refugee’s residence permit if the situation in his or her home country improves considerably.

All these measures reveal one shameful matter about the present government: They want as many asylum seekers as possible to leave the country. This xenophobic attitude has been reinforced by scores of politicians, the police service, public officials and especially the media, which see these people with suspicion and manifest unease.

One may ask why the government of Prime Minister Sipilä, who offered his home to refugees in early September, is now tightening immigration policy even more?

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