November 2016 - Page 3 of 3

Is Somalia a “safe” country and do asylum seekers want to die in vain?

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

In light of the assessment published by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in May, where it claims that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia are “safe” to return asylum seekers we strongly challenge such a claim. I challenge Migri’s assessment because it is political and has little to do with reality.

Migrant Tales has documented at least three cases of people who returned to Iraq and Afghanistan after Migri’s assessment.

Of the three Iraqi asylum seekers that returned to their home country, one ended up in a hospital after being shot six times and two others died in bomb explosions.

One naturalized Finn originally from Afghanistan was shot dead in September in the capital Kabul shortly after he was wed.

All of these four people returned to “safe” Iraq and Afghanistan and got killed or ended up in the hospital shot.

What about Somalia, a country that has been absorbed in a civil war since 1991?

Is it a “safe” country as Migri alleges?

This Kenyan woman tells about her ordeal when she was kidnapped for two years in Somalia. Source: Amisom.

European Country of Origin Information Network (ecoi.net), the Austrian Red Cross information system, is one of many sources that warn about the security situation in Somalia. Apart from problems with Al-Shabaab, there is also bloodshed between different clans.

Continue reading “Is Somalia a “safe” country and do asylum seekers want to die in vain?”

Do ethnic agitation charges against Teuvo Hakkarainen give us a whiff of the rot spreading in government and our society?

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who is facing ethnic agitation charges, and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party are deplorable examples of how low our society has stooped in the dubious racism and bigotry league.

The PS isn’t just any party but a member of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government comprised of the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

The silence of the PS in the face of Hakkarainen’s racist and bigoted statements in the PS’ Suomen Uutiset publication not only speak volumes about how racism is encouraged and spread in Finland at the highest levels of government and parliament.

We will translate most of Hakkarainen’s comments in Suomen Uutiset so that politicians and institutions around Europe can get a glimpse of the social illness inflicting Finland today.

According to Suomen Uutiset and Teuvo Hakkarainen, racism and bigotry are fine as long as it’s done by white Finns. Funding for the publication comes from tax-payers. Read full interview (in Finnish) here.

The asylum refugee center in Saarijärvi, a central Finnish town of 10,000 inhabitants that Hakkarainen represents, will close at the end of April.

Continue reading “Do ethnic agitation charges against Teuvo Hakkarainen give us a whiff of the rot spreading in government and our society?”

SUPO, the Finnish Immigration Service and the police service reveal that we are today a country that even fears its own shadow

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that surprised me a lot when I visited my grandparents in Finland when I lived in Southern California was how he related to black people. The way my grandfather saw black people over forty years ago was so negative and shocking to me that I still remember his reaction.

It must have been in 1968 because my sister and I showed him a picture of starving black children in Biafra, an eastern state of Nigeria that declared independence and plunged the country into a bloody civil war. His reaction was so strong that we made fun of his reaction and taped a picture of a starving black child by his bed, which he immediately took away.

I don’t remember exactly the picture that I showed my grandfather of starving Biafran children, but it was something like the picture above. Source: Modern Ghana.

The way my grandfather related to blacks in the 1960s reveals a lot about how some Finns continue to see diversity as a threat that must be contained at all costs by denying it oxygen and living space.

You don’t have to be a star journalist to understand that the Finnish Intelligence Security Service (SUPO), the Finnish Immigration Service and the police service spread fear about asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Continue reading “SUPO, the Finnish Immigration Service and the police service reveal that we are today a country that even fears its own shadow”

Finnish PS MP Hakkarainen is charged (alas) for ethnic agitation

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomlaiset (PS)* MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who has made numerous racist and bigoted statements against Muslims, Somalis and gays, finally got charged for ethnic agitation by the state deputy prosecutor. Hakkarainen isn’t the only PS politician being charged for ethnic agitation. On that shameful list are Mertsu Merivireta, Terhi Kieumunki and Olli Sademies.

The deputy state prosecutor was considering charging Hakkarainen with ethnic agitation shortly after he was elected in 2011 after he appeared in a Helsingin Sanomat interview, where he stated that “the country’s borders were awash with “n-words” and went on to mock an Islamic call to prayer.

Hakkarainen recently said that being charged for ethnic agitation was like getting a speeding ticket.

“Bring it on if I get sentenced [for hate speech]. I’ll take care of this in my own way,” he was quoted as saying. “Of course [one should follow the law]. But this [possible sentence for hate speech] is like a speeding ticket. Everything is today seen as hate speech.”

The video below shows the MP’s first day in parliament in 2011. It is a good example of the politician’s acting skills.

Hakkarainen denies any wrongdoing and claims, after insulting near-constantly Muslims, migrants, and minorities such as gays that “everyone is innocent before proven guilty.”

Ironically, if the PS MP would have followed that advice, he wouldn’t be in legal hot water now.

Ethnic agitation charges against Hakkarainen and other PS politicians isn’t a light matter. The PS is a government party and rules Finland together with the Center Party and National Coalition Party.

While it is a good matter that the state reacts and takes action against hate speech, one matter that surprises us is that it took so long?

This is the comment by Hakkarainen that got him in trouble when he wrote on his Facebook wall in mid-July after the Nice killings:

“We’ve got to stop pussyfooting. Muslims out of this country! Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. We shouldn’t accept Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to our country.”

Read the full story here.

Two PS politicians, who have made a dubious name for themselves for their Islamophobic and xenophobic statements, came to Hakkarainen’s defense.

Continue reading “Finnish PS MP Hakkarainen is charged (alas) for ethnic agitation”