Finnish Green League MP Ozan Yanar socks it to the Perussuomalaiset* (PS) city council candidate Erlin Yang and Laura Kolbe of the Center Party. What he said on the municipal election debate show explains what the PS is to a tee.
Yanar: “For example the Perussuomalaiset, there are a lot of people obsessed with migrants. Just liked obsessed, they don’t have anything else to do. Sadly Kokoomus and Keskusta, which normally are good parties, are playing along. That’s the situation right now.”
Yang: “That’s discriminatory. Those are not nice words at all!”
Kolbe: “These are democratically elected representatives.”
Yanar: “You are doing your politics and we are criticizing [it] and that’s politics. Welcome to politics.”
* The official translation to Finnish of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is the Finns Party. In our opinion, it is not only a horrible translation, but one that is misguided. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Such terms like the Finns Party of True Finns promote as well in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and thereafter the acronym PS.
As we mark the first anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal, the EU’s migration policies are more contradictory than ever, ignoring evidence and by-passing democratic procedures.
Agreed on 18 March 2016, the EU-Turkey deal drew a line in the sand, after which all migrants and refugees who crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands, and who did not apply for asylum in Greece or whose claim was refused, would be returned to Turkey.
The EU-Turkey deal has not lived up to its promise of ending irregular migration and has, in the meantime, caused enormous suffering. People are languishing in horrible conditions across the EU, record numbers of people still die at sea, or are trapped in Turkey, Libya and beyond.
In a recent case brought before the European Court of Justice, the EU even argued that it cannot be held responsible for any consequences of the deal because it was “just a press release”. So essentially, a document of “no legal value” is causing unjustifiable human cost, drastically changing policy and promising billions of euros to Turkey for keeping its end of the deal.
Speaking to an Iraqi asylum seeker Monday who came to Finland in October 2015 made me tremendously sad. He lives in northern Finland with his children, wife and newly born baby who is less than half a year old today. Family, children, new life in a new country away from the violence of his former homeland should be cause for celebration, right?
There was no cause for celebration because the hostility outside his home is sometimes too overbearing.
Recently, the asylum seeker friend whom I’ve known almost a year was going to buy a sofa from tori.fi.
“Before we could close the deal, the owner of the sofa asked me 3-4 times where I was from,” he said. “I finally told him that he was from Iraq and then he told me to ‘fuck off’ and ‘fuck you!’
For some asylum seekers Finland is a disappointment. Photo: Enrique Tessieri
In the apartment block where he lives with his family, everything was fine with the neighbors until two Iraqi families moved to the same building.
I came up with the following issues when translating some asylum decision cases from the Finnish police service:
First: When the police give a negative decision to an asylum seeker there is only one interpreter giving the information to that person. The person translates-interprets the main essence of the decision, or why the person got a negative decision and will have to return to his or her country. You are also told that you have 30 days to appeal.
In the last paragraph of the decision, however, it states: The decision has to be translated to the mother tongue of the person concerned or in another language known to him or her. In Finnish it reads: Päätös on tulkittava henkilön äidinkielelle tai muulle hänen ymmärtämälleen kielelle (UIKL 203S).
Second: In the document where the negative decision is given, there is no mention of the Aliens Act (Ulkomaalaislaki) and no one translates this to the asylum seekers and explains what the law is. For most asylum seekers there is not only a need to translate but to explain as well the law to them because some may have a limited educational background or even be illiterate.
As the #righttolife demonstration grows and becomes stronger at the Helsinki Railway Station, a group of Iraqis organized a similar demonstration in the northern Finnish city of Oulu on March 11, according to Ali Asaad Hasan.
“To show our support for the people in Helsinki, we decided to start our own demonstration in Oulu,” said Hasan. “The people, especially the Lutheran church, have supported us and been so good to us.”
The demonstrators in Oulu, which are mostly Iraqis with some Afghan, Somali and asylum seekers from other countries, hand out flyers and chat with people. They are also doing a video that they will soon publish.
“This demonstration means a lot to all of us and to me especially because we can tell people about the deportations and try to find ways to stop them by letting Finns know what is happening,” he said.
The support demonstration for the #righttolife demonstration in Helsinki began on March 11.
Hasan said that the Finns who have demonstrated with them have been a great help. If there are problems they usually step in and help calm the situation, according to him.
“We got a visit from the Soldiers of Odin on Friday,” he continued. “There were about 20 of them and they came with a big dog and stood a meter away from us with some covering their faces. The police came and nothing happened.”
The demonstrators in Oulu have received two visits from the Soldiers of Odin vigilante group. Twenty vigilante members appeared on Friday with a big dog to intimidate the group. The police arrived and the Finns taking part in the demonstration kept everything under control.
Two of the worst complimentary publications in the Helsinki and Greater Helsinki area Helsingin Uutiset and Vantaan Sanomat. Since they don’t charge people to read their publications they depend heavily on advertising revenues. The way that they get such revenues and readers is by spreading xenophobia and suspicion of migrants and minorities.
The latest example is of a story by Helsingin Uutuset that claims that sexual crimes have soared to dizzying heights.
The story has a lot of holes. For one, it takes a jab below the belt and claims that somehow the large number of asylum seekers have something to do with this issue. For example, the story doesn’t clarify – but suggests instead – that it’s the fault of asylum seekers without mentioning how many tourists and non-asylum seekers it’s talking about.
It doesn’t even tell us if the cases that it cites are suspected and convicted rape cases.
We don’t know and we’re not supposed to know. Even so, Helsingin Uutiset’s shoddy reporting is no surprise since this is the way the publication spreads falsehoods and racism about migrants while attracting advertisers.
Turvapaikanhakijoiden kamppailu on tullut näkyväksi. Mielenosoitus Helsingin Rautatientorilla on tuonut vastaanottokeskuksista keskelle Helsingin arkea ihmiset, jotka ovat epätoivoisia ja anovat mahdollisuutta saada elää. Mielenosoitusta sävyttää jokaöinen häirintä ja viime yönä murhapolttoyritys.
Turvapaikanhakijoiden telttaan heitetty palava kanisteri sai aikaan rumaa jälkeä. Kuvakaappaus Facebookin Stop Deportations -sivulta
Nyt vaaditaan tekoja. Perustuslain noudattaminen ja ihmisten pelastaminen kuolemalta ei ole mikään opposition juttu. Hallituksella ei ole mitään mahdollisuutta pelastaa kasvojaan sillä, että se tekee tästä vasemmisto vastaan oikeisto –jutun ja sanoo toteuttavansa kansan mandaatilla luotua hallitusohjelmaa. Suomen kansa ei halua olla murhaajakansa.
Hallituksen ääripääretoriikka alkaa mennä aika oudoksi. Näin sanotaan nyt sisäministeriön sivuilla: ”Äärimmäiset mielipiteet suuntaan ja toiseen ovat saaneet huomattavasti enemmän näkyvyyttä ja kuuluvuutta, kuin mitä niiden suhteellinen osuus kansasta antaisi odottaa.” Mitä ovat ne äärimmäiset mielipiteet, joilla vastustetaan rasismia ja puolustetaan syrjimättömyyttä ja yhtäläistä ihmisarvoa? Tai perustuslain ja kansainvälisten sitoumusten noudattamista? Tai vastustetaan palavan kanisterin heittämistä mielenosoittajien telttaan?
Ymmärrän kyllä, että hallitus mielellään pitäisikin keskustelun sillä mallilla, että rasistit sopivan törkeästi ärsyttävät ja vain ne, jotka uskaltavat, nostavat esille heidän rasistista politiikkaansa ja puolustavat tasa-arvoa, yhtäläistä ihmisarvoa ja laillisuutta. Sillä välin, kun ”ääripäät” taistelevat, hallitus pääsee kuin huomaamatta toteuttamaan perustuslain vastaista politiikkaansa ja lähettämään ihmisiä takaisin sekasortoisiin kotimaihinsa, epäinhimillisiin oloihin ja kuolemaan.
Sallitko sinä sen, että turvapaikanhakijalle annetaan oikeus elää? Kuva: Outi Neuvonen
Juuri siksi kaikkien ihmisten pitää nyt herätä. Unohtaa ääripäät ja ryhtyä ihmisiksi. Nyt alkaa olla hätä. Jo nyt meiltä on palautettu lukemattomia tuvapaikanhakijoita olosuhteisiin, joihin yksikään ihminen ei vapaaehtoisesti menisi. Karkotettu siskolta veli, äidiltä poika tai tytär. Oletko sinä se henkilö, jonka nimissä näitä tekoja tehdään? Kuinka monta ruumista, kidutusta ja lapsen raiskausta kirjataan sinun nimiisi? Ketä poliitikkoa äänestät? Millaiselle politiikalle sinä annat siunauksesi?
Asia ei mene niin, että kun meillä nyt laki sallii, niin lähetetään ne pois ja päästään vaivasta. Perustuslaki määrää, että ”ulkomaalaista ei saa karkottaa, luovuttaa tai palauttaa, jos häntä tämän vuoksi uhkaa kuolemanrangaistus, kidutus tai muu ihmisarvoa loukkaava kohtelu”. Mikään muu laki ei ylitä perustuslakia. Ei edes hallituksen vilpitön tahto.
Mitä jää Irakin ja Afganistanin pakolaisista jäljelle – tuulessa liehuva toiveko? Kuva: Brad Howard
Today at around 4:30 am the camp where the Iraqi and Afghan #righttolife demonstrators have been protesting since February were a target of an attack that set alight one of the tents. One person got his hands burned while trying to put out the fire and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
“One person threw something flammable at the tent and ran away,” said Nour Jamal, a #righttolife activist who has been demonstrating since mid-February. “This is the worst attack we’ve experienced so far but we won’t be deterred by what happened.”
Jamal said on Thursday that name-calling and racist harassment by people who pass by is common and happens daily. He said that the worst days are Saturday nights because a lot of people are drunk and shout racist obscenities.
Pictures from where the arson attack took place. If asylum seekers would have acted in such a cowardly way their would be cries of murder from many far-right and ant-immigration sectors of society. Source: Facebook.
At first the police service considered the incident that took place in the early hours of the morning as a minor incident but later on upgraded it to vandalism.
