Month: June 2017

Finland should stop capitulating to racist far-right groups like Finland First and others

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The police service informed the #RighttoLive camp, which has been demonstrating against the Finnish Immigration Service’s unfair asylum policies and deportations since February, to disband from the Central Railway Square by 7 pm Friday. The order was given five days after the far-right Suomi ensin (Finland First) demonstration was obliged to leave the Central Railway Square on Monday.

Deputy police chief Heikki Kopperaoinen told YLE News that the #RightToLive demonstration was ordered to decamp due to security concerns.

“The decision is based on how the security situation in central Helsinki is developing,” he was quoted as saying in YLE News.

What does the deputy police chief mean by “based on how the security situation is developing?”

They are the police, and it’s their job to guarantee each person’s security, not succumb to far-right racist pressure from groups like Finland First.

Nour Jamal, one of the most active organizers of the #RightToLive demonstration, was confident that they would continue their protest despite the momentary setback.

Read the posting here.

#RightToLive spokesperson Outi Popp was disappointed as well by the decision by the police to end the demonstration in downtown Helsinki.

“The protest did not cause danger of any kind. We have complied with all of the police orders and suggestions all along,” Outi Popp was quoted as saying in YLE News.

Continue reading “Finland should stop capitulating to racist far-right groups like Finland First and others”

“Tolerant” Minister Lindström and his aide planned to slash funding to integration programs in Finland

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Blue Reform* (formerly Perussuomalaiset) Minister of Labor Jari Lindström’s special aide Sakari Puisto aimed to slash financial aid to migrant associations by 348,000 euros from 750,000 euros, reports Helsingin Sanomat. A ministry official was “shocked” when he heard such plans by Puisto in January.

Some associations that were going to see their financial aid cut included Liikkukaa, Sateenvarjo, Suomen somalilaistenliitto, Suomen Somali verkosto as well as others.

Lindström, who has tried to portray himself as “tolerant” on immigration issues, saw such a facade expose a more sinister face after the scoop by Helsingin Sanomat.

Plans to drastically cut financial aid to associations that work with migrants fall into the anti-immigration policies of the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which have now split into two parties after Jussi Halla-aho, whose hostile views on immigration are known and who was convicted for hate speech in 2012, was elected chair the PS.

One of the reasons why the PS grew in Finland has been a simple message: We’ll take care of the Somali and “migrant problem” in Finland.

“Taking care” of the so-called “problem” has meant hostility towards migrants, the tightening of immigration policy and undermining integration programs to migrants.

Habiba Ali, a Social Democratic Party councilperson of the city of Espoo, said that if the cuts suggested by Puisto would have gone ahead, it would have undermined the work of these organizations to help integrate them into society.

“Sports is important for [some] migrants if they want to integrate into Finnish society,” she said. “Investing in integration policies makes sense since this will mean more effective integration and future taxpayers.”

Read the full story here.

Ali said that integration is a two-way process and that the law should apply to everyone equally.

Continue reading ““Tolerant” Minister Lindström and his aide planned to slash funding to integration programs in Finland”

#SaveLARA is the latest deportation case and call in Finland to resist sending her back to Iraq

Posted on by Migrant Tales

#SaveLARA is one of the most recent anti-deportation cases that has caught social media attention in Finland. The young 24-year-old Iraqi who came in 2015 was supposed to be deported to Iraqi’s capital city Baghdad on Monday but it failed. Creating a scene inside the flight, the woman was forced off the flight by the pilot. 

Lara claims as well that she was beaten by the police after she started to scream at the top of her voice.

“She was held on the floor with four police officers applying pressure on each of her limbs while another officer beat her,” an Iraqi asylum seeker who spoke to Lara told Migrant Tales. “She is suffering from a nervous breakdown because she doesn’t want to be deported.”

In another video of Lara’s mother, who is in Finland, is caught crying and pleading in a hysterical voice to not send her daughter to Iraq, where she will be killed like her husband was by Iraqi militia a month ago.

The young Iraqi asylum seeker claims that the Finnish police beat her.

Lara claims that she was beaten by the police.

Continue reading “#SaveLARA is the latest deportation case and call in Finland to resist sending her back to Iraq”

A feature about a PS white supremacist and how the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) normalizes racism and bigotry

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Northern Finnish Kemi city councilperson Harri Tauriainen is a white supremacist that is head over heels about US President Donald Trump. In a sloppy human-interest story about Tauriainen, the state-run Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) makes no mention of the councilperson’s racist and bigoted political views except him denying that he’s a racist and neo-Nazi sympathizer. 

The Finnish media, like other media in the EU, has difficulty in grasping how racism impacts migrants and minorities since they are white.

In the YLE story, there was no mention as well of Tauriainen’s most infamous quotes like, “It’s incredible that this human trash [convicted foreign criminals] aren’t put in their places. Put a stamp on their asses and deport them for good from Finland.”

Read the original story here.

But if the YLE reporter appears to suffer from convenient amnesia, she could take the trouble to see one of Tauriainen’s latest Facebook posts on how “hate speech is legal in the United States,” and how “illegal human trafficking rages on.”

In the story, YLE only had nice things to say about Tauriainen even if it mentions the far-right vigilante group Soldiers of Odin. The reporter even played down the 47.4% plunge in votes he got in the 2017 municipal elections from 2012.

Migrant Tales will go even further to help the YLE reporter to understand who Tauriainen is and what he symbolizes to our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Continue reading “A feature about a PS white supremacist and how the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) normalizes racism and bigotry”

Restaurant owner alleges that two Roma and a white Finn are being held as suspects by the police for the arson attack in Espoo

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A pizzeria owned by a Bangladeshi in Espoo was attacked today by three suspects who threw petrol bombs, which caused extensive damage to the pizzeria as well as to the building, has left the owners devastated. The owner and his wife are Muslims and were coming back from an Eid celebration to the restaurant.

Eid is a feast whereby Muslims worldwide commemorate an end to a month of fasting during Ramadan to observe the first revelation to Muhammad in the Koran.

 According to the owner, Mohammed Mobin, the police have two Roma and one white Finn in police custody.

The pizzeria that was the target of an arson attack Sunday evening in Espoo. Two suspects are in police custody. Photo: Anastasia Saari.

The three suspects entered the premises and threw between 7pm and 6pm some highly flammable liquid that set the restaurant on fire, according to the owner’s wife.

Continue reading “Restaurant owner alleges that two Roma and a white Finn are being held as suspects by the police for the arson attack in Espoo”

Pizzeria owned by Bangladeshi is a target of an arson attack Sunday

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A pizzeria owned by a Bangladeshi in Espoo was attacked today by two suspects who threw petrol bombs causing extensive damage to the pizzeria as well as to the building, according to Helsingin Sanomat. The police have brought into custody “a few suspects.” They said that the fire was started intentionally.  

Migrant Tales has unconfirmed reports that the police have two suspects in custody.

Trish Pääkkönen, who lives a few blocks from the pizzeria was shocked by what had happened.

“I rarely see the owner but we know all of the staff there,” she said. “They know my 7 yr old granddaughter so well that when we order even by phone we order a “Gabby pizza.” 

The owner of the pizzeria, called Paradise, was set alight in five minutes, according to the owner, Mohammed Mobin.

“The fire was so fierce that it felt that the whole building was going to explode soon,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat.

The pizzeria that was the target of an arson attack Sunday evening in Espoo. Two suspects are in police custody. Photo: Anastasia Saari.

The owner said that the two suspects that attacked the pizzeria with petrol bombs had been at the restaurant earlier and had threatened the employees.

 

Exposing racism in Finland: Expectations versus reality of the practical nurse student

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales recently published a story about how racism and discrimination occur at a large Helsinki company that hires practical nurses. One of the biggest challenges to tackle racism and discrimination is to acknowledge it. Denial of such social ills is the best cover that racism and discrimination have to maintain the toxic status quo.

Everyone knows that racism and discrimination are illegal in Finland. The big question is why we allow them to survive and see another day.

As long as such social ills have the upper hand in our society and control power, the more we’ll continue to undermine and throw dirt at our own Nordic values of social justice.

Racism isn’t only discrimination on the basis of ethnic and cultural background but a toxic structure that permits the majority group of society to maintain its power and privilege over Others. It is a costly system because it squanders human resources.

This picture was taken last summer in front of the Little Parliament. An Iraqi asylum seeker called Namir al-Azzawi was on hunger strike protesting forced deportations and the government’s harsh immigration and asylum policies. Not only are asylum seekers raising our voices but our ever-growing culturally diverse community as well.

It is sad that even if we have the resources and knowledge to put racism and discrimination on the defensive we still do too little to confront it. The only explanation I have why these social ills see another day is because they are meant to exist. Why would white Finns want to give up their power and privilege to a minority?

Continue reading “Exposing racism in Finland: Expectations versus reality of the practical nurse student”

Is Hanna Mäntylä qualified to advise the European Council on youth radicalization?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Are you ready for the following news? New Reform MP and former Perussuomalaiset* social and health minister, Hanna Mäntylä, is going to be named as a special advisor to the European Council. Her expertise will be used to challenge youth radicalization and marginalization. 

Yes, right. I too fell on my back when I read the news on YLE.

If we look at Mäntylä’s past record as minister and her former statements on cultural diversity, it’s clear that they fuel inequality and radicalization and don’t lessen them.

Should we be surprised that Mäntylä will form part of such a European Council committee? I wonder what former New Reform Foreign Minister Timo Soini had to do with Mäntylä’s naming?

One of her plans as social and health minister was to pass new legislation that would grant migrants less social welfare than native Finns. Fortunately, such a law did not see the light of day since it was unconstitutional. This was part of an 80-point government plan to tighten immigration laws.

Migrant Tales wrote in 2015:

“The government now hopes with the 80-point plan to not only make life difficult for asylum seekers, and in turn for all migrants and minorities in this country but introduce policy changes that are unconstitutional. PS Social Welfare Minister Hanna Mäntylä has been eager to lower subsidies to asylum seekers that get a residence permit.

 

Read the full story (in Finnish)  here. Subsitute MP Visa Riskilä will replace Mäntylä.

Another important question we should ask if Mäntylä qualified for the job?

Spreading anti-immigration rhetoric and polarizing Finnish society don’t make you an “expert” on how to stop youth radicalization.

Moreover, Mäntylä was a suspect in a social welfare fraud case. but was saved from going to court thanks to statute of limitations, which had expired.

 Mäntylä resigned as minister in 2016 due to “family problems.”

She has been largely absent from politics in her northern Lapland province.

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both are hostile to cultural diversity, one is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and thereafter the acronym PS.

 

How systemic racism and discrimination work in the Finnish workplace

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There are a number of studies that show that Finnish labor markets suffer from racialization and discriminate against migrant women. See box story with key figures on migrants in the Finnish labor market here. 

Migrant Tales spoke to three practical nurses that work for a large company in Helsinki.  The name of the company will not be published in order to not reveal the identity of the practical nurses, who are all of African origin and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

If a representative of the Finnish media would like to expand on this story, they can get in touch with us at [email protected].

There is overwhelming evidence through numerous studies, surveys even word of mouth that Finnish labor markets suffer from racialization and where especially migrant women face an uphill battle in finding work even if they have the same qualifications as their male counterparts.

The table above shows the educational background of 15-64-year-old migrants (ulkomaalaistaustainen) and Finns (suomalaistaustainen) who have completed tertiary education (korkea aste), upper secondary school (toinen aste) or comprehensive school (peruskoulu). Source: Survey on work and well-being among people of foreign origin.

One of the biggest challenges that visible migrants face in general, and women of African and Middle Eastern origin in particular, is whom to turn to if you are a victim of racism and discrimination at work. The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman doesn’t handle discrimination cases at work but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Finland (Työsuojelu)  and union do. Even so, it doesn’t guarantee anything because you are explaining your case to white people as one of the practical nurses, called Maryan, said.

Another factor that doesn’t encourage Finland to take a more effective approach in tackling discrimination at the workplace is the political climate against migrants and cultural diversity.

New Alternative* speaker of parliament, Maria Lohela, is one such example of how politicians, who should know better, fuel such a hostile environment against people like Maryan Last year she blamed migrants for high unemployment rates.

Despite the fact that Lohela made a political career with her Islamophobic rhetoric, her disingenuous claim about the causes of high migrant unemployment highlights how some politicians wash their hands of the problem: It’s all the migrants’ fault.

One of the findings of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR)  2012-2013 shadow report on discrimination in employment in Finland was startling:

Data on labor market discrimination in Finland is sketchy and difficult to obtain. Although it is known and has been discussed in public that employers from both the public and private sectors are reluctant to hire immigrants, solid evidence is difficult to obtain.

 

Read the full shadow report here.

If this is true four years later since ENAR’s shadow report was published, the question we should ask is why such information continues to be so sketchy and difficult to obtain? Why hasn’t the media written more stories on the topic?

According to the practical nurses,  migrants are a part of the problem as well since some are fearful of speaking out never mind know their rights. If the company treats its migrant and minority workers with contempt it will not encourage them to speak out and to learn what their rights are.

“That is why companies like ours hire them [migrants] because they are donkeys who don’t complain,” said one of the practical nurses.

Structural racism at the workplace

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BOX STORY: Key figures on migrants in the Finnish labor market

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If there is discrimination in the Finnish labor market, how can we measure it? What do the facts below about migrants in the Finnish labor market tell us? This box story is part of a larger feature on migrant employment called, How systemic racism and discrimination works in the Finnish workplace.

  • Total number of people of foreign origin ages 18-64: 73,685 persons (43,858 males and 29,827 females);
  • Entrepreneurs of foreign origin: 8,131 people (5,361 males, 2,770 females);
  • Unemployed foreigners 30,281 (15,391 males, 14,891 females), or 27% of the workforce, according to the latest figures from 2014.
  • Migrant unemployment in 2014 (latest figures) was 27% versus 13.61% during the same period under review for the whole country;
  • Finland’s labor markets are racialized;
  • Language per se isn’t the key factor that will ensure success in the Finnish labor market although it helps;
  • Migrant women, especially from Africa and the Middle East suffer the greatest unemployment;
  • Higher unemployment among women of foreign origin cannot be explained by educational level. Both men and women of foreign origin have roughly the same educational level;
  • The Finnish labor market is extremely segmented: 60% of all men working in the cleaning business and about 50% as kitchen or food workers are migrant males;
  • The employment level of people with foreign and Finnish origin differ slightly, or 71.2% and 73.8%, respectively;
  • Among women with foreign and Finnish background the difference is much higher at 56.1% and 73.5, respectively;
  • Wage disparity was 25% compared with people of  Finnish origin, who made annually an average of 36,000 euros versus 27,500 euros made by migrants;
  • If a male of Finnish origin makes 1 euro and a female of Finnish origin 0.80 euros, for migrants it totals 0.50 euros, according to Statistics Finland researcher Pekka Myrskylä;
  • The gap in unemployment benefits is even higher, totaling 39% (15,000 euros versus 9,400 euros) and up to 59% for those who are outside the labor force (7,500 euros versus 3,100 euros);
  • Certain professions in Finland such as cleaners, cooks and waiters attract only foreigners because the wages they pay are unacceptable to white Finns.

The most comprehensive study on migrants above,”Survey on work and well-being among people of foreign origin,” was published in 2015. Published by Statistics Finland, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and the National Institute for Health and Welfare, it reveals conclusively that migrant participation in the labor market is disproportional when it comes to nationality and gender. 

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