Month: October 2017

A letter from an Iraqi asylum seeker in detention cell 406 in Joutseno, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Dear People of Finland,

I write this letter from a detention cell in Joutseno* awaiting my possible deportation this week to Iraq. I’m worried and don’t know what will happen to me if I’m returned by force to Iraq. One matter is for sure: My life is in danger, and I won’t survive there.

My impression of Finland has changed: When I came to this country roughly two years ago, I was filled with hope. All I wanted back then was to live in a peaceful country. It’s all that I wanted, nothing more.

 

A picture taken by the Iraqi asylum seeker from his prison cell 406.

But today I’m bound by the walls of my cell and a barred window that gives me a view of the prison’s courtyard and the overcast day.

I want you to know, dear People of Finland that I’m no criminal.

My first question to you is why I am locked up in this cell? I was detained on October 23 in [the eastern Finnish city of] Mikkeli. The police tell me here that they have locked me up for already a week because I went to Germany. I fled to that country because I feared that I would be deported back to Iraq, which is apparently the case now.

Is it a “crime” if a young man like me wants a better future and to live in a country that is not consumed by war and violence? Is it a “crime” to search for a better life?

Is this the reason why I’m locked up today like a criminal in this detention cell?

Sincerely yours,

An Iraqi asylum seeker,

Detention Cell 406, Joutseno, Finland

* The asylum seeker who was locked up in this cell thought he was in Lappeenranta but in fact he was at the Joutseno immigration removal center located 20km away.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we wanted to give an extreme picture of how people are “integrated” into society, we could go back to the 1940s when Jews, the Roma and other undesirables of the Nazi regime were transported in boxcars to death camps. Just like those that were separated and sent to go the gas chamber or would be worked to death, migrants face the same process but in a different context. 

Instead of sending people to their deaths or keeping them alive for a while, the system separates migrants into two general lines: whitewashing potential and disenfranchisement.

A good example of systematic whitewashing that took place in Finland happened right after the turn of the last century and in the 1930s when the dark shadow of fascism descended over Europe.

Suomalaisuuden liitto (the Association of Finnish culture and Identity), whose chairperson is today none other than Sampo Terho, boasts on its webpage that in 1935-36 there were over 200,000 people (about 6% of the population) that changed their surnames into Finnish ones. The Association of Finnish Culture and Identity claims that it “has played a remarkable role in Finnish cultural life.”

True, they have played a remarkable role in whitewashing and destroying diversity in Finland.

The document below shows how my grandparent’s family changed their surname in 1931:

“In light of the petition made by military instructor Harald Vilhelm Handtwargh, the governor of the province of Mikkeli grants his family permission to change their  surname to Harvo; this is backed by statements from the vicar [of the Lutheran church], Suomen Sukututkimusseura [Finnish Genealogical Society], and the Suomalaisuuden Liitto [Association of Finnish Culture and Identity.”

 

In my opinion, this form of whitewashing was an aberration and did nothing more than leave question marks for future generations to answers.

I sent an email to Finnish Genealogical Society and asked on October 14 how they define Finnish identity, cultural and ethnic diversity.

I am still waiting for a reply from them.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise”

Migrants’ Rights Network: Why we should teach migration in schools

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ insight: This piece is also relevant in Finland. Apart from putting them in special courses too easily, education authorities pay too little attention to migrants and minorities. This shouldn’t surprise us since they have little idea what it means to be Other in school.

 

Many migrant children feel excluded by their peers and silently endure prejudices, racism, bullying and discrimination. These cruel violations have the power to lock a child’s full potential away.

By Rockhaya Sylla*

One of my clients’ children said: “I don’t have any friends at school. I feel ashamed to approach other children because of my accent. In class, some children make fun of me or simply pretend that they do not understand me.”

She doesn’t talk about it to anyone though:” The teachers tell me to be patient and I can’t talk to my parents. I don’t want them to be worried about me.” Her parents have recently arrived and are facing similar forms of exclusion at work or when looking for housing.

Visit Migrants’ Rights Network website here.

“Where are you from?”

A friend recently told me: “my friend’s daughter goes to a private school and her friends refuse to believe that her father is a refugee because he has a very good job!”

It’s the same for children. For many, four little words make them feel excluded on a regular basis: “Where are you from?” And if when they respond that they are locals, they are asked again: “no, but where are you from?”

Continue reading “Migrants’ Rights Network: Why we should teach migration in schools”

Two deportations, one Afghan, one Iraqi

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales got two messages Wednesday night from two asylum seekers. One told about an Afghan asylum seeker at the Espoo asylum reception center run by Luona, and the other was of an Iraqi national at the Suonsaari asylum reception center in Mikkeli. Both were detained by the police and are awaiting deportation. 

The asylum reception center in Espoo is the same one where Jayyed Abbas Jafari died of a suspected brain hemorrhage in 2015. Suomen Kuvalehti wrote an extensive story about what happened to Jafari in January 2016.

Writes the asylum seeker about when the apprehension by the police of the Afghan asylum seeker:

The Iraqi asylum seeker in Mikkeli, located about 240km northeast of Helsinki, had three rejections for asylum. He’s friend writes about him:

“He is a normal guy who likes to surf the internet, listen to music, believes strongly in Jesus and is a member of the Pentecostal Church. He is energetic and from Baghdad. From what I know, he’s faced a lot of personal threats in Iraq and that is what he told Migri [the Finnish Immigration Service]. Like many asylum seekers [that came to Europe], he travelled far as well all way from Iraq through a number of EU countries to get to Finland. He came here because this is a peaceful country, not like Iraq. Life has not been too kind to him: three negative decisions from Mirgri and district courts and the fear of being deported back to Iraq. That’s why he went to Germany in the hope of not being deported. Things didn’t work out for him.”

“The Iraqi asylum seeker has been in police custody for three days. They sent him an invitation to come to the police station. The Red Cross, which runs the asylum center in Mikkeli, drove him to the police station where he was detained. I spoke to him by phone and he said that he hasn’t eaten for three days. I told him that he mustn’t give up. He must eat so he’ll have strength.”

Two deportations in the pipeline, one Afghan, and one Iraqi.

Landmark ruling by the administrative court of Turku: asylum seekers can get income support from Kela

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The administrative court of Turku overturned on October 17 a decision by Kela, The Social Insurance Institute of Finland, to deny income support to refugees or undocumented migrants that are forced to leave an asylum reception center and have their allowances terminated.  There are 30 days to appeal the administrative court ruling.

The landmark case, if it isn’t challenged, not only brings Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government down to earth by questioning the country’s harsh and arbitrary policy towards asylum seekers but exposes the poor decisions made by Interior Minister Paula Risikko.

Visit the Kela in English page here.

Doing away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds, banning people from asylum reception centers and cutting off their allowances is going to be costly since asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants will be entitled to income support.

Continue reading “Landmark ruling by the administrative court of Turku: asylum seekers can get income support from Kela”

Police University College of Finland: Hate crimes retreat by 13.7% in 2016

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The amount of suspected hate crimes in Finland retorted to the police in 2016 was 1,075, down 13.7% from 1,250 cases in the previous year, according to the Police University College of Finland and the ministry of interior’s police department. Despite the fall in suspected hate crime cases, the police said that the number of hate crimes has not fallen to pre-2015 levels. 

Read the full hate crime report (in Finnish) here.

The majority (77%) of all the hate crime cases was due to ethnic or national origin with religious background accounting for 13.8%, down 16.1% on year. While persons with Finnish citizenship accounted for 60% of all suspected hate crimes, followed by Iraqi (12%), Afghan (6%) and Somali (3%) nationals.

The most common cases of a hate crime due to religion were Muslims.

“Almost half of the crimes [due to religious background] were assaults,” the report states. “Most common location of the suspected crimes based on religion or belief was immigration station [asylum reception center].”

 

Figure 1: Suspected hate crimes during 2011-2016.

Hate crimes due to the ethnic or national background (etninen tai kansallinen tausta), religion or belief, sexual orientation, transgender identity or appearance, disability, and total.

Continue reading “Police University College of Finland: Hate crimes retreat by 13.7% in 2016”

Aren’t white Finns a part of our culturally diverse society? How the media frames “us” and “them”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One matter that pops up when speaking of multicultural Finland is how media like YLE picture such a state. Where, for example, is the white Finn in the picture below? Why isn’t there a representative of the white Finnish community in the image?

Aren’t white Finns an integral part of our multicultural, or culturally diverse community that is the total opposite of white supremacy?

If you want to find out what some Finns think of migrants, minorities and white supremacy, look at what pictures the media uses when writing about migrants and minorities.

Where’s the white Finn? Read the full story here.

Saturday was a day of marching neo-Nazis and coded populist anti-immigration rhetoric

Posted on by Migrant Tales

 Blue Reform (formerly Perussuomalaiset*) MP Sampo Terho took part on Saturday in YLE’s Ykköaamu talk show. Later in the day in Tampere, neo-Nazis and other fascists held demonstrations. 

One of the matters that struck me the most about Terho’s interview was when the host, Seija Vaaherkumpu, asked him about what differences there were between the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and his newly formed party.

One of the matters he said was that Blue Reform doesn’t like to “yap about migration” in the opposition but wants to influence policy in government.

Yes, right, Terho. When you were head of the PS parliamentary group, your former party and you spearheaded the tightening of immigration policy by making family reunification an impossible dream for many migrants. You did away as well with residence permits given on humanitarian grounds; you shortened appeal times, you undermined the legal rights of asylum seekers and poisoned the air with your oversimplified rhetoric.

One good distinction between Blue Reform and the PS concerning immigration policy is how they express their racism and contempt for cultural diversity (anti-white supremacy). Terho’s group speaks more in code while the PS says it straight out. Terho is also minister for European affairs, culture and sport as well as chairman of the Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, which systematically destroyed – and continues to undermine – cultural diversity with the help of whitewashing.

Watch the Ykköaau talk show here.

Another important matter that arose in the interview is Terho’s hostility towards asylum seekers and Muslims. He showed as well that he is still an anti-immigration populist with a deep love of neo-liberal economic policies.

Meanwhile, around one thousand people took part on Saturday in Tampere in neo-Nazi and anti-fascist demonstrations, reports YLE News.

Continue reading “Saturday was a day of marching neo-Nazis and coded populist anti-immigration rhetoric”

What does Finland fear as its society becomes more culturally and ethnically diverse?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do you think are the main issues that migrants and minorities face in Finland? Is the majority population having a difficult time sharing public spaces with migrants and minorities? Are Finns suspicious of difference? Do they fear that they’ll lose power and privilege as our society becomes ever-culturally and ethnically diverse?*

One of the most significant problems facing our ever-growing culturally diverse community is that there are too few migrants and minority participation. It’s like an all-male board championing for women’s rights.

How does tokenism down out our voices in those associations that are supposed to stand up for our rights?

How could we change this?

 

Read the full story here.

* By cultural and ethnic diversity I mean anti-white-supremacist. White Finns are as well a part of our culturally diverse society, even if some, I suspect, believe that “them” are those that are culturally different from us and “us” are the white Finns.