Month: March 2018

THE LONG INTERVIEW: Rebecka Holm, the adolescent who spoke out against racism, yesterday and today

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Rebecka Holm is the brave adolescent from Helsinki, who in 2012 spoke out against the racist harassment she regularly experienced on the way to school. She got fed up with the situation and wrote a letter to the Swedish daily, HBL, denouncing what she and her friends experienced too often.

“If Finland is now the most secure and stable country [in the world],” she said back then, “why do people of [different] ethnic backgrounds get attacked every day?”

For a while, the young adolescent was in the national spotlight. Apart from media attention, Holm was given an award by the Red Cross on the UN Day Against Racism.

Six years have elapsed since then and the brave young lady today lives and studies law in Uppsala, Sweden. I had to the opportunity to talk to her by phone and ask her about her plans and what she thought about what she did in 2012.

Read original story published in 2012 here.

Migrant Tales (MT): Tell me about your life in Sweden. How does it feel to live in that country?

Rebecka Holm (RH): I live in Uppsala which is a “white” city, and it’s not as diverse like Stockholm. But it is still much more diverse than if I would study in Turku and Finland. I must say that I blend in much better here even if most of the students that major in law are white upper-class students.

MT: What do you mean? 

RH: Racism is more subtle in Sweden. In Finland, you can sometimes get a lot of stares from people That does not happen here. I am an outsider in Sweden but in the same sense as in Finland even if I am a Finn and not accepted as one. In Sweden, I get fewer questions like “where are you from.” It is rude to start a conversation with a person in this country in such a way.

 In a way, people can say what they want in Finland but in Sweden that would not happen. If you say something racist, it would be political suicide. You would get kicked out of the party. That is not the case in Finland.

MT: What motivated you to speak out against racism in 2012? 

RH: When I was young, I was very sure about myself, and I was pretty sure that what I did was right. The letter I wrote to HBL took 30 minutes. I didn’t tell anyone about it. I just wrote it and sent it to the newspaper. The following morning my aunt text messaged me and wrote that they published a letter written by me.  I never thought what I wrote would attract so much attention.

Rebecka Holm graduated from high school in spring 2016.

MT: How has your perception of a social ill like racism changed from then? 

RH: My perception of racism today is different from when I wrote the letter. I don’t see it as many different incidents of overt racism but as a structural problem [in society]. Continue reading “THE LONG INTERVIEW: Rebecka Holm, the adolescent who spoke out against racism, yesterday and today”

Finland must stop locking up asylum seekers and their children

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The picture of one of the seven minors detained at the Joutseno immigration removal center in April 2017 should shock us all. That picture, the asylum policies of the Finnish Immigration Service, and the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä are destroying the very values of our Nordic welfare state. 

The picture below of the young adolescent by the metal bars of the window and barbwire, the overcast day and her hopeless gaze reveal our silence and complicity.

When we see and hear the rants and arguments of Islamophobic politicians and their followers, the most complicit are those who remain silent and “follow orders.”

How can we claim to be a fair society that promotes social equality if our behavior towards others is totally the opposite or in a Mr. Hyde mode?

The family of nine was granted a one-year residence permit. In an interview published Saturday in YLE, the parents of the children state that their children are traumatized by what happened at the immigration detention center. The children never sleep alone but together, according to the parents.

Continue reading “Finland must stop locking up asylum seekers and their children”

Instead of just being against racism why not take on the real culprit: structural racism in the Finnish police

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Thank you for the video but where is the black police officer, the Muslim police wearing hijab like in the UK? Does the Finnish police service reflect the cultural and ethnic mix of the communities they serve? The Finnish police service is big on gender equality but lags far behind in cultural diversity. 

The video below is a step in the right direction but in all truthfulness, it is only a band-aid for a serious problem in the police service and Finnish society.

The police have done little to nothing to ensure non-white Finns and visible migrants that they have changed their ways. There is no mea culpa about how to challenge structural racism as happened in the UK with the Macpherson report.

One of the main recommendations of that report was that it will encompass “any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.” The overwhelmingly white Finnish police won’t make that call.

A terrible example of the need of the latter is the brutal stabbing and attack of a Pakistani migrant in Vantaa on February 23. The police maintain that it wasn’t a hate crime while the victim disagrees. Without any tests, the police can decide if the attackers are racists or not.

In Finland, the victim of a hate crime has to prove that he was a victim of such a crime. This is wrong, and we should take on board recommendations in the Macpherson report that challenge structural racism in the police service.

Below are a few cases that have been a blow to confidence in the Finnish police when it comes to ethnic relations:

Continue reading “Instead of just being against racism why not take on the real culprit: structural racism in the Finnish police”

After the Perussuomalaiset-Blue Reform, the National Coalition Party is the most anti-immigration party in the Finnish parliament

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If you ask anyone in Finland which party thrives on anti-immigration sentiment and bigotry, the answer is simple: Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and Blue Reform. The difference between these two is that the former is a racist party that came out of the closet and the latter one which went back to the closet. Here’s the question: Which party is the second-most anti-immigration party in Finland?

Without a doubt that party would be the National Coalition Party (NCP).

The National Coalition Party, or Kokoomus in Finnish, is the second-most anti-immigration party in Finland after the Perussuomalaiset-Blue Reform parties.

There is a long list of politicians in that party that keenly supports structural racism. Their policies and ideology is based on racism but with a deceitful cordial smile.

Disagree? Why not look at some of their politicians like Wille Rydman, Susana Koski, Atte Kaleva, Pia Kauma, Elina Lepomäki, Petteri Orpo, Paula Risikko and many, many others.

These above-mentioned politicians openly support structural racism and don’t want anything to change the situation.

Minister Orpo, who is also the chairperson of the NCP, was and is instrumental for having tightened Finland’s immigration policy and undermined the human rights of asylum seekers. One of his many infamous anti-immigration statements was that he equated asylum seekers from Russia as waer from “a leaking roof.”

Continue reading “After the Perussuomalaiset-Blue Reform, the National Coalition Party is the most anti-immigration party in the Finnish parliament”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Racism and social umbrellas

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“Racism is like rain. You cannot stop rain but you can protect yourself from it. We need social umbrellas to protect ourselves from racism. This would come in the form of awareness, social policy, and leadership.”

Le racisme existera toujours. Le racisme est comme la pluie. Vous ne pouvez pas arrêter la pluie, mais vous pouvez vous en protéger. Nous avons besoin de parapluies sociaux pour nous protéger du racisme. Cela viendrait sous la forme de sensibilisation, de politique sociale et de leadership. 

Ghyslain Vedeux*

Source: Facebook.
* Ghyslain Vedeux is an anti-racism activist working for Le Cran, France’s biggest black association in France. Vedeux was a professional football player (1998-2006) and played for teams such as Tottenham. He holds a postgraduate degree in psychology and works as a consultant for individuals and companies.   

Continue reading “QUOTE OF THE DAY: Racism and social umbrellas”

Undocumented migrant: “I can never leave Finland. That’s a scary thought.”

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When we imagine an undocumented migrant in Finland, we usually picture an Iraqi or Afghan asylum seeker. But what about if that undocumented migrant is an over-sixty-year-old white pensioner from North America?

Finland’s strict immigration laws, especially those tightened in 2016, have been at the center of growing questions and concern about their enforcement.

A group of researchers from Turku University, Åbo Akademi, and the Ombudsman for Equality, who published their findings last week, concluded that the rights and protection of asylum seekers in Finland had deteriorated significantly.

Finnish immigration law does not consider grandparents as part of the nuclear family. The pensioner in the picture is not related to Sheryl.

While the conclusions of this study shouldn’t surprise anyone, the number of undocumented migrants should. In April 2016, parliament voted in favor of scrapping residence permits on humanitarian grounds. Before scrapping the law, Finland’s undocumented migrant population grew from a few hundred to thousands.

One of the many criticisms of Finland’s tight immigration policy is that it doesn’t recognize grandparents as part of the nuclear family.

A few years ago, there were two high-profile cases in the Finnish media involving grandmothers. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) had tried to deport unsuccessfully three times a Russian citizen, Irina Antonova, who had suffered a stroke in Finland while visiting her daughter. Egyptian grandmother Eveline Fadayel was granted a residence permit after a lengthy battle with Migri officials.

Being white and undocumented

Sheryl*, who first moved to Finland to be with her daughter and grandchildren over ten years ago, admits that she can never leave Finland because she is an undocumented migrant. “I can never leave Finland,” she admitted. “That’s a scary thought.”

She said she was supposed to leave the country earlier this year, but decided to remain and become an undocumented migrant.

“I have nowhere to return to [in North America],” she continued. “My family and my life are in Finland.”

Continue reading “Undocumented migrant: “I can never leave Finland. That’s a scary thought.””

Does data harvesting occur in Finland? Is there a connection beween the PS’ 2011 and Donald Trump’s election of 2016?

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In the face of the growing scandal about harvesting our personal data by groups like Cambridge Analytica and others, there is a question that needs investigating and answering: Did the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, particularly Matias Turkkila and his hate-site Hommaforum gang, use the same tactics to give the PS its historic victory in 2011?

The fact that nobody has carried an in-depth investigation if the there was collusion raises a lot of questions.

 

 

Data harvesting in Finnish elections? Russian trolls at work? We need to know. Visit website at the center of the data harvesting scandal here.

The fact we have no answers on how the Internet was used to give the anti-immigration populist and the far-right an ever-louder voice in Finland, reveals a lot about the problem and our state of denial and political naïvety. We need answers.

We don’t appear to care or still have a clue reveal that our Nordic welfare values and sense of fairness – if it ever existed – could fall from grace in the same way as when the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991 after 74 years of existence.

Continue reading “Does data harvesting occur in Finland? Is there a connection beween the PS’ 2011 and Donald Trump’s election of 2016?”

Asylum seeker who is married to a Finn expecting his child is released from Joutseno immigration removal center after 49 days

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Migrant Tales insight: Finland locks up all kinds of people in immigration removal centers in Helsinki’s Metsäaä and Joutseno like women, men, children and whole families, even asylum seekers who have married Finns. 

This asylum seeker was detained by the police on February 2 and released Friday, March 23, or a total of 49 days!

And for what reason was he kept at the notorious Jourseno immigration removal center? For searching for a better life, fleeing war and strife, and marrying a Finn and waiting to become a father?

Migrant Tales published in early March a story about the plight of this man.

This story will be updated.

In Joutseno, located 20km north of the southeastern Finnish city of Lappeenranta, is Finland’s second immigration removal center after Helsinki’s Metsälä. It is a place where Finland even locks up families with children and where suicides happen.

Finland does this because it sees immigration as a threat. This fact is the basis of the country’s oppressive immigration policy, especially towards asylum seekers.

Cases of human tragedy abound at Joutseno irrespective of sex, age, national origin, and marital status.

Below, is a picture of a minor looking out the window at the Joutseno immigration removal center.

Read the full story here.

One of these asylum seekers is an Iraqi who has been locked up since February 2.

Like many of his countrymen, he too came to Finland in 2015. Contrary to other asylum seekers at Joutseno, he is married to a Finnish woman who is expecting a child.

A view of the Joutseno immigration removal center yard from his cell. Photo by the asylum seeker.

The asylum seeker’s problems with the Finnish immigration authorities started in February 2017.* After they detained him in Pori during that month, they sent him to Turku. The police said that even if he was married to a Finn, it wouldn’t be grounds to stop the deportation.

 

After being detained in Turku and the Metsälä immigration removal center for 10 days later, the police detained him again in February and sent to the Joutseno immigration removal center.

“They said they had to lock me up because they suspected I’d to another country,” he said. “I asked them [the polce] where I would go. I should go to my wife who is pregnant.”

According to the asylum seeker, his Finnish wife pleaded with the authorities “crying and begging them,” but it was to no avail.

* Not July 2016 as originally reported.

Continue reading “Asylum seeker who is married to a Finn expecting his child is released from Joutseno immigration removal center after 49 days”

My name is Raghad Mchawh and I’m from Syria

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Migrant Tales insight: I met Raghad Mchawh last year in Mikkeli. Her goal is to be a journalist. We know that such a journey is a long one but we have to take the first step. 

We are honored that that first step is with Migrant Tales.

We hope to see many of her stories in this blog community and wish her luck in her new life in Finland.

Raghad Mchawh

My name is raghad, I’m from Syria.  I’m 18 years old and I’m 10 years older than the war that rages in my country. 

My dreams are also bigger than this war. The war didn’t kill my dream of becoming a journalist.

I had dreamed before to go to Turkey, to finish high school there, I have achieved my dream.

A young woman like me who has a passion for learning, with her power will overcome the obstacles that war creates.

Also I’ve dreamed of entering the best universities to receive a good education. I did not expect these universities would be in Finland.

Continue reading “My name is Raghad Mchawh and I’m from Syria”