Month: March 2018

Facebook Imran Adan: Whiten your skin, it will help you find work in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: There is no racism in Finland, right? A black person gets stopped in Tampere by a white 50-year-old who thinks he has so much privilege that he can insult a black man, Imran Adan, in a racist way. 

“A man stopped me that for no reason and started to ask why I am in Finland and what I do here,” he said. “Before I could answer him and in near-shock, he said that if I’m not working and not in school, I must be living off social welfare.”

The man gave him advice and told me to whiten my skin if I wanted to get a job. 

While such a statement would shock anyone, Adan said that a black man who was watching the conversation told him that he should take the white Finns advice because it would help him get a job.

“I’ve been whitening my skin,” said the black person who had been living in Finland for a year. 

For those who don’t know Adan, he works at Tampere University as a coordinator and was a former research assistant. 

“The last thing I will ever do is whiten my skin,” he said. “This skin color has remained with me for generations and there is no reason for me to whiten it. I will never change my identity.”

 

Read the original post here.

 

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica and stories about emails that “destruct in two hours”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Alexander Nix is the suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica, the hybrid war company that is at the heart of the Facebook data breach scandal.   

Nix makes himself look like a fool in the video below filmed by undercover journalists. He gives us the impression of impunity and of secure emails called ProtonEmail that are supposed to self-destruct shortly after they are sent (see 16:17 min). Little does he know that the video recording his words will not self-destruct but force his career and company to destruct instead.  

“So that you send them [emails], and after they’ve been read, two hours later they disappear.”

Twitter: UNICEF criticizes Finland over the detention of asylum-seeker children

Posted on by Migrant Tales

UNICEF rebukes Finland over its treatment of asylum-seeking minors, according to YLE News. Human rights activists like Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng have lobbied Finland to stop detaining children in 2013.

He wrote:

“According to Amnesty International, children should be in day care centres, schools or skateparks – not in police detention. Finland detains thousands of people yearly, including people who have fled persecution, war or poverty. They are held in prison-like conditions, although guilty of no crime.”

Kimmo Neihum tweets close to four years later the same problem:

Read the full story here.

Migrant Tales published in April 2017 this harrowing story about an Iraqi family being detained at the Joutseno immigration removal center.

An Iraqi child looking from the window of her cell in April 2017.

Finland, the country that boasts on being a Nordic nation that promotes social equality and has one of the best education systems in the world, has a dark side.

The detention and deportation of children must stop.

 

 

 

 

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: You first have to break society to remold it into your vision

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: This quote by Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, gives us a glimpse of how the alt-right uses social media platforms like Facebook to manipulate voters. If I had to choose a party that is in the same league as Steve Banon and the hard right, without question it would be the Perussuomalaiset* and its leader Jussi Halla-aho. They have aimed to polarize and break Finnish society to remold it into their deranged vision.  

The Perussuomalaiset aren’t the only ones. There are a lot of politicians in parties like the National Coalition Party that want to break existing Finnish society. 

This appears in an interview in The Guardian of London: 

“If you want to fundamentally change society you first have to break it. It’s only when you break it is when you can remold the pieces to your vision of a new society. This was the weapon that Steve Bannon wanted to use to fight his culture wars.”

Read the full story and watch the video here.

* 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 factions 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 after that the acronym PS.

Kirje Suomelle viharikoksesta*

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Hyvä Suomi, 

Perheemme koki Vantaalla 23.2, kauhean rikoksen, kun kolme nuorta lähestyi miestäni  yöllä pyytäen savuketta. Mieheni on hyvä ja rakastettava ihminen- jos kysyt häneltä savuketta, hän antaa kaksi. Mutta nämä kolme nuorta näyttivät alaikäisiltä. 

Mieheni pyysi henkilöllisyystodistusta. Yksi nuorista vastasi, että hän oli 19-vuotias.

Kääntyessään ja muutaman askeleen astuttuaan, hänen kimppuunsa hyökättiin raakalaismaisesti  veitsellä, kirveellä ja jollakin terävällä esineellä.  Ilman sen tarkempia yksityiskohtia, voin kertoa. että tikkien poisto kesti yli kahdestakymmenestä haavasta neljä tunti. Miehelläni on kaksikertainen kallonmurtuma, ja  hänelle on tehty useita leikkauksia.

 

Lue koko juttu tästä.

Mieheni haluaa tehdä kaiken mahdollisen, että tämä ei toistuisi koskaan. Mieheni ja minä olemme vakuuttuneita siitä, että tämä raaka teko oli viharikos. Me olemme muslimeja ja pakistanilaisia, eli näkyvä vähemmistö Suomessa. Miksi kukaan tekisi niin paljon ruumiillista vahinkoa, jos uhrin etninen tausta ei olisi syy, ja epäillyt vihan sokaisemia?

Continue reading “Kirje Suomelle viharikoksesta*”

A letter to Finland about hate crime*

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Dear Finland, 

Our family suffered a terrible crime on February 23 in Vantaa when three youths approached my husband from Pakistan at night and asked for a cigarette. My husband is a kind and loving person. If you ask him for a cigarette, he’ll give you two. But there was a problem: The three youths that asked for cigarettes looked like minors.

My husband asked for identification papers. One of them responded that he was 19.

On turning around, and after taking a few steps, my husband was violently attacked with a knife, ax, and a pointed object. Without going into detail, it took four hours to remove my husband’s stitches from over 20 wounds. He also has a double skull fracture and has been on the operating table a number of times.

Read the full story here.

My husband wants to do everything possible so that nobody will fall victim to such a vile crime. He and I are convinced that what happened was a hate crime. We are Muslims and Pakistanis, visible minorities in Finland. Why would anyone go to such an extent to cause such bodily harm if ethnic background did not play a role?

Continue reading “A letter to Finland about hate crime*”

Abdirahim Husu Hussein: Respect for immigrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Abdirahim Husu Hussein*

Some politicians in Finland have built their careers on politicizing immigration and have presented this issue as a negative thing in our country.

Other politicians use this in their advantage- but not until about 6 months before the elections when they’re desperately fishing for votes trying to prove jusr how much they’ve done.

As a Finn with an immigrant background words like ”equal rights” and “no to racism” sound beautiful… but are rarely anything more than that.

When you see an international student with Master’s degree on international business who can only find work flipping burgers at McDonald’s you get it. When you see a doctoral stage law student who is forced to support his family by cleaning toilets, you get it.

When you are continuously overlooked in recruitment, house-hunting and everything else simply because your name is Muhammed, you get it.

When every time you leave the house you brace yourself for insults, being spat on and/or physically assaulted simply because you choose to express your beliefs by using a piece of fabric, you get it.

Yes, those words are beautiful. But only extend to certain coloured people. For others it’s merely the dream they’ve spent all their lives dreaming of.

As a city councillor I’ve repeatedly brought this up with my colleagues and every single time it takes them by surprise.

“Nooooooo-not in my country?”

Yes. You’re just in a very fortunate position of being able to breeze through life never being afraid of getting hurt and never having your abilities doubted or negated simply because of the colour of your skin.

It’s time we demanded more from our society and people who it’s made out of. Time we stopped hiding out of fear and/or shame. Time we said enough is enough and that moment has now been irrevocably reached.

Enough with the lies, empty promises and looking the other way- no matter how noble the motivation behind all that.

You probably know by now that your pensions are among the things that are being paid for by others? No, the money that was being taken from your pay every month throughout your working life does nor even begin to cover it. Instead it’s being coveted by the generations that came after you.

As such, you might have realized how dire is this country’s need for those working, paying taxes and generally keeping this country afloat? Take a look at statistics.

Did you know that last year alone we got 17 000 of those people? Or that we got them through immigration? More Finns died than new ones were born. Yep, that’s a fact.

In so many ways immigration is the only viable way to sustain the welfare system in which tens of thousands are either not willing or capable of working. Have you any idea how many Finns end up on disability leave every year? For mental health reasons alone?

All you people shouting on Internet forums at 3am, drunk, living at your mum’s basement, blaming immigrants for your lack of education, job or prospects in life… here’s a news flash. We’re the ones that keep you going. We’re the ones doing the low-paying jobs you consider to be beneath you. We’re paying taxes so that you can blindly keep on believing in your innate privilege of not having to get off your behind and take responsibility over your own choices. Or the lack thereof. We’re the ones paying for your keep.

You need us. So start realizing that and showing some respect.

* Abdirahim Husu Hussein is a Helsinki city councillor for the Social Democratic Party. 
 

 

Deported Somali asylum seeker from Finland allegedly jailed and then released

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has learned that a Somali asylum seeker deported from Finland to the Somali capital Mogadishu was allegedly arrested and then released a few hours after his arrival. He arrived in Somalia on Wednesday at 11 am Finnish time. 

Part of a message received by Migrant Tales.

UPDATED (18.3 at 8:33 pm EST): The asylum seeker, who is now at a relative’s home in Mogadishu, said that he had three rejections for asylum and had started a new asylum process.

He said that he fears to be in Somalia and doesn’t dare venture outside his home.

The asylum seeker is hopeful that he’ll get a positive answer on his new asylum application in Finland.

 

 

Asylum seeker Ibrahim has found work delivering newspapers for Posti

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales update: Remember Ibrahim? Remember the Iraqi asylum seeker who had applied for hundreds of jobs? Well, Ibrahim’s luck changed. He will start to work next week for Posti to deliver newspapers to homes. 

According to Ibrahim, his hourly wage will be 9 euros/hour, and he will deliver papers from 2 am to 6 am six days a week after which he gets two days off work. 

“That makes about 900 euros a month which is much more than my 90 euros allowance I get monthly,” he said. “By working on Sundays, I can make an extra 150 euros a month.”  

We wish Ibrahim the best of luck in his new job. 

Racism squanders talent, growth, and opportunities.

Migrant Tales

Prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance.

Dr. Nathan Rutstein 

Most of our perceptions of visible migrants and minorities are erroneous and an outright lie. Remember when Perussuomalaiset* party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, labeled all refugees in 2015, including those from countries like Syria, as economic migrants and welfare shoppers?

This populist and hateful statement by Slunga-Poutsalo was supported by Foreign Minister Timo Soiniand Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government. Remember the prime minister? He’s the one who offered his home to asylum seekers but then broke his promise like so many others during his mandate.

Since they are “welfare shoppers” and “economic migrants” we give into lies that in turn help justify our ignorance and prejudice. It is the fuel and justification for tightening immigration policy and socially excluding such people.

Such lies about asylum seekers and migrants spread by politicians and the media have labeled us as a problem that should be treated with suspicion and makes it ever-difficult to get employed.

Ibrahim [1] is an Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in 2015. He is a computer hardware specialist who regularly applies to 25-35 jobs weekly.

“During my stay in Finland, I have applied to hundreds of jobs,” he admitted. “I’m still unemployed.”

Ibrahim said that the vast majority of job applications he applies to are through Linkedin (70%) followed by different Facebook groups (20%) and the rest in places such as Jobs in Helsinki, fairs and the like (10%).

“Very few companies tell me outright that they cannot hire me because I am an asylum seeker,” he said. “I feel that the main reason why they don’t want to hire me due to fear.”

Ibrahim agrees that those that tell him that they cannot hire him because he is an asylum seeker are guilty of discrimination. Section 6 of the constitution states clearly that everyone irrespective of his or her background is equal before the law.

“What can I do?” he said about discrimination. “Other factors make it hard for me to find a job. Government restrictions and red tape.”

Despite the situation, Ibrahim won’t give up and will continue to search for a job in Finland despite all the obstacles he faces.

* 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 factions 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 after that the acronym PS.

[1] The name of the asylum seeker was changed in order to protect his identity.