Month: July 2018

Woman attempts to stop deportation on Finnair flight but is escorted off the flight instead

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After Elin Ersson stopped a deportation of an Afghan asylum seeker with her courageous example on a flight from the Swedish city of Gothenburg to Istanbul in Turkey, a young Finnish woman called Aino Pennanen attempted to stop a similar deportation on a Finnair flight Tuesday by refusing to sit down. 

The captain of the Finnair flight said that he would not accept Pennanen’s request because the deported asylum seeker was a paying passenger.

Pennanen said on a Facebook posting that the police escorted her off the plane after the pilot called the police.

“The deported person was [sitting] in the back row, the police held him sightly and if he tried to move, his head shoved under the seat,” Pennanen writes on Facebook. “A number of passengers asked what was going and one asked me to stop [what I was doing] because the passenger had a connecting flight to catch.”

She continued: “I have no idea where this person (asylum seeker) is being taken and what will now happen to him. But in this situation, I did not have any other option but to help. I didn’t succeed.”

The woman said that she hoped that other passengers would resist deportations in the same way as her.

Pennanen said that Finland’s asylum policy lacks credibility and deporting people to countries like Afghanistan puts such people in harm’s way.

We at Migrant Tales applaud such civil disobedience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9 of Fayaz’s hunger strike: Coping with intense physical and psychological stress

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Migrant Tales will begin to publish stories about Fayaz’s hunger strike. Fayaz is an Afghan asylum seeker who faced deportation from Finland and is currently detained at Helsinki’s Metsälä immigration removal center. 

Hami Bahadori visited Fayaz and gave the following report about the asylum seeker’s state:

He is under tremendous physical and psychological pressure, due to stress from deportation (likely death) and the hunger strike. His medical condition is critical and the nurse at Metsälä immigration removal center has told him “there is no medical procedures for hunger strike, the only thing we can do is that if you faint we will call the ambulance!” (And calling an ambulance doesn’t necessarily mean that the patient will be hospitalized). We are still requesting your help in raising awareness since deportation is not an option for Fayaz. There has been an appeal submitted to the administrative court. As we know #AfghanistanIsNotSafe #StopDeportation #SaveFayaz

High walls, a fence, and barbwire tell you that you are at the Metsäla immigration removal center. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.

Ibrahim’s last chat with me before his departure to Iraq

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Ibrahim’s* case, the Iraqi asylum seeker who returned “voluntarily” to Iraq this week, is a case in point of how the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) and politicians fail people. Here are some facts about Ibrahim, who moved to Finland in October 2015: he applied for 25-30 jobs a week; constantly did voluntary work; converted to Christianity; and found employment delivering newspapers during his last months at Posti. 

From these facts, we can easily conclude that Ibrahim was an ideal asylum seeker who could adapt pretty rapidly to life in this country.

Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the main architect of Finland’s post-war foreign policy as prime minister (1944-46) and president [1946-56), used the following quote by nineteenth-century British politician Thomas Babington Macaulay: The beginning of all wisdom is acknowledgment of facts.

 

Instructions on what an asylum seeker can take back to Iraq. After almost three years, Ibrahim’s possessions must fit in two 23-kg pieces of luggage.

Paasikivi used this quote to understand Finland’s difficult geopolitical situation with the former Soviet Union.

Babington Macaulay’s quote sits well for the difficult situation that two-thirds of asylum seekers faced and continue to face in this country.

Continue reading “Ibrahim’s last chat with me before his departure to Iraq”

An active citizen needs to learn at school about two crucial matters: empathy and social activism

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If we look at history and today’s Europe and globally, it becomes clear that most people who went to school that too many never learned about empathy and social activism. A positive example of the latter is Elin Ersson, who refused to take a seat on a flight before they removed an Afghanistan deported asylum seeker off the plane. 

Veronika Honkasalo, a Left Alliance Helsinki city councilperson, was recently quoted as saying in Kansan Uutiset that in light of the low turnout of demonstrators during the Trump-Putin summit, it would be important for schools to teach their pupils how to exercise their civic rights by becoming active citizens.

In countries like Russia and others where human rights abuses are the norm, their citizens are not left with many choices if they want to express their opinions.

In Argentina, where I was born, living under a dictatorship supported by the United States, gave you three choices in the face of social unrest: stay silent, emigrate or join a guerrilla movement and start killing people.

While all three choices are bad, the latter about killing people for a cause raises a lot of ethical and moral questions. Can you kill another human being and live with such a deed for the rest of your life?

My heroes aren’t Rambo or the Terminator and other creations of the Hollywood culture industry. For me, social activist that changed history were people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Sophie Scholl of the White Rose Movement, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, James Baldwin, Rodolfo Walsh, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and many, many others.

All of these latter examples show us that a person can challenge a system that is oppressive and appears invincible.

 

Migrant Tales will begin to highlight more stories about social activism. One way of doing this is by sharing stories of struggles and social activism.

We hope to hear and publish your story.

 

Does Ibrahim’s claim about Hepatitis B expose white fragility?

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Migrant Tales published a story about Ibrahim’s* “voluntary” return to Iraq after coming to Finland in October 2015.  While there were many that felt for Ibrahim’s case, some were more preoccupied with what he alleged, or that he contracted Hepatitis B when going to a Finnish dentist. 

In journalism, you run up against a lot of claims. Since we do not know if they are true of not, we sometimes give the source the benefit of the doubt by using the word alleged, which means that he claims but isn’t yet proven.

Sometimes, these types of stories reveal the most surprising things like white fragility.

Guidelines on what you can take back with you to Iraq. After almost three years, Ibrahim’s possessions must fit in two 23-kg pieces of luggage.

It is important to remember that Ibrahim alleges that he got infected in Finland even if we don’t have any proof that this actually happened. Considering the high standard of Finland’s health care system, such cases are unheard of. Even so, this is how Ibrahim sees it.

Continue reading “Does Ibrahim’s claim about Hepatitis B expose white fragility?”

(Migrant Tales July 22, 2014) Anders Breivik: Three years after the horror of 22/7 in Norway

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How many still remember 22/7, when mass-murderer Anders Breivik went on the rampage seven years ago killing 77 innocent victims? Who wants to remember the man that carried out the worst attack on Norway since the Second World War?

What will the local papers write about that horrific day, today? What will their editorials say if they grant such attention to 22/7? Will they write about the important role that tolerance and respect play as our societies become ever-culturally and ethnically diverse?  Will they make a case for ethnic equality? Or will they sidetrack – as they have done in so many occasions – the issue altogether?

One of the most remarkable matters about the seventh anniversary of the mass killings in Norway is that the years feel like decades.

Certainly, many of us don’t want to remember what happened on 22/7 because apart from writing a sinister narrative about ourselves, Breivik is also white.

How can a person who was brought up in one of the richest nations in the world, a Nordic welfare state that has social equality as an inalienable value, could not only house so much hatred but translate it into deadly violence?

Despite what forensic psychiatrists originally diagnosed Breivik, he wasn’t mentally insane when he carried out his acts.

The mass killer is an extreme example of why some find a home in racist and Islamophobic parties and groups: narcissism and opportunism, which offer a sense of purpose.

Näyttökuva 2014-7-21 kello 19.26.54

See BBC documentary on Anders Breivik here.

Even if anti-immigration and Islamophobic parties in Europe want to distance themselves from what happened on 22/7, there’s one matter that should be clear to them: no matter how many voters you lure to your party with racism, keeping such a social ill on a short leash is foolish and risky because it can bite back at its master, and hard.

Continue reading “(Migrant Tales July 22, 2014) Anders Breivik: Three years after the horror of 22/7 in Norway”

Dutch foreign minister offers excuses for racism and “failures of multiculturalism”

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The interview below with Dutch foreign minister, Stef Blok, is another prime example of why racism, bigotry, and discrimination continue to list high on the European shame board. The interview, where Blok tells us how “multiculturalism has failed,” reveals another excuse why racism is deeply ingrained in Europe. 

He also forgets to tell us about the history of racism in Holland and Europe and its complicity in the slave trade.

Said Blok in Politico: “Give me an example of a multiethnic or multicultural society, where the original population are still living as well … and where there are peaceful community relations. I’m not aware of any.”

It is odd, but not surprising, that Blok speaks of “multicultural society,” or a society that is culturally and ethnically diverse, as a failure because he’s not aware of any ones where there are good ethnic relations.

Certainly, there aren’t due to the legacy of racism in countries like Holland.

Moreover, many successful economies like the United States build their growth on exploiting migrants as cheap labor.

No, Foreign Minister Blok, you got it wrong. Well-functioning societies – and none will never become 100% harmonious – hinges on social equality and equal opportunities. If you are unwilling to challenge social inequality and racism, there is your answer of what you refer to as the failure of “multiethnic or multicultural society.”

It is not “race”  or “ethnicity” but of equal opportunities and inclusion that are key to creating a well-functioning society.

When Blok claims that multiculturalism is a failure, it is only an excuse that reveals a lack of political will to take action against racism and social inequality.

Read the full story here.

Another statement made by the Dutch foreign minister in the interview is that Eastern European countries like Hungary and Poland “will never agree” to EU refugee quotas. He said it was because “colored people” have “no life” in those countries and would be “beaten up.”

Continue reading “Dutch foreign minister offers excuses for racism and “failures of multiculturalism””

Ibrahim of Iraq: “Finland is a never-ending long dark tunnel without light”

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Do you remember the patient asylum seeker called Ibrahim*, who applied to hundreds of jobs in Finland and who finally got a job at Posti to deliver newspapers at homes? Well, Ibrahim is so fed up with Finland that he decided to move back to Iraq. 

“Even if you offered me a good-paying job, I would not stay in this country,” he said. “Finland is a never-ending long dark tunnel without light. For my own mental health, it is important I leave before it is too late.”

Having moved to Finland in October 2015, Ibrahim was always an exemplary person and has made many good friends during his stay in Finland. I have only seen him angry twice: When he got his application for asylum rejected the first time in 2016 and now.

Guidelines on what you can take back with you to Iraq. After almost three years, Ibrahim’s possessions must fit in two 23-kg pieces of luggage.

Ibrahim, a computer hardware and data centers specialist in Iraq, blames bad luck for his fate.

“For me, it was a big mistake coming to Finland,” he continued. “I was free from diseases. There is a lot of structural racism and as an asylum-seeker, you will always be a second-class citizen.”

Continue reading “Ibrahim of Iraq: “Finland is a never-ending long dark tunnel without light””

Revista Fennia: Paluu mistä olimme

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”Joskus menneisyys pelottaa minua.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

Sokea argentiinalainen kirjailija Borges kuvasi levotonta Argentiina 1970-luvulla monella tavalla. Muistan yhä kun silloin eläkkeellä oleva Horacio-setäni lausui yhden Borgesin siteerauksista samana vuonna kun siviilipresidentti María Martínez de Perón syöstiin vallasta maaliskuu 24 päivä 1976.

”Borges sanoi,” setäni kertoi hymyillen, ”että demokratia on tilastojen väärinkäyttöä.”

Tähän lyhyeen lauseeseen oli pakattu kaikki mitä oli vialla Argentiinassa. Borges ja Horacio antoivat ymmärtää, että vallankaappaus oli hyvä asia, koska poistettiin tehoton presidentti joka oli sen lisäksi nainen ja peronisti. Hän, kuten Borges, eivät uskoneet argentiinalaiseen demokratiaan, erityisesti kun sisällissota ja taloudellinen sekasorto vain paheni Martínez de Perónin vallan aikana.

Lue alkuperänen juttu tästä.

Jos olet joskus vieraillut pohjoisessa Buenos Airesissa Floresin alueella, saatat törmätä moniin minun sukulaisiini. Näiden 1900-luvun alkupuolella rakennettujen pariisilaistyylisten talojen ja mukulakivikatujen varsilla kasvavien tammien katveessa asuu Horacio-setä.

Continue reading “Revista Fennia: Paluu mistä olimme”