Migrant Tales insight: Ali Rashid, who is a board member of Anti-Hate Crime Organisation Finland, posted something that many foreigners, especially people of color, face in Finland. If people fear sitting next to you because of your ethnic background, do you think they believe you are an equal member of society? Are you socially equal or socially unequal in their eyes?
Go to original posting here.
This post was reposted with permission.
For some foreigners or Finns who are not white, Milliklubi (Kaivonkatu 12, 00100 Helsinki) is not the top night club on their list. In 2013, a Yle documentary on discrimination showed how the bouncers at the night club denied entry due to ethnic background.
Daniel Malpica, an artist who lives in Finland, states in a posting published by Migrant Tales the poor treatment he received from an older bouncer.
Malpica said that sometimes the rough and racist treatment of the bouncers incite customers to make racist statements against non-Finnish customers.
The same bar was filmed by a Yle crew in 2013 of not letting people in due to their ethnic background.
On August 11 there was another incident at Milliklubi. A black man ended up in hospital after being allegedly beaten with a brass knuckle and sprayed with tear gas.
Moreover, the incident appears to have gotten wide attention in the media and published by Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat. Even prominent members of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party have commented on the incident, claiming that what happened was another false racism alarm by a person of color.
The interesting question about this incident and whatever may have led to the black person being hospitalized, is if this is a hate crime? Even the police came out rapidly to absolve the doorman and basically place the blame on the black man.
Writes Christian Thibault: “Some things don’t add up here: Was he beaten first and then gassed? Or was he first gassed and then beaten? In both cases very wrong and the doorman would have had to care for the victim. Was he beaten twice, once before the gassing and once after?”
“In Finland 2019 and in downtown Helsinki is a [night] club where the bouncers choose the customers based on the color of their skin. Last weekend [August 11], my big brother wanted to spend the evening at the Milliclub but he was stopped at the door and told he cannot enter because he was black. The evening ended at the Töölö hospital emergency department with a fractured jawbone, nose and eye socket. Note: The posting claims that the doorman had beaten him with a brass knuckle and sprayed him with tear gas. The police, however, denies that it was the doorman but another person who attacked the black man.”
The black person who is in the hospital will take a year to recover from his wounds, according to a source.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
I was surprised that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho posted on his Facebook page what I consider inciting ethnic hatred against Muslims, which he refers to as “harmful immigration.”
The fact that far-right politicians like Halla-aho feel free to insult and incite hate against Muslims shows that the work of the police on this front is inadiquate.
Let’s see what Halla-aho posted. You can decide whether this posting falls under hate speech.
A very good question that we could ask the police about hate speech is the following: (1) what percentage of all hate speech cases and how long does it take before the suspect is brought before justice? (2) how many get convictions?
The answer to the latter could reveal that hate speech, like hate crime, are not taken seriously enough by the police.
History researcher Oula Silvennoinen sheds light on this problem.
“The problem [concerning hate speech] isn’t due to the lack [of clear] laws, but that too few who break the law face justice,” he wrote on his website, adding that the police should prioritize hate speech by guaranteeing such public services and the judiciary have enough resources to tackle the social ill.
There are too many examples that remind us that the Finnish police is not impartial when it comes to migrants and minorities. Close to 50% of the police surveyed in 2016 said they voted either for the National Coalition Party, NCP, (25.1%) and the PS (24.4%).
Both the NCP and PS are the most anti-immigration parties in Finland.
There are many other examples like a secret Facebook page in 2017 that was rife with racist comments against asylum seekers, migrants and members of our culturally diverse community.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Even if Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* rarely mention the word “Muslim(s)” in their hate messages and campaigns, Islamophobia is without a doubt the most significant threat today to Finland’s institutions and society.
Apart from the steady rise of hate speech and hate crime, Islamophobia is spearheaded by parties like the PS. It, if any, is responsible for fueling racism, hate speech, and hate crimes in Finland.
Words matter, and they can kill, too.
One of the reasons why the PS is the second-biggest party in parliament today is because we have a serious Islamophobia and racism problem in this society.
Such social ills will not recede until we wake up and acknowledge them for what they are – threats.
Downplaying far-right ideology and its toxic fruits like Islamophobia is reckless and dangerous. In Norway, we have seen two attempts to murder Muslims as Anders Breivik did in 22/7 and Philip Manshaus tried but fortunately failed this month.
Considering the PS’ good showing in the April parliamentary election, it’s clear that matters in Finland are going to get worse before they improve.
Just like the PS avoids naming Muslims as their main enemy but speak instead of “people of migrant origin,” which is code for non-EU citizens who are either black and/or Muslim, so do politicians and the media when speaking of parties that directly fuel Islamophobia in Finland.
A good example of the latter is Swedish People’s Party Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality Thomas Blomqvist, who was quoted in Uusi Suomi on Monday speaking at a foreign ministry event.
“Unfortunately, [social media] debate in [our] society has polarized and fueled hate speech and hate crime to grow here and elsewhere are serious threats to maintaining social harmony,” he said. “Systematic harassment, threats, and defamation threaten freedom of expression, public authority, research, and [media] communication.”
While I agree with what Blomqvist stated, it is surprising how little attention his words got in the national media.
The near-constant playing down of far-right ideology and Islamophobia by the PS offers us an answer to why populism and Islamophobia have grown this decade.
Apart from the media being too white, many reporters lack experience and knowledge about reporting on topics like racism and populism.
It is unfortunate, considering that it is the role of the media to protect and watch over our democracy and expose those forces that seek to destroy it.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Migrant Tales insight: Before law 2/2016 was approved by the then government parties (Center Party, National
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Thanks to the 107 MPs listed below that voted on April 13, 2016, to approve law 2/2016 that did away with granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds, Finland faces today an unprecedented rise of undocumented migrants.
According to various estimates, the number of undocumented migrants is seen rising from a few hundred to thousands, even by as many as tens of thousands.
Prior to scrapping residence permits on humanitarian grounds, an asylum seeker who got a negative decision from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) was granted a temporary residence permit if there wasn’t a repatriation between Finland and his country.
Law 2/2016 is poorly thought-out and is an example of how populism and xenophobia are guiding the government by the leash when it comes to immigration policy. Thus Finland’s immigration policy doesn’t hinge on whether countries like Iraq are safe or not, but on anti-immigration politics.
I am astounded many times to watch officials of the Migri, politicians who are interviewed by complacent journalists state that these people only came to Europe to search for a better life.
Anti-immigration rhetoric in Finland has become so extreme that we label whole groups for fleeing countries that we destroyed directly and indirectly in the first place.
As the decision to grant only one-third of asylum seekers a residence permit has nothing to do with reality and is a political statement, the most interesting question is why Finland has thrown to the side its own sense of fairness and empathy for people in need?
The answer and the guiding force of our ever-draconian immigration policy hinge on keeping our society white and Christian.
Politicians and the media won’t tell you this outright but that’s the code we are reading from them over and over again.
The only reason why the Center Party and National Coalition Party can do business with the anti-immigration populist Perussuomalaiset* in government is because they too want to keep Finland white.
Below are the MPs that voted in April 2016 to do away with granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds. The only opposition parties that backed the government was the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, which most of its MPs voted in favor of the bill.
Some of the surprise names to emerge from the list is Social Democrat MP Nasima Razmyar, who voted in favor of the law.
Olavi Ala-Nissilä/Center Party
Mikko Alatalo/Center Party
Anne Berner/Center party
Juho Eerola/Perussuomalaiset
Markku Eestilä/National Coalition Party
Simon Elo/Perussuomalaiset
Ritva elomaa/Perussuomalaiset
Eeva-Johanna Eloranta/Social Democratic Party
Tiina Elovaara/Perussuomalaiset
Sari Essayah/Christian Democratic Party
Maarit Feldt-Ranta/Social Democratic Party
Sanni Grahn-Laasonen/National Coalition Party
Maria Guzenina/Social Democratic party
Pertti Hakanen/Center Party
Teuvo Hakkarainen/Perussuomalaiset
Timo Harakka/Social Democratic Party
Harry Harkimo/National Coalition Party
Lasse Hautala/Center Party
Eero Heinäluona/Social Democratic Party
Reijo Hongisto/Perussuomalaiset
Petri Honkonen/Center Party
Hannu Hoskonen/Center Party
Antti Häkkänen/National Coalition Party
Lauri Ihalainen/Social Democratic Party
Marisanna Jarva/Center Party
Harri Jaskari/National Coalition Party
Kalle Jokinen/National Coalition Party
Kauko Juhantalo/Center Party
Arja Juvonen/Perussuomalaiset
Antti Kaikonen/Center Party
Timo Kalli/Center Party
Ilkka Kanerva/National Coalition Party
Toimi Kankaaniemi/Perussuomalaiset
Ilkka Kantola/Social Democratic Party
Mika Kari/Social Democratic Party
Elsa Katainen/Center Party
Niilo Keränen/Center Party
Anneli Kiljunen/Social Democratic Party
Krista Kiuru/Social Democratic Party
Kimmo Kivelä/Perussuomalaiset
Esko Kiviranta/Center Party
Timo V. Korhonen/Center Party
Hanna Kosonen/Center Party
Kari Kulmala/Perussuomalaiset
Katri Kulmuni/Center Party
Antti Kurvinen/Center Party
Seppo Kääriäinen/Center Party
Antero Laukkanen/Christian Democratic Party
Eero Lehti/National Coalition Party
Jari Leppä/Center Party
Jari Lindström/Perussuomalaiet
Antti Lindtman/Social Democratic Party
Mika Linkilä/Center Party
Markus Lohi/Center Party
Eeva-Maria Maijala/Center Party
Pirkko Mattila/Perussuomalaiset
Leena Meri/Perussuomalaiset
Kai Mykkänen/National Coalition Party
Outi Mäkelä/National Coalition Party
Lea Mäkipää/Perussuomalaiset
Merja Mäkisalo-Ropponen/Social Democratic Party
Hanna Mäntylä/Perussuomalaiset
Martti Mölsä/Perussuomalaiset
Ilmari Nurminen/Social Democratic Party
Sirpa Paatero/Social Democratic Party
Tom Packalén/Perussuomalaiset
Aila Paloniemi/Center Party
Ulla Parviainen/Center Party
Jaana Pelkonen/National Coalition Party
Tuomo Puumala/Center Party
Juha Pylväs/Center Party
Mika Raatikainen/Perussuomalaiset
Nasima Razmyar/Social Democratic Party
Juha Rehula/Center Party
Antti Rinne/Social Democratic Party
Veera Ruoho/Perussuomalaiset
Wille Rydman/National Coalition Party
Joona Räsänen/Social Democratic Party
Päivi Räsänen/Christian Democratic Party
Vesa-Matti Saarakkala/Perussuomalaiet
Pertti Salolainen/National Coalition Party
Kristiina salonen/Social Democratic Party
Sari Sarkomaa/National Coalition Party
Arto Salonen/National Coalition Party
Sami Savio/Perussuomalaiset
Juha Sipilä/Center Party
Saara-Sofia Sirén/National Coalition Party
Ville Skinnari/Social Democratic Party
Timo Soini/Perussuomalaiset
Eero Suutari/National Coalition Party
Satu Taavitsainen/Social Democratic Party
Katja Taimela/Social Democratic Party
Sari Tanus/Christian Democratic Party
Sampo Terho/Perussuomalasieet
Kaj Turunen/Perussuomalaiset
Tapani Tölli/Center Party
Juhana Vartiainen/National Coalition Party
Anu Vehviläinen/Center Party
Pia Virtanen/Social Democratic Party
Eerikki Viljanen/Center Party
Ville Vähämäki/Perussuomalaiset
Ben Zyskowicz/National Coalition Party
Peter Östman/Christian Democratic Party
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Ei muuta kuin vedä syvään henkeä ja ala paasata! Tämä oli neuvoni itselleni ennen kuin astuin mikrofonin eteen. Lähimmäiseni ovat huolissaan turvallisuudestani ja tätä puhetta seuraavasta vihapuheiden ryöpystä. Mutta minä en pelkää!
Päätin, että jos viestini teille on se, että meidän kaikkien on uskallettava ja jaksettava enemmän, on minunkin silloin astuttava ulos mukavuusalueeltani blogin sivuilta ja Facebookin syövereistä, otettava muutama askel rohkeuden polulla ja tultava eteenne puhumaan.
Tekään ette pelkää. Te olette ihmisiä, jotka uskallatte kokoontua ja kertoa mielipiteenne natseista julkisella marssilla. Kiitos teille siitä! Tämä on tolkullista, te olette kaikki tolkun ihmisiä! Mutta se ei riitä. Meidän pitäisi saada tänne moninkertainen määrä väkeä, eikä vain tänne, vaan Suomen kaikkiin kaupunkeihin. Natsismin ja rasismin vastustaminen eivät ole vain nuorten ja valveutuneiden, vasemmiston ja uskaliston tehtäviä. Se on meidän kaikkien yhteinen velvollisuus.
Nyt on 9 vuotta puhuttu, että hyvä voittaa pahan ja pahan vastustaminen ei auta mitään, pitää edistää hyvää. Ja niin ovat natsit 9 vuotta lisänneet julkista esiintymistä kaduillamme ja natsimielisten, rasististen, muka demokraattisten puolueiden äänimäärä ja valta on kasvanut.
”NATSIKORTTI!” uusfasistit ja rasistit usein hokevat ja kuvittelevat siten voittaneensaväittelyn, kun natsi-sanan käyttö on mukamas argumentaatiovirhe. Propaganda on edennyt jo niin pitkälle, että osa syyttäjälaitoksestakin yrittää estää natsin sanomista natsiksi vedoten kunnianloukkaukseen. Eihän se sitä silloin tietenkään ole, kun puhutaan henkilöstä, joka on tunnettu uusfasisti ja rasisti tai kun arvostellaan toimintaa, joka muistuttaa natsiaikaa tai joka on omiaan johtamaan vähemmistöryhmään kohdistuviin ennakkoluuloihin ja vihaan.
Muistakaa myös aina, että rasistinen puhe ei ole politiikkaa. Politiikka tarkoittaa yhteisten asioiden hoitamista. Vihalla ja ennakkoluulojen kylvämisellä ei voi edesauttaa yhteisiä asioita ja rauhanomaista rinnakkaineloa. Rasismi on pelkuruutta, rasistiset poliitikot ovat surkeita rassukoita ja pärjäävät vain piileskelemällä itse kiihottamansa vihan varjoissa.
Äärioikeistolaisen propagandan aikaansaamat muutokset yhteiskunnassa ovat aluksi pieniä, lähes huomaamattomia. Käyttämämme termit vaihtuvat, kovenevat ja kylmenevät. Jos puhuimme ennen maahanmuuttajista, jotkut puhuvat nyt maahantunkeutujista. Maahanmuuttajakaan ei enää ole neutraali sana. Aivan liian usein se tarkoittaa ihmistä, joka on päässyt livahtamaan maahan, pahat mielessä. Vielä useamman mielessä kysymys on henkilöstä, joka on vähän toistaitoinen, kykenemätön sopeutumaan tai ainakin jotain muuta, kuin me OIKEAT suomalaiset. Maahanmuuttajataustaisen saattaa mielestämme päästää eduskuntaankin viiteryhmänsä edustajaksi, mutta meidän pitää itse päättää oikeista asioista.
Yhteisesti omistamamme Yleisradiokin näyttää muun median mukana taipuvan äärioikeiston ikeen alle. Pelkääkö Yle? Onko öyhälistön hyökkäys liian raju ja toimittajat paniikissa, jos uskalletaan käyttää oikeita termejä? Rasisti ei ole kansallismielinen. Ihmisryhmää vastaan kiihottaminen ei ole maahanmuuttokritiikkiä. Turvapaikanhakija ei ole siirtolainen.
Kateus ja ahneus ovat lopulta niin hallitsevia voimia, että ne lyövät leikiten laudalta ihmisoikeudet ja tasa-arvon. Kun joku sukulainen etenee korkeaan asemaan politiikassa, läheisillä on nopeasti selitykset sille, miksi tämä kiltti ja hyvä ihminen on nyt kansanryhmäävastaan kiihottaja. Koska onhan se kuulemma hyvä, että näistäkin asioista saadaan nyt puhua ja pitäähän maahanmuuttokriitikollakin olla sananvapaus – siis vapaus solvata, mustamaalata ja valehdella. Eiväthän he koskaan ole mitään pahaa tarkoittaneet. Ei, vaikka juuri heidän takiaan Suomessakin on lapsia, jotka saavat tarkkaan valita koulureittinsä ja juosta sen kuin henkensä hädässä, etteivät maahanmuuttokriittiset lapset kerkeä lyömään.
Aina on suuri joukko ihmisiä, jotka ovat valmiit tukemaan rasistipoliitikkoja ja omaksumaan heidän inhat ajatuksensa. Äitien kultapojat, jotka eivät olekaan pärjänneet maailmassa niin hyvin, kuin heidän mammansa on sanonut heidän pärjäävän. Heikolle sivistykselle jääneet, hädin tuskin lukemaan oppineet. Narsistiset, itserakkaat ja vallanhimoiset, mutta vähän vaatimattomalla älyllä tai karismalla varustetut. Ja – uskokaa tai älkää – ihan tavalliset mummon mussut ja taaton tassut. Vihaa ja pelkoa on meissä jokaisessa ja nuo tunteet on helppo herätellä ja valjastaa rasistipoliitikon käyttöön.
Kuka meistä haluaa, että natsi-Saksan hirmuteoista edes pieni osa toistuisi Suomessa? Ei mikään kansakunta halua saada kärsiä sitä häpeää, jota osa saksalaisista edelleen kantaa. Älkää te jääkö niiden ihmisten joukkoon, jotka sitten jälkeen päin katuvat, kun ei mitään tullut tehtyä. Haastakaa omia ystäviänne, omaa sukuanne, vieraita ihmisiä netissä, busseissa ja katukahviloissa. Älkää enää vaietko sukusovun nimissä, rasistipoliitikon kuuluu kuulla kunniansa ja joutua häpeään. Myös eduskunnassa. Älkää salliko edustajaltanne rasistista puhetta! Älkääkä pelätkö, ei ole äärivasemmistolaista olla normaali, hyvä ihminen, joka sietää muitakin ihmisiä!
Sanotaan, ettei ihminen opi historiasta mitään. Se ei voi pitää paikkaansa, onhan meidän edes se opittava, että emme salli kiusaamista, syrjintää ja rotuvihaa!
Lopuksi sanon kaikille pop-kappaleen sanoin: Jos epäilyttää mieti kuinka paljon rohkeutta uskallat jättää tällä kertaa käyttämättä.
THE STORY WAS UPDATED
Today is a politically charged day In Turku, where neo-Nazis, other far-right members like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) will join hands to remember the second anniversary of the Turku stabbings when a then eighteen-year-old Moroccan went on the rampage killing two and wounding eight.
One of our writers, Reija Härkönen, will give a talk at the event.
Terrorism, as we saw last weekend in Norway, is nothing to take lightly. When, however, far-right pundits and parties like the PS us it to further their racist political agenda, then we have a problem.
Should we be surprised that an MP, Vilhelm Junnila, of the PS will give a talk at the far-right rally today in Turku? Why should we be surprised? Last year, PS MP Ritva Elomaa and two members of the party participated in the neo-Nazi event.
Do you believe that Finland is doing enough to challenge the encroachment of far-right ideology and nip racism in the bud?
Not at all. As we have mentioned in previous posts, Finland’s biggest challenges are far-right ideology and racism; being a too white society, one where cultural and ethnic diversity are seen as threats.
Let’s take a look at the latest example of hypocrisy: A sign on the door of the Turku Main Library is a perfect example of how Finland is reluctant to challenge racism and the far right.
A tweet (see below) by Tiago Silva notes: “Taking into account that @TurkuKirjasto [Turku City Library] offers tomorrow [Sunday] at the main library to some #äärioikeisto:
laiselle [far-right organizations] the opportunity to spread white replacement conspiracy theories, the sign on the library’s door is a bit ironic.”
Could not agree more with Silva’s tweet. It is not only ironic but hypocritical.
Diversity is one of the best medicines that Finland can take today to cure itself of its ever-growing far-right populism and racism.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Silence is the first thing after hate that is dangerous…silence is not the answer, hate is not the answer.
Holocaust survivor
There is one form of racism that stands out a lot in Finland and elsewhere: silence. Silence, if anything, is a political statement.
Those who answer with silence are not only ordinary citizens but politicians, policy-makers, and other public servants. Even if their silence aims to deny and keep matters as they are, their hesitance reveals an ugly truth.
That ugly truth is inaction and the conscious or unconscious wish for racism and inequality to continue being part of our society’s DNA.
Martin Luther King Jr (1929-68) hit it right on the nail: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
If you want to challenge racism in Finland, ask for a response. Tell the person that it is important because our first and foremost reaction to racism must be a reaction.
THE STORY WAS UPDATED
W. Che learned of a Palestinian asylum seeker who was deported recently from Finland to Turkey but ended up in Canada. Her son and her came to Finland in 2015.
This is her story:
“I am a Palestinian woman born in Iraq who applied for asylum in Finland in August 2015 and who worked as a pharmacist in Iraq. My Iraqi husband was killed by ISIS in Mosul. I was granted Iraqi citizenship based on marriage.
Five months after applying for asylum [in Finland] in 2015, I had my first interview [with The Finnish Immigration Service, Migri]. I was alone [in Fnland] with my fatherless child. I have no family or anybody to support me in Iraq. After a series of appeals and rejections, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected my appeal.
The police appeared at my home to deport me, I placed my phone and started recording while they held me from my clothes and dragged me inside my home; they were shouting [at me]. This frightened my son as he is just a child who was scared by the savage way they treated me as I cried and as they dragged me [on the floor]. We were both placed in a prison cell for two days.
After two days, they took us to the airport and put us on a flight to [Istanbul’s] Ataturk Airport in Turkey on transit to Iraq. I started screaming at the airport and asked help from the Turkish police when they wanted to put us on another flight to Iraq. It was our luck that the Turkish police officer refused to put me on that plane to Iraq and asked the Finnish police to return to Finland.
I was taken later on by the Turkish police to the United Nations office where I told them what happened to us in Finland and how badly they treated me. I showed them the video I took.
At the UNHCR I was accepted as a refugee to Canada.
Helsinki City Councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussain tweeted in July: All the Perussuomalaiset* and their voters/supporters are racists. Yes i said it. Do you need proof? Take a look at your [party’s] history and how you became Finland’s second-biggest party [in parliament].”
In addition to Hussein’s tweet: “Name me one Perussuomalaiset MP who was not elected without the help of Islamophobia, racism, and misogyny?
If by some miracle you find one PS MP, try to find another one if you can.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.