On June 19th of 2021, Brazil reached the absurd number of 500.000 deaths caused by Covid-19. These lives are not disposable. They have given names and surnames. This is a performance and installation in memory of the ones that went away because of the pandemic of the new Coronavirus.
The performance and installation will happen in two moments. You don’t need to participate in both. It would be nice, of course, if you can.
When? The first movement will take place on July 3 at 10 am in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Helsinki, Itäinen Puistotie 4 B 1, 00140 Helsinki.
What will happen? We’ll write 500+ names on 500+ masks. 2ND MOMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE: Location to be confirmed ASAP. We’re going to place the 500+ masks creating an installation together. It will be a memory for those who went away.
Thank you for your time and participation in this project. Our deceased won’t be forgotten. For more info, check the Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/LGW39wtq Also Danilo’s website: www.danilocangucu.com and he’s Instagram: @danilocangucu
Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) published his groundbreaking study on the United States’ racism problem in 1944. While Myrdal was a controversial figure and Sweden was into measuring the skulls of the Saami due to a pseudoscience called eugenics, his study leaves us with food for thought.
One of these is denial of a serious social problem like the endemic injustice and poverty of the black man in the United States. You did not need to, however, to arrive at the same conclusions as Myrdal if you took a long good look at US society back then – and even today.
The central thesis of Myrdal’s study was that the United States, or particularly white USAmericans, was a conflict with the USAmerican creed founded on freedom, justice, and opportunity on the one hand but carried out systemic violations of the blacks through social exclusion and disenfranchisement.
How is it possible that the world’s happiest country is suffering from a severe labor crunch? Here are some facts: the number of over-65-year-olds per 100 working-age people will rise from 39.2% to 47.3% in 2030; to plug its pensions deficit, Finland needs to double the level of migrants to 20,000-30,000 annually.
In Europe’s most homogenous country – by historical choice – other factors don’t attract skilled labor and talent to Finland.
One has only to read the country’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, and the media in general to see their value priorities.
One of these is certainly not social equality, fairness, and equity of all people living in Finland.
France 24 pinpoints it to the tee: “But anti-immigrant sentiment and a reluctance to employ outsiders are also widespread in Western Europe’s most homogenous society, and the opposition far-right Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset*) regularly draws substantial support during elections.”
To add to the latter’s problem, it appears that the Finnish state is challenging head-on labor discrimination and racism in society. Due justice takes years in racism cases to resolve, and few politicians are ready to speak out against such social ills.
Parliament voted Wednesday to lift some of the restrictions it imposed in 2016 during the government of Juha Sipilä, which, among other matters, lowered the deadline for appeals and legal assistance to asylum seekers., according to the Refugee Advice Council.
One of these includes the deadlines for appeals originally reduced to 21 days from 30 days in the second instance. The deadline for appeals is now restored to 30 days.
Moreover, asylum seekers’ cases will face greater scrutiny to avoid the return of people wrongfully. One complaint that the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) had was that it did not carefully check asylum seekers’ cases and thus put people in harm’s way.
While these matters will improve the legal situation of asylum seekers, there are several laws from 2016 that hinder family reunification and the offering of residence on humanitarian grounds.
It is an important first step but there are many more that must be taken.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Jussi Halla-aho’s heir-apparent appears to be the party’s first vice-president, Riikka Purra. While Halla-aho has swung the party to the far-right and encouraging xenophobia, Purra has parroted the PS leader’s racist soundbites but with questionable results.
Like Halla-aho, Purra loathes Muslims and people of color. So much so, in fact, that she warned about ethnic replacement hogwash and how Finland’s population was becoming more diverse. In her book, brown, Afro Finns and other visible minorities are a threat to white Finland.
You don’t need to have a lot of knowledge on politics to understand that most of the catchphrases used by the PS have their origin from other xenophobic groups in Europe. One of these used in the last municipal elections was “take Finland back.”
Is it a coincidence that the PS copies xenophobic catchphrases from other EU countries and parties? Source: CityA.M.
Writes the Finnish Security Police (Supo) in its last-year report: “One of the most noteworthy ideological motives of far-right terrorists is known as the Great Replacement conspiracy theory based on the idea of a fundamental threat posed by immigration and multiculturalism to the white population of Western countries. Views reflecting the idea of a Great Replacement have been highlighted in several far-right terrorist attacks.”
Halla-aho, tuo kaukaa viisas ja kaikkivoipa jättää puheenjohtajuuden. Näinä vaikeina aikoina Jussi on Ylen mukaan valottanut tulevaisuuttaan sanomalla, että hän jatkaa kansanedustajana ja Helsingin kaupunginvaltuutettuna. Tämä on huojentava tieto. Onhan Halla-aho jo nyt, kymmenen vuotta pyyteettömästi Helsingin valtuustossa istuttuaan, omia aloitteita tekemättä ja toisten hyviä aloitteita turhan voimakkaasti estelemättä jättänyt ison jäljen Helsingin upeaan monikulttuuriseen kehitykseen ja kaupungissa asuvien pakolaisten hyvinvointiin.
Tänä aikana Helsingin kaupunginvaltuusto on mm. hyväksynyt paperittomien henkilöiden sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluiden laajentamisen. Paperittomilla henkilöillä on nyt Helsingissä kiireellisten terveyspalveluiden ja raskaana olevien naisten ja lasten terveyspalveluiden lisäksi oikeus muun muassa kroonisten sairauksien hoitoon ja rokotuksiin.
Helsingissä on myös Halla-ahon ollessa Helsingin valtuutettuna tehty päätös olla vuokraamatta kaupungin tiloja rasistisille ja väkivaltaa tuottaville toimijoille. Tämä on merkityksellistä, kun Halla-aho kuitenkin itse on johtanut rasistista ja väkivaltaa tuottavaa organisaatiota.
Helsingin väestönkasvu ja työikäisten määrän kasvu ovat vahvasti perustuneet maahanmuuttoon. Vuonna 2018 jo yli 15 % helsinkiläisistä oli vieraskielisiä. Määrän ennustetaan kasvavan 26 %:iin väestöstä vuoteen 2035 mennessä. Kun samaan aikaan syntyperäisten suomalaisten työikäisten määrä vähenee, on hienoa, että Halla-ahon seuraavallakin valtuustokaudella maahanmuuton arvioidaan kasvavan siten, että kokonaisuutena Helsingin työikäisten määrä kasvaa. Vuonna 2030 useamman kuin joka neljännen työikäisen helsinkiläisen ennustetaan olevan vieraskielinen (hel.fi). Maahanmuuttajat rakentavat Helsinkiä ja tekevät helsinkiläistä kulttuuria.
Jussi Halla-ahon valtuustokausien aikana Helsingistä on kehittynyt monikulttuurinen, kansainvälinen kaupunki, jossa värillä ei ole väliä, ihmisillä on vapaus pukeutua haluamallaan tavalla, uimahalleissa naisille voidaan sallia omat uimavuorot ja Helsingin koulujen ruokalistoilta saattaa poimia vaikkapa tällaisia aterioita: Bataatti-kookoskermacurrya, quorn-currykastiketta, maustettua vehnää, timjamilla maustettuja punajuuria, soijabolognese-pastavuoka.
Voidaankin kysyä, onko perussuomalaisten Suomi takaisin -huuto ollutkin juuri tätä. On haikailtu takaisin vanhan Viipurin monikulttuurista, iloista henkeä, josta Jussi on itsekin todistettavasti nautiskellut:
Tanssia sai siellä aina
Arkena ja sunnuntaina
Kieli vieras taikka tuttu
Laulu oli helppo juttu
Jos vain joku kielsi ‘ei ei ei’
Toinen sanoi heti ‘hem till mej’
Koronapandemian hellittäessä iloinen, moniarvoinen ja värikäs Helsinki tulee jälleen näkyviin. Perussuomalaiset ovat äänestäneet Suomen takaisin. Onnittelut saavutuksestanne, Jussi Halla-aho ja perussuomalaiset!
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Chairperson Jussi Halla-aho announced Monday that he will not seek reelection as the party’s head at the annual meeting in August, according to Yle News. While some party members expressed sadness about the news, Halla-aho will not be missed by many.
No reason was given for his departure. There is, however, some speculation that Halla-aho was never enthusiastic about leading the party. Moreover, his exit may be a new step in making the Islamophobic party appear “more normal.”
Even if the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) has said that it could form a government with the PS, Halla-aho remains a controversial person due to his racist views and writings.
Some Russian asylum seekers expressed outrage of the ill-treatment of a single, 64-year-old woman from the Ukraine who was carried away by force from the Eastern Finnish Imatra asylum reception center.
“This is not the way to great a human,” said a Russian asylum seeker who got in touch with Migrant Tales. “We are not animals. We have human rights, too.”
So what justified the use of such force by the police?
Apparently, the woman, refused to go to the hospital because she fears deportation to Russia.
“There was another case [at the same asylum reception center] of a Russian woman called Ludmila who was sent to the hospital, [allegedly] drugged and then deported to Russia,” she said. “Later on she appeared in Turkey after being forced to return to Russia.”
If you have any information about what happened or about the elderly woman in the pictures, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
The 44,746 deaths of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean and deaths due to Fortress Europe policies are another black spot on Europe. The deaths span from 1993 to June 1. Our indifference and apathy to this humanitarian crisis make the Mediterranean and Europe grow into a grave with unknown and forgotten people.
Indifference is one issue about our shameful behavior. But, others, like some of our politicians who would not care an iota if people who flee wars, hunger, and poverty die.
Migrant Tales wrote back then: A total of 234 Euro election candidates answered Alma Media’s election compass, a total of 85 (36.3%) stated that they either “strongly disagree,” “disagree,” or are “neutral” (have no opinion) about the following claim: “Is it the obligation of the EU to save all those migrants who attempt to come to Europe and are at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean?”
The answers above were by Finnish MEP candidates who should know better.
