James Baldwin (1924-87) is one of the greatest and most insightful writers, essayists, and activists of black USAmerica. With the help of his words, we are capable of seeing the beast that has oppressed and tormented the black. His Insights offer as well a glimpse at our monster. There has been a lot of debate…
Month: October 2021
Riikka Purra’s promise of “significantly” tightening immigration policy is nothing more than a snow job
The Perussuomalaiset (PS) are known to make a lot of promises to their voters and many of these are snow jobs. Tightening Finnish immigration policy will be challenging because it is already quite strict. Purra has said that for her to form a government with another party, the main requirement would be tightening “significantly” immigration…
What do police mistakes on sexual assault statistics and reaction to a climate demonstration tell us?
It’s been a week full of mistakes for the police. Firstly, the police admitted a big mistake in their sexual crime statistics by tabulating a single suspect of assaulting his wife 141 times. Each assault was recorded as a single person. The latest bungle came when the Helsinki police admitted it failed to correctly assess the security…
Amir’s tragic life as an asylum seeker in Finland
I got to know Amir* in 2016 when he was living in the Kolari asylum refugee center. Thanks to his help and those of others, the asylum seekers of the reception center organized a demonstration that ended with the deputy manager, Jari Sillantie, getting sacked. Amir, an Iraqi, came to Finland in 2015 like so…
Oops! Incorrect suspected sexual assault cases for 2020
Sexual assault, especially suspected cases, is heatedly used by anti-immigration parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and public services like the police to demonstrate how some foreigners are. The police admitted today to a mistake in tabulating suspected sexual assault cases during 2020. The mistake originates from a foreigner suspected of sexually assaulting his wife 141…
Finnish government to ease (alas) strict family reunification law
The Finnish government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin plans to overturn the country tightened immigration law and family reunification requirements, which came into force a year later after a record 32,477 asylum seekers came to Finland in 2015. The then government of Center Party Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party was a…
QUOTE OF THE DAY (Diana Bellesi): Going and returning
Being a migrant for a number of generations is special. Why do some of us are always hoping to go somewhere but we are always returning? New immigrant arrivals in Argentina during the beginning of the last century. Source: Google My late father, Nemo, put this surreal situation in the following words: Being at a…
PS MP Sebastian Tynkkynen gets a third ethnic agitation conviction
THE STORY WAS UPDATED Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party MP Sebastian Tynkkynen was convicted for a third time of ethnic agitation, according to Yle News. The two previous convictions were handed down in 2016 and 2017. The Oulu District Court handed Tynkkynen, who is the PS’ third vice president, 70 day fines amounting to 4,400 euros. The PS…
KOTOUTUMINEN #16: Schools should encourage pupils to be proud of their roots
One of the biggest challenges and shortfalls of Finland’s integration law is that it is one-sided: Here is a list of things you must do to adapt to our society. This aim is very general, and if you start to study it closer, you will find no answers. While language is essential, and Finland places…
Exposing white Finnish privilege #81: Racializing crime, perpetuating stereotypes and racism
Treat with tweezers whenever percentage figures are used to depict sexual assault cases by migrants. A government-commissioned study published Thursday concluded that migrants are over-represented in suspected sexual assault crimes, perpetuating a toxic narrative. Such generalizations give ammunition to Islamophobes like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to maintain and reinforce racist stereotypes. To look at how the Finnish…