By Leo Honka
Memories turn to stone when men age inside hats
Taking them off for added warmth
past days somersaulting, turning themselves upside down
atop your unruly gray hair,
half-asleep – whispering how you’ve aged!
Tossed and navigated through the years of your life
How many of those days did you cast overboard?
And now…grandfather, father grand,
with your painful, tired, crippled walk
can you feel those days splashing on you like heavy rain?
Näyttää siltä, että Perussuomalainen Nuoriso tykkää kopioida vanhaa retoriikkaa. Teuvo Hakkarainen sanoi samaa yli 10 vuotta sitten. Ilta-Sanomien mukaan Hakkarainen ehdotti, että homot, lesbot ja somalit pitäisi laittaa asumaan yhdessä Ahvenanmaalle.
Tähän ryhmään nyt kuuluu kielteisen turvapaikkapäätöksen saaneiden.
Väite herättää monessa suhteessa paljon kysymyksiä. Miten vauras pohjoismainen hyvinvointivaltio, joka perustaa arvonsa sosiaaliseen yhdenvertaisuudeen ja oikeudenmukaisuuteen ja jolla on yksi maailman parhaista koulutusjärjestelmistä, voi langeta rasismin ansaan?
Pitäisikö Perussuomalainen Nuoriso muuttaa Ahvenanmaalle etsimään tähän kysymyksen vastausta?
The Right to Live (Lupa elää) citizen’s initiative passed through the 50,000 signatures barrier Friday. If passed by parliament, the initiative will grant four-year residence permits to undocumented migrants who came to Finland before January 1, 2017.
The ministry of interior published its recommendations on what to do with some 3,000 undocumented migrants who came to Finland in 2015-2016. Of this group, about 300 are children.
States the Right to Live: “An unprecedented number of asylum seekers arrived in Finland during the years 2015 and 2016. Many went through asylum processes that were hurried and of poor quality. More than 5 years later, some of them are in a legal limbo and are still waiting for a residence permit, while some are waiting for the first non-appealable decision to their asylum applications.”
The proposal, made by the Green League, to grant a residence permit to undocumented migrants has received opposition from government parties like the Social Democrats (SDP) and Center Party.
Migrant Tales has published several stories about the lives of undocumented migrants in Finland. Here is Amir’s story.
Some of the most vocal government objectors to the proposal are SDP MP Eveliina Heinäluoma and Mikko Kärnä of the Center Party, both parliament’s administrative committee members.
Be ready to hear a lot of empty whining by some politicians on why we should continue to let thousands of undocumented migrants and their children live on the fringes of society without any rights.
Ever wonder why the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party gets so excited about so-called failed immigration and riots in Sweden? Is it because there isn’t enough news in Finland to spike and spread their Islamophobic message and perpetuate their deceptive claims?
The PS is a case in point to study how fake news about migrants is planted and watered in Finland. You only need two things: fake claims and silent media.
A lot of fake news about migrants is perpetuated by the PS. One of these is that Finland is “on the path of Sweden” when it comes to brown migrants.
Some of the toxic assumptions that such a claim makes are that certain groups of migrants, namely Muslims and people of color, are prone to violence and anti-social behavior because of their cultural background.
Such claims or news stories dig deeper into why there is social unrest in Sweden and its causes. Ever heard of institutional racism? Discrimination? Lack of social mobility?
Placing the blame on migrants and minorities won’t solve matters but perpetuate the problem.
Apart from the lack of news in Finland and crystal ball predictions about our cultural diversity in Finland, why do the PS rarely state that they are targeting Muslims, people of color or brown and black people?
Is it because their racist rhetoric is so immersed in code words like “asylum seeker” and “people of foreign background” mean groups like Muslims? Are they fearful of being charged for ethnic agitation?
Considering that 17% of Helsinki’s population speaks another mother tongue other than Finnish, Swedish, and Saami, it is surprising how slowly the newsroom of Finland’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, is still so white.
Why does the media not challenge fake news about migrants?
Is it because the media is part of Finland’s racism problem?
By Leo Honka
Deep in the forests of Savo, darkness is not always darkness but a state of mind that has learned to remain an image. In such places, time comes and goes but never leaves; its magic maintains you balanced like a trapeze artist without falling thanks to heart-filled joyous moments of memories once a time ago when you were part of the scenery…
The riots in Sweden sparked by the burning of the Koran by the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party led by Rasmus Palaudan remind us how urgently we need solutions, not provocations, to heal the wounds gashed by racism and double standards. Provocations do nothing more than expose our hypocrisy and privilege. They never offer solutions on the way to move forward.
Be it by the Palaudan and other far-right political groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* it is always the same script: provoke, provoke but never give solutions. While Palaudan has threatened a “final solution” to Muslims and expelling all of them from Denmark, the PS has only given cheap racist soundbites.
Palaudan loves attention, and he gets it from the media and, unfortunately, from some Muslims and others. He is not a champion of free speech by burning the Koran but an example of white privilege disguised as free speech.
In the last election in Denmark, his party got 1.8% of the votes, which is below the 2% threshold for an MP to be elected.
The PS is so full of bravado that they fear mentioning the term “Muslim” in their hate soundbites but instead speak in code. Asylum seekers and immigration policy are their code words for Muslims.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports: “Police said up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence in the town of Landskrona after authorities moved a demonstration scheduled there by Danish party Stram Kurs to the nearby city of Malmö, about 45km (27 miles) to the south.”
Forgetting the crucial role migrants have played in building Sweden’s economy after World War 2, PS leader Riikka Purra parrots her usual far-right talking points about events in Sweden.
If former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Jussi Halla-aho were a women, her name would be Riikka Purra.
Helsingin Sanomat published Saturday an interview with PS Chairperson Riikka Purra, where she puts Ukrainian refugees on a pedestal and dehumanizes Muslim and African refugees.
Instead of just publishing Purra’s comments like a stenographer, why not fact-check?
Here are some questions I would ask Purra:
1. Why has your party headed south in recent opinion polls?
2. What is the greatest threat that the PS faces?
3. Using hindsight, do you believe that your membership in the pro-Putin EU bloc Democracy and Identity was a mistake?
4. What is your opinion of Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Marine le Pen and Matteo Salvini?
5. Why does the PS have close links with far-right and neo-Nazi groups?
6. Why were you against Nato membership last year but are now in favor? Should Finland leave the EU?
7. Are there any ideological differences between you and Jussi Halla-aho? Please state one difference.
Takeaways from the interview:
Continue reading “Helsingin Sanomat treats Rikka Purra with kid gloves – by and large, stenography journalism”