February 2023 - Migrant tales

Ahti Tolvanen: A war that pushes peace away

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Migrant Tales

More and more Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives to Europe as we mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. It seems the EU and NATO lack the political imagination to do more than worsen the refugee situation in the year ahead. So far 4 million have fled Ukraine and over 40 000 to Finland.

More tanks and weapons are promised weekly for the Ukrainian military, and peace talks continue to be dismissed and scuttled by NATO powers.

This week, President Sauli Niinistö announced that he would not let the nuisance of a parliamentary democratic election get in the way of Finland’s NATO membership if the Turkish president agreed to support it. What nonsense, indeed!

Who’s in charge of this crisis anyway?

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will be in Helsinki next week to make final arrangements and it would be embarrassing indeed to mention complications like elections.

**Protestors expressing opposition to Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Helsinki.**

Facebook (Petra Laiti): The price of Finnish colonialism

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales comment: Today’s news that Parliament’s constitutional committee voted against the Sámi Parliament Act is a big blow to Europe’s only indigenous group. The parties that voted against the act were the Center Party, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and the radical-right Perussuomalaiset.*

I wrote in the forthcoming European Islamophobia Report 2022 the following: “Another big test for Prime Minister [Sanna] Marin is the Sámi Parliament Act, which the Centre Party has relentlessly opposed. The long-overdue act will give Europe’s only indigenous group the right to self-determination as envisaged in the ILO Convention 169 (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989). Opposition to the act reminds other minorities, like Muslims, how Finland views different minorities and their rights.”

Katja Marova: Living next door to Russia

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Migrant Tales

As war rages on in Ukraine and we near the first anniversary of that tragic conflict on February 24, one question we should ask is how Finland’s Russian-speaking community is faring. Katja Marova, who lives in the border city of Lappeenranta, says that matters have not changed much in her home city, even if war rages in Ukraine.

“It seems that as there are now sanctions against Russia,” she continued, “it’s ok to discriminate freely as well [against Russians].”

**Katja Marova lives in the border city of Lappeenranta.**

Apart from discrimination, some Russians complain about racist harassment in public.

Marova, a Left Alliance candidate for parliament in Lappeenranta, wrote on Facebook about an incident at a bar when she spoke to a Russian friend.

“On Friday, we were at a bar in our city [Lappeenranta] when a man walked by us and purposely bumped into my friend,” she said. “The man apologized, and my friend said it was ok. But then he started to say Slava Ukraini (Respect Ukraine).”

Marova said that her friend was shocked by the man’s reaction.

A question for Ilta-Sanomat: Why didn’t you mention the name of the security company and who was in the video?

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Migrant Tales

An example of you-can-eat-your-racist-cake-and-have-it journalism: The chief executive of a private security firm posts a video wearing a uniform about how a member of the Romany minority shoplifts. The security firm’s representative uses his personal TikTok account to publish the racist post.

The security guard chief executive took down the video after a representative of the Romany community confronted him.

An apology follows: “Since my motive wasn’t racist, I was surprised [by the reaction]. When the representative [of the Romany organization] justified its case, I understood that it [the video] could be seen that way. I promised them that I would remove the video.”

In Finland, white privilege is so ingrained in society that one can make a racist video and claim ignorance.

Stealing is one of the oldest stereotypes about the Romany minority.

Even if the media will not publish the chief executive’s name and company, it is FS Security.

Since the end of December, security companies like Avarn Security and Securitas have been under close scrutiny concerning the use of excessive force. In January, they caused the death of a victim they apprehended.

The present story is only a further example of the challenges faced by security companies.

The story’s author did not reply to an email by Migrant Tales on why the tabloid did not publish the name of the security company and its chief executive.

Parliament’s constitutional law committee leaves door open for halal and shechita slaughter in Finland

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish parliament’s constitutional law committee voted 10-5 on Wednesday to allow halal and shechita slaughter practiced by Muslims and Jews, respectively, according to Yle. The Parliament’s agriculture and forestry committee recently approved the amended animal welfare act.

Yaron Nadbornik, the head of the Jewish community of Helsinki, said that the law does not ban shechita and halal slaughter.

“This is what we hoped for in the new law,” he continued. “We didn’t want the law to ban shechita slaughter.”

In the new act, as in the current law, chickens will not have to be stunned, only large livestock like reindeer, lambs, and cows, according to Nadbornik.

Even if the animal is supposed to be stunned simultaneously with the cutting, it cannot happen simultaneously at the same time, which means it offers an opportunity to stun the animal immediately when initiating the cut.

Sweden banned stunning animals in 1937, Norway in 1929, and Denmark in 2014.

Finland’s youth gang story is a close relative to the USA stolen election lie story

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Looking at the number of stories written about the so-called youth gang problem in Finland, it is interesting to note that reporting of the issue by Yle doubled compared with the eight months of the year.

Stories about Sweden’s youth gang problem started to pick up in the fall after Sweden’s 11 September parliamentary election. Before the election (during 1 January-10 September 2022), Yle published 29 stories, but from 11 September to 16 February, the number of stories soared by 124% to 65.

The number of stories during those periods under review remains stable for Helsingin Sanomat, MTV, Ilta.Sanomat and Iltalehti.

Why did Yle its coverage of the topic? Are politicians pulling some strings behind the scenes?

Considering that we are in an election year and, due to past actions of the police and media in cities like Oulu, is the whole gang “problem” in Finland a storm in a teacup. Is it something that politicians from the Perussuomalaiset – excuse the language – pulled out of their asses? Is it similar to the stolen election lies spread by MAGA Republicans?

If it is true that the whole youth gang story is grossly exaggerated for political purposes, what responsibility does the media have for perpetuating the story?

Law enforcement institutions like the police, Finnish Border Guard, and others must make a case to acquire funds. What better way than to warn the public of a danger that does not yet exist but needs resources?

The media should do a better job and void being taken for rides by politicians and the police.

Länsi-Savo: S2-opetusta Mikkelissä*

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Kati Häkkinen, kiitoksia kirjoituksesta Puutteellinen S2-opetus. Olemme samaa mieltä Mikkelissä annettavan S2-opetuksen puutteista, mutta haluamme lisäksi nostaa keskusteluun sen lieveilmiöistä.

S2-opetus ei ole vain kielestä kiinni, vaan osa laajempaa kokonaisuutta eli sitä kuinka lapsi rakentaa ja tuntee itsensä osana suomalaista yhteiskuntaa. Kieli on tärkeä osa siitä prosessista, muttei kuitenkaan ainoa osa. Liian usein luulemme, että kieli on koko ratkaisu kotoutumiseen. Kun elämme siinä uskossa, unohdamme muut tärkeät seikat, jotka vaikuttavat lapsiin kuten kaverit, vanhempien kotoutuminen, yleiset ennakkoluulot, kiusaaminen, rasismi ja muut yhteiskunnalliset asiat.

Vaikka S2-opetus on hyvä niille lapsille, jotka tarvitsevat sitä, onko se tarpeellista heille, jotka ovat syntyneet Suomessa ja suomi on vahvin kieli eli äidinkieli? Jotkut oppilaat, jotka ovat S2-ryhmässä vierastavat sitä, koska he tuntevat itsensä huonommaksi kuin heidän koulukaverinsa.

Toinen asia, jota S2-opetus ei käsittele tarpeeksi on kuinka vahvistetaan ja kannustetaan lapsi tuntemaan itsensä tasavertaisena muihin lapsiin. Mielestämme kouluviranomaiset tekevät hallaa, kun he leimaavat ja käsittelevät lapsia ”maahanmuuttajataustaisina” eikä suomalaisina.

Mielestämme on myös otollinen aika ehdottaa rasisminvastaista koulutusta Mikkelissä kuten nyt tehdään esimerkiksi Helsingissä ja Turussa? Tiedon päivittäminen olisi aiheellista.

Suomen kielen oppiminen pitää olla kannustavaa ja palkitsevaa eikä leimaavaa ja syrjivää.

Enrique Tessieri, Hamid Al-Sammarraee, Veysi Zengil

Kirjoittajista Tessieri on Kansainvälinen Mikkeli ry:n puheenjohtaja, Al-Sammarraee varapuheenjohtaja ja Zengil yhdistyksen taloudenhoitaja.

*Lue alkuperänen juttu tässä.

Media Monitoring Group of Finland [1]: How big is the PS’ crocodile tears?

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Migrant Tales

They are pretty big if you look at the latest tweets by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra and former party secretary Simo Grönroos. MTV broke a news story Saturday about human trafficking in Finland. . A sensible politician would look at the story, side with the victims, and ask how this could happen in Finland.

But not the PS. They are out to prove that if you bring labor migrants from outside the EU, these people will work for low wages and not even understand that they are exploited.

The PS lesson?

Don’t bring labor migrants from outside the EU.

Now shed some big crocodile tears for public consumption.

A rebuttal by Riikka Purra that exposes the PS’ arrogance and desperation

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Migrant Tales

A rebuttal by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Puura to a recent Helsingin Sanomat editorial reveals arrogance and desperation. If the PS’ favorite talking points about immigrants are challenged forcibly as today, matters do not bode well for the party that has based its election fuel on spreading xenophobia.

Helsingin Sanomat rebuked PS’ anti-immigration rhetoric: “When the PS refuses to accept [hard] facts, it no longer makes sense, even from a purely selfish point of view. And when the party suggests that Finland should learn from Japan’s population policy, it sounds downright desperate.

PS MPs Lulu Ranne and Riikka Purra posing with the radical-right party’s latest policy statement on immigration. The suggestions made by the PS aim to worsen the situation and further disenfranchise the rights of migrants and minorities. Even so, Randen and especially Purra are smiling.

A common strategy of the PS’ and Purras’ arrogance and desperation became clear in the rebuttal: “Unlike other parties – or the media – the True Finns base their immigration policy on research and statistics, not on building castles in the sky. A permanent increase in net immigration will only help reduce the sustainability gap if the newcomers’ employment rate and income level do not differ greatly from the native population.”

A party that is out of touch with the times

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Migrant Tales

A good editorial by Helsingin Sanomat about how the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is the only party against bringing labor migrants to Finland and the threat such intransigency implies for the country.

It writes: “When the PS refuses to accept [hard] facts, it no longer makes sense, even from a purely selfish point of view. And when the party suggests that Finland should learn from Japan’s population policy, it sounds downright desperate.”

Contrary to the three parliamentary elections of 2011, 2015, and 2019, the PS faces a dilemma: Will its xenophobic message carry and encourage voters to vote for the party? Being called the only party against labor migrants could be a liability that will cost the PS dearly in April.

Moreover, the political atmosphere has also changed thanks to Covid, economic uncertainty, graying of the Finnish population, and the war in Ukraine.