Migrant Tales will publish all of the eleven issues of the Foreign Student, the newsletter of the Foreign Students Club of Helsinki. The March 1981 issue continued to test the waters by speaking out for foreigners’ rights. Writes the Foreign Student: “Foreigners in Finland are taking a new stand concerning their rights here. All of us are asking: why…
Month: September 2023
Foreign Student: February 1981
The February 1981 issue was the second of eleven newsletters that came out. The Foreign Student played an important role in giving migrants a voice during a period when foreigners were supposed to remain quiet about their civil rights. Published in 1981, I wouldn’t have used today words like “Gypsy” and “Lapp” to refer to…
Foreign Student: January 1981
Migrant Tales will begin to publish the Foreign Student, the newsletter of the Foreign Students Club of Helsinki. The January 1981 issue was the first newsletter, which came out 11 times until January 1982. The Foreign Student played an important role in giving migrants a voice during a period when foreigners were supposed to remain…
The “Denmarkization” of Finland’s immigration and asylum policy
The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had a long love affair with Denmark’s anti-Muslim immigration policy, one of the toughest in Europe. With loaded guns in government, the PS must be happy that they can adopt, with the blessings of National Coalition Party (NCP) Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and the two minor coalition partners, the…
Movies like Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” are needed more than ever today
Thanks to Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” we can now get a terrific glimpse of the suffering of asylum seekers who were used as political pawns by Belarus and Poland. Since it would have been impossible to film the movie in Belarus or Poland, Holland created a movie with actors to debict these people’s suffering. Writes…
“Mosque” scoop by a tabloid reveals the hostile face of Islamophobia in Finland
If there is a big divide and mistrust between the media and the Muslim community it was exposed by a scoop the tabloid ilta-Sanomat on a secret “mosque” in a Helsinki nursery. Throughout the years, some Muslim imams and other members of the community have expressed apprehension of the Finnish media. For those who may…
Reija Härkönen (24.9.2017): Hallittua pelottelua hallitsemattomalla maahanmuutolla
Monen mielestä hallitsematon maahanmuutto alkoi vietnamilaisten venepakolaisten saapuessa 1970 luvun lopussa. Vielä enemmän säikähdettiin, kun ensimmäiset somalipakolaiset tulivat v. 1990. Hallitsematon maahanmuutto lisääntyi nopeasti 2000-luvulla. Päivittäiseksi ongelmaksi asia nousi Jussi Halla-ahon myötä n. vuodesta 2006 lähtien. Vuonna 2008 hallitsematon maahanmuutto oli jo täysin sekoittanut Helsingin asuntomarkkinat. Jytkyvaalit 2011 olivat jo mennä täysin persujen piikkiin. Lupaavat…
Liikkukaa – Sports for All blog: Racism At Finnish Swimming Halls Endangers Lives And Society
The Finnish Swimming Teaching and Lifesaving Federation (SUH), in collaboration with a representative from the University of Jyväskylä and the Finnish National Agency for Education, conducted a nationwide swimming proficiency study in 2022 (SUH, 2023). The study revealed that a staggering 45% of sixth-graders either lacked sufficient swimming skills or couldn’t swim at all. Reports…
Finland is backpedaling to the dark corners of nationalism and xenophobia
The impact of National Coalition Party (NCP) Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government (Perussuomalaiset PS*, Swedish People’s Party and Christian Democrats) on Finland will be devastating. It will be a regression into the darkest corners of nationalism, xenophobia, chest-thumping, and bravado. With the help of these social ills, there are plans to displace Finland’s liberal roots…
Sandra Alloush’s “In Your Eyes” is a documentary about migrants surviving in today’s Europe
To part is to die a little,What you love dies:You leave a little of yourselfAt any time and in any place. Edmund Haraucourt (1856-1941) In Your Eyes is a documentary about migrants in Europe by Sandra Alloush, a Syrian refugee, journalist and documentarist, in collaboration with Enrique Tessieri, editor of Migrant Tales, a community blog…