Month: December 2023
2023 taught me that racism is the poison that threatens democracy and human rights
Russia is not unpredictable. In its operations against Finland, it exploits racism because Finland is a racist country. The observation by writer Sofi Oksnanen is the only one I have read that reveals the government’s pushbacks and their draconian immigration and asylum policy. The government’s knee-jerk reaction to closing the Finnish-Russian border shows how Finnish…
Pushbacks in the EU are disgraceful revealing our willingness to ditch our most sacred values
Thanks to a talk hosted by the European Network on Religion and Belief (ENORB) this week, we were able to witness once again the violent pushbacks occurring on EU borders, Migrant Tales recently published a story about this pushback on the Turkish-Greek Evros River border. The pushbacks, which go largely unnoticed by the European media,…
Ahti Tolvanen*: The Finnish-Russian border quagmire
It is hard to make any sense out of the on-and-off Russian border closings. Whether these will have any real effect in the long run on numbers of asylum seekers remains to be seen. The way the war is going in Ukraine this winter almost guarantees an influx of hundreds or thousands more from that…
Migrant Tales Literary: Mari Rantanen on ”tiukka rajatäti”
Leo Honka Sisäministerille on rautainen sydän hänen vihaa maistu raudalta. Rantanen pyrki luomaan itselleen mainetta polkemalla maahanmuuttajin, unohtaen samalla ihmisoikeudet. Hänen vihansa kohdistuu erityisesti ulkomaalaisin, erityisesti muslimeihin, sekä niihin, jotka eivät ole valkoisia tai EU-kansalaisia. Mari Rantanen on sisäministeri, jolla on rautainen sydän. Sisäministeri Mari Rantanen. Yle
The Finnish-Russian border is not an open-and-shut case
Article 3 – border control measures must be without prejudice to the rights ofrefugees and other people requesting international protection, in particular asregards the principle of non-refoulement. European Convention on Human Rights Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantnanen called herself Tuesday a “tough border lady” on A-studio. After opening two border checkpoints Thursday at…
Donald Tusk is a ray of hope exposing Europe’s far-right slumber
As Finland plans to open two of its eight border crossing points Thursday, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen was busy on A-studio spreading her usual bravado and get-tough-on-migrant soundbites earmarked principally for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party’s supporters. Rantanen has a funny habit of smiling after a difficult comment. According to her, some 900 asylum seekers were…
Ahti Tolvanen: Independence Day 2023 may have marked a turning point for ethnic and race relations in Finland
For years now the day has seen gatherings and rallies in support of immigrant and refugee rights and counterdemonstrations by nationalists who stand for ethnic purity. At times the police have seized Nazi flags from the arch-nationalists or blocked violent attacks by some of these people against antifascists and antiracists. Some claim that the police…
Anachoma: A documentary on pushbacks and violence on the Greek-Turkish Evros River
When I first went to the [Evros River] border, my first priority was to uncover what was happening and not to get arrested. Philip Pollák, director of the Anachoma documentary project The 480-kilometer-long Evros River, which divides Greece and Turkey in an uneasy truce, is just one of many places where EU policy on pushbacks…
Petteri Orpo, Mari Rantanen, Riikka Purra, and the government show contempt for Human Rights
It is shameful, but obvious, why Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government, not one minister of the National Coalition Party and Perussuomalaiset,* mentions International Human Rights Day. Being white, driven by xenophobia and having a privileged life in Finland, it is understandable why such politicians see Human Rights as a threat. Former President Tarja Halonen (2000-2012)…