Dante Tessieri, who was from Cecina, left Italy for political reasons in the late 1890s to Brazil and moved to Argentina about 1900 after the death of his first son with Aida Guaimonti. He had three children in his new homeland: Sara, Iris, and Carlos after Nemo, my grandfather, was born in Brazil in 1899.
Dante Tessieri was a mathematician and apparently served in the Italian Navy.
I am searching for his lost family in Italy. Was he your relative?
This was found by chance on eBay. Dante Tessieri is the lighthouse keeper of the island of Pantelleria. The signature below is of his father, Serafino Tessieri.
Posted to Serafino Tessieri in Cecina, province of Pisa.
Migrant Tales got two pictures of racist graffiti in the Eastern Helsinki neighborhood of Kontula. The first one below was sent Saturday and the latest one above was sent Sunday evening.
NOW.This was sent this evening by a kind reader. A just answer to a racist graffiti’s en. BEFORE.
A poll by Yle shows that the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party enjoys the most support with 19.5%, according to Yle News. Since 2011, when the PS won its historic election victory, we have seen the party come and go in the polls.
Of all the Finnish parties in parliament, the PS is the most hostile to migrants and minorities.
I am pessimistic that white Finns and their parties could help rid the PS from the Finnish political map. They too are white like the PS. Why would they want to stick their necks out for migrants and minorities if there is no political gain in it?
Denmark offers a warning for us in Finland.
Even if some see the victory of the Social Democrats in Denmark in this weekend’s parliamentary election as a death blow to the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party, think twice.
Writes The Nation: “The Social Democrats, faced with waning support in the past two decades, have parroted the Danish People’s Party on immigration, backing hard-line policies they characterize as necessary to save the country’s prized welfare state.”
If the white political parties are to be believed, migrants are putting in danger the welfare state in a rich country like Denmark. Studies in that country show that strains on the welfare state hinge on an aging population.
The Nation continues: “While other social-democratic parties [in other countries] have adopted tougher immigration laws in times of ‘crisis’ and used anti-immigration and Islamophobic language, no party has so openly ran on a nativist and welfare-chauvinist agenda as the Danish Social Democrats,” said Cas Mudde, a political scientist at the University of Georgia who specializes on populism.
The big question that we should ask is how far will the Social Democrats in Finland go and will they jump on the anti-immigration bandwagon as they already have in some cases. It may be that the Left Alliance, Greens and Swedish People’s Party are keeping them in check fo the moment but for how long?
It would be naive to leave to chance the future of migrants and minorities in this country to political parties. When matters get tough, they will be the first ones to ditch us.
This leaves us with an option: migrants, minorities and especially people of color have to unite and work hard to get their voices heard and our grievances answered.
Watching and listening to parties like the PS constantly mock and undermine our rights are a constant insult to decency. Their anti-immigration rhetoric is an insult to our Nordic institutions.
What I can say with certainty is that their leaders, like other xenophobes from other parties, will not be forgotten. We will do everything possible to inform our children and grandchildren of Finland’s hostile environment so that we never return to this wretched place again.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017,
into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue
Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off
the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament
plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in
English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official
translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or
True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We,
therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish
name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtiainen [1] is a lawmaker that claims that breaking the law is a feather in his cap. His most recent posting on Facebook appears that the PS MP is fliting to get another feather in his cap.
The posting is demeaning and straightforward (which is why we prefer not to post it in Migrant Tales): There is a black man that looks lost and states “Hi, when will I get money.”
The black man asks for money because, in Turtiainen’s world, black people don’t work but live off social welfare. The black man is asking for money because Finland’s new minister of the interior is a woman, Maria Ohisalo, of the Green party.
The fact that there is a woman and, on top of it, a Green is heading the ministry of interior is like consuming poison for the PS in general and MP Turtiainen in particular.
The post reads: “Finland has a Green minister of the interior. What’s your opinion..?”
PICTURE DELETED BECAUSE IT IS RACIST AND OFFENSIVE.
If we switched things around a bit we’d get the following Facebook post: “Finland got Ano “Feather in One’s Cap” Turtiainen as an MP. What is your opinion..?”
Ano Turtiainen.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
[1] Ano is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is anus.
Former Minister of Justice Antti Häkkänen, 34, is a conservative politician of the National Coalition Party (NCP) who doesn’t like Muslims and refugees. His recent tweet about Peussuomalaiset(PS)* party leader Jussi Halla-aho shows how the NCP has helped to make the PS and racism normal in Finland.
One of the matters that people say about Häkkänen in his home town of Mänyharju (pop. 5,900) is that apart from politics, he has never had a regular job.
What did Häkkänen tweet?
“Jussi Halla-aho [the chairperson of the PS who was convicted for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012] has strong confidence from the people due to his thoughts and actions. He is a politician with whom you should cooperate.”
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
“No party is immortal and there are clear signs of the Perussuomalaiset* party’s vulnerability. Their success hinges on how much they can scapegoat migrants and play down global warming. The fact that migrants are not a threat to Finland and that global warming is a very serious threat ensure an eventual fall from political grace for the PS.”
Valkoinen valta means white power in Finnish. This picture was taken on a school wall in Mikkeli. Photo: Enrique Tessieri
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
“Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes big things decay.” ? Sallust
Migrant Tales julkaisi vähän aikaan sitten listan “anna hukkua” -eurovaaliehdokkaista. Nämä ehdokkaat katsoivat, ettei ole EUn velvollisuus pelastaa siirtolaisia hukkumisvaaralta Välimerellä. Kolme näistä eurovaaliehdokkaista valittiin parlamenttiin 26.5.: Teuvo Hakkarainen ja Laura Huhtasaari perussuomalaisista sekä Henna Virkkunen kokoomuksesta.
Alma Media vaalikoneen väitteessä 13 lukee: “EU:n velvollisuus on pelastaa kaikki hukkumisriskillä Välimeren ylittävät Eurooppaan pyrkivät siirtolaiset.”
Vaikka ei olekaan yllätys, että islamofobiset puolueet, kuten perussuomalaiset, olisivat “täysin eri mieltä” tai “eri mieltä” yllä mainittusta väitteestä, melkein kaikissa puolueissa oli eurovaaliehdokkaita, jotka olivat eri mieltä tai suhtautuivat neutraalisti väitteeseen numero 13. Virkkunen oli “eri mieltä” väitteestä.
Kaiken kaikkiaan, 36,3% (85/234) suomalaisista eurovaaliehdokkaista olivat täysin eri mieletä, eri mieltä tai neutraali väitteseen.
Se, että näin suuri määrä eurovaaliehdokkaista arvelee, ettei ole EU:n velvollisuus pelastaa ihmisiä hukkumisvaaralta Välimerellä – välittämättä politiista seurauksista – osoittaa, kuinka syvälle me yhteiskuntana olemme vajonneet omaan suohomme.
Holokausistakin tiesi suuri joukko ihmisiä, joista enin osa kuitenkin päätti sulkea silmänsä, olla kuulematta toisten ihmisen kärsimyksistä: juutalaisten, romanien ja muiden vähemmistöjen, Natsi-Saksan vihollisien.
Virkkunen seisoo sanojensa takana ja lähetti seuraavat twitit:
“Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes big things decay.” ? Sallust
Migrant Tales published recently a list of “let them drown” European election (MEP) candidates who felt that it wasn’t the EU’s obligation to save the lives of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Three of these candidates got elected on May 26: Teuvo Hakkarainen and Laura Huhtasaari of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and Henna Virkkunen of the National Coalition Party.
Statement #13 of the Alma Media election compass reads: “It is the EU’s obligation to save all those migrants who are at risk of drowning attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.”
While it isn’t surprising that members of Islamophobic parties like the PS and candidates like Huhtasaari and Hakkarainen “strongly disagree” with the above statement, there were candidates of most of the mainstream parties who disagreed or were neutral about statement #13. Virkkunen “disagreed” with the statement.
All in all, 36.3% (85/234) of Finnish MEP candidates disagreed or were neutral about the Alma Media election compass statement.
The fact that so many Euro election candidates can agree that it isn’t the EU’s obligation to save people from drowning in the Mediterranean without any consequences shows how far we have stooped as a society.
A lot of people knew about the Holocaust but the vast majority closed their eyes and became deaf to the suffering of the Jews, Roma, other minorities and enemies of the Nazi regime.
Virkkunen stood by her answer and tweeted the following:
People always have to be helped. My answer in (not the Alma Media) election compass 1/2: “We must stop migrant smugglers already at the port. We have to make migrant smuggling economically unprofitable by creating legal paths to job-seeking migrants who want to move to Europe. And the way @HennaVirkkunen to put an end to migrant smuggling is disagreeing with this [election compass] statement: “It is the EU’s obligation to save all those migrants who attempt to come to Europe and are at risk drowning in the Mediterranean.”My answer continues: “European officials should be given the possibility to handle applications and grant the needed permissions [to migrants]. Moreover, the situation of the migrants’ country should be improved through, among other matters, common [EU] foreign policy, trade policy, and through development aid policy…”The answer continues:…” by fostering peace, stability, better living conditions by investing in better administration, education, entrepreneurship, and investment possibilities” I am not of the opinion that people should be allowed to drown. But the smuggling of people must end.
I tweeted this question to MEP Virkkunen but never got a reply:
I asked you Tuesday @HennaVirkkunen what was your opinion about human rights? (1) Human rights are old fashioned and should be shelved or forgotten; (2) Human rights should be preserved; (3) Human rights should be strengthened.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Seeking asylum and/or a better life is not a crime.
What is one to think of plans by the new government to use electronic ankle tags to monitor the movements of asylum seekers whose asylum application is rejected. Is it ok?
How would you like to wear an electronic ankle tag? Would it enhance your feeling of human worth or be just another example of Finland’s ever-worsening hostile environmentagainst migrants and minorities?
Moreover, the use of ankle tags by asylum seekers reveals a fact about how Finland sees asylum seekers, especially those who are Muslim. It shows the authorities do not believe asylum seekers’ suffering and plight.
Source: @Amnestyusa
If one thinks that the hostile environment in Finland began in 2015, you should think twice. The hostile environment is an integral part of this country’s history throughout its independence.
Disagree?
How come it took almost 66 years after independence, in 1983, for Finland to have in force its first immigration law?
Things were much worse. So much so, in fact, that few people ever moved to this country.
