Author: Migrant Tales

When will we know the truth about what happened to the 10-year-old Muslim girl who was violently attacked?

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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.

A letter to the editor in Friday’s Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, puts into question statements by the police and the principal of the Juvankoski school, where a 10-year-old girl wearing a hijab was attacked last month by four of her classmates.  

Despite the young age of the children, are they capable of racist bullying and harassment? One case in Mikkeli a few years ago shows how cruel children can be.

The Länsi-Uusimaa police claimed in a December 20 statement that racism did not play a role in the terrible incident.

“On social media and the Internet, possible racist motives have been suggested for the assault that took place in a school in Northern Espoo on 17 December. No such motives have come up in the investigation by the police,” the police statement claims.

As far as we know, the picture above is of the Muslim girl who was attacked. It reads: “What do they teach [children] at Finnish homes? That Muslims are terrorists? The little girl [in the picture above] is spending a normal day at school when four boys [classmates] tried to rip off her hijab from her head and kicked her unconscious. We are not talking now about a migrant but about a victim. @iltalehti [tabloid] I want you to write out loud that racism must stop once for all, this girl is an angel!”

In Helsingin Sanomat, the Juvanpuisto school principal, Vesa Äyräs,  was quoted as saying: “I don’t have any information about that [that racism played a role].”

Continue reading “When will we know the truth about what happened to the 10-year-old Muslim girl who was violently attacked?”

Onko Suomen ulkomaalaispolitiikkaa muuttunut paljon 1980-luvulta?

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Migrant Talesin kommentti: Tässä on kirjoitus Näköpiiri lehdestä 1980-luvun alussa, joka käsitteli Suomen ulkomaalaispolitiikkaa. Onko paljon muuttunut niistä ajoista kun ulkomaalaistoimiston toimistopäällikkö Eila Kännö johti nykyinen Maahanmuuttovirasto? Jutussa lukee: “Väitän, että sillä miten viranomaiset ja lehdistö kohtelevat maassamme vakituisesti tai tilapaisesti oleskelevia ulkomaalaisia on hyvin suuri merkitys ja vaikutus somalaisten yleiseen suhtautumiseen ulkomaalaisuuteen.”

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Finnish white privilege #57: Finland’s “hostile environment” against migrants

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UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s policy nurtured a climate of suspicion called today the “hostile climate” in which people are deemed guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent.

Does Finland have a hostile climate against migrants like in the UK? One could answer in the affirmative after listening to a long list of politicians who don’t have anything better to do but to label migrants, especially Muslims, as “problematic” to Finnish society. 

It is no coincidence that three National Coalition Party politicians, President Sauli Niinistö, Speaker of Parliament Paula Risikko, and Interior Minister Kai Mykkänen, perpetrate the hostile environment with their coded comments charged with suspicion and contempt.

When was the last time you heard them say something nice about migrants and how they contribute to the economic wellbeing of Finland?

Instead of saying something positive and inclusive, they create a climate of suspicion – like in the UK – of migrants, especially Muslims.

If we are fair, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä did surprise us in his New Year’s speech by stating that crimes committed by a few individuals should not stigmatize whole groups. Better late than never or too little too late?

Instead of talking about how bad migrants are, why didn’t President Niinistö mention a study published in November by the European Agency of Fundamental Rights (FRA) that concluded that Finland was the most hostile country to blacks ou of 12 EU countries surveyed? Why didn’t he tell us how we are going to combat racism in general and racism in particular against black people?

In his traditional New Year’s speech, Niinistö prefered to label migrants in a negative light by suggesting that they should take responsibility by “exerting control” over the actions of their members. Are such controls possible if migrants are a diverse group made up of different individuals?

What about the speaker of parliament, Risikko, who spoke about eight suspects in a sexual assault case who are Muslims and how laws on residence permits should be tightened as a result of these suspects?  Why does she only talk about crimes committed by migrants and doesn’t say a word about similar sexual crimes committed against minors by white Finns?

Watch the full interview with Speaker of Parliament Paula Risikko here.

Why didn’t she say anything about our Islamophobia problem and a study published in May by the Pew Research Centre that revealed almost two-thirds (62%) of those Finns surveyed believe that Islam is incompatible with the culture and values of Finland?

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: The end of white Finland’s hegemony over narrative and “truth”

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“There are signs that white Finland’s hegemony over culture and society is being seriously challenged. Green League MP Ozan Yanar rightfully questioned President Sauli Niinistö’s problematic speech about migrants. We have information as well that the police and school principal may have played down what happened to a 10-year-old Muslim girl at school in Espoo in December.  These are only recent incidents that signal a growing reality: White Finns aren’t the only ones living here and are no longer the masters of everything.

Like in the shameful treatment of minorities like the Sami and Roma in the past, power and privilege gave white Finns a questionable right to discriminate and exclude people who weren’t like them. The same treatment persists and now includes people of different religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. There are powerful voices opposing such power today. And those voices are getting louder.”

What about if what happened to a 10-year-old Muslim girl last month is true?

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Remember the picture of a 10-year-old Muslim girl that went viral on the Internet on December 19? We still have not heard from the parents of the terrible picture of the girl below. What about if the story is true and that racism was the spark that caused the incident?

While we don’t know why, the police and the principal of the Juvanpuisto school in Espoo may consider what happened “not racist” because of the age of the children. If this is the case, they know that children learn their racism from their parents and their friends. One case in Mikkeli a few years ago shows how cruel children are when it comes to racist bullying and harassment.

If the school wants to resolve what happened behind closed doors, it is its right. However, hiding what happened from the public eye is wrong and will only permit these types of incidents to happen – as they do – again.

Here is the question: What about if the four children suspects who attacked the girl did try to rip off her hijab and insulted her for wearing one? What about if it was not the first time that the girl experienced racist bullying at school? What does it say about the school and how it counters this type of bullying?

The police and school deny what happened to the girl had to do with racism. There were even reports in the media that the wounds that the girl suffered weren’t diagnosed as serious after taken to the hospital.

Certainly, physical wounds are one matter but the psychological wounds from what happened will most likely affect the girl for the rest of her life.

If racism was the culprit, and if the police and the school principal brushed the incident under the carpet by playing down what happened, it reveals worrisome issues about our society and about those that protect and educate us into becoming members of society.

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MP Ozan Yanar is right: President Sauli Niinistö’s New Year’s speech is problematic

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Whenever President Sauli Niinistö comments about asylum seekers, migrants and minorities there is usually a problem (see links below). Those of us who are anti-racist activists, will never forget his two-extremes argument, which puts people who fight to defend human rights as one extreme with the other extreme consisting of Neo-Nazis and other far-right groups like the Perussuomalaiset.*

His New Year’s speech didn’t leave us disappointed. Green League MP Ozan Yanar rightly pointed out some of the flaws in his speech about migrants.

The president said that migrants should take responsibility by “exerting control” over the actions of members of its community, tweeted MP Yanar. Migrants are not a monolithic group.

President Niinistö responds to MP Yanar’s tweet by stating that he did not mean migrants but everyone irrespective of their background. If this is true, why didn’t he say so in his New Year’s speech?

I have mentioned it before and I will state it again: President Niinistö is no friend of Finland’s culturally and ethnically diverse community. It is unfortunate that he prefers to hand out populist soundbites.

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White Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?

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Ever thought why political parties like the Perussuomalaiset,* Blue Reform and politicians from other parties, especially from the National Coalition Party, are so keen at pointing the finger at Muslims? Do they do so because they are racists? Opportunists? Political gold diggers? 

What about the media that permits this type of anti-social behavior to go near-unchecked?

I have never heard the following statement made by a Finnish journalist when interviewing Islamophobes: “There are in Finland an estimated 70,000 Muslims and that amounts to just 1.3% of the population. What gives?”

 

Islamophobia and hate crime go hand in hand as in the case of a Pakistani migrant who was brutally attacked in February. Source: Migrant Tales.

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White Finnish privilege #55: It is that time of the year – Christmas!

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Far-right poliicians and Islamophobes of varying hues commonly blame Muslims for banning traditional Christmas parties at school. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Those wanting to remove Christmas parties are Finns who believe that religion should not play a role in our schools since we are officially a secular state. 

What happens when most of the students of the schools aren’t Christians and you insist that the Christmas party must go on? What does it say about our respect for other religions and cultures? Is it a power trip? Does it send a warning that we call the cultural and religious shots in Finnish society?

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church is by far the biggest in Finland with 72.6% (4.004 million) of the population belonging to that faith. The second- and third-biggest religions in the country are the Islamic faith and the Finnish Orthodox Church with 1.3% (70,000) and 1.1% (61,690), respectively.

One question we could ask is why do we keep under a magnifying glass a congregation that accounts for only 1.3% of the population? The answer, I believe, is obvious: Islamophobia that lives another day thanks to denial and misinformation.

Why the open hostility if Finland is a country that guarantees religious freedom? Why is there so much hostility?

White Finnish privilege #55

A good example of white Finnish privilege is organizing Christmas parties at schools and by denying other religions the same public spaces. While Finland states publicly that the adaption of newcomers to Finland is a two-way process (Integration), it is in practice a one-way process (assimilation).

Disagree? Wasn’t President Sauli Niinistö quoted as saying in YLE, just before presidential election day that the only “public” spaces that foreigners have are the four walls of their homes?

Source: Yle News

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He said:

Continue reading “White Finnish privilege #55: It is that time of the year – Christmas!”

Facebook Suomen Muslimiverkosto: Vandalism during Christmas

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Migrant Tales insight: The mosque, which is run by the Islamic Society of Northern Finland, is once again the target of vandalism. Since September 2017, the mosque in Oulu was vandalized eight times. It is shameful that a country like Finland, which claims to promote social equality, allows such acts to happen.  Which politicians will speak out against such acts of vandalism? Why are they so quiet? 

 

Go to the Facebook page here.

10-year-old Muslim girl of Espoo: The police say one thing while others say another

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In earlier statements and interviews to the media, the Finnish police have claimed the presence of “wild” rumors about a ten-year-old girl, who was assaulted. The picture with the girl on social media had text that claimed that her hijab, or veil, was torn off and that she was left unconscious after being hit by four roughly same-aged classmates. 

Fact or fiction?

It appears that there were two suspects instead of four and that her hijab wasn’t torn off. While she has blood over her, it seems that the injuries she endured weren’t life-threatening.

The Western Uusimaa Police said that racism played no role in what happened.

Fact or fiction?

 

Read the original statement here.

 

The father of the victim, claims through a close friend states that four classmates had insulted his daughter’s hijab and then beat her. The girl was bullied before at school, apparently because she is a Muslim.

The Facebook posting clearly states that the father of the victim believes that his daughter was a victim of Islamophobic bullying and assault. In other words, racism was a factor.

Continue reading “10-year-old Muslim girl of Espoo: The police say one thing while others say another”