Author: Migrant Tales

Landmark ruling by the administrative court of Turku: asylum seekers can get income support from Kela

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The administrative court of Turku overturned on October 17 a decision by Kela, The Social Insurance Institute of Finland, to deny income support to refugees or undocumented migrants that are forced to leave an asylum reception center and have their allowances terminated.  There are 30 days to appeal the administrative court ruling.

The landmark case, if it isn’t challenged, not only brings Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government down to earth by questioning the country’s harsh and arbitrary policy towards asylum seekers but exposes the poor decisions made by Interior Minister Paula Risikko.

Visit the Kela in English page here.

Doing away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds, banning people from asylum reception centers and cutting off their allowances is going to be costly since asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants will be entitled to income support.

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Police University College of Finland: Hate crimes retreat by 13.7% in 2016

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The amount of suspected hate crimes in Finland retorted to the police in 2016 was 1,075, down 13.7% from 1,250 cases in the previous year, according to the Police University College of Finland and the ministry of interior’s police department. Despite the fall in suspected hate crime cases, the police said that the number of hate crimes has not fallen to pre-2015 levels. 

Read the full hate crime report (in Finnish) here.

The majority (77%) of all the hate crime cases was due to ethnic or national origin with religious background accounting for 13.8%, down 16.1% on year. While persons with Finnish citizenship accounted for 60% of all suspected hate crimes, followed by Iraqi (12%), Afghan (6%) and Somali (3%) nationals.

The most common cases of a hate crime due to religion were Muslims.

“Almost half of the crimes [due to religious background] were assaults,” the report states. “Most common location of the suspected crimes based on religion or belief was immigration station [asylum reception center].”

 

Figure 1: Suspected hate crimes during 2011-2016.

Hate crimes due to the ethnic or national background (etninen tai kansallinen tausta), religion or belief, sexual orientation, transgender identity or appearance, disability, and total.

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Aren’t white Finns a part of our culturally diverse society? How the media frames “us” and “them”

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One matter that pops up when speaking of multicultural Finland is how media like YLE picture such a state. Where, for example, is the white Finn in the picture below? Why isn’t there a representative of the white Finnish community in the image?

Aren’t white Finns an integral part of our multicultural, or culturally diverse community that is the total opposite of white supremacy?

If you want to find out what some Finns think of migrants, minorities and white supremacy, look at what pictures the media uses when writing about migrants and minorities.

Where’s the white Finn? Read the full story here.

Saturday was a day of marching neo-Nazis and coded populist anti-immigration rhetoric

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 Blue Reform (formerly Perussuomalaiset*) MP Sampo Terho took part on Saturday in YLE’s Ykköaamu talk show. Later in the day in Tampere, neo-Nazis and other fascists held demonstrations. 

One of the matters that struck me the most about Terho’s interview was when the host, Seija Vaaherkumpu, asked him about what differences there were between the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and his newly formed party.

One of the matters he said was that Blue Reform doesn’t like to “yap about migration” in the opposition but wants to influence policy in government.

Yes, right, Terho. When you were head of the PS parliamentary group, your former party and you spearheaded the tightening of immigration policy by making family reunification an impossible dream for many migrants. You did away as well with residence permits given on humanitarian grounds; you shortened appeal times, you undermined the legal rights of asylum seekers and poisoned the air with your oversimplified rhetoric.

One good distinction between Blue Reform and the PS concerning immigration policy is how they express their racism and contempt for cultural diversity (anti-white supremacy). Terho’s group speaks more in code while the PS says it straight out. Terho is also minister for European affairs, culture and sport as well as chairman of the Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, which systematically destroyed – and continues to undermine – cultural diversity with the help of whitewashing.

Watch the Ykköaau talk show here.

Another important matter that arose in the interview is Terho’s hostility towards asylum seekers and Muslims. He showed as well that he is still an anti-immigration populist with a deep love of neo-liberal economic policies.

Meanwhile, around one thousand people took part on Saturday in Tampere in neo-Nazi and anti-fascist demonstrations, reports YLE News.

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What does Finland fear as its society becomes more culturally and ethnically diverse?

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What do you think are the main issues that migrants and minorities face in Finland? Is the majority population having a difficult time sharing public spaces with migrants and minorities? Are Finns suspicious of difference? Do they fear that they’ll lose power and privilege as our society becomes ever-culturally and ethnically diverse?*

One of the most significant problems facing our ever-growing culturally diverse community is that there are too few migrants and minority participation. It’s like an all-male board championing for women’s rights.

How does tokenism down out our voices in those associations that are supposed to stand up for our rights?

How could we change this?

 

Read the full story here.

* By cultural and ethnic diversity I mean anti-white-supremacist. White Finns are as well a part of our culturally diverse society, even if some, I suspect, believe that “them” are those that are culturally different from us and “us” are the white Finns. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Päävo Väyrynen is Finland’s cold war foreign minister

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If there is one politician in Finland that gives some heartburn, that politician is without a doubt Paavo Väyrynen. It is unfortunate that the Finnish media doesn’t return to the cold war era and look into Väyrynen’s record when he was the foreign minister most of the time from 1977 to 1993. During that period there were severe censorship issues in the Finnish media and human rights violations when, among other things, Soviet citizens were forcibly returned to the USSR even after asking for asylum. Are we surprised that Väyrynen is anti-EU, anti-immigration and a nationalist?

He was always those things. Finland’s cold war stance was just that: anti-EU, anti-immigration, censorship, human rights violations, and nationalism.

The media should talk about his track record when mentioning Väyrynen.

Read full story here.

 

 

 

 

Facebook Zimema Mhone: Clarification on why “I am cheaper”

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Migrant Tales insight: Zimema Mhone has done some stories for us and he now posted something on Facebook that too many foreigners and minorities face in Finland. Did you know that nationally in 2014 foreigners earned 27.3% less at 21,479 euros/year compared with 29,550 euros, according to Pasi Saukkonen. In Helsinki, the gap was even higher at 38.5%: 36 239 euros versus 22 286 euro. 

Add to the above the fact that unemployment, in general, is 2-3 times higher than nationally, and a pretty distressing picture emerges. Mhone states: “I am cheaper because I am foreign.”

We hear you loud and clear. The problem is that Finland’s fragmented anti-discrimination bodies aren’t and cannot do enough to change the situation.

Migrants and minorities, together with sensible white Finns, must change matters.

 

Read original Facebook posting here.

 

YLE News: What Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen forgets to tell us about growing hate speech in Finland

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There’s a lot of evidence of how Finland denies an issue like racism and near-constantly plays down its impact on migrants, minorities, and society in general. Prosecutor General Raija Toivainen claims in a YLE News story that racist statement lead to bitterness, radicalization, and terrorism. 

Fine. I agree, but then states:

“Racism’s targets are driven into a corner, where it is easy to become bitter. This creates the perfect breeding ground for organised crime or even terrorism… People who have been chased to the fringes of our society are easy to manipulate and cajole into extremist groups. Do people that spread racist hate speech realize the effects of what they are doing?” she wonders.

So hate speech and hate crime drives “victims” into a corner and from there they become radicalized and terrorists.

While this may be the case, Toivianen forgets to tell us about the danger of terrorism by white Finns. Why didn’t she mention Anders Breivik, the Norwegian who murdered in cold blood 77 people in 22/7?

And what about the complicity of the politicians and public officials who should know better?

Hate speech is the soil from where violence breeds. It is indiscriminate and emboldens white Finns to commit crimes, even terrorist acts. Hate speech and racism affect everyone in society.

Hate speech and racism affect everyone in society and not just one group.

We should never forget this fact, but it’s convenient and allows us to “condemn racism” and never leave our racialized comfort zones.

Read the full story here.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: Defecting from a single-issue party like the PS of Finland

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Pekka Sinisalo defects from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* to the Blue Reform party because, under Jussi Halla-aho,  it is a single-issue party. Before the PS imploded in June, it was a supposedly a 1.5-issue party. The Finnish media forgets that the PS is the only party in modern Finnish history that decided to target and capitalize on Islamophobia and racism. Those that form part of Blue Reform haven’t apologized and are part of that disgraceful history. 

 

Like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in Finland racism and fascism is a matter of interpretation. Source: YLE.

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

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.

AntroBlogi: Minä, Jumala ja hallinto-oikeus

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Jos turvapaikanhakija kokee lähtömaassaan vainoa uskonnollisen vakaumuksensa vuoksi, tämä voi olla peruste turvapaikan myöntämiselle Suomeen. Mutta entä jos hän on vaihtanut uskontoa kesken hakuprosessin? Tällöin Suomessa arvioidaan hakijan uskonnollisen vakaumuksen aitoutta.

Hallinto-oikeus arvioi tuoreessa päätöksessään, millä perustein voidaan olettaa turvapaikanhakijan olevan kristitty. Se toteaa, että kaste ei ole riittävä selvitys “aidosta kristinuskoon kääntymisestä”. Lisäksi “yksinomaan henkilön ulkoisen käyttäytymisen perusteella ei voida arvioida, onko hän vakaumuksellinen kristitty”.

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen voi lukea tästä.

Oikeuskäsittelyssä turvapaikanhakijan vakaumuksen puolesta todistaneet eivät olleet käyneet hänen kanssaan “syvällistä keskustelua – – hänen tämänhetkisestä vakaumuksestaan”. Tämän vuoksi oikeus toteaa, että todistajien perusteella “ei voida vakuuttua valittajan kristinuskoon kääntymisen aitoudesta”.

Hallinto-oikeus yrittää arvioida, onko vakaumus aito. Mutta ovatko uskonnolliset vakaumukset aina samalla tavalla “aitoja”? Antropologinen todistusaineisto viittaa siihen, että eivät. Kysymys siitä, mikä on aitoa ja mikä ei, vaihtelee eri uskonnoissa ja kulttuureissa.

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