Author: Migrant Tales

Amiirah Salleh-Hoddin & Jana Turk: Vote, vote and vote on Sunday!

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The 2017 municipal elections in Finland will be held this Sunday on 9 April, with advance voting having already taken place from 29 March to 4 April. Finnish municipal elections are held on the third Sunday of April every 4 years to elect councilors in the 295 municipalities in continental Finland and 16 in the Province of Åland as of the beginning of 2017.

While typically only citizens can vote in elections, the Finnish municipal elections entitle foreign non-citizen residents of Finland to have a say after only 2 years of registered residence in a Finnish municipality, or only after 51 days for citizens of a European Union country, Switzerland or Norway. With the relatively high level of Finnish proficiency still often required to access information on migrant rights, and even more so for political issues, many migrants are thus not necessarily aware that they are entitled to participate in the municipal election process.

An “Our Election” event organized by Moniheli with Green Party MP Ozan Yanar.

According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX 2015), the political participation of migrants has been low in the previous two municipal elections in 2008 and 2012. The general voter turnout was at 61.2% in 2008 and 58.3% in 2012. However, among eligible foreign residents, voter participation was only at 19.6% in both years. With the right to vote comes the right to stand as a candidate, and for this there is an even lower rate of participation by eligible foreign residents.

While the number of candidates with a mother tongue other than Finnish, Swedish or Sami increased from 539 in 2008 and 680 in 2012, it translated to only 0.3% and 0.4% of elected representatives respectively (34 in 2008, 43 in 2012).

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#cupofteawithme demonstration in Oulu, Finland, attacked with petrol bombs

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At 4:40am today a white car with three of four persons threw three petrol bombs at the tent where asylum seekers have been protesting since March. The police are investigating the incident. 

Seven days ago, on March 31, the demonstrators were forced to move from the city center to Torinranta, a worse location since there are fewer people and apparently more dangerous and prone to attacks.

The #cupofteawithme demonstration in Oulu started [on March 11] as a show of support to the #righttolife demonstration in Helsinki organized by Afghans, Iraqis and Finns.

“The people, especially the Lutheran church,  have supported us and been so good to us,” Ali Asaad Hasan, who has been involved with the demonstration in Oulu from day one, said recently.

The Iraqi asylum seeker said that today’s attack didn’t surprise him.

“Two days before this incident, a man came and sat near our tent and then kicked a barbecue grill where we warm our hands and disconnected the electricity cable,” Hasan said. “He then ran away but we caught him and called the police.”

One of the petrol bombs that didn’t work that was thrown at the tent. Fortunately, the fire was put out rapidly.

Mona Hyvärinen is one of the Finnish volunteers that helps the asylum seekers to organize their demonstration. She is unemployed and with the little money she has attempts to keep the protest afloat financially.

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Shamsul Alam is one of the new brave faces of Finland that nobody can make go away

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Racism and hate speech are social ills that have spread like wildfire in Finland. Racists in Finland come from the same place than other racists in other countries. It is unacceptable that in a country like Finland, which prides itself as a modern Nordic welfare state, that racism and hate speech can see another day with near-impunity. 

Finland will hold municipal elections on Sunday and there are a number of minority candidates running for city council. YLE reported that two municipal candidates of Helsinki, Green Party MP Ozan Yanar and Suldaan Said Ahmed of the Left Alliance, have received death threats as well as a constant barrage of racist abuse.

Kerava city council candidate, Shamsul Alam of the Left Alliance, has had to take his share of racist attacks. He has turned to the police to file charges against his attackers but neither has he heard from them nor his attackers been quieted and brought to justice.

The businessman from Bangladesh, who has lived in Finland for seven years, was brought to my attention by a Green Party candidate from the same city, Zoila Forss, who has faced as well her generous share of racist abuse.

The question we should be asking ourselves is why does this type of hate speech persist?  Why aren’t we hearing any strong condemnation from the government and other politicians? Is it because part of this hate speech emanates from the halls of power?

Silence is a political statement as well.

“I’m not too hopeful that justice will be brought against these people,” said Alam. “Apart from racism, why do these people attack me in such a way?”

The Left Alliance candidate has two children under the age of 7 years and he’s worried about their safety.

“I’m really very concerned about the safety of my children and must take steps to protect them,” he continued. “We still have to challenge racism and one of the best ways is to expose it in the media.”

“Even so, the government and politicians must speak out as well,” he added. “The police have yet to act on the racist harassment I have received.”

Apart from the police, what is the responsibility of social media multinational companies like Facebook in spreading such hatred and racism?

We wish Alam the best of luck in the municipal elections and are saddened by all the racist flack he has had to endure.

He’s the brave face of the new Finland, no question about that.

Kerava is a city located about 30km north of Helsinki. In this ad, Alam states that he wants to bring the opinions of migrants to the city council and that more resources should be put in integration schemes. The right to equal education of children and youths should be guaranteed.

 

One of Alam’s harassers. He tells him to f**k off and go back to his own country and teach his own kind.

Fake profiles, sickening comments abound on Facebook against people who exercise their civil rights.

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Change the name of the Finnish Immigration Service to the Finnish Immigration “Disservice”

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The collective outrage that we saw on Monday when an Afghan family was deported from Finland to their country reveals why the Finnish Immigration Service  (Migri) is not “a service” but more of a disservice to too many migrants and asylum seekers.

From the cantankerous days of Eila Kännö, when she watched over the handful migrants that lived in Finland as head of the Aliens’ Office, the same force motivates Migri now like then: Migration and cultural diversity are  treated as a threat to Finland.

Like in the days of Kännö to the present, we can make up any argument to justify our institutional suspicion of migrants and of cultural diversity. Such policies can put people in harm’s way. Migri’s assessment that Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia are “safe” is a shameful example.

Likewise Kännö, justified her hardline anti-immigration policies by claiming they were necessary to keep criminals from coming here.

A very good Migration Matters video on why deportations don’t work as a deterrent.

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YouTube Perussuomalaiset candidate: We don’t want asylum seekers in Finland – leave

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This interview by an Iraqi asylum seeker of Tampere Perussuomalaiset (PS)* municipal election candidate, Elisa Hiltunen, reveals candidly why many migrants see the PS as a hostile party that is set on placing obstacles on migrants’, especially asylum seekers’ lives. The PS candidate reveals as well the extreme egoism and her outright ignorance of our laws and international commitments. 

But that’s “ok.” She’s a member of the PS.

* The official translation to Finnish of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is the Finns Party. In our opinion, it is not only a horrible translation, but one that is misguided. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Such terms like the Finns Party of True Finns promote as well in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and thereafter the acronym PS.

Twitter Muhammed Shire: Päivi Nerg faces tough questions on Tuesday

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Migrant Tales insight:  Thank you Muhammed Shire for tweeting this. The fact that there are so many questions thrown at permanent secretary of the interior ministry, Päivi Nerg, about Monday’s deportation is a good sign. It shows that more and more people in Finland oppose the government’s asylum policies. Don’t be confused by Nerg’s title. She’s the hardline public servant of Finland’s tight immigration policy against asylum seekers. 

We have said on a number of occasions in Migrant Tales that the extreme hardline stance of the government’s asylum policy will turn against it. We saw this happen in the 1980s when the tough stance of the then Aliens Office turned against itself because it was so out of touch with public opinion.

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Nasima Razmyar and the Social Democrats: Do one thing, say another

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Could somebody explain how a politician like MP called Nasima Razmyar of the Social Democratic Party can speak against deportations when her vote in parliament last year was partly responsible for the deportation that took place on Monday?

Razmyar as well as the majority of Social Democratic MPs, the Center Party, National Coalition Party, Perussuomalaiset* and Christian Democrats voted to do away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds.

Scrapping such a law now means that after three rejections asylum seekers can be deported back to their countries. Before, they were given a temporary residence permit that allowed to stay in Finland.

Even if it is a good matter that MP Razmyar speaks out against deportations at Monday’s demonstrations, it is disingenuous of  her since her vote made the Afghan family’s deportation possible.

Considering her background as a refugee, we need an explanation from Razmyar why she voted against the bill that did away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

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A dramatic Monday when demonstrators almost halted a deportation to Afghanistan

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Today was a dramatic evening when protestors tried to stop a deportation of Afghans from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Apart from the protestors, ST1 allegedly refused to tank the plane that was going to deport the asylum seekers back to Afghanistan.

Plans to deport Afghans from Finland was reported by Al-Jazeera.

There was hope that the deportation would stop and be delayed but such hopes were dashed when the plane, a Boeing 737-800 (OK-TVO) allegedly of the Czech Travel Service, took off from the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport cargo terminal.

The protestors who did everything possible to stop the deportation should be commended. It is a good example of activism and standing up against a government that doesn’t care an iota for the safety of the people it deports.

Ilona Taimela tweets that apparently a new demonstration against deportations will be held tomorrow at noon at the Helsinki Railway Station Square. Tell the organizers that you will be going to the demonstration here.

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