Author: Migrant Tales

How the PS of Finland would want to create an unequal society

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s clear that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has become more hostile to migrants, minorities and our ever-growing cultural diverse community after their poll ratings took a beating recently. 

Remember when PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen said that international agreements and our constitution didn’t permit the populist party from carrying out their policies?

We read a while back how Social and Health Minister Hanna Mäntylä, who would do everything possible to water down migrants’ rights in Finland, seeks to change the social welfare system on the basis of nationality and ethnicity.

Certainly with most of the party’s campaign promises broken and poll rating flirting with the single-digit league, the PS has one important trump card left to muster support: suspicion of migrants and refugees.

Mäntylä believes that if we lowered social welfare to migrants and refugees but kept it the same for Finns it would discourage people from coming here. Her logic is based on the idea that people of the Middle East aren’t fleeing war but flocking to Finland to live off social welfare.

The plan, to create a two-tier system for social welfare is unconstitutional because it would make non-Finnish citizens unequal before the law. Section 6 of the constitution clearly states that everyone in Finland is equal before the law.

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The Hieno: Finland is not for the ambitious

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Wan Wei

[Edits: This is a personal blog. A rant post like the following, in all its raw honesty, IS emotionally charged. So here is a non-provocative version. For concrete evidence on why I lack faith in the current Finnish economy for the next 1-5 years, read  “Why Finland is not for the ambitious: A Macroeconomic Perspective”.Fundamentally, I am against mediocrity because I know Finns are smart and more of them can become world leaders should the system support and reward ambition–Read My Open Reply: In Praise of Ambition, Slush 2015 and Vision for Finland.

Clearly, this post is about the Finnish SYSTEM, not Finns. Logic: I am a NOBODY in Finland, I can’t change the system, so if I’m in the system I’d just expect the average, logical result, which is unemployment/partial employment for me as a foreigner in the next 1-5 years. Neither can I change the prevailing attitudes towards “ambition”. And guess what–Two days ago, Helsinki Sanomat reports thatAmbitious Finnish academics are choosing to leave the country too! ]

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Read full opinion piece here.

—–

Hey guys! Today I am going to blog an opinion piece on why ambitious foreigners/Finns should just leave Finland if they are unhappy. This is as opposed to the alternative of trying to stay on to “fight for change”. You are hearing from a foreigner who heard many, many stories of other ambitious foreigners whofought, fought and fought but failed every single time, due to injustice or otherwise. I fought too, far less battles, but got really tired eventually.

Let’s start with a question: Have you ever seen any ambitious foreigner or Finn who are doing their own thing in Finland, and are wildly successful? Of course there are! But can these people be considered the norm, or the exception? And as exceptions, are these people constantly recycled as poster ambassadors to sell the concept, to both Finns and foreigners, of “Oh look, we are so international as One Finland?”

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What President Sauli Niinstö forgets to state when he claims that migrants should “do as the Romans do”

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What does President Sauli Niinitö mean by the controversial phrase, in Rome do as the Romans do, or maassa maan tavalla?

He is quoted as saying in YLE News:

“’When in Rome, do as the Romans do’, to use a rather worn-out and highly criticized phrase. There must be a respect for the principles of democracy, equality and human rights like the kind we share in Finland. Beyond these fundamentals, there remains a great deal of breathing room for multiculturalism to still thrive.”

Good. I’m glad that President Niinistö defines what this means and how it should be applied. There is, however, one very big flaw in the statement. It assumes that migrants that come here don’t understand “the principles of democracy, equality and human rights.”

Is this true?

Does anyone spot a pinch of ethnocentrism in Niinistö’s claim? What about the rise of a populist anti-immigration party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, suggest about how some Finns apply the “principle of democracy, equality and human rights?”

Bashy Quraishy, a friend and colleague of mine, recently stated in a Facebook post:

All western countries call themselves democracies – even if many would fail a real democracy test, namely provide equal rights for all its citizens and protect ethnic and religious minorities from injustices and discrimination.

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Read full story here.

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Finnish terms that parties and politicians use to hide their anti-immigration and racist views

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It’s always amazing to watch on television politicians like Sebastian Tynkyynen, third vice president of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and leader of its youth organization. They speak of anti-immigration sentiment nearly always in code and appropriate the term, as if it were a commodity, thanks to their white privilege. 

They speak of asylum seekers fleeing war, migrants and minorities living in this country as if were some kind of political fodder to help prop up their latest poll result.

The PS saw its support nosedive last week by 7 percentage points since the April elections to 10.7%, according to a latest YLE poll.

Bad timing for some, good timing for others. Tynkkynen’s row with the PS leadership comes at a bad or good time for the populist anti-immigration party.

It’s unfortunate how the Finnish media has been taken for a ride by politicians like Tynkkynen. It shows how the likes of him and others who are openly hostile to cultural diversity in Finland continue to dominate the debate, or at least the terms used to debate the matter.

Taking into account that Finland is a welfare state that identifies and considers itself a part of the Nordic community, it would be politically inappropriate to bring to the debate terms and concepts that would undermine values such as social equality.

Section 6 of our Constitution states:

Everyone is equal before the law. No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.

Euphemisms serve a purpose in the ongoing debate because they help you get around sticky Constitutional issues that undermine our present Nordic values and from getting sentenced for ethnic agitation.

One euphemism that’s being used a lot these days is another invention by the PS, “immigration policy,” maahanmuuttopolitiikka.

By criticizing “immigration policy” you don’t have to label migrants and minorities directly living in Finland but that’s what you end up doing. The term is code for anti-immigration and that you are against Africans, Muslims and other non-Europeans moving here.

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Sebastian Tynkkynen would be in favor of the PS leaving government for supporting a bailout package to Greece and closing the border with Sweden. What is disgraceful about the interview is how Tynkkynen speaks of asylum seekers, migrants and minorities in Finland in anti-immigration code and opportunistically boost the party’s declining popularity in the polls at the same time boost his own political career. Watch full interview here.

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Finnish politicians: Leave your “we’re against racism comfort zone” catchphrases and take action!

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I read National Coalition Party (NCP) Interior Minister Petteri Orpo’s speech in parliament Wednesday about racism. While we’re moving in some direction on this front there is one factor that takes us off the path: denial. 

Making a claim that the opinions of “a far right minority get too much attention” in the debate is a good example of how Orpo and other politicians play down the problem.  How many far right politicians are there in parliament? Does the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party promote racism, hate speech and enable this “far right minority” to get attention?

Taking into account the latest #pizzagate scandal, which could be a good example of ethnic profiling, structural racism and outright discrimination and prejudice, Wednesday’s debate in parliament on racism and hate speech didn’t mention once this latest scandal by the police.

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Read full story here.

As usual, the debate on racism and hate speech in our society normally vacillates with a positive statement against such a social ill but that is almost immediately followed by another affirmation that neutralizes the latter.

Continue reading “Finnish politicians: Leave your “we’re against racism comfort zone” catchphrases and take action!”

UPDATE (October 14): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

October 14

Tänä vuonna Suomeen 10 000 laitonta pakolaista (Ilta-Sanomat)

What is wrong with this tabloid billboard? Ilta-Sanomat, which was responsible for spreading racism against Somalis in the early 1990s, is at it again. This billboard by the tabloid claims that this year “10,000 illegal refugees” will arrive in Finland. What is an illegal refugee anyway and can a refugee ever be “illegal” or undocumented? This kind of twisted logic, which was first heard from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* a while back, is being parroted by the tabloid. Has anything changed in about 20 years if we look at the two billboards below when it comes to spreading racism and lies about refugees?

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Ilta-Sanomt today…

 

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This advertisement from 1994 reads: Somalis get asylum by cheating the authorities. Source Migration Institute.

Länsi-Savo: Keitä uhkaa Suomi?

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Paljon on kirjoitettu ja tapahtunut Suomessa viime aikoina. On mm. nähty Ku Klux Klan –tyyliin pukeutunut mies, rajat kiinni mielenosoituksia, polttopulloja ja väkivalta vastaanottokeskuksia ja turvapaikkahakijoita vastaan, sekä liian monia vaikenevia poliitikkoja.

On myös nähty perussuomalaisten suosio romahtaminen viime YLEn mielipidetutkimuksessa. Puolue, joka on kerännyt suosioita maahanmuuttovastaisella retoriikalla, on toki saanut kovan takaiskun.

Yksi valopilkku tässä tilanteessa on viranomaiset, jotka ovat saanut paljon kokemusta ja ammattitaito 1990-luvun alusta kun Somalit tulivat Suomeen. Uskomme heidän taitoon hoitaa asioita.

Luimme ihmetellen kaksi mielipidekirjoituksia Länsi-Savossa (18.9. ja 19.9.2015) maahanmuuttoaiheesta. Ensimmäinen kirjoitus oli Perussuomalaisten Etelä-Savon piirin puheenjohtajalta, Raimo Heinäseltä, ja toinen samaan puolueen jäsen, jonka kirjoitus vilisi asiavirheittä kuten se, että maahanmuutto tarkoittaa suomalaisten elintason laskua.

Vaikka Heinänen väittää ettei ole maahanmuuttovastainen, hän käyttää paljon maahanmuuttovastaisia argumentteja kuten ”hallitsematonta” maahanmuuttoa, epäille että turvapaikkahakijat eivät ole pakolaisia ja levittää urbaanilegendoja sekä kauhukuvia.

Yllättävän moni ei tiedä sanojen kotoutuminen ja kotiutuminen eroa. ”Kotoutuminen” – sanan on aika uusi suomen kielessä ja se tarkoitta prosessia, jossa maahanmuuttajia sopeutuu yhteiskuntaamme. Kotiutuminen tarkoittaa paluuta vaikka kotiin työpäivän jälkeen. Maahanmuutto- ja pakolaispoliittinen toimikunta keksi vuonna 1997 ”kotoutuminen” –sana koska suomen kielestä puuttui integraatio- avaintermin tarkka vastine.

Moni mielipidekirjoituksia ei sisällä muuta kun leimaamista ja selittämistä, miksi ei kannattaa tehdä näin tai noin. Maalataan liian usein vain uhkakuvia.

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Watch out for the Finnish police “pizza squad!”

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Two policewomen who are looking for tax evaders have their eyes set on pizzerias, which are, surprise, surprise, mostly owned by migrants. If this isn’t an example of ethnic profiling then what is? 

But where do you complain?

Thanks to this post on Facebook by the policewomen, the whole suggestion that cheap pizza automatically means tax evasion has become a sad joke on social media, especially for the pizzeria owners who work 12-16 hours a day.

Not only is this a clear example of how ignorant the police service is of migrant entrepreneur but once again shows the ugly side of ethnic profiling.

Imagine the police service asks customers to report to them if they can buy pizza for less than 6 euros!

I wonder if these policewoman have ever gone to the market and asked why frozen pizza costs less than two euros? What about multinational companies like McDonalds that find tax loopholes to stash their money in offshore accounts?

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If Lidl sells pizza at 1.39 euros are they evading taxes? Thank you Ossi Mäntyniemi for the heads-up.

Why not write about these companies? Or why not ask what law gives the police the right to determine at what price should pizzas be sold in Finland, according to Taloussanomat.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” a pizzeria owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Migrant Tales. “The police like health authorities too often target restaurants owned by foreigners.”

Now here’s the million-euro question: To whom are you going to complain if you believe that your restaurant has been ethnically profiled?

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Migrants’ Right Network – Mrs May’s speech: An ugly intervention that at least clarifies for campaigners what needs to be done to defend the rights of all migrants

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Don Flynn*
Mrs May set out her stall on immigration during her speech to the Conservative conference. Its dismissal themes have already been challenged, often from surprising quarters. But we need a campaigning perspective to defeat her plans to roll back the rights of refugees and migrants.
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Read full opinion piece here.

Home Secretary Theresa May’s speech to the Conservative Party conference yesterday has been condemned even in the pages of the truest and bluest of Tory journals.

Continue reading “Migrants’ Right Network – Mrs May’s speech: An ugly intervention that at least clarifies for campaigners what needs to be done to defend the rights of all migrants”