Migrant Tales, Author at Migrant tales

Helsingin Sanomat editorial and the real reason why the Perussuomalaiset do well in parliamentary elections

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Migrant Tales

A short editorial by Helsingin Sanomat Thursday warns that the 1.3 percentage point rise in the recent opinion poll of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party may force other parties to latch on to Islamophobic rhetoric. The PS’ pet themes today are high electricity and gas prices at the pumps and others, which it did not specify.

Even if the daily did not specify the other topic, anyone following the populist party would note that migration is the likely candidate.

While the latter should be clear to the editorial board of Helsingin Sanomat, the daily leaves out another important fact: the national media and public servants like the police spread the PS’ hateful rhetoric.

The 2011 parliamentary election, when the PS won 39 seats from 5 previously, was propelled and helped by uncritical reporting that was more amazed at the new racist kid on the political block. Even parties like the Social Democrats started copying the PS’ anti-immigration rhetoric.

PS rising political “stars” like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Juho Erola, Timo Soini, and others got their place in the sun. Things were so bad back then that Islamophobes were invited to give their opinions on talk shows.

Sweden is the pet topic of the Perussuomalaiset, spreading fake news, too

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Migrant Tales

If you didn’t speak out against racism, who would?

Sweden is a pet topic of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. They constantly and obnoxiously remind us what a horrible place Sweden is because there live Muslims and other migrants.

PS chairperson, Riikka Purra, continues to push her ethnonationalist and ethnic replacement theory at almost every opportunity. She constantly attacks people who are vieraskielisiä, people who do not speak Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue.

Purra tweets below:
In the [September] Swedish [parliamentary] elections, there is a general debate to discuss how many “non-Nordics” can live in each area and what problems too many will cause.
So times are changing, even in Sweden. Unfortunately, it is too late [for them].
If only Finland would understand [to act] before such a matter happens.”

Purra forgets to mention how much migrants have contributed to building Sweden’s economy and well-being. She doesn’t, for obvious reasons, mention how our ever-growing elderly population will impoverish us.

Moreover, Purra, like her PS lapdogs and followers, are constantly whining about how bad Sweden is and how immigration is bad for society.

Twitter (Riikka Purra): Islamofobia ja “sokeus,” perussuomalaiset ja islamofobia

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Riikka Purra leimaa kaikki muslimit vaarallisiksi. Kaikissa uskonnoissa ja kulttuurissa on mielipuolisia ihmisiä. Miksi Purra ei puhu sanaakaan Ricky Shifferista?

Shifferi on yksi Trumpin kannustaja joka hyökkäsi aseella FBIn toimiston Cincinnatissa ja sai surmansa myöhemmin.

Annan Purralle yhden kattavasta raportista islamofobiasta Euroopassa, jossa olen maininnut hänet ja hänen puolueensa monia kertoja. Tässä linkki.

**Lähde: European Islamophobia Report 2020**

White Finnish justice is sometimes lopsided

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Migrant Tales

An example of how white Finnish justice works?

Two inebriated white Finns start to harass a non-white boy in a racist manner. The boy yells something back at them and speeds away with his bike.

A white Finnish couple says something at the men about their behavior toward the boy. They approach the couple, and the thirty-year-old man hits and kicks one of the suspects who yelled at the boy.

The man, claims that he attacked the inebriated men after they got about a meter from him. The man said he attacked them because he feared they might have a knife.

The court did not accept the defendant’s claim and was fined 1,300 euros for assault and threatening a person unlawfully.

A court of appeal had turned down a request to overturn the original ruling.

**Read the full story (in Finnish) here.**

Up to here, we can sort of understand the case. However, an important piece is missing: racist harassment of a child by two white Finnish adults. Did the police attempt to find the child and bring charges against the two men?

The story reads as if racist harassment is unimportant and has no bearing on the case.

White Finnish justice is lopsided.

After 16 hours in the darkness, Migrant Tales is up and running again

Posted on August 13, 2022 by Migrant Tales

I was shocked when my provider suspended my account on Friday. The first matter that I thought about was if there was an unpaid bill and that was the cause for my provider to suspend my account.

The last time we had a similar scare was in 2012, when we were down for about 13 hours.

My provider gave me the following news: “Hello, It appears that there is an attack coming through on the domain. Specifically a lot of wp-login hits and main page of the site.”

Not being able to post anything because the site was under attack is a horrible feeling, to say the least. That is why it is important to have a good provider who can offer expedient support when needed.

Death threats, threats in general, harassment, and malicious attacks against the site are all part of a blogger’s ecosystem.

After a dip in the darkness, we are up and running again.

This made my Saturday night.

How coded language is used in Finland to get around labelling groups and racist words

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

In Finland, some parties are openly racist, and others are more subtle about it. Both are dangerous to our community. The more we know about them, the better prepared we are to challenge such a menace.

Large opposition parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) have one matter in common: they loathe asylum seekers from outside the EU but rarely name the ethnic group directly.

In all respects, they are nothing more than cowardly bullies for treating vulnerable people like asylum seekers with such contempt.

Parties that profit politically off asylum seekers are such cowards that they usually speak in code. The term “asylum seeker” is used usually to signify Muslim as well as “person of migrant background,” when he’s not an asylum seeker.

Ever wonder why both these parties usually refuse to use the word “Muslim” or “Arab?” True, the PS no longer does but uses Afghans (and previously Somalis) in some of its postings like the one below, where it claims that keeping such people out of Finland and putting them in refugee camps in a neighboring country helps 50 refugees.

The PS tweet below states:”Do we want to help – or do we want more migrants? The best way to help them in neighboring [countries].
One Afghan to Finland costs as much as [helping] 50 people in bordering countries.”

MT Media Monitoring: Why doesn’t Helsingin Sanomat tell us the full story about labor market discrimination?

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, missed another opportunity to expose the elephant in the room about why so few Ukrainian nurses and medics are hired in the face of a chronic labor shortage in the health sector.

True, the daily does address issues like language as a factor. But isn’t this a common excuse in the labor market to not hire non-Finns? Another factor cited by the paper is the bureaucracy (Valvira, the national supervisory authority for welfare and health) and rules, which make hiring healthcare professionals challenging.

Numerous studies on Finland’s and EU’s labor markets conclude they are racialized and segregated. So many toxic matters that impact migrant employment spring from structural racism. Why are we treating such a social ill with kid gloves?

Olga Silfver of the Ukrainian association of Finland sheds light on the country’s racialized and segregated markets, which also apply to white and Christian Ukrainians.

Twitter (@persut): No Afghan migrants to Finland

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party hates migrants from Muslim countries. It hates these people so much that it rarely utters the word “Muslim” and “African.”

PS tweet below states:

Do we want to help – or do we want more migrants?
The best way to help them is in neighboring [countries].
One Afghan to Finland costs as much as [helping] 50 people in bordering countries.

Ask the PS the following questions:
1. How many Afghan refugees are living in refugee camps?
2. Is living in a refugee camp similar to living at a five-star hotel?
3. Why are we taking a fraction of the refugees in Europe compares to countries like Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey and others?
4. Why are you so spiteful against refugees?

Facebook (Leif Hagert): Harassing a minority of a small Finnish town

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Migrant Tales

In the world’s happiest country, the ugly face of racism can show itself. This post by a young woman called Laura Elisabeth of the Romany minority is shameful and should never happen in our country.

I hope the perpetrators get caught and feel the full weight of the law fall on them.

“I have already reported the matter to the police, but I want to share it here too. I am a 19-year-old girl from Lapua [in the western Finnish region of Southern Ostrobothnia], and I am shocked that this can happen in my neighborhood. Last night, between Friday and Saturday last week, I was walking home from the train station with my luggage. A large group of young boys drove towards me [menacingly] at such a high speed that I almost got run over. I had to get out of the way [of the approaching car] and leave my luggage there. They then surrounded me with their vehicles and robbed me. They followed me to my front yard and continued to harass me further by coming under my balcony in the middle of the night, beeping [their horns], shouting [derrogatory names like Gypsy, etc.], and throwing rubbish. It was also a nuisance to the elderly people living in the same block of flats. I have also lived in big cities, and nothing like this has ever happened to me. I hope parents who recognize their children’s cars from the picture will come forward and contact me. What happened should not happen. Everyone has the right to walk down the street feeling safe regardless of ethnic background.

Why is racism such a difficult matter for Helsingin Sanomat to address?

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Helsingin Sanomat raised an important question: There are a record amount of asylum seekers from Ukraine, but nobody is crying murder like when mostly Iraqis and Afghans came to Finland in large numbers in 2015.

In a statement Monday, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) said that there are over 37,000 Ukrainians registered in the Finnish asylum reception system, more than the over 32,000 asylum seekers that arrived in the country in 2015.

Finland’s largest daily asks a good question that should expose our double standards: Why do Ukraininens get preferential treatment against the hostile reception asylum seekers from outside Europe received seven years ago?