Author: Migrant Tales

PM Sanna Marin is a true leader

Posted on by Migrant Tales

An interview published today in The Guardian of Prime Minister Sanna Marin reveals that countries like Finland have not caved into populism, xenophobia, and toxic nationalism. Her leadership is a direct snub at those forces in Finland trying to bring down her government.

Marin said in the interview that she believed future governments would continue to promote Nordic state welfare values like social equality.

“I think so,” she was quoted as saying in The Guardian. “Because it’s work that’s ongoing. We have always worked for equality in Finland, and I think it’s also important in the future, and not only the equality of men and women, or the genders, but also the equality of minority groups in society.

Read the full story here.

Foretunately, human rights rank high in PM Marin’s government. If the opposition ever gained power, human rights would be compromised and demoted.

“We have to say this is not acceptable. We’re condemning the actions of Belarus. But at the same time we have to make sure that people’s human rights are respected in this situation,” Marin said.

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Far-right terrorism in Finland has many direct and indirect supporters

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THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

The main agents of ideological violence are not isolated “lone wolves” but are usually interconnected with communities, non-violent agents and legal entities, at times even including connections to law enforcement personnel.

Mihai Varga

Five white Finns were detained Tuesday and remanded by a Satakunta District Court Friday, at the request of the police, on suspicion of terrorist offenses, according to a statement by the Southwestern Finland Police.

The police said that this far-right suspected terror offense is the first in Finland.

The face of Finnish far-right terrorism. Source: Southwestern Finland Police.

“We have found in their possession terrorist material which, when examined in conjunction with other criminal investigation material, reinforces the impression that they have become radicalized and gives reason to suspect them of terrorist offenses,” said Detective Superintendent Toni Sjöblom, head of the investigation.

While the detention of this group is good news and no longer poses a threat, the interesting question is to see the reaction.

If the suspects were Muslims, Finland would have a serious knee-jerk reaction from Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and others to draft tighter terrorist laws and more surveillance powers to the police.

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Five white Finns arrested on suspected terrorism charges

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Five white Finns born between 1995 and 1998 were arrested Tuesday by the police on suspected terrorism charges, according to Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa. The five suspects are from the Western Finnish region of Kankaanpää.

The police did not call the suspects white Finns but stated that they had “ethnic Finnish names.”

The police and the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) will hold a press conference at 6 pm to release more details like the detention of the suspects and the danger they posed to the public.

Tweet #1: “Police of southwestern Finland arrest five people suspected of terrorist offenses. The Satakunta District Court will decide on the matter today.” Tweet #2: “The police suspects that the individuals planned a terrorist act. There is no acute danger. The suspects live in the Kankaanpää region of Satakunta. Police arrested the suspects on Tuesday. Police will comment further at the media conference tonight.”
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A Finnish Islamophobic party’s recipe for inclusion and ethnic understanding

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Since the 2011 parliamentary elections, which saw the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party win 39 starts from 5 seats previously, it has systematically tarred and feathered migrants, especially Muslims, people of color, and specific minorities.

Should you be surprised that all PS MPs elected in 2019 based their campaign on an anti-immigration message.

The PS demands that Finland should strive for zero asylum seekers (code for Muslims). Those that remain in Finland must endure the constant racism, labeling, and bombardment of their group.

PS MP Minna Reijonen epitomizes this toxicity in a question to the government during a session of parliament.

Source: YouTube

MP Reijonen parrots the PS’ populist and racist stance of migrants and minorities, planting the seeds of future social strife.

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Kirkko ja kaupunki: Security costs at the Helsinki Synagogue soar

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It should not surprise us that anti-Semitism is also on the rise in Finland. An article in Kirkko ja kaupunki revealed the cost of security needed at the Helsinki Synagogue has soared between 2017 and 2021. Yaron Nadbornik, president of the 1,100-strong Jewish community of Helsinki, was quoted as saying that the cost of security at the synagogue has jumped from 200,000 euros in 2017 to 450,000 euros in 2021.

Personal donation targets have also risen sharply, from 15,000 euros to 50,000 euros.

He said: “The purpose of our community is not to maintain security, but to maintain Jewish life in Finland and especially in Helsinki. In the past, it was not known precisely how much money was spent on security because it was not a meaningful metric that we followed closely.”

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Nadbornik added that the accounting system to monitor security was changed three years ago giving a more precise view of such costs.

In an interview last year, the president of the Jewish community of Helsinki said that only recently the police have acknowledged that there is an anti-Semitism problem in Finland.

“The authorities have recognized during 2018-2019 that there is an anti-Semitism problem in Finland,” he said. “Before, it was [for them] pretty unclear if such a matter existed.”

In 2017, Nadbornik blamed the government and police of Finland for not doing enough to clamp down on hate speech, which was directly linked to anti-Semitism.

In the interview with Kirkko ja kaupunki, he stated that the police understand the threat of physical harm, but if somebody paints a Nazi symbol on the synagogue’s wall it is not treat it as a hate crime.

In many parts of the world, racist graffiti is considered a hate crime.

We recommend that the Jewish Community of Helsinki ask the police why they don’t treat racist graffiti like a swastika a hate crime.

Racists at the Mikkeli bus stop

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I hadn’t heard the statement, “I’m a racist,” for a long time. Even so, two middle-aged women were chatting in Mikkeli loudly about how bad migrants were.

I intervened because silence is a total cop-out.

“Are you a racist,” I asked one of the women.

“Yes, I’m a racist,” she snapped.

“You should be ashamed of yourself for being a racist,” I responded.

There is no need to write what they continued to say about migrants because it was straight from a Perussuomalaiset* playbook.

Source: European Network Against Racism.

I concluded: “I’m happy that you are a minority [in this country]. Only a minority think like you.”

The discussion ended, and for some strange reason, the two women disappeared from the bus stop.

Don’t give racists space. Challenge what they say. The next time they speak and show off their racism in public, they’ll think twice.

Shameless Europe does not care if you live or die

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We cannot just snuggle here and see who comes to the border. We must promote the values of the EU with greater determination because without these values we are worthless.

Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen

We just read about the tragic death of 27 people when attempting to cross the English Channel. One of the victims was a pregnant woman with three children, according to The Guardian.

Even if Britain and France are pointing the finger, nothing will change, and refugees, people, will continue to die.

The cold-hearted treatment and hostility towards people attempting to apply for asylum in the EU show that Europe is addicted to lies.

The lie has had terrible consequences. For one, 44,746 people have drowned while crossing the Mediterranean between 1993 and 2021, according to United.

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After using the full n-word on television twice, Esko Valtaoja now calls that host he insulted “white”

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Every scar I have makes me who I am.

Anonymous

It is ok to utter the full n-word on Finnish television, as we saw on Friday on the Marja Sannikka show, which turned out to be a fiasco revealing how little homework the host had done and how polarized and ignorant Finnish society is of racism.

Apart from not telling the host Esko Valtaoja that he shouldn’t use the n-word because it is offensive and next to a racialized Finn, Valtaoja exposed his prejudices further when he was quoted in Iltalehti.

Trying to justify his use of the n-word, he stated that the other guest “was white.”

“I don’t understand why an apology is needed. If I had known what this other white person’s [Ebrahimi] reaction would be, I would have used a different way [of expressing myself]. But I couldn’t have known then. We must remember that Ebrahimi is as white as me (sic!). According to my understanding, she is of Iranian-Kurdish background, and her skin color is white.”

Source: Iltalehti
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Marja Sannikka’s talk show on racism is the worst I have ever watched

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Last Friday, on the Marja Sannikka show about racism, was a fiasco. It was the worst talk show on racism I have seen in Finland. It was such a flop that the host, Sannikka, allowed one of the guests to say the full n-word twice and did not even object.


Before I continue, I would like to say that Renaz Ebrahimi is a brave woman who brought up some crucial points about the discrimination and racism minorities face daily in Finland.

The Marja Sannikka show was the worst talk show I have ever seen in Finland. It was like putting Renaz Ebrahimi in a shark tank with Esko Valtaoja and the host, who made no qualms about showing off their ignorance and white privilege. Ebrahimi held one’s own. See the full show here.

Thanks to the show, the n-word and the full n-word were trending on Twitter. Moreover, when you watch these types of flops you know that nothing will improve on the anti-racism front in Finland.


But what can you expect when the host and gust, Esko Valtaoja, an astronomer and writer, faced off Ebrahimi by using the full n-word on the show.


After listening to some of Valtaoja’s points, I wondered why Sannikka invited him? Apart from his ethnocentric views dressed in white privilege, there was nothing constrictive coming from him.


Sannikka’s comments about how to deal with racism were a flop as well. Like Valtaoja, she is white and has no idea what racism is because it has never affected her in the same way as Ebrahimi.

At best, she showed her ignorance of the issue.


Shameful lazy journalism where we allow our prejudices to dictate solutions that are full of flaws.

The more proof that labor discrimination is king in Finland, the less is done to tackle the problem

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Racism is such a big issue in Finland that even white people are discriminated.

Another news story. Another example. You will lose out in the Finnish labor market if you don’t have a Finnish name. If there is overwhelming proof that this type of discrimination takes place, why does it continue? Why aren’t there any stories in the Finnish media that sued an employer for discrimination?

Why are we reading over and over again ad nauseam about labor market discrimination?

Instead of changing your name to a Finnish-sounding one, why isn’t enough being done?

The big issues isn’t exposing discrimination in the media and in studies, which is welcome, but not doing or doing very little about it is the problem. We don’t make a big fuss about discrimination because we don’t take it seriously enough.

See also:

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.
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