Category: Enrique Tessieri

Atte Kaleva is a populist who spreads and dwells in Islamophobic soundbites

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Politicians who spread fear and suspicion of migrants are those that will never give power and a voice to migrants. Some good examples of groups that are Islamophobic are parties like the Perussuomalaiset* and leading Islamophobes like Jussi Halla-aho and Atte Kaleva. 

National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP candidate Atte Kaleva, who has overtaken Wille Rydman as the Halla-aho of his party, held a talk on March 15 in East Helsinki on “why multiculturalism doesn’t work.”

The timing of the talk was not the most appropriate since on the same day we learned about the atrocities in New Zealand when a far-right Australian extremist killed in cold blood 50 Muslims and wounded others in two mosques of Christchurch.

For anyone familiar with the topic of multiculturalism, Kaleva’s topic choice exposes who he is: a populist giving soundbites to the media and followers at the cost of minorities and groups like Muslims.

Some of Kaleva’s acquaintances include Jussi Halla-aho, convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. Kaleva appears proud of this picture. I think it is shameful. Thank you Christin Bergström for helping me find this Instagram posting with Kaleva and Halla-aho.

When the National Coalition Party candidate claims that multiculturalism does not work, we have no idea what he actually means.

Is he implying that cultural diversity is not possible because it always fails? Does he mean that white Finnish society is “perfect” while culturally diverse societies are flawed? Is he saying that countries like Canada, Australia, Argentina, the United States, and others are good examples where multiculturalism has failed?

Is he denying European history, which is and was historically always culturally and ethnically diverse?

Continue reading “Atte Kaleva is a populist who spreads and dwells in Islamophobic soundbites”

Attacks against Soini, Ahmed and the Muslim community of Finland are symptoms of our silence

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do the attacks against Blue Reform Foreign Minister Timo Soini in Vantaa Sunday and today against Left Alliance MP candidate Suldaan Said Ahmed tell us about today’s Finland? For one, they tell us of a troubled country that has been asleep to the threat of far-right extremism,  Islamophobia and other forms of racism. 

While we should denounce formally all forms of violence, it is ironic that Soini, who gave xenophobic extremists a political platform, saw a member allegedly of the far-right vigilante gang, Soldiers of Odin, try to attack him.

It is pretty disheartening to see the monster that Soini help created trying to attack him after he had relinquished the PS’ leadership in June 2017 to his foe Jussi Halla-aho.

Ahmed states that the attack against him was by a man in the Itäkeskus metro station.

Ahmed tweets: “I was just attacked at the metro station and the aggressor scolded me for being, among other things, an infidel and pedophile. Don’t dream that you will go to parliament.”

Apart from the far-right violence that has a strong dose of Islamophobia, graffiti was painted on a mosque in Helsinki with the same words that the New Zealand killer wrote on his weapon that took 50 lives: “Remove kebab.”

See original Facebook post here.

The Imam of the Helsinki mosque or prayer room, Abbas Bahmanpour, said that it was the third time the building was recently attacked.

“These types of graffiti show sympathy for terrorists and far-right ideology,” he said.

In Oulu, where another mosque that has been vandalized nine times since September 2017, has now voluntary guards outside the premises after one of the suspects in the sexual assault cases of Oulu was convicted last week.

“Every Friday during prayer time we want to make sure that we are safe,” said Islamic Society of Northern Finland Iman Dr Abul Mannan. “We asked the police to patrol between noon and 1:30 pm when a lot of people at the mosque but they didn’t come. We then decided to take matters in our hands and use our people to guard the mosque.”

See the MTV news story here.

Migrant Tales published a story on Saturday about how Muslims in the northern city of Kemi are especially afraid to walk outdoors alone at night after the Oulu sexual assault cases became public in December.

Continue reading “Attacks against Soini, Ahmed and the Muslim community of Finland are symptoms of our silence”

A racist harassing a young Muslim woman at the bus terminal of Mikkeli, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

On taking the 8:30 pm bus today to Helsinki from Mikkeli, a white-middle-aged redneck (WhiMAR) started to get too close to a young young woman, possibly from Afghanistan, with an older woman and a young man. It wasn’t clear what the man said to the young woman, but he told his fat WhiMAR friend that, “She’s a good-looking woman even if she wears a rag [hijab].”

I told the WhiMAR  to “behave” and stop harassing the woman. He stopped and appeared a little stunned that somebody cared.

The EU holds elecions on May 23-26 and Finland parliamentary elections on April 14. Source: European Network Against Racism.

On he bus, I told the driver to check with the surveillance camera if the harassment by the man persisted.

Let’s hope that nothing happens.

Asylum seeker hiding in Kemi, Finland: “Why do they [Finnish Immigration Service] make our lives so difficult?”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales reported Thursday about how a deportation had broken and separated a family of three (or four) in the northern Finnish city of Kemi. The family’s father, 58, and son deported on Thursday at around noon to Lebanon while the mother, 56, escaped from the hospital and is now in hiding. 

When detained, the woman fell ill and was hospitalized but managed to escape.

Is it correct to say that it is a family of three or four? One of the parents’ sons died of cancer when they came to Finland in 2015 and moved to Kemi.

The woman dreads the prospect of returning to the Middle East because she would never be able to visit her son’s grave again.

The husband is a native of Lebanon and his wife was born in Syria. Both of them lived in Syria for about 15 years.

A friend, who got in touch with us and who knows the woman, alerted us about the woman’s situation.

“Why do they [Finnish Immigration Service] make our lives so difficult?” she asked the source. “Why don’t they let us stay [in Finland]?”

“She is in limbo fighting against time,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The father and son are ok in Lebanon and the authorities [in that country] pomised them that they would revoke their Lebanese citizenship.”

According to the source, revoking the Syrian-born woman’s citizenship would take three months. It can only happen if a judge of the high court or president of Lebanon approve it.

“It would take [at least three-month] time,” the source continued. “It would mean that she would have to return to Syria, which is very difficult.”

The source said that the woman needs medication but did not know if it was for the heart or blood.

The woman was in better spirits after speaking to her husband and son.

THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED

 

Kemi is a good example of Finland’s hostile environment against asylum seekers and migrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The small 50-70 strong Iraqi community of the northern Finnish city of Kemi (pop. 21,256 in 2017) is feeling the brunt of the Islamophobic reaction of the highly publicized sexual assault cases of Oulu, located just 106 km from the city. 

Even before the sexual assault cases became public at the end of last year, the situation of the small Iraqi community of Kemi was problematic.

One Iraqi resident of Kemi alleged in 2017 that the Red Cross advised Muslim asylum seekers not leave their homes after eight pm on Saturdays because it was too dangerous.

Apart from the hostile environment against asylum seekers and presence of far-right vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin, one asylum seeker was shot at in 2016 and another one had his middle finger broken by a member of the vigilante group.

And let’s not forget Islamophobic Kemi city counsellors like Harri Tauriainen of the Perussuomalaiset* party.

“Matters are now worse [in Kemi] than before because of what happened in Oulu,” said a former asylum seeker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kemi is a city located 106 km from Oulu and 711 km north from Helsinki. Source: MTV.

According to the Kemi resident,  Iraqis fear going out of their homes at night. One asylum seeker who went to Lidl, called the source at 8.30 pm because he feared walking back home at night.

Continue reading “Kemi is a good example of Finland’s hostile environment against asylum seekers and migrants”

A deportation that broke a family of three (or four) in Kemi, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales understands that the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) ordered on Wednesday the detention of three asylum seekers living in the northern Finnish city of Kemi. Two of them, the father and son, were deported Thursday at 12:30 from Helsinki to Lebanon. The wife, who experienced the loss of her son in 2015 due to cancer, has gone into hiding after she escaped from the hospital. 

The woman was interned after she fainted and fell ill when the authorities came to detain her, the husband and son in Kemi.

The Red Cross identification cards of the Lebanese-Syrian asylum seekers.

 

“The son is buried in Kemi and even if Migri wants to deport the women, she refuses to leave the country because she does not want to be far from her deceased son,” said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The family is from Lebanon but they have lived many years in Syria and are naturalized citizens of that country.”

THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED.

 

One step forward for Islamophobes and two steps back for the Finnish media

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, convicted for ethnic agitation and sexual harassment, is on the roll with the media again. This time, the PS MP has taped on his car anti-immigration slogans like “stop refugee terrorism – out of this country every [asylum seeker] man.” 

These type of racist slogans are in special bad taste after what happened in New Zealand, where a white supremacist murdered in cold blood 50 Muslims.

While Hakkarainen is getting free advertisement and laughing all the way to the bank, few if any media is openly condemning this type of Islamophobia. At least not Helsingin Sanomat..

The Helsingin Sanomat article makes no mention about Hakkarainen’s criminal record or even questions his claim that asylum seekers cost Finland 3.2 billion euros a year. Hakkarainen’s source is a tabloid, Iltalehti, of a blogger that belongs to the same party as the PS MP and who is staunchly Islamophobic.

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Considering that the PS was in government (2015-2017) and that its chairperson, Jussi Halla-aho played down what happened in New Zealand and that one of its youth leaders condoned what happened by blaming it on “multiculturalism,” it is clear why there is a hostile environment in Finland against Muslims and migrants.

Such type of weak reporting happens a lot because the media somehow agrees with politicians like Hakkarainen.

The media is one clear culprit in Finland’s hostile environment.

Continue reading “One step forward for Islamophobes and two steps back for the Finnish media”

The Perussuomalaiset of Finland try to play down New Zealand atrocities but fail

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In Finland, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is an extremist far-right party that fear-mongers about Muslims and migrants. For many PS politicians, the Oulu sexual abuse cases came as an election lifesaver until Friday, when an Australian white supremacist murdered in cold blood 49 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

The future for the PS looks bleak. Different stories about the party speculate that some 200,000 voters are going to ditch the PS in the April 14 parliamentary elections.

From the reactions of some PS members to the atrocities in New Zealand, show a sense of dread.

What do extremists do when a murderous killing happens by people who are ideologically in the same ballpark? They find excuses to justify what happened, play it down or change the story completely.

Here is a PS Youth leader of Lapland who condones what happened.

 

What did Johannes Sipola say in the tweet?

“The New Zealand case show ever-convincingly that multicultural society does not work. When other people [of other backgrounds] rape and kill enough [people], it is only a question of time when there will be a reaction from the opposite side. First and foremost, everyone defends their own.”

Continue reading “The Perussuomalaiset of Finland try to play down New Zealand atrocities but fail”

Once again politicians and the media show no leadership about the terrorist attack in New Zealand

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

…everything we say to try to tear people apart, demonizing particular groups, set them against each other…that all has consequences.

Waleed, a news presenter from TheProjectTV

The atrocity we witnessed through the media of the cold-blooded and calculated killings that left so far 49 dead and many wounded in New Zealand were not mentioned once by some ministers on Facebook. These ministers are the ones who have fueled and nurtured Finland’s hostile environment against Muslims and migrants. Moreover, how many editorials did you find in the Finnish media about what happened in New Zealand and how it is a warning to us too? 

Certainly, many politicians and government ministers were quick to show their moral outrage at the sexual abuse cases of Oulu by “people of foreign origin,” which is code for asylum seeker, Muslim and non-EU citizen.

The head of the National Coalition Party, Economy Minister Petteri Orpo, and Interior Minister Kai Mykkänen, were quick to pin the blame on the Muslim community for what some 20 suspects did. Mykkänen suggested that nationality laws would change and that a naturalized person’s citizenship could be revoked.

In one ad you can hear the voice of Minister for European Affairs, Culture and Sports Sampo Terho, who heads Blue Reform,* one of the three members of the government, stating the “accomplishments” of his party. These are: “residence permits are no longer issued on permanent bases, the asylum process is faster and appeal times shorter for refugees, and tighter family reunification laws.”

Everything that Terho states and which Prime Minister Juha Sipilä approves with his silence, is stoking and fueling the fires of hatred and Islamophobia in Finland.

Last but not least is Foreign Minister Timo Soini, who with his crafty opportunism gave far-right extremist Islamophobes a platform and voice. In the end, Soini got his fingers burned badly because of those forces that h aimed to keep on a short leash. He got bit back by them and brough his political future to tailspin in flames.

Soini’s office did shed a few crocodile tears for the victims in New Zealand by stating that what happened was “a cowardly attack of terrorism.”

Cowardly? I would point to the cowardice of the Sipilä’s government on challenging Islamophobia and anti-migration hatred.

It is clear that National Coalition Party Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen doesn’t like Muslims but is ready to capitalize on such hatred for his political means. He’s all for tougher laws and warns us about Sharia law when that is not even on the table in Finland.

What is lacking in Finland before and today is the moral courage to speak out against racism and fascism.

Disagree? Exaggerating matters?

What about the tweet below by Johannes Sipola, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth leader of the Northern Finnish region of Lapland?

What did Sipola say about the terrorist attack in New Zealand?

“The New Zealand case show ever-convincingly that multicultural society does not work. When other people [of other backgrounds] rape and kill enough [people], it is only a question of time when there will be a reaction from the opposite side. First and foremost, everyone defends their own.

The tweet above and the lack of condemnation [which Sipola would love to get] speaks volumes about the present situation.

I hope that what happened in New Zealand is a wake-up call to all of us and a warning that matters are spinning rapidly out of control. Will the Islamophobic PS, its silent supporters for its anti-Muslim rhetoric in government do well in the April parliamentary elections?

Let’s see what April 14 reveals.

* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, 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 never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

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.

Twitter: Perussuomalaiset Youth leader condones terrorist attack in New Zealand

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Johannes Sipola is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth leader of the Northern Finnish region of Lapland. He makes provocative statements like wishing only white men a nice father’s day but in the latest one, he condones the terrorist attack in New Zealand.

So what did Sipola say?

In the tweet below, he states: “The New Zealand case show ever-convincingly that multicultural society does not work. When other people [of other backgrounds] rape and kill enough [people], it is only a question of time when there will be a reaction from the opposite side. First and foremost, everyone defends their own kind.”

This statement is by a member of a party that was in government and has 17 MPs. The PS is participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections of April 14 and hopes to capitalize on anti-immigration sentiment as it did in the 2011 and 2015 elections.

* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, th e 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 never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

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.