Category: Enrique Tessieri

MP Ozan Yanar is right: President Sauli Niinistö’s New Year’s speech is problematic

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Whenever President Sauli Niinistö comments about asylum seekers, migrants and minorities there is usually a problem (see links below). Those of us who are anti-racist activists, will never forget his two-extremes argument, which puts people who fight to defend human rights as one extreme with the other extreme consisting of Neo-Nazis and other far-right groups like the Perussuomalaiset.*

His New Year’s speech didn’t leave us disappointed. Green League MP Ozan Yanar rightly pointed out some of the flaws in his speech about migrants.

The president said that migrants should take responsibility by “exerting control” over the actions of members of its community, tweeted MP Yanar. Migrants are not a monolithic group.

President Niinistö responds to MP Yanar’s tweet by stating that he did not mean migrants but everyone irrespective of their background. If this is true, why didn’t he say so in his New Year’s speech?

I have mentioned it before and I will state it again: President Niinistö is no friend of Finland’s culturally and ethnically diverse community. It is unfortunate that he prefers to hand out populist soundbites.

Continue reading “MP Ozan Yanar is right: President Sauli Niinistö’s New Year’s speech is problematic”

White Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Ever thought why political parties like the Perussuomalaiset,* Blue Reform and politicians from other parties, especially from the National Coalition Party, are so keen at pointing the finger at Muslims? Do they do so because they are racists? Opportunists? Political gold diggers? 

What about the media that permits this type of anti-social behavior to go near-unchecked?

I have never heard the following statement made by a Finnish journalist when interviewing Islamophobes: “There are in Finland an estimated 70,000 Muslims and that amounts to just 1.3% of the population. What gives?”

 

Islamophobia and hate crime go hand in hand as in the case of a Pakistani migrant who was brutally attacked in February. Source: Migrant Tales.

Continue reading “White Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?”

White Finnish privilege #55: It is that time of the year – Christmas!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Far-right poliicians and Islamophobes of varying hues commonly blame Muslims for banning traditional Christmas parties at school. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Those wanting to remove Christmas parties are Finns who believe that religion should not play a role in our schools since we are officially a secular state. 

What happens when most of the students of the schools aren’t Christians and you insist that the Christmas party must go on? What does it say about our respect for other religions and cultures? Is it a power trip? Does it send a warning that we call the cultural and religious shots in Finnish society?

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church is by far the biggest in Finland with 72.6% (4.004 million) of the population belonging to that faith. The second- and third-biggest religions in the country are the Islamic faith and the Finnish Orthodox Church with 1.3% (70,000) and 1.1% (61,690), respectively.

One question we could ask is why do we keep under a magnifying glass a congregation that accounts for only 1.3% of the population? The answer, I believe, is obvious: Islamophobia that lives another day thanks to denial and misinformation.

Why the open hostility if Finland is a country that guarantees religious freedom? Why is there so much hostility?

White Finnish privilege #55

A good example of white Finnish privilege is organizing Christmas parties at schools and by denying other religions the same public spaces. While Finland states publicly that the adaption of newcomers to Finland is a two-way process (Integration), it is in practice a one-way process (assimilation).

Disagree? Wasn’t President Sauli Niinistö quoted as saying in YLE, just before presidential election day that the only “public” spaces that foreigners have are the four walls of their homes?

Source: Yle News

.

He said:

Continue reading “White Finnish privilege #55: It is that time of the year – Christmas!”

Facebook Suomen Muslimiverkosto: Vandalism during Christmas

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: The mosque, which is run by the Islamic Society of Northern Finland, is once again the target of vandalism. Since September 2017, the mosque in Oulu was vandalized eight times. It is shameful that a country like Finland, which claims to promote social equality, allows such acts to happen.  Which politicians will speak out against such acts of vandalism? Why are they so quiet? 

 

Go to the Facebook page here.

10-year-old Muslim girl of Espoo: The police say one thing while others say another

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In earlier statements and interviews to the media, the Finnish police have claimed the presence of “wild” rumors about a ten-year-old girl, who was assaulted. The picture with the girl on social media had text that claimed that her hijab, or veil, was torn off and that she was left unconscious after being hit by four roughly same-aged classmates. 

Fact or fiction?

It appears that there were two suspects instead of four and that her hijab wasn’t torn off. While she has blood over her, it seems that the injuries she endured weren’t life-threatening.

The Western Uusimaa Police said that racism played no role in what happened.

Fact or fiction?

 

Read the original statement here.

 

The father of the victim, claims through a close friend states that four classmates had insulted his daughter’s hijab and then beat her. The girl was bullied before at school, apparently because she is a Muslim.

The Facebook posting clearly states that the father of the victim believes that his daughter was a victim of Islamophobic bullying and assault. In other words, racism was a factor.

Continue reading “10-year-old Muslim girl of Espoo: The police say one thing while others say another”

Why aren’t we hearing the opinion of the parents concerning the beating of a 10-year-old Muslim girl in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The tragic picture of a 10-year-old girl below covered in blood kicked unconscious by her white Finnish classmates, raises a lot of interesting questions: One of these is why we’re not hearing what the victim’s parents have to say? 

We have seen this play out before. The police are quick to claim that there is no racist motive in the media but they make no claim of this in their official statement.

Why would the police play down what happened Espoo, Finland?

The reason is simple: The police are anxious that what happened may provoke a reaction from the Muslim community. By stating there is no racist motive they are calming the situation.

Even if the police and the school want to brush this off as an innocent scuffle between children, we have to dig deeper. If there is a racist motive, the police must treat it as such and not deny it.

Migrant Tales stands behind what it published earlier Wednesday and will continue to pursue relentlessly this story.

One of the matters that the parents of the girl asked is not to show her face in social media.

Asylum seeker in Joutseno immigration removal center cell 222: Deportation halted!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The deportation of Mohammed, the twenty-one-year-old Afghan asylum seeker detained on December 10 and sent to the Joutseno immigration removal center, was halted today, according to Stop Deportations. Thanks to an appeal, the voluntary association against deportations and Mohammed’s lawyer were able to stop the deportation until his case is reviewed by the supreme administrative court. 

Mohammed was very happy about the news.

“I don’t know when they will release me from here if today or tomorrow,” he said, adding that he might attend a Christmas party on Friday at the school he is studying.

This is the second time Mohammed has been detained and released.

Two Police statements, two different views on the racialization of crime

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What happens when a crime happens? Which groups get singled out and what is the age limit for labelling them? 

Migrant Tales was alerted about an attack of a ten-year-old girl by her classmates, who tried to rip off her hijab and left her unconscious.

See the picture of the unconscious girl here.

 

This police statement above is about an attack against a Muslim 10-year-old who was attacked by her classmates. Nowhere in the statement does it state that the girl is Muslim or that the attackers were white Finnish children. Probably because the victim and suspects are children, the police believe it is a good idea to hide their religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Continue reading “Two Police statements, two different views on the racialization of crime”

UPDATED: Muslim girl beaten unconsious by fellow children in the Finnish city of Espoo

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: This story below received a lot of attention on social media. Even if some of the claims made in the picture aren’t apparently true like tearing off of the girl’s hijab (veil),  there are other sources close to the parents of the girl that contradict and put in question the police’s and school’s claim that racism did not play a role in what happened. Please read an updated version here. 

A ten-year-old Muslim girl was allegedly beaten in Espoo, according to MTV. The picture of the victim was posted on Instagram and Snapchat. The victim was left unconscious due to the attack, according to sources that contacted Migrant Tales. 

MTV, which did not mention the religious background of the victim, said that the suspects were around 10 years old.

Migrant Tales will continue reporting on the story as it develops.

Picture of the alleged unconscious child posted on Instagram. The original picture was updated 19.12 at 10.20 am.

(UPDATED): What do they teach [children] at Finnish homes? That Muslims are terrorists? The little girl [in the picture above] is spending a normal day at school when four boys [classmates] tried to rip off her hijab from her head and kicked her unconscious. We are not talking now about a migrant but about a victim. @iltalehti [tabloid] I want you to write out loud that racism must stop once for all, this girl is an angel!

Asylum seeker in Joutseno immigration removal center cell 222: Returning to year zero in Afghanistan

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Mohammed*, 21, who was detained at Mikkeli’s Suonsaari asylum reception a week ago on Monday (10.12), will probably face deportation on Wednesday and flown with a one-way ticket back to Afghanistan. Mohammed, who lived a part of his life in Iran, admits that he is penniless.

The young man came to Finland like so many of his countrymen in 2015. He has four rejections for asylum from the Finnish Immigration Service.

Mohammed was apparently taken from Joutseno to the Metsälä immigration removal center of Helsinki to deport him on Wednesday.

Mohammed writes on Messenger:

 

It’s a very difficult situation.
But I don’t have any money.
What should I do?

Even if Mohammed wants to return to Iran, he would need money to do so. There are no bus connections between Kabul and Iran. The only way to get Iran’s capital is by plane.

The cheapest flight from Kabul to Tehran, if he left on December 28, is 265 euros. But then, Mohammed would need a passport and visa to travel to Iran. A passport would take two months to obtain in Afghanistan, according to him.

Certainly, we could wire money via Western Union to Mohammed. This is, however, not possible since he needs a valid ID, which he doesn’t have, to retrieve the money.

Continue reading “Asylum seeker in Joutseno immigration removal center cell 222: Returning to year zero in Afghanistan”