Category: Enrique Tessieri

Luona claims that it has zero tolerance for racism but can you teach a racist dog new tricks?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

General manager Milja Saksi of Luona, a private company that operates eight asylum reception centers in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Hyvinkää, claims to have taken necessary steps to address the racist treatment of  its asylum seekers, according to YLE.  

“We don’t permit racist or inappropriate behavior [from our staff] towards asylum seekers,” said Saksi. “We have made personnel changes if people aren’t suitable to work at our reception centers.”

Certainly the million-euro unconfirmed question is what has Luona done to turn in a new leaf?

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Read full story here.

Member of the Louna board, National Coalition Party MP Sanna Lauslahti, gives us the same assurances as Saksi, who assures us that the company has “zero tolerance for racism.”

“Ethical standards are very important for our board, for example, we don’t budge an inch on human rights” she was quoted as saying in Iltalehti. ”

Luona, which houses 3,000 asylum seekers, has been under media scrutiny in February for the humiliating and racist treatment of its asylum seekers.

The abusive treatment that some asylum seekers endure at Luona’s reception centers is so abusive that some claim the first word they learned in Finnish is vittu , or f**k.

The cuss word vittu is commonly used by employees and security guards at Luona when addressing asylum seekers. They are addressed as vittu pakolaisia, or f**king refugees.

Continue reading “Luona claims that it has zero tolerance for racism but can you teach a racist dog new tricks?”

Police study on immigration paints a threatening and bleak picture of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Weird things happen when an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* get power and partner with two other mainstream parties, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), which have done too little to tackle racism and discrimination in Finland.  One of the many things that can happen is a study, “Immigration, Security and Foresight,”  published with the blessings of the council of state. 

The council of state, which is the body that directs the Finnish government and which commissioned the above study from the Police University College of Finland, paints a bleak picture of our country’s ever-growing culturally diverse society by exaggerating and blaming migrants for high crime rates, future riots, and social unrest.

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Read full report here.

Two of the people that authored this work stated in December that attempts by anarchists to silence neo-Nazis on independence day and the plunge in the polls of the Perussuomalaiset party “show how much in crisis [Finnish] democracy is.” 

Is democracy in crisis if people oppose neo-Nazi groups marching in downtown Helsinki or if we see support in the polls plummet for a populist anti-immigration party?

Some, like Christian Thibault, executive director of Liikkukaa – Sports for All, believe that some parts of the study reinforce what anti-racism groups have been saying all along: the integration program doesn’t work and requires more funds and attention.

Continue reading “Police study on immigration paints a threatening and bleak picture of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society”

Never underestimate – even in Finland – the power of the word and fearless investigative journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The power of the word and fearless investigative journalism does pay off even in countries like Finland. Today YLE published a big story about the abuses and poor treatment that asylum seekers get at the reception centers run by Luona, a private company.

Many of the claims made in the story below were published by Migrant Tales last month and got wide attention.

Some of the ordeals that asylum seekers face at some reception center in Finland, and particularly in those run by Luona, are unqualified staff, profit-hungry owners, racism, poor food, crowded quarters, insufficient medical treatment, among others.

Why aren’t other newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat interested in the plight of asylum seekers?

Even if the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) said it will start to put under greater scrutiny how asylum centers are run in Finland, the question is why hasn’t it done this before?

Part of the answer to that question is a semi-dormant media, politicians and public that is more interested in finding ways to deport these people than to treat them with dignity while they are in Finland.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Recent stories by Migrant Tales on Luona:

Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu” (14.2)

How the Finnish Immigration Service’s fast-track scheme will deport thousands of asylum seekers from Finland in 2006 (13.2)

Why are so many Iraqi asylum seekers abandoning Finland? (13.2)

Does Luona treat asylum seekers with dignity or as livestock? (29.1)

BOX STORY: Mohammed Saleh Muhsin (29.1)

Was the death of an Afghani asylum seeker due to negligence? (28.1)

Does Finland treat asylum seekers with dignity or as livestock? (22.1)

 

 

Tighter family reunification laws spearheaded by the PS with the government’s blessing are an example of the Denmarkization of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s a good matter that government plans to tighten family reunification guidelines have met a stormy reception. We all know that the Perussuomalasiet (PS)*, who base their popularity on anti-immigration rhetoric, are spearheading new tighter guidelines based on the Danish model that aims to make family reunification much harder.

Denmark is the most hostile country towards migrants in the Nordic region and where the PS is a close ideological ally of the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party.

New family reunification guidelines will end up hurting Finland more than benefiting it because it will be another sign that we are an unfriendly country for immigrants. Not only will asylum seekers stay clear of Finland but skilled labor and foreign investors.

When speaking of family reunification why hasn’t the media used the Finns, who emigrated to North America before World War II, as a positive example of the latter? When a Finn moved to the New World he not only brought his wife and kids but his relatives, neighbors and friends as well.

Why did they do this?

Because it was important for them to shed roots in their new homeland. It was easier with the help of the family and friends.

It’s clear that parties like the PS, Center Party and NCP don’t want immigrants to shed too strong roots in Finland. The tightening of family reunification guidelines is clear proof of the latter.

 

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Continue reading “Tighter family reunification laws spearheaded by the PS with the government’s blessing are an example of the Denmarkization of Finland”

Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s a Sunday and we’re at a fast-food Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of Helsinki. I have an appointment with a twenty-six-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in September via Tornio and who is staying at one of Luona’s asylum reception centers. Like many who have the misfortune of staying at a reception center run by Luona, he too isn’t happy about the poor and humiliating treatment he’s getting.

Apart from traumas left by the violence in his country and the long journey to Finland, which hinges on a residence permit, the treatment he gets at Luona’s reception center only exacerbates his ordeal.

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“I made a big mistake coming to Finland and I’m disappointed and feel mentally sick by the situation,” said the Iraqi asylum seeker. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

Mostafa* speaks:

“We are treated in a racist manner and like animals by Luona. In the first reception center I stayed at (managed by Luona) we were 10-12 asylum seekers in each room. We slept on the floor. People were forced to wear dirty clothes because there was only one washing machine for the whole center. The food that is served is horrible. It isn’t eatable and we don’t trust it. Even if the employees ensure us there’s no pork we can’t trust what they say. [Luona has accidentally served pork twice to asylum seekers].

Continue reading “Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu””

Why are so many Iraqi asylum seekers abandoning Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

According to some sources, a large number of asylum seekers amounting to about 4,000 had abandoned plans to seek asylum in Finland. Considering that two-thirds of the Iraqis that came to Finland last year are young single men, it’s nothing odd that some are returning. 

In my own research of the Finns that colonized Argentina in 1906, 75% of those first settlers were single men. When the going got exceptionally tough the first to abandon the colony were single men. Those who stayed on were families.

Certainly the circumstances of leaving Finland in 1906 and Iraq in 2015 are vastly different. Iraq is a country that was invaded by the United States and its allies in 2003 and has ever since been absorbed in a vicious spiral of violence that has cost hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to some estimates.

Another factor that is forcing some Iraqis to return to their home country is the poor treatment and hostility they are getting. One asylum seeker said: “I’d rather die in my home country with dignity than suffer humiliation and a slow death in Finland.”

Some sources believe that those that are returning back to Iraq are making life difficult for those who are seeking asylum.

“There are cases were part of a family has returned back to Iraq while the other family members decided to stay in Finland,” a source said. “This erodes the cases of those that stay since Migri can claim to them that if some are returning it means that there’s no danger.”

Presently there is a refugee camp near the airport run by Luona where people are being flown back or deported weekly to countries like Iraq. If asylum seekers haven’t got a taste of how poorly Luona treats refugees, they will get a taste of it here.

Those asylum seekers that arrived in August are now getting their residence permit decisions from the Finnish Immigration Service, according to a source contacted by Migrant Tales.

 

How the Finnish Immigration Service’s fast-track scheme will deport thousands of asylum seekers from Finland in 2016

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What would a country like Finland, which prefers to be an island in Europe and where too many still see cultural diversity with suspicion, do if a record number of asylum seekers from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia came here in 2015?

Add to that question a government that has a party that is openly hostile to cultural diversity and asylum seekers and two right-wing mainstream parties that need the latter’s support to downsize the welfare state, and a clear picture emerges.BashyQ-5

Asylum seekers are not only victims of the violence in their home countries but the hostility and poor treatment they have face in Finland. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

In other words, this is what probably happened in the fall behind government closed doors. The anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* turned to their partners in government, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), and asked them for help after their popularity plummeted in the polls.

“Our standings in the polls have gone into a tailspin ever since we joined the government,” a PS minister like Timo Soini would probably say with Juha Sipilä or Alexander Stubb interjecting: “Let’s make a deal. We’ll help you regain your popularity in the polls by supporting your plans to tighten immigration policy and you support our plans to downsize the welfare state.”

It’s a simple and clear-cut deal between the ruling partners.  You scratch my back and we’ll scratch yours.

The Center Party and NCP allow the PS to have a free hand at promoting its xenophobic policies in government and in return the PS supports the Center Party’s and NCP’s plans to downsize the welfare state.

Continue reading “How the Finnish Immigration Service’s fast-track scheme will deport thousands of asylum seekers from Finland in 2016”

The face of fascism in Finland: Before and after

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is a fascinating book published by Olli Silvennoinen, Marko Tikka and Aapo Romelius titled Suomalaiset fasistit (Finnish fascists).  One of the authors, Silvennoinen, states in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that the same arguments used in the 1920s to feed fascism are used today. 

The argument is a simple one: Before, in the 1920s, the threat was communism. Today that threat is migration and Islam, according to Silvennoinen.

If there is a party that has given a political forum to fascism in Finland that party is without any doubt the Perussuomalasiet (PS)* with politicians like MEP Jussi Halla-aho, Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö, MPs Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, Laura Huhtasaari and others.

Just like fascism in the 1920s and 1930s was a violent and hostile force, the PS’ anti-immigration and Islamophobic rhetoric have the ability to match the violence and hostility we saw in the 1920s by fascist groups like the Lapua Movement.

Before…

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Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

Continue reading “The face of fascism in Finland: Before and after”

Scaremongering by the PS of Finland is always at full swing

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* defense minister, Jussi Niinistö, believes that up to one million “illegal” immigrants could come to Finland from Russia, according to YLE News. Niinistö, a historian who has played down the role of fascist associations like the Lapua Movement (1929-32), fearmongers to shore up support for his ailing party. 

Moreover, it’s interesting to note that Niinistö calls asylum seekers “illegal” immigrants. He doesn’t call them asylum seekers never mind undocumented migrants but “illegal” immigrants.

The use of such labels is nothing strange coming from Niinistö, who said recently that that integrating all Muslims into Finnish society is a difficult challenge.

“In practice the potential is limitless,” he was quoted as saying in YLE News. “From hundreds of thousands to a million people, who are ready to move out of Russia. In that sense the situation is worrying. Not just for Finland but for other European countries.”

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Read full story here.

Can we believe Niinistö scaremongering in light of his far-right credentials and populist party’s nosedive in the polls?

Continue reading “Scaremongering by the PS of Finland is always at full swing”

Finland’s xenophobic Denmark slippery slope

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Considering that the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is in government and that the two other ruling partners, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), need the support of the PS to downsize the welfare state, it’s clear why Finland is tightening its immigration policy. 

What is happening in Finland has been happening in Denmark for a number of years and serves as a clear warning to Sweden. This is what your country will become if ever the Sweden Democrats got into government.

Apart from officially scapegoating migrants and polarizing society, Islamophobia and fear-mongering would be king.

The saddest aspect of the latter is that most of the politicians, the media and society would care less since they incorrectly believe that tighter rules that will foster social Darwinism won’t apply to them.

Considering that the Finnish government is doing everything possible to discourage asylum seekers from coming to Finland, it’s clear that they are doing everything possible on this front publicly and behind the scenes.

One of these disgraceful examples, like in Denmark, is checking the asylum seekers’ assets and then determine now much reception allowance the person will get.

Continue reading “Finland’s xenophobic Denmark slippery slope”