Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 187 of 245

Is Finland swapping Nordic values like social equality for social inequality?

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Social Democratic Party (SDP) MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari gives a good interview to Helsingin Sanomat about the government’s 80-point plan to tighten immigration policy that not only targets asylum seekers but impacts negatively the whole migrant and minority community of Finland.

According to Jaakonsaari, 70 of the 80 points in the government’s plan has the stamp of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. If this is the case, no wonder Finland is having difficulty in focusing on more pressing matters like jump-starting economic growth and creating jobs.

Like the SDP MEP correctly pointed out, the big picture of the new policy is clear: Asylum seekers shouldn’t come to Finland because they’re not welcome.

Imagine, we already have an underclass of people in this country that are so disenfranchised that Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government can even propose, with a poker face, shelving indefinitely their basic civil and human rights. This is happening in a country that takes seriously human rights and brags about social equality.

Migrant Tales wrote recently:

The government now hopes with the 80-point plan to not only make life difficult for asylum seekers, and in turn for all migrants and minorities in this country, but introduce policy changes that are unconstitutional. PS Social Welfare Minister Hanna Mäntylä has been eager to lower subsidies to asylum seekers that get a residence permit.

Asylum-seekers, migrants, and minorities aren’t the only one’s feeling the brunt of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government, which is comprised by the PS, Center Party and National Coalition Party. Finns who are pensioners, unemployed and rely on social welfare are the target of massive social welfare cuts that will make their lives harder.

Jaakonsaari said that giving a temporary residence permit to those that get asylum in Finland is a good example of PS anti-immigration ideology. Even if it wasn’t pointed out in the Helsingin Sanomat interview, the idea to offer temporary residence permits comes from Norway, where the anti-immigration populist Progress Party (FrP) shares power with Conservative Party (Høyre).

The Finnish media hasn’t for some reason connect the dots, but nationalist-populist parties in the Nordic region are following each other’s anti-immigration rhetoric and policies on how to tighten and make life as hard as possible for asylum seekers and their respective migrant communities.

What’s the solution? There is none except that as long as the PS are in government, the anti-immigration climate in Finland will not improve but get worse. Hostility against migrants and cultural diversity is what makes the PS tick politically.

Don’t expect anything to improve in the short-run either.

Massive spending cuts by the government and tighter immigration policy will encourage migrants and refugees to compete and fight against each other and against poor Finns for ever-meager resources. But mark my words: The more space that is given to the PS politically the more hostility there will be against asylum seekers, migrants and our ever-culturally diverse society.

Listen to full interview here.

Even if SDP leader Antti Rinne is quoted as saying that he backs and considers government plans to tighten immigration policy “a very good idea,” such a stance is a big mistake. We saw this type of mimicking of the PS in 2011 with poor consequences for the Social Democrats.

Continue reading “Is Finland swapping Nordic values like social equality for social inequality?”

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Spot-On Journalism

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism has been updated throughout the year. Too many stories that appear in the Finnish media exemplify poor and sloppy journalism, especially when they cover racism and our ever-growing culturally diverse society. The editorial published below by Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat is a rare example of spot-on journalism in Finland.

To see examples of poor and shoddy journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

September 18

Häpeäksi Lahdelle – (Etelä-Suomen Sanomat)

What’s so good about this editorial? Kalle Aaltonen is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party Lahti city councilman who likes to spread anti-immigration rhetoric to get attention. Each insult that he throws appears to boomerang back to him with a provocation. On Wednesday, he appeared to accept the latest challenge. He didn’t find a new provocation that challenged him but probably the last nail on his political coffin. He wrote on his Facebook page that the Red Cross could go “f**k itself as well as all of you other wankers who have made it possible/permitted Finns’ kindness and taxes to be misused.” The PS will decide Wednesday whether to sack Aaltonen from the party. In the face of these irresponsible statements by a city councilman, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat took leadership and denounced Aaltonen’s latest rant. Too often we’ve seen the opposite in Finland when the national media incorrectly believes that by not noticing racism and politicians like Aaltonen racism will go away.

Apart from telling the Lahti city councilman that what he said was unbecoming of a politician and defending the important role that the Red Cross plays in managing the record number of asylum seekers in Finland, the last paragraph of the editorial is spot on:

“Perussuomalaiset party secretary Riitta Slunga-Poutsalo has described Aaltonen’s behavior as idiotic. There’s not much we can add to that. Aaltonen’s coarse language is not only a shame to himself and to the Perussuomalaiset [party] but to the whole city council and through it to the city of Lahti. If Aaltonen is incapable of making the right decision others will have to do it on his behalf.”

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

The “Denmarkization” of Finnish immigration policy

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS) are eager to pass legislation that will not only hurt asylum seekers but all migrants and minorities that live in Finland. After breaking almost all of their campaign promises and after their poll rating have plummeted to single-digit percentages, the PS only have one trump card left in their political bag of tricks: anti-immigration rhetoric and policy.

The PS won’t openly admit except occasionally that they have a semi-secret ideological love affair with the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP).

Just to give you a small glimpse of what the DPP stands for, the poster below published by Politiken, one of the country’s biggest dailies, offers an eyeful.

Like the rise of the PS, the only issue that has kept the DPP in politics since early 2000 is Islamophobia and anti-immigration rhetoric. They never form part of the government but instead support minority governments, like now.

Continue reading “The “Denmarkization” of Finnish immigration policy”

PS MP comes to Huhtasaari’s rescue but doesn’t have a faint idea about human rights

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Leena Meri came to the rescue of MP Laura Huuhtasaari, who claimed that human rights don’t apply to everyone. What Meri argues about the UN Declaration of Human Rights is equally worrying considering that she was a policewoman.

Both Meri and Huhtasaari are in the same league when it comes to Islamophobia. Both are building their political careers on hostility towards Muslims. It is naive to think that the hostility they spew about Muslims doesn’t affect all migrants and minorities in this country.

What does this anti-immigration former policewoman PS MP write in the party’s online publication to support her colleague Huhtasaari?

Human rights weren’t originally founded to give rights to practice terrorism but on the contrary. In other words grant normal people the right to live in freedom without being under a dictatorship or terrorism. If our laws in any way are hindering our fight against terrorism such laws should be changed quickly instead of debating such matters.

Meri appears not to have read, like Huhtasaari, the UN Declaration of Human Rights carefully. She should especially take a look at articles 10 and 11.

ARTICLE 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

ARTICLE 11.

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Read full opinion piece here.

Continue reading “PS MP comes to Huhtasaari’s rescue but doesn’t have a faint idea about human rights”

A Finnish lawmaker who states that human rights don’t apply to everyone

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Migrant Tales

With a populist anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in government, it’s clear that issues like human rights and the right to asylum would be questioned by such a bigoted party. Laura Huhtasaari, right, the PS MP with the kindergarten teacher smile, has stuck her foot in her mouth again.

This time, it isn’t for denying that evolution exists but for suggesting that human rights don’t apply to everyone.

PS MP Huhtasaari tweets: “Human Rights have been founded to protect civilians, not terrorists, war criminals or criminals.”

If the PS MP would have read carefully the UN Declaration of Human Rights she’d know that human rights apply to everyone, even suspected terrorists, suspected war criminals and suspected criminals.

Continue reading “A Finnish lawmaker who states that human rights don’t apply to everyone”

Why do the police identify Others as “person with migrant background” even if this is confusing, even illegal?

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The tabloid story below picked up by Koko Hubara on her Facebook wall is an excellent example of how the define ethnicity and race. The police service is one of the most eager institutions in this country when it comes to labeling who are “real” Finns and those who are not.

By law, a person is considered a Finn if he or she is a Finnish citizen. Even so, the police don’t care if you have Finnish citizenship or even if you were born in this country.

The Ilta-Sanomat story below is a prime example. It states that that “people with a migrant background” tried to rape a teenage girl in the southwestern Finnish city of Pori.

What does “people with migrant background mean?” Is it code for people who aren’t from the EU? But wait a minute! Europe is culturally and ethnically a very diverse place, Finland as well. Why then is the police defining on its own accord so-called “ethnic” Finns, or kantasuomalaiset, and non-white Finns, or “people with a migrant background?”

A classic example of the way the police arbitrarily puts Finns into different ethnic categories was the Tapanila rape case in March.

Migrant Tales spoke in spring with the policeman, Jyri Hiltunen, who is in charge of the Tapanila rape case. He confirmed that some of the suspects are Finnish citizens.

“I don’t know exactly if all of them are citizens or not because this isn’t an essential piece of information in the case,” he said. “But some are [Finnish citizens].”

Not an essential piece of information? I disagree, considering some of these then suspects were born and raised in Finland as well.

Read original Ilta-Sanomat story here.

A person’s ethnicity and national background are defined the following manner: by nationality, place of birth and mother tongue.

Continue reading “Why do the police identify Others as “person with migrant background” even if this is confusing, even illegal?”

What ever happened to the PS politician who said god had answered his prayers after an asylum reception center was a target of arson?

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Remember Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP Juha Maenpää who said god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was going to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground on December 1? It appears that all he got for writing such a comment was a lot of publicity and a soft slap on the hand.

Jaakko Leiniö, chairman of the Ilmajoen Perussuomalaiset chapter, told Migrant Tales over the phone that what Maenpää wrote was “his own ideas” and that sacking him isn’t possible because it “would be against the associations act.”

Leiniö added that Maenpää had apologized for what he wrote. “According to him, what he wrote was [widely] misunderstood,” the Ilmajoen Perussuomalaiset chapter chairman added.

PS substitute MP Maenpää wrote on his Facebook page on December 1:“Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered” after a building that was going to house asylum seekers was burned to the ground. He has apologized for what he wrote but hasn’t taken down the controversial posting on Facebook.

If we look at Maenpää’s Facebook page there is nothing to suggest that he feels any remorse or shame for what he wrote. A member of the far-right white Finnish supremacist Suomen Sisu association, Maenpää continues to spread his usual dose of xenophobia on his Facebook wall.

Continue reading “What ever happened to the PS politician who said god had answered his prayers after an asylum reception center was a target of arson?”

UPDATED: How long will reception centers and asylum seekers be under attack in Finland?

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Remember 2015? It was the year when over 30,000 asylum seekers, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, came to Finland. Do you remember the reaction of some Finns who attacked fourteen asylum reception centers? Why weren’t these acts of violence classified as domestic terrorism?

This disgraceful story is dedicated to Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtiainen, who is in the news for all the wrong reasons and, who, was convicted in 2018 of inciting violence against the Finnish Red Cross, which manages many asylum reception centers. The conviction has its roots in 2015 Facebook post that was liked by PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari.

_________________________________________________________________

Migrant Tales wrote in 2015:

The fact that fourteen asylum reception centers have been attacked in Finland since mid-September is scandalous. According to the police service of Kangasala, an asylum seeker was beaten by two or three men Saturday evening near the Kaivanto reception center, reports YLE News.

And the news doesn’t stop here: Neo-Nazi vigilante patrols, one Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP from Kankaanpää, Juha Maenpää, stated in December that god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was supposed to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground. If an asylum seeker commits a crime there is a social media lynch mob ready 24/7.

If it is a Finn that rapes a woman the public, politicians and the media don’t appear too interested.

Double-standards and xenophobia are rife in Finland today.

In the ever-worsening anti-immigration atmosphere, some politicians and the government are even showing some understanding to the hostility against asylum seekers, which has spread and affected all migrants and minorities living in this country. Interior Minister Petteri Orpo blamed asylum seekers on YLE for these attacks by stating that is would calm matters down by tightening immigration policy even more.

You may be asking why the National Coalition Party and Center Party aren’t even raising a finger against the PS’ obsession against immigrants and asylum seekers. These two parties need the support of the PS to streamline the welfare state. In return, the PS can tighten immigration policy and thereby appease their racist voters.

Like in all the attacks against the reception centers this fall and early winter, only one suspect was caught in Kouvola (24.9.2015), a middle-aged man was charged and given a one-year prison sentence.

How big will this disgraceful list grow below?

Attacks against asylum reception centers in Finland

December

Turku (25.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.

Asikkala (12.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.

Tampere (10.12.2015): Possible arson attack still under investigation.

Pori (6.12.2015): Windows of the reception center were broken.

Rauma (4.12.2015): Successful arson attack of a building that was supposed to house asylum seekers.

A building that was supposed to house asylum seekers in the western Finnish city of Rauma. Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

Continue reading “UPDATED: How long will reception centers and asylum seekers be under attack in Finland?”

A Finnish government that bolsters anti-immigration populism and nationalism

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

It’s sad to watch how the present government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is not only destroying our welfare state but bringing out the worst form of anti-immigration fear and political cowardice. When asked on YLE’s Ykkösaamu talk show about the attacks against asylum reception centers, the only thing Interior Minister Petteri Orpo had to say was that he was “saddened” by such “illegal” attacks and that the 80-point plan to tighten immigration policy would help calm matters down.

Thank you very much Minister Orpo but being “saddened” by what is happening is “sadly” not enough. What you are doing, as Helsinki city councilwoman Veronika Honkasalo correctly stated in a Facebook post, is blaming the victims, the asylum seekers, for the attacks and hostility against them.

The xenophobia against asylum seekers is a cancer that spreads rapidly in our society and impacts the whole migrant and minority community of Finland.

What’s going on?

Orpo, who is a member of the National Coalition Party, is worried together with the Center Party about the nosedive in support in the polls of their third partner, the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* By getting tough on immigration policy and turning a semi-blind eye on the security situation of asylum seekers and that of all migrants living in Finland, the government hopes to bolster the PS in the polls.

If the PS left government it would most likely mean new elections. Would the next prime minister of Finland by from the Center Party or a Social Democrat?

In a letter to the editor of Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, Professor Martti Koskenniemi wrote that the government “has bowed” to social media pressure:

The government has drafted a straightforward policy [80-point immigration tightening program] to bolster support of the Perussuomalaiset [in the polls].

Considering the overdose of bigotry we’ve seen in recent years in Finland, and which people like Orpo have not had a taste of because he’s not a migrant or asylum seeker, it’s clear that not too many Finnish politicians are worried about the hostile atmosphere against migrants and ever-rising tide of racism.

See full interview here.

Continue reading “A Finnish government that bolsters anti-immigration populism and nationalism”

Neo-Nazi group now claims to carry out street patrols in as many as eleven Finnish cities

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Neo-Nazi groups like Suomen Vastarintaliike (SVL) and the Solidiers of Odin are carrying out street patrols in a number of Finnish cities, reports Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa. Migrant Tales reported Saturday that SVL started street patrols in Pori, which have now expanded to three neighborhoods of that southwestern Finnish city.

The founder of The Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, has admitted being a nationalist socialist, according to MTV3.

SVL states on its website that it carries out street patrols in the cities of Pori, Lahti, Tampere, Hyvinkää and Oulu. Likewise, the Solidiers of Odin claim on their Facebook page to carry out street patrols in Kemi, Rovaniemi, Tornio, Oulu Kajaani, Ylivieska, Pori, Joensuu, Helsinki, Tampere and Hämeenlinna.

The immediate question that arises concerning these neo-Nazi street patrols is what are they doing patrolling our streets. What’s the reaction of the police service and politicians?

Are non-white people safe and could they be attacked by such neo-Nazis who are openly hostile to them?

It appears that not too many are worried. It’s a bit like the rise of far right nationalists in the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who are just “letting off some racist steam” in parliament and municipal councils. White Finns aren’t too worried since they aren’t the target of their hateful anti-immigration rhetoric.

Western Finland deputy police chief, Timo Vuola, had nothing else to state in YLE except that such street patrols aren’t allowed to keep order.

If a Soldiers of Odin Facebook post is true, some Finns wouldn’t care less what the deputy chief said:

“I caught two of them and the rest escaped…I sat on top of one and held the other one with a hand-lock after a couple of minutes until man came to help me. The police arrived and thanked me stating that these types [asylum seekers] are a real problem…I nodded and stated: You don’t damn say! I was surprised that I didn’t get charged [by the police] for assault. I don’t care if I did. The grandmother’s and grandfather’s words [of gratitude] and expressions = priceless…?”

Continue reading “Neo-Nazi group now claims to carry out street patrols in as many as eleven Finnish cities”