Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 189 of 246

Ongoing debate on asylum seekers in Finland: Lawmakers who play or are ignorant of our laws and basic human rights

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

As I watched the A-studio: Talk debate about the record number of asylum seekers in Finland, I thought about Kadar Gelle, an anti-racism activist who watched Monday’s A-studio debate, where Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén, a former policeman who has built a political career on racist rhetoric, debates with Somali Finn Mukhtar Abib about the government’s plans to tighten immigration policy.

Writes Kadar on his Facebook wall:

I turned on the A-studio program and saw Tom Packalen speaking about immigration. My blood started to boil from zero to one hundred until I understood that I can change television channels. It’s a waste of time to listen to a narcissistic and racist loudmouth [like Packalén] who suffers from a personality disorder. I turned off the television and my pulse went back in an instant to normal.

It’s interesting to note when watching Thursday’s A-studio debate on the record number of asylum seekers that have come to Finland how politicians capitalize on people’s fears.

Politicians like Eerola and many other act irresponsibly and recklessly especially during these times by spreading fear and xenophobia among an already frightened population. This shouldn’t surprise us since they have worked relentlessly to instill fear of migrants and asylum seekers. They have built lucrative political careers with the help of xenophobia and fear-mongering.

Juho Eerola is another PS MP who has built a political career on bigotry. The way he speaks about migrants is not only insulting but reveals his true political colors and what he wrote in 2010 about Benito Mussolini.

He wrote: “I myself am attracted to Benito Mussolini’s fascism, and in particular the economic policy [the country] pursued.”

Do you think that a person who sympathizes with Mussolini and who is a far right anti-immigration politician has anything constructive to say about how migrants should be integrated and become equal members of society?

PS MP Eerola’s pet topic is now one-way adaption or assimilation. Why? Because he wants to keep Finland white. See full TV program here.

One of the most crucial matters that these types of debate programs forget is Section 6 of our Constitution, which states:

Continue reading “Ongoing debate on asylum seekers in Finland: Lawmakers who play or are ignorant of our laws and basic human rights”

The Finnish government’s eighty-point tightening of immigration policy is all politics and saving face, nothing more

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced Tuesday an eighty-point tightening of Finnish immigration policy, according to YLE News. The new plan by the government means very bad news for asylum seekers and refugees living in Finland.

Some of the areas where immigration policy will be tightening family reunifications, implement fast-track deportations, grant bare-minimum financial aid to people awaiting decisions on their asylum status, even terminate a refugee’s residence permit if the situation in his or her home country improves considerably.

All these measures reveal one shameful matter about the present government: They want as many asylum seekers as possible to leave the country. This xenophobic attitude has been reinforced by scores of politicians, the police service, public officials and especially the media, which see these people with suspicion and manifest unease.

One may ask why the government of Prime Minister Sipilä, who offered his home to refugees in early September, is now tightening immigration policy even more?

Continue reading “The Finnish government’s eighty-point tightening of immigration policy is all politics and saving face, nothing more”

Xenophobia is a cancer that spreads in Finland

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Migrant Tales

After years of looking the other way Finland is paying a high price today for its self-inflicted xenophobia. What are the consequences of such a social ill if we continue to permit it to roam freely with the help of urban tales, bigotry, populism and political chicanery?

The climate of suspicion that has Finland in a stranglehold has impacted our country in many ways negatively. It is a monkey wrench that has been thrown into the works of a successful nation that appears to have lost today its way and which fears its own shadow.

As our population grays we need new young people to move to this country. We need more jobs and innovation. In order to speed up the adaption process of these newcomers we need to be a more open and inclusive society.

Instead we have done the total opposite. We have reverted to false panaceas like xenophobia and anti-immigration rhetoric, which have made matters worse.

It’s not only society that loses but especially migrants and minorities trying to adapt and become a part of society.

Xenophobes commonly demand that migrants must adapt to our ways but instead place and build walls that exclude such people from being part of society.

Fear is one of the deadliest poisons of xenophobia. Fear is hate.

The present state of fear, which politicians, the media and public officials are feeding directly or indirectly, is one of the biggest challenges that Finland faces today. That’s why we need more, not less, leadership against xenophobia, fear and hate.

Continue reading “Xenophobia is a cancer that spreads in Finland”

President Sauli Niinistö’s “ultimatum” to asylum seekers should apply to Finns as well

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The capacity to live with difference is…the coming question of the twenty-first century.

Stuart Hall

President Sauli Niinistö said Saturday during a YLE Radio 1 question-and-answer session that those asylum seekers that don’t abide by our core values should leave Finland.

“That’s the central issue,” said President Niinistö. “People who want to be here need to accept our core values: democracy, equality, human rights and all of that. If they don’t, they can’t stay in Finland.”

Read full story here.

While few will disagree with what he said, it’s unfortunate that we assume too many things about ourselves and the asylum seekers. When we place ourselves on a pedestal and compare ourselves ethnocentrically to Others we easily forget that we too are humans and have a lot of faults and much to learn.

Continue reading “President Sauli Niinistö’s “ultimatum” to asylum seekers should apply to Finns as well”

UPDATE (December 5): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

December 5

Lähde vahvistaa: Suomessa majailee kolme kovan luokan terroristia (Iltalehti)

What’s wrong with this story? Finland’s two tabloids, Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat, are not an example of mediocre journalism but of commonly spreading bigotry, reinforcing racism and fear-mongering. Ilta-Sanomat did this in the early 1990s when the first Somalis came to Finland. Migrant Tales has published some billboards of those years. Here’s one story below where Iltalehti claims that “sources confirm” that there are three hardcore terrorists in Finland. Nowhere do we get a hint of the source or why the tabloid decides to keep his or her name anonymous. Considering the xenophobia, hostility and the burning of two asylum reception centers in Finland, and ceaseless fear-mongering taking place in the media and social media forums, this type of journalism is not only irresponsible but puts at risk the safety of migrants and asylum seekers in Finland. By inciting fear we encourage violence. Terrible and irresponsible journalism at its worst.

Read full story here.

Before asking asylum seekers to respect Finnish laws and culture we should ask if we practice what we preach

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said that in order to make Finland a more secure place, each asylum seeker will have to sign an agreement that he or she will not break the law and respect Finnish culture, according to YLE.

“In this way they [asylum seekers] will understand and promise to follow Finnish laws and culture,” said Orpo. “We want to make clear these basic rules [to them].”

Read full story here.

While such an initiative is bound to fail and fall flat on its face, I for one hope that Finnish politicians and ministers like Hanna Mäntylä and Jari Lindström and many others would follow, or at least understand, our constitution and laws.

What about substitute MPs of the PS like Juha Maenpää who wrote on his Facebook wall that god answered his prayers after an asylum reception center was razed to the ground by a suspected arson attack in Niinsalo Tuesday? How does Mäenpää follow and respect our laws and culture?

Orpo’s attempt to get asylum seekers to sign an agreement reveals, in my opinion, his opportunism and ignorance about the challenges the country faces with over 30,000 asylum seekers. It also reveals how much influence the PS has in government concerning immigration policy.

Such an “integration” contract has been suggested by many populist and anti-immigration politicians before. I don’t think it has ever been applied anywhere in Europe because it simply wouldn’t work.

Asking somebody to sign such a contract shows that you don’t trust them and see them as a security risk. A country that takes in refugees doesn’t offer a good image of itself and to asylum seekers by showing suspicion instead of faith and fairness towards them.

By asking them to sign such an agreement we are suggesting that they will break the law and are potential criminals. People, irrespective of their background, are innocent before proven guilty, right? That’s a basic human right that applies to everyone.

When Orpo talks about following Finnish culture does he mean that Muslims can now drink alcohol and get drunk the Finnish way? Can they be racist like some Finns? Racism is a part of our culture and a way how men and women boost their low self-esteem.

Go here if you want to read something about the dark side of Finnish culture.

Continue reading “Before asking asylum seekers to respect Finnish laws and culture we should ask if we practice what we preach”

An arson attack against an asylum reception center in Finland gets a mixed response

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Juha Maenpää, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP, who wrote that the burning of an asylum reception center in Niinisalo Tuesday morning was how god answered his prayers, is an indication of how xenophobia has overtaken Finland. Reaction to what he said are highly revealing as well about the state of Finland today.

To show how lopsided the present debate about asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse society is, one could test the latter statement by Juha Maenpää and ask what would happen if a migrant, never mind a Muslim, would have made such a claim.

Instead of the Muslim stating what Maenpää said, “Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered,” the only word the Muslim would substitute in Maenpää’s statement is god for Allah.

How would the media and politicians react? Would we see a storm or a hurricane?

Migrant Tales spoke to Maenpää by phone Wednesday. He said that “politicians should wake up to the situation, if they don’t it could spark a civil war.”

Today on a Facebook post on his wall, which was published by waltamedia.fi, Maenpää didn’t appear to repent what he posted on his Facebook wall Tuesday.

Headlined “I’m in the eye of the storm!” Maenpää claims that he didn’t pray for the asylum reception center to be razed to the ground. He said that his statement was taken out of context.

While the PS politician appears to want to confuse us with his double-talk, few people, even from his party, believe what he said was appropriate. But then there’s this usual silence coming from the PS…

Read full story here.

Continue reading “An arson attack against an asylum reception center in Finland gets a mixed response”

Deputy police chief: Finnsh hate crimes have doubled in Helsinki so far this year from 2014

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Racist crimes have doubled in Helsinki from last year, according to Jyväskylä-based daily Keskisuomalainen, which cites the Finnish News Agency (STT). The total number of racist crimes that have been reported this year is about 70.

Helsinki Deputy Police Chief Ilkka Koskimäki was quoted as saying that a typical racist crime is when somebody accuses a Muslim of a crime and may be guilty of ethnic agitation or defamation of character.

Like in many countries in Europe, hate crimes go underreported in Finland as well and are only the tip of the iceberg, according to a recent shadow report by the NGO European Network Against Racism.

Considering that Finland’s migrant and minority population is growing and that we have a record number of asylum seekers that have come to the country, it would be a good idea to adopt in the Criminal Code of Finland (515/2003) the term “hate” and “racist crime.”

Continue reading “Deputy police chief: Finnsh hate crimes have doubled in Helsinki so far this year from 2014”

Perussuomalaiset politician states “god has answered his prayers” after an asylum reception center was burned due to a suspected arson attack

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Finland saw probably for the first time an asylum reception center in Niinisalo, which was going to house asylum seekers next week, being razed to the ground by a suspected arson attack Tuesday. While such an attack should be condemned by everyone, there’s a Perussuomalaiset (PS) politician called Juha Maenpää who is rejoicing at what happened.

By condoning and rejoicing at such an act of violence politicians like Maenpää and his party are encouraging others to carry out similar acts of violence against migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and minorities in Finland.

The PS politician is also a member of the far right Suomen Sisu association in which PS MP Olli Immonen is chairman.

Mäenpää stated: “Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered.”

Migrant Tales phoned the chairman and vice chairman, Ville Jussila and Janne Viianen, of the Vaasa PS office where Maenpää is a member but they would not answer my calls.

I was able to get in touch with Maenpää.

UPDATE: “Politicians should wake up to the situation,” he told Migrant Tales, “if they don’t it could spark a civil war.”

Maenpää added that he did not want his statement to incite violence against migrants and asylum seekers.

Why are these PS politicians so quiet? Why doesn’t at least Maenpää step up to the plate and take responsibility for his statements that condone violence.

Considering that the media and politicians like Prime Minister Juha Sipilä are willing to even call a crisis meeting because of an alleged rape that took place in Kempele, it’s incredible that nobody, never mind the PS leadership, is reacting to what Maenpää said.

Shame on them and shame on Finland.

Read original Facebook posting here.

Continue reading “Perussuomalaiset politician states “god has answered his prayers” after an asylum reception center was burned due to a suspected arson attack”

UPDATE (December 1): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

December 1

Two rape stories weighed differently – (Helsingin Sanomat)*

What’s wrong with these two stories? Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, published two rape stories Tuesday. One, which got half of a spread, was about an alleged rape that was committed by a suspected foreigner or asylum seeker in a Helsinki park. The other, which was a brief, was about a white Finnish man who got sentenced for raping a drunk fifteen-year-old. Why did the story with the foreigner get more attention than the one with the Finnish man, who got sentenced for raping a minor? The easiest answer is that Helsingin Sanomat, which should know better, doesn’t? Why? Because like some sectors of Finnish society it too is inflicted by racism. And why wouldn’t it be? Aren’t the reporters working for Helsingin Sanomat of everything that is good and bad about Finnish society? Finland’s largest newspaper’s poor, sloppy and opinionated journalism sheds light on a wider problem and how we condemn less rape committed by white Finns but demand blood if it is a migrant, refugee or asylum seeker. Sad but true.

* Thank you Reima Välimäki for bringing such double-standards to our attention on a Facebook posting.