Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 191 of 245

How Timo Soini and the PS hope that the terrorist attacks of Paris will give them a picker-upper in the polls

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Below are two quotes. One is by the present foreign minister, Timo Soini, and the other below is by former Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. Soini is a member of a party that made its mark in politics thanks to its anti-immigration and isolationist rhetoric.

Since Soini and his party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, base their rhetoric on false promises that have been broken after becoming a member of government, their popularity has taken a nosedive in the polls.

What they say and promise have nothing to do with present-day Finland because they are based on lies and if they had free reign they’d legally turn migrants and minorities to third-class citizens.

Everything they propose to demote migrants and minorities in Finland is unconstitutional.

But the show must go on before the PS ship sinks for good as the Titanic did in 1912.

Let’s check out two very different quotes by Soini and Tuomioja about the carnage that took place in Paris Friday.

Soini was quoted above as saying on Uusi Suomi the following about the Paris attacks: “We have to take what happened [in Paris] seriously. The simple message shouldn’t leave any doubt that democracy will be defended. We will neither give these forces the upper hand nor bow to them but we’ll attack and challenge them.”

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How will the far right and anti-immigration parties in Europe try to exploit what happened in Paris today?

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Terrorism is a sign of how dysfunctional our society an countries are at dealing with global conflicts. I’m so saddened by the violence and watch with manifest unease how the far right and anti-immigration populist party will exploit what happened for their own benefit. We still haven’t got confirmation on which group is behind the attacks. My condolences go to the victims and their families.

Read full story here.

Finnish fitness center advertises migrants needn’t apply as members

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Believe it or not in Finland there are fitness centers that advertise to their Finnish customers that foreigners won’t be allowed to use their facilities, especially those that live in an asylum reception center nearby.

Kuntokeskus Valolinna is a fitness center in the town of Heinola, located about 140km north of Helsinki, which advertised on its website and in a newspaper the following:

Kuntosali Valolinna will continue to serve only Finns in the future. Due to outside requests, migrants staying in Heinola will not be allowed to become members of our fitness center because our membership is full.

Say what?! You won’t accept foreigners because your membership is full?

An asylum reception center is being opened near Kuntokeskus Valolinna and this appears to be the reason why the fitness centers wants to assure its customers that these people fleeing war will be kept out of the fitness center.

Non-Discrimiantion Ombudswoman Kirsi Pimiä was quoted as saying in YLE that the announcement by the fitness club is discriminatory.

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Finland’s and fortress Europe’s razorblade chicken feed response to the refugee crisis

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Like cancer, fear, inaction and xenophobia cripple and destroy nations.

Finland and Europe are looking more lost than ever concerning the refugee crisis and this has been shamelessly exposed in the raw at the EU’s Malta summit. If we fail to resolve the refugee crisis as a region we will face another problem that will be many times worse: Forfeiting our noble values and freedoms for short-term ineffective quick fixes.

One of these freedoms at jeopardy is the Schengen Agreement, which allows passport free travel through 26 European states.

Since such short-term responses to the crisis, which aren’t responses at all, are doomed to failure it means that the matters will get worse before they improves. We know well what is at stake in Europe when we pander xenophobia and scapegoat groups.

According to The Guardian, there’s nothing to suggest that the “the confusion, disputes and mudslinging of the past few months” have brought the EU closer to a solution. Probably the most worrying question is that our inaction will exonerate isolationist hardliners like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“I don’t say he [Orbán] should be entirely supported,”a senior diplomat at the Malta summit was quoted as saying in The Guardian. “But he has a point. There is some truth in what he says. Drastic, restrictive positions would have helped earlier.”

In Finland anti-immigration politicians like Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Laura Huhtasaari are stating that we should scrap our international refugee agreements and laws in order to stop refugees from coming to the country.

While some of you may not think much about what Huhtasaari posted, her party is one of the coalition partners in government of a prime minister who offered his home to refugees not too long ago.

Imagine. Here’s an MP of a government party of a country making such a claim that saw over 1.2 million of its people emigrate between 1860 and 1999 and relocated some 420,000 refugees after hostilities ended with the former Soviet Union in September 1944.

Laura Huhtasaari Raato, if we close our border it’s still ok to seek asylum. We must now decide what agreements and laws we can respect because we have reached a limit [with the number of refugees].

Raato Laaksonen Do you mean that lawmakers will decide not to respect laws?

Laura Huhtasaari If laws and agreements bring considerable harm and turn against us we have to review whether we plan respect them.

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Attempted arson attack against Helsinki’s Pitäjämäki asylum reception center

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales understands that Helsinki’s Pitäjämäki reception center was the target of an arson attack on Friday or Saturday. A Molotov cocktail was hurled at the reception center but didn’t light up properly.

A handgun and tommy gun was found in the possession of a man sitting in his car near the Pitäjänmäki reception center.

The man in the car wasn’t apparently planning to attack the reception center and wasn’t connected with the arson attack, according to the source.

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On Friday the police apprehended a man in car with a handgun and tommy gun near the Pitäjänmäki reception center.

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While this attempted arson attack was not reported by the media the question is how many of these types of unreported attacks have their been in Finland?

Two arson attacks have already been reported by the media: in Lammi (6.10) and Ylivieska (31.10).

Why are integration programs in Finland doomed to failure?

Posted on November 6, 2015October 24, 2025 by Migrant Tales

Here’s the billion-euro question: Why are integration programs in Finland usually doomed to failure? What can Finland and Europe learn from countries like Canada that have a more successful approach to integration?

One matter is for certain: A big part of the problem resides in between our collective ears. Do we see migrants as a problem or an asset to our society? Certainly factors like human and financial resources play important roles in determining how successful our integration programs are.

You don’t have to search too far to understand the challenges we face in making people feel that Finland is their home and that they’ll be treated with respect and as equal members of society. Even if the answer to the problem sits under our noses the big question is if we want to do anything about it.

Like in any other country, social exclusion in Finland is not only costly to tax payers but for migrants, who are obliged to go through a slow rites of passage, or integration ritual, which doesn’t even assure them of a job after all of their efforts.

Brandy Yanchyk, a Canadian documentary film producer, recently showed her most recent documentary, Finding Edge Road, in Finland.

See Find Edge Road demo here.

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What has the PS given to Finland apart from destroying our international image, labeling migrants and polarizing society?

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are one of the worst surprises that Finland got after 2011. If the latest opinion poll is anything to go by, the nationalist populist party has returned to the minor political leagues, where it was originally from.

While it was relatively easy for the PS to increase its popularity in the opposition with the help of a complacent media and politicians that turned a blind eye, being in government has been a totally different story.

As the polls show, the PS has been a paper tiger all along that believed, after two parliamentary elections, in its self-deception and forget its campaign promises.

One of these continues to be an empty promise that they will fix the Somali and Muslim problem in Finland. Like many of its empty pledges, they never will.

The PS is like cheap fast food. It may taste good after the first bite but the impact on your health is devastating.

Timo Soini and the PS tried to show – and succeeded – with poker faces these past years to defy the laws of politics like gravity and create a political revolution with the help of anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric.

The PS took a risk by joining the coalition government and they near-destroyed themselves in the process. Not only did they cause great harm to themselves, they have put in harm’s way as well Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government and all of Finland.

Due to the PS’ serious woes, it may well be that we may have new elections as early as next spring.

Go to PS website here.

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Finnish PS Kotka counclman under police investigation for ethnic agitation

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Mertsu Merivirta is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party councilman of the southern Finnish city of Kotka. His Facebook wall is full of nationalist anti-immigration posts and sexism. If you’re going to victimize migrants and minorities why not include women as well.

Is it a surprise that Merivirta is a member of the nationalist populist PS?

All of the above is second- and third-hand knowledge about the PS, a party that gets attention and support by spreading bigotry about migrants and minorities.

Merivirta is under police investigation for ethnic agitation for a Facebook post on October 28, which has been removed.

In light of the police investigation, the Kotka city board not only condemned what was published but recommended that the PS city council group suspend Merivirta from taking part in city council meetings until the investigation is over.

City of Kotka councilman Metrsu Merivirta was in “a euphoric” state when he posted this on his Facebook page, which was removed. The post states above the machine gun that soon you’ll have as neighbors “happy migrants.” “Greet them in the traditional way in Finland,” the post adds.

Guess what the answer was from the head of the Kotka PS city council group, Freddy Van Wonterghem, a far right politician who has been sentenced for ethnic agitation as well?

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When Supo labels all asylum seekers and migrants in Finland

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Finnish security intelligence police Supo head Antti Pelttari claimed at a press conference Tuesday that there are two terror threats that the country faces: the rise of refugee links to terrorist groups and hate crimes linked to neo-Nazi groups, according to YLE News.

It’s ironic that just before the 8:30 pm TV news broadcast that quoted Supo chief Pelttari, there was aired an anti-labeling commercial with a young boy. On his shirt there were labels like “problem youth,” “loser,” “abandoned,” and “not wanted.”

Reading the mixed statements by the Supo chief, which were echoed in the Finnish media, the child below could have well been an asylum seeker with the same apathetic expression and the following labels on his shirt: “terrorist,” “criminal,” “coward,” “parasite.”

See full commercial (in Finnish) here.

Reading the story in YLE News about the Supo press conference it was difficult to figure out what Pelttari was saying.

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Police College of Finland: Suspected hate crimes retreated a tad in 2014

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The amount of racist and other hate crimes reported to the police in 2014 grew a tad to 822 compared with 833 in the previous year, according to the Police College of Finland. Racist crimes retreated to 678 from 710 suspected cases with other hate crimes rose to 144 from 123.

The Police College of Finland said that the first suspected death as a result of a hate crime was reported.

“The person was a member of an ethnic minority and the victim who was an ethnic Finn and the incident is suspected of being racist,” the statement said.

Suspected hate crimes and racist crimes during 2010-14. The first row reads “racist crimes” and the second one “other hate crimes.” Yhteensä means total. Source: Police College of Finland.

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

The Finnish criminal code still does not recognize the term “hate crime.”

Category: Enrique Tessieri