Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 194 of 245

When a Finnish-language teacher loses respect for her foreign students

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Migrant Tales

What do you do if you are an asylum seeker that got a residence permit to stay in Finland and went to a Finnish-language course for a whole year? Everything is fine until you meet your first Finnish-language teacher who has no respect, never mind cultural sensitivity, for the your background and needs.

“She was not only a bad teacher but cruel,” said the Somali woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “She made me cry all the time. When I asked help from her she’d say that I had to pay more attention to her in class. I have never met such a bad teacher in Finland.”

Most of the students in the class were Muslims and as everyone knows some of them pray five times a day.

“The teacher wouldn’t allow us to step out of class to pray for five minutes,” she continues. “She said that if I stepped out to pray I’d be marked as absent from the class.”

We studied Finnish 3-5 hours a day.

Continue reading “When a Finnish-language teacher loses respect for her foreign students”

PS Ville Moisanen of Finland shows us the surreal yet ugly side of anti-Semitism and racism

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Can you believe this type of reasoning from a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* councilman from Sysmä, Ville Moisanen, who posted and removed two pictures on Facebook that insulted Jews, millions of victims of the Holocaust and a black woman posing with members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Are you ready for his explanation? Grab on to something because you may fall flat on your backs.

Moisanen writes:

“Let’s make one matter clear. I posted a picture and other published stuff as a PRIVATE PERSON, not as a member of A PARTY, and didn’t represented anyone else. It’s totally in vain to bring in the PARTY in this matter. It’s totally a joke to mix the party in this. This can be shared. “

Hold your horses Ville Moianen. You showed pictures of Hilter about gasing Jews and Ku Klux Members about to lynch a black person…

If this is your “personal opinion” and “private stuff” it’s clear that you haven’t understood the point: What you did is utterly racist and sick irrespective if you did it as a private person or representing a party like the PS.

The PS councilman from Sysmä now states that what he published was his private opinion and had nothing to do with the party he belongs to.

Continue reading “PS Ville Moisanen of Finland shows us the surreal yet ugly side of anti-Semitism and racism”

PS councilman of Finland posts pictures on Facebook of Hitler and Ku Klux Klan clansmen ready to lynch a black woman

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri photoshop Hamid Alsaameere

Ville Moisanen is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* councilman from a small town near Lahti called Sysmä who posted anti-Semitic and racist pictures on Facebook, according to Heinola-based daily Itä-Häme. Apparently inspired by Finland’s Ku Klux Klan impersonator.

The councilman removed the pictures but not fast enough for Itä-Häme to publish a story about them the next day.

It would be wishful thinking to believe that what happened in Lahti on Friday and most recently in Sysmä were coincidences. They were not coincidences but are the poisonous fruits that the PS and its racist cronies use to attack our ever-growing culturally and ethnically diverse community.

Migrant Tales wrote Monday:

“The person who was dressed like a Ku Klux Klan member was a 19-year-old man from the region of Päijäthäme but I disagree. He was Timo Soini’s and his populist anti-immigration party’s ogre.

Soini should remember that racism is like an angry rabid dog. Xenophobic politicians like him walk these dogs on short leashes. The dog attracts a lot of attention but it’s unpredictable because it can bite its owner, and hard.”

In the picture on the right Hitler tells students at his cooking school that the first thing one must do is turn on the gas. The other picture, on the left, shows a smiling black woman smiling with three Ku Klux Klan members about to lynch a smiling black woman who says, “I came to Lahti and I immediately found white friends.”

Continue reading “PS councilman of Finland posts pictures on Facebook of Hitler and Ku Klux Klan clansmen ready to lynch a black woman”

The Finnish Ku Klux Klan impersonator was really Timo Soini’s and the Perussuomalaiset’s ogre

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri photoshop Hamid Alsaameere

When racism lifts its head in Finland Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman and foreign minister, Timo Soini, usually gives us a lesson in denial: “We’re not racists.”

The historic victory of the populist party in 2011 was only possible thanks to its anti-immigration and Islamophobic message. Without polarizing “them” against “us” the PS wouldn’t exist or would be a very small party today.

But thanks to Soini’s leadership he has given a voice to racist politicians like the late Tony Halme, Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Laura Huhtasaari, Juho Eerola and many others like Olli Immonen.

The person who was dressed like a Ku Klux Klan member was a 19-year-old man from the region of Päijäthäme but I disagree. He was Timo Soini’s and his populist anti-immigration party’s ogre.

Soini should know that racism is like an angry rabid dog. Xenophobic politicians like him walk these dogs on short leashes. The dog attracts a lot of attention but it’s unpredictable because it can bite its owner, and hard.

We saw that in Norway four years ago when Anders Breivik murdered 77 people and last Friday in Lahti when a Ku Klux Klan impersonator appeared and his picture was top news in many newspapers around the globe.

Racism is an unpredictable ogre that always surprises you.

* 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.

Lue juttu suomenkielellä tästä.

Ku Kluk Klanin -pukeutunut suomalainen oli Timo Soinin ja perussuomalaisten hirviö

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Teksti Enrique Tessieri kuva Hamid Alsaameere

Kun rasismi nostaa päätä Suomessa niin Perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja ja ulkoministeri Timo Soini opastaa niin kuin aina: – Emme ole rasistisia.

Perussuomalaisten jytky vuonna 2011 oli nimenomaan mahdollista maahanmuuttovastaisella kortilla. Ilman vastakkain asettelua ei Perussuomalaiset olisi olemassa tai olisivat hyvin pieni puolue tänään.

Kiitoksia hänen johtajuudesta hän on antanut ääni mm. Tony Halmelle, Jussi Halla-aholle, James Hirvisaarelle, Laura Huhtasaarelle, Juho Eerolalle ja monille muille kuten Olli Immoselle.

Ku Klux Klan -tyylisen kaapuun pukeutunut mies väitetään olevan 19-vuotias päijäthämäläinen mutta minä väitän toisiin. Se oli Timo Soini ja perussuomalaisten hirviö.

Soini pitää tietää, että rasismi on samaa kun vihainen vesikauhuinen koira. Maahanmuuttovastaiset poliitikot kuten Soini kuljettavat näitä koria lyhyessä talutushihnassa. Koira herättää suurta huomiota mutta se arvaamaton ja voi purre omistajaa ja kovaa.

Niin nähtiin Norjassa neljä vuotta sitten kun Anders Breivik murhasi 77 ihmistä ja viime perjantaina Lahdessa kun pelle Ku Klux Klan ilmestyy ja kuva hänestä levisi maailmalla.

Rasismi on arvaamaton hirviö joka aina yllättää.

Read the same story in English here.

Facebook: PS speaker of parliament blames the media for Finland’s KKK image

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Maria Lohela is the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* speaker of the parliament who has real issues with Islam and cultural diversity. Last week a man dressed in Ku Klux Klan sheet and mask protested in Lahti against the arrival of refugees to that city. His picture was published in many newspapers abroad.

The only party that continues to have an especially ambivalent stand on the KKK Finn and racism is the PS. The foreign minister, Timo Soini, was more worried about the KKK impersonator carrying a Finnish flag than wearing something that represented white supremacists in the United States.

Lohela doesn’t even condemn on her Facebook the attacks against refugees and refugee centers in Lahti, Kouvola or in other parts of Finland but blames the media for Finland’s poor image abroad. If the Finnish media lacks teeth then it will be the foreign media that will name and shame us into action against racism.

Lohela writes at the end of her Facebook posting about what a great country Finland is but for whom? For white Islamophobic Finns like her?

Finland’s poor image abroad is being caused by the PS and the likes of her who are totally indifferent to the suffering of others and denying our ever-growing cultural and ethnically diverse society. That diverse society is here to stay irrespective if people like Lohela are upset by it.

Continue reading “Facebook: PS speaker of parliament blames the media for Finland’s KKK image”

Naming and shaming Finland into action

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Parties that use racism and xenophobia to attract voters play a dangerous game. It’s like having a rapid dog on a short leash that everyone notices. What those parties don’t want to know is that that rapid dog can bite back at its supposed owner, and hard.

Anders Brevik is one of many examples of how unpredictable and lethal that rabid racist dog is.

In Finland the government, the opposition, even President Sauli Niinistö never mind the media give mixed signals about what we’re supposed to do about racism in our society. In English we have a good terms for it: doubletalk, wishy-washy, snow job etc.

Politicians say one thing and then send a message usually in code stating another. They do this because they are white Finns with ethnic privilege and because they fear losing votes and support. Migrants and minorities matter at the end of the day little to them.

But what can you expect? For decades politicians from all parties have turned a blind eye to this social ill until one, the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* figured out that they could become one of the biggest parties in Finland by exploiting people’s racism.

Since no party has promised to rid Finland of Somalis and Muslims, among other minorities, the PS told their future voters that they would “solve” the problem.

Continue reading “Naming and shaming Finland into action”

The Finnish government’s wishy-washy and surreal stand on racism

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The leadership of Center Party Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, Finance Minister Alexsander Stubb of the National Coalition Party never mind Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Foreign Minister Timo Soini is disgraceful and will go down as one of the low points in Finland’s history.

The language and stand of the government against ever-rising xenophobia in Finland vacillates from sensible to surreal statements.

A good example of the latter was Thursday, when Prime Minister Sipilä said in parliament that people should not immediately label people racists.

“When debating we should be sensible and calm so we don’t label these people racists that express their own concerns,” he said. “In my opinion, we have to hear what they want to say as well.”

Stubb took a more surreal approach after agreeing with what Sipilä said. “We have to be tolerant in every direction,” he said. “In this country we don’t approve of racism or hate speech…”

Said Prime Minister Juha Sipilä in parliament Thursday: (Top sentence) “When debating we should be sensible and calm so we don’t label these people racists that express their own concerns. In my opinion, we have to hear what they want to say as well.” (Middle sentence) A man is protesting at a refugee center in Lahti dressed as a Ku Klux Klan clansman. (Lower sentence) “Can we now call this person a racist, Juha Sipilä?”

One of the problems when following the government’s record on refugee and migration policy is how wishy-washy they are. They say one thing but then erase it with another statement. Back to square one.

In my opinion, the most outrageous statement made Thursday was by Minister of Social Welfare and Health Hanna Mäntylä, who responded to Swedish People’s Party MP Eva Biaudet’s concern about ever-growing xenophobia in Finland.

Mäntylä is one of the closest supporters of PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation.

Continue reading “The Finnish government’s wishy-washy and surreal stand on racism”

The most outrageous picture I’ve seen of a racist in Finland

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Migrant Tales

A picture that appeared with a story on YLE left me with speechless. The arrival of a few thousand refugees to Finland has brought out the worst in some Finns, like in the picture below that shows a man in Ku Klux Klan garb and a Finnish flag protesting the establishment of a refugee center in Lahti.

The fact that the person dressed like a Ku Klux Klan clansman is another example of how racism is learned.

The picture below is by far the most outrageous I have seen to date of a racist protestor.

Thank you Perussuomalaiset* from bringing out the dark side of Finland!

The Ku Klux Klan is getting a foothold in Finland. The picture was taken outside a newly opened refugee center in the city of Lahti, located about 100km north of Helsinki.

Facebook: Rasismi nostaa päätään Suomessa

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Kun Somalit tulivat Suomeen 25 vuotta sitten, monet Suomalaiset muuttuivat hysteeriseksi. Nyt kun saamme ennätysmäärä pakolaisia samaa ilmiö toistuu ja rasismi nostaa päättään Suomessa.

Sami Silto kirjoittaa kuinka maahanmuuttajapariskunnan auto töhrittiin Karhulassa.

Rasismi on yhteiskunnan sairaus.