Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 195 of 246

Please explain, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, what does “Finland isn’t a racist country” mean?

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Standing together with four other Nordic prime ministers, Juha Sipilä states that Finland isn’t a racist country, according to YLE in English. I’m a bit baffled by Sipilä’s statement. What does Finland “not being a racist country” actually mean?

Is he saying that racism doesn’t exist? Does his claim mean that it’s under control? Does it mean that we have racism and the prime minister is ashamed by it?

Or is it denial that such a social ill is one of the biggest challenges we have as our society becomes ever-culturally diverse?

We don’t know because the statement doesn’t give us too many clues.

Sipilä also claimed at the press conference that all of the Nordic countries “are international, open and tolerant.”

Taking into account recent election results in Denmark and Finland, one could debate the prime minister’s claim.

The only prime minister at the press conference that could be considered “international, open and tolerant” is Stefan Lofven of Sweden. Norway, Denmark and Finland all have populist and anti-cultural diversity parties that could be described as “xenophobic, closed and intolerant.”

Who are they? The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* of Finland, the Danish People’s Party and the Progress Party of Norway.

All three of these parties base their political support on anti-cultural diversity sentiment, excluding and victimizing migrants and minorities and encouraging that they be kept on short leashes.

Read full story here.

Why have we seen in recent years the rise of populist parties in the Nordic region that are xenophobic and hostile to cultural diversity if we “are open, international and tolerant?”

Continue reading “Please explain, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, what does “Finland isn’t a racist country” mean?”

What the Finnish media leaves out in a story is an editorial line just like silence is a political decision

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Silence is a political decision.

In journalism it works in the following manner: Silence is what you don’t report and intentionally leave out in the story. That is a policy decision, or an editorial line.

As more asylum seekers come to Finland I try to remember what the media reported about the arrival of Somalis to Finland in the early 1990s. The reporting was disgraceful, unprofessional and outright racist.

No doubt about that.

The first time I ever got death threats in my life was in Finland, when I wrote about for Apu magazine a big story on a refugee center in Mikkeli.

When I reported this matter to the police in Helsinki, the matter that surprised me was how he played down what happened. He just wasn’t interested, He didn’t take what happened to me seriously.

This 1994 billboard by tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reads: “Somalis got asylum by swindled the authorities.” Source: Migration Institute.

While the national media doesn’t show its racism like the billboard above, it’s reporting is below standard it is still “white” and opinionated. Too often it is a mouthpiece for racist comments by politicians and rarely does it ever challenge them.

The most recent example of the above was YLE’s 8:30pm news Saturday. For some odd reason YLE reports the news about the demonstrations for and against asylum seekers as two extremes.

If we put that type of reporting into context and applied it to Britain you’d probably see the former Islamophobic English Defense League at one end and anarchists at the other.

In Finland the media incorrectly reports that those who are in favor or against asylum seekers are two extremes.

They’re not.

Continue reading “What the Finnish media leaves out in a story is an editorial line just like silence is a political decision”

Finnish government and the PS: Kid gloves and wishy-washy statements on asylum seekers and racism

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Migrant Tales

There are a number of demonstrations planned today demanding that Finland shut its border to asylum seekers. What may surprise some is that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, a party sharing power in government, is organizing some of these demonstrations like the one in Tornio, a town located next to the Swedish border, according to tabloid Iltalehti.

Racists have done wonders for Finland’s image abroad and these people in Tornio will reinforce that image.

As long a politicians continue to give wishy-washy statements on racism and as long as the media parrots this type of narrative the international media is our last hope. They will name and shame us into action.

Demonstrations are becoming quite common in Finland due to the government’s wishy-washy stand on asylum seekers and racism.

If we are concerned about our international image we should take steps to challenge racism and outbursts of bigotry in this country thanks to parties like the PS.

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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.

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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.”

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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”