Category: Enrique Tessieri

Finland President Niinistö’s “information-gathering exercise” about dual citizenship should worry us a lot

Posted on by Migrant Tales

President Sauli Niinistö has asked Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, an anti-gay an anti-immigration politician, to look into the possibility of tightening Finland’s dual citizenship laws or ending the practice altogether, according to YLE in English.  Prime Minister Alexander Stubb was, however, quoted as saying on YLE in English that plans to end dual citizenship are not in the cards. 

“We are not tightening any legislation we are simply reviewing the overall situation,” said Stubb.

Let’s hope this is the case but tell this to the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and if they were in government mainstream parties like the National Coalition Party and Center Party. How many “innocent-looking information-gathering exercises” have led to changes in laws? Many.

Taking into account the standoff between the Ukraine and Russia, the rise of anti-immigration sentiment in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, the so-called “information-gathering exercise” by President Niinistö is something that should worry us a lot, especially  those of us who are dual citizens.

Even if the tightening of dual citizenship laws for Russians is one reason why this matter is being brought up in Finland in the first place, the whole idea suggests that this country could be ready to turn their backs on holders of dual citizenship. The message would be a clear one: owning two or more passports is bad and should be discouraged.

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Read full story here.

If Finland tightens and does away with dual citizenship, it will not only be a blow to our ever-growing culturally diverse society, but to Finnish expats living abroad. One of the reasons behind our present dual citizenship law was to strengthen our country’s bonds with expats, their children and grandchildren living abroad.

The message by the authorities and Finland will be clear if laws are tightened: Dual citizenship is bad. Hide it in the closet.

* 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.

Helsingin Sanomat: Non-white taxi drivers face suspicion and outright racism from customers

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting article on Helsingin Sanomat today about how non-white Finnish taxi drivers face suspicion and outright racism from potential customers. It’s refreshing to see the country’s biggest daily taking a more serious attitude towards discrimination. It’s a big improvement from the days when it published polls in 2010 about what Finns thought about migrants. 

Obansu, a black African taxi driver with two master’s degrees, was the first reader to post a comment in August 2007 on Migrant Tales’ most popular posting, Are you a target of racism in Finland.

He wrote below:

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While it is a good matter that Helsingin Sanomat writes about the suspicion and racism that non-Finnish taxi drivers face in Helsinki, Migrant Tales this problem was already reported by Obansu in 2007.

Have things changed since then? Ghanian taxi driver Stanley Nyarko AboAgve is quoted as saying on Helsingin Sanomat: ”I’m in mmline and a customer comes in the car. Fucken n-word, he says and takes another taxi.”

While it’s clear that some non-white taxi drivers face racist insults while at work, the question is what is being done about it? Since too much of Finland is in denial about doing something to challenge intolerance, it’s clear that too little will be done about racist and rude customers.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

As long as some Finns believe it’s fine to admit they are racists in public, the problem will persist. Racism, like any form of discrimination, must be made and turned into something shameful.

It’s one of the many ways we can send this social ill back to where it belongs: the gutter.

 

 

Defining white privilege #9: Mohammad Ali’s insight

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In many respects white privilege, or specifically white Finnish privilege, is a good way to understand some of the challenges that migrants and especially non-white Finns face in this country. The interview below of Mohammad Ali* says a lot about white privilege in the United States even if the interview took place 33 years ago. 

What he said back then is very much true today and applies to Finland as well but in a different context.

What purpose does violent one-way integration – even in its most violent forms in the United States and during the colonial and post-colonial period – serve? Who benefits from it?

Even if the answer sits right under our noses, too many don’t want you to look there. Thus white privilege serves the group that controls and dictates how resources such as jobs, status, political power are distributed in society.

What happens when a group loses its history and identity? Francis Galton (1822-1911), the so-called father of eugenics, a pseudoscience that prohibited reproduction between certain groups because it would not improve human genetic traits, offers us an answer: extermination at the cost of white supremacy.

Migrant Tales invites readers to contribute their thoughts on this social.

Please get in touch with us and write to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you. Your account can be published with your name or anonymously.

It’s your call. 

 

________________

Definition #9

Mohammad Ali describes white privilege in the United States to the tee. The host asks why Ali converted to the Muslim religion and states after praising his conversion and faith:

Black people have been brainwashed to love white and hate black. We have been robbed of our culture, we were robbed of our true history [we´re] a walking dead man. So you got black people in an all-white country and they know nothing of themselves, the speak the language but are mentally dead. This is happening all over the world but the first place where we’ll rise will be the black people of [US] America and the rest [will follow].

See also:

*Thank you Michael McEachrante for the heads-up on Facebook.  

Helsingin Sanomat poll shows the PS heading south

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A poll published today by Helsingin Sanomat reveals that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is at its lowest point (15.9%) in two years. The most popular party in Finland continues to be the National Coalition Party (22.1%) followed by the Center Party (19.9%).

The Social Democrats, which are still struggling, are in the mid-teens (14.9%) with parties like the Left Alliance (9.3%), Greens (8.7%), Swedish People’s Party 4.5% and Christian Democrats (3.4%) trailing far behind.

Should we be surprised that matters are looking politically bleak for the PS?

Figuring out what the PS is and getting a coherent picture of what the party stands for is challenging for anyone. While it’s clear that the party is anti-EU, anti-immigration, homophobic, chauvinistic and especially anti-Islam, much of its energy has been spent to tone down its hate rhetoric but to stand for the same things.

The PS continues to be an openly hostile party against migrants and minorities. It would be wishful thinking on their behalf to think that some have short memories in this country.

The PS is in a near-constant state of animation trying out political images like a model changing clothes every few minutes. No matter how much it tries to change its image, the PS will end up committing political harakiri if it becomes too mainstream.

Even if the PS wants to look like a responsible mainstream party these days, it’s quite another matter if voters will buy it.

If the latest Helsingin Sanomat poll is anything to go by, the answer is a clear no.

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Read full story here.

The last three elections after the PS’ historic win in April 2011 are clear proof that something isn’t right. If the same trend continues in next year’s parliamentary elections, it will face a stinging – if not a mortal blow – to its chances to remain as one of Finland’s four largest parties.

 

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The PS’s election fortunes after 2011 have been disappointing for the party.


* 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.

Let the ballot boxes speak in 2015 and send the PS back to the minor political leagues

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I’m certain that when historians and political observers study the present parliamentary term 2011-15, they will come to a conclusion: Never since the 1950s have our Nordic institutions and values come under such a threat. Who will they name as the culprit? Wrong, not the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* but our indifference and lack of leadership.  

How can you not consider this period a gloomy one for Nordic values such as social equality and participatory democracy?

The 2003 parliamentary elections, which saw the rise of people like Tony Halme with Timo Soini’s blessings, speak volumes about the ever-growing space given to intolerance and xenophobia in this country.

Who was Halme (1963-2010)? He was a politician who didn’t hide his hatred of migrants and minorities. Halme called former President Tarja Halonen a lesbian on a radio talk show.

After the likes of Halme, we saw a few years later the rise of a new generation of PS politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, James Hirvisaari, Juho Eerola, Teuvo Hakkarainen and many, many other of the PS, who sought political gain with their xenophobic messages.

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What kind of a party is the Perussuomalaiset? Check out this quotes here.

 

 

What value, apart from spreading neoliberal views and encouraging hatred and suspicion of migrants and minorities, have they given? Zero value.

Remember Tommi Rautio, a PS councilman, who said he’d give a medal to a cold-blooded murdered after he shot in cold blood a migrant at a pizzeria, wounded the owner before taking his life?

Remember the membership applications by Ulla Pyysalo, a PS parliamentary aide, and councilman Tuomas Olkkonen to the neo-Nazi Kansalinen Vastarinta? Remember Teeum Lahtinen, the PS councilman of Espoo, who “liked” the Nazi group’s Facebook page?

All of the above are or were members of the PS, the party that is hoping to lead Finland into the new century.

Everything suggests, however, an election upset for the PS in April 2015. Over three years of this party’s antics in the opposition should be enough proof that the PS would destroy rather than strengthen our Nordic democracy and values.

Their statements, draft laws and actions speak for themselves. They are clear proof that they aren’t only an open threat to Finland but especially to migrants and minorities.

Let’s send them back in April 2015 to the minor political leagues where they came from and belong.

 

* 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.

When racism goes viral in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Sakari Timonen is one of the best anti-racism bloggers in Finland. He writes this time about a Marko Sihvonen, who made up a story on a Facebook post that a member of the Romany minority, one of the few that come here to ask for money on the streets, knifed a white Finnish girl and kicked the corpse in Turku’s Aura River. The girl was apparently found a couple of hours later.

Sihvonen continues: ”The killer is still on the loose. I spoke with a witness after the police had questioned the person.”

After the story went viral, Turku-based daily, Turun Sanomat, published a story by Sihvonen was posted when he was drunk and a hoax.

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Read full posting (in Finnish) here.

 

According to the daily, no charges will be brought by the police against Sihvonen but he’ll be sent a bill by the rescue department that went to look for the corpse.

Another story that circulated as a rumor on Sunday took place in the western city of Kokkola, where supposedly a foreign-looking man had raped a white Finnish woman and was still at large. The police had to send a statement that was published by tabloid Iltalehti that the story was made up by the woman.

While these types of made-up stories show the malice that some people have towards migrants and minorities, instigating a social-media witch hunt can be beneficial to some seeking political office.

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MEP Jussi Halla-aho claimed in 2010 with Muutos 2011 MP James Hirvisaari, who was sacked from the PS after he posting a picture of a friend making a Nazi salute in parliament, went viral after they claimed that a nineteen-year-old asylum-seeker had raped a seventeen-year-old girl from Lammila.

The rape case never got to court because it was apparently made up.

Both Halla-aho and Hirvisaari, who were running at the time for parliament, got a lot of media attention. Both got elected to parliament.

 

 

* 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.

What Finnish anti-immigration politicians write about migrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insght: This short blog entry below by Tanja Hartonen-Pulkka became quite a sensation in Finnish social media websites when it was published on Sunday and taken down on Monday by Uusi Suomi. Hartonen-Pulkka is very active in the Mäntyharju town council, where she is a councilwoman  for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and a member of the town board. Her blog entry below isn’t atypical of what some anti-immigration politicians write about migrants. 

From what Migrant Tales can gather, Hartonen-Pulkka argues that Finland will be taken over by migrants (or non-white Finns), who have no worth in our society because they live off social welfare and are lazy. 

Mäntyharju (pop. 6,200) is a small town in Eastern Finland with a miniscule foreign population. A mere 1.9% of the town’s population speak as their mother tongue another language other than Finnish (97.9%) or Swedish (0.2%). 

She writes:

Soon Finland won’t look like Finland anymore, or Finns at this rate. At this rate, we’ll become a minority in our own country.

Cultural enrichment (what a term!) is in some people’s opinion a good thing? Oh in order to make Finns more sociable? What’s wrong with our culture anyway? If somebody doesn’t speak or kiss you, that’s how things are.

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Now you see Tanja Hartonen-Pulkka’s blog entry on Uusi Suomi…

There’s not enough money and there aren’t any jobs. A recent study showed how first-generation immigrants don’t learn [at school]. [They are] 2 years behind [Finns] and their math skills are below average and finding work and getting a postgraduate education are difficult. If you don’t know anything, and if you don’t get an education, you’re not interested in work either. Or social welfare will help. That also happens to Finns – they mop floors or drive buses (without putting down different professions I myself am by vocation an orderly).

Even if some blame prejudice since they (migrants) aren’t hired. Isn’t a skill [a more] important [factor] than a person’s background when hiring somebody.

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…and now you don’t.

There are [many] jobless among our own ethnic (what a word as well) Finnish youths.

Jobs for Finns and for Finnish skills. Our educational system has always been praised. Why is there then such a disconnection between people and education.

* 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.

 

Six-year fruitless search for a Muslim burial ground in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Finnish Islamic Council has been searching without success since 2008 for a burial ground in the southern Finnish region of Uusimaa, according to YLE in English. Up to know, Muslims are buried in the “Muslim section” of Lutheran Church cemeteries.

Pia Jardi, deputy chair of the Finnish Islamic Council, told Migrant Tales that a questionnaire was sent to 16 municipalities about the matter but only four responded: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Tuusula.

She said that she was surprised by the large number of municipalities that didn’t respond.

“Are they worried about voters [if there is a Muslim cemetery in their municipality]?” she said. “Muslims do the same thing in graves as any other people.”

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Read full story here.

Jardi said that cooperation with the Lutheran Church has been good.

“We’ve been sometimes asked why don’t we bury our dead in the Tatar Cemetery of Hietaniemi [in Helsinki],” she continued.  “This isn’t possible since you have to be a member of the Tatar community to be buried there.”

The six-year search is a good example of how some sectors of Finland persist in the belief that very little will change as our society becomes more culturally diverse.  Our laws and values speak of integration, or two-way adaption, but what happens in too many cases is assimilation or expectations of the latter.

“You would certainly think that we would find an area in Uusimaa that could be rezoned for cemetery use,” Jardi was quoted as saying on Yle in English. “Perhaps is has to do with a lack of political will. If you even scan web forums they are extremely anti-Muslim…”

There are some 60,000 Muslims estimated living in Finland.

Over two thirds of Finnish Roma surveyed said they had experienced discrimination in the past year

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A study by the Ombudsman for Minorities of Finland reveals that a bit over two thirds of Finnish Roma that were surveyed said they had experienced discrimination in the past year, according to Turku-based Turun Sanomat.* Two-hundred and forty-nine Roma of different ages took part in the study. 

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

The majority of the discrimination cases took place at stores and gas stations. Some respondents said that one of most humiliating matters at stores or other public places was when they were followed by employees or security guards.

Half of  the respondents said they had suffered discrimination when seeking employment.

Meanwhile, the Pori District Court is looking into an extensive discrimination case involving 13 restaurant workers from nine restaurants in the western city of Pori that are suspected of discrimination on ethnic grounds, according to Turun Sanomat.

The accusations  are being brought by four Roma, who are joined by a white Finnish witnesses as well as a journalist of Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa.

One of the Roma at the trial asked the restaurant employee why he and three other Roma weren’t permitted to enter the premises. The employee responded: “Because you’re Gypsies.”

 

*Thank you Helena Kosonen for the heads-up.

The PS of Finland once again reveals its hostility towards migrants and cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the most interesting matters to watch about the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is how their explanations and arguments change to hide their hostile and xenophobic stances against migrants and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity. PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo was quoted as saying on YLE that Finland should stop development aid and end welfare to refugees and migrants. 

Once again the PS’ hostile stance to migrants and minorities in this country is exposed in the raw. The statement by Slunga-Poutsalo, one of the signers of the anti-immigration Nuiva Manifesto, reveals as well how much out of touch the party is with migrants and migration.

While the Nuiva Manifesto favours assimilation, or one-way adaption, Finland’s constitution and its laws support integration, or two-way adaption.

The proximity of next year’s parliamentary elections is one of the reasons why the PS’ party secretary is making these types of xenophobic statements. The other reason is that she, like her party, loathe migrants and cultural diversity.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

We’ve heard similar statements by the PS in the past. If the PS doesn’t want refugees in Finland, why would it want to stop development aid? Doesn’t development aid discourage migrants from coming to this country?

The most distressing matter about Slunga-Poutsalo’s comments is that it wants she wants to stop offering welfare to migrants that cannot support themselves upon moving to Finland. Even if it isn’t clear what this actually implies, the context of the statement reveals that the PS wants migrants to be second-class members of society.

 

* 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.