Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 36 of 245

Media Monitoring Group of Finland [1]: Finland’s “youth gang problem” is Finland’s denied “racism problem”

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Migrant Tales

The youth gang “problem” in Finland is a knee-jerk racist reaction.

On and off, we have read about our youth gang “problem” with sensationalist headlines from newspapers that should know better. Remember back in 2014, when radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén created quite a stir when he claimed that a youth gang in East Helsinki was terrorizing people?

Another ludicrous claim by the PS MP is that these youth gang members are the “ripening fruits” of our failed immigration and integration policy.

Then, in 2020, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest circulating daily, warned its readers: “Over one hundred possibly dangerous youths with migrant backgrounds roam about downtown Helsinki – according to experts, this is a new migrant phenomenon.”

What do Packalén’s claim and Helsingin Sanomat’s story have in common? They are both incomplete and based on personal opinion.

They are a storm in a teacup that aim to instill fear in people who aren’t white.

Helsingin Sanomat story corrected its claims about “rising youth street violence,” claiming that these are brown and black Finns, which they marginalize and otherize by labeling them “youths of migrant backgrounds.”

The impact of both claims should not surprise us. What else can you expect if Finns have been taught to believe that minorities are a danger and threat to society?

Having worked as a journalist for over twenty years and poured over scores of stories about “youth gangs” and how the Finnish media frames migrants and minorities, there is one matter that always stands out: Important facts that give context to the story and the lack of minority voices and experts.

You commit or fall into de facto bias when you leave out facts that give important context to understanding a news story. This can be intentional or unintentional.

Why hasn’t the media tried to analyze where Sweden’s gang problem arose? There are many good lessons we could learn in Finland from such investigative journalism.

One good source could be reading Anne-Françoise Hivert‘s article, “The Swedish model is breaking down.”

Thank you, Ambriosius Wollstén, for the heads-up.

Different sensationalist captions by “respected” media in Finland. Source: *Viimeinen sana*

In light of the column and stories mentioned, the number of stories about our youth gang “problem” started to proliferate, especially in the fall.

Riikka Purra and the anti-EU PS may be too radical for Finland’s taste

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson, Riikka Purra, stuck her mouth in her foot at a debate with National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) head Petteri Orpo, when she said that it is still the radical-right party’s long-range aim to leave the EU.

“Finnish citizens are not in favor of leaving the EU,” she was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat. “On the other hand, as we saw with NATO membership, the opinions of the Finnish people sometimes change very quickly. Of course, despite its obvious virtues, we will continue to tell people how much the European Union is costing us.”

In other words, Purra reiterated that the PS’ long-range goal is to leave the EU.

Another “long-range” aim of the PS is to exclude non-Finnish citizens from getting social welfare.

**PS MP Riikka Purra. Photo *Helsingin Sanomat*.**

Finland’s lurch to the right and its Islamophobic fuel

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also.

Heinrich Heine

Thanks to Social Democrat Prime Minister Sanna Marin, leaders of the Left Alliance, Green League, and the Swedish People’s Party, there is a public reaction to the radical right and blatantly racist campaign promises by the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* Prime Minister Marin recently slammed the PS as a racist party and said that it would not be part of a government with it.

In the face of the rise of Islamophobia in Europe, Finland is at the forefront depending on the election success of the PS, our version of the Sweden Democrats, a highly Islamophobic party with roots in Nazism.

The PS, too, has links with far-right and neo-Nazi groups that are also violent.

PS MP Sanna Antikainen tweeted: “Rasmus Palaudan burned the Koran. According to the authorities, it is a so-
called a **hate crime, but the death threats that Palaudan receives aren’t [a hate crime].”**

How many Finnish politicians, never mind members of the PS, have condemned what Palaudan did?

Silence.

It is how researcher Farid Hafez wrote in a Haaretz column: “What is worse, while these anti-Muslim rallies were intensely debated in Swedish media, it happened for the wrong reason. The debates did not focus on the racist dimensions of the Koran burning. Rather, they focused on the importance of protecting free speech and, even more problematically, how to maintain law and order.”

Suva: The artist with the “ink of fire”

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Migrant Tales

It was only a heartbeat from the New Year when I met Suva at his Kallio apartment in Helsinki. His room is cozy and full of his instruments and artwork. After moving to Finland in 2007, he reached an important phase: Migri (Finnish Immigration Service), which makes or breaks migrants, granted him a long-awaited permanent resident permit.

“I now have a “P” permit,” he said. “It was on 27 December that I learned about it. I was hoping to get it in November, but it turned out to be a late Christmas present. The wait and the process of getting the [permanent residence] permit were stressful.”

Suva likes philosophy, but he considers himself an artist above all. If you try to get a feel for the man, his room, his home, they manifest themselves roaring silence that leads you to a human characterized by humility and a strong desire for independence.

“I don’t follow any philosophers but my thought process is philosophic, which I make it work through actions,” he added, “and the form evolves as tactile and audible; and sometimes I make art edible. But I don’t like editing ]my works] but just present as they are or as I am! But rough but with depth.”

Suva said that he has always admired underdogs and people who are weaker and treated unjustly by society.

“All I try to do with my art is to express myself, which is not so easy in this fucked up society,” he continued. My heroes are the weakest and most vulnerable members of society who dare to say, ‘stop it!'”

Suva said that as an art teacher in India, he would give special help to those students that were the weakest.

A native of Meghalaya, Shillong in the North-Eastern part of India, Suva’s estrangement from his culture began with his left hand. “In India, left-handed people are seen as disrespectful,” he said. “When I was a child, they attempted to make me right-handed by tying my left hand, [a practice like that is commonly known as tiger parenting], so that,I would get used to using my right hand and the memory as such is very distinct, that I recall.…It didn’t work,” he added.

Suva completed his MA degree in Visual Arts from Delhi College of Arts affiliated to Delhi University, India, specializing in Sculpture (2004). He received his MA degree in Live Arts and Performance Studies from Uniarts, Theater Academy (2015).

One of Suva’s prized possessions is his instruments, made from scratch. Since 2008, when he started to live in Finland he has made a total of 22 instruments.

“For me, when I do a work of art [like an instrument and pyrography] and when I see the material, I see the form,” he continued. “I do not do sketches.”

I don’t like the excessive amount of influence of text in today’s art circles with reference to dead Western philosophers. I call this section of people “academonic inter-textual species”, a form of artistocracy. We have a saying in India: You must cut hot iron with a hot iron.” Therefore In my works I also use text as a visual element but with logic and thoughts that are mine and not borrowed from some pages of such thoughts.’

For example, the instrument he calls synthesis carries such a name for philosophical reasons. The Indians have their version of Hagel’s dialectic, where thesis and antithesis give birth to synthesis. After that, the thought process begins again: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

**Suva playing the synthesis instrument. Photo: Suva**

Pyrography is Suva’s way to express many questionable issues and calls it “ink of fire”. “I do pyrographies whenever I have the time and mood,” he continued.

“Currently I am working five days a week, eight hours a day, so…I get tired when coming home, but I manage to get some energy to continue creating work whether it is from visual or performative in semblance.” Suva works today as kitchen assistant. He has had various jobs from paper delivery to cleaning. “The only way, in my opinion, to find work [in Finland] is through somebody you know,” he said. “Getting a job is very difficult and there is a huge amount of nepotism in the artistic field.”

Media Monitoring Group of Finland [1]: Viimeinen sana program left out some important questions unanswered

Posted on January 22, 2023January 3, 2026 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Yle’s Viimienen sana invited three guests to talk about Finland’s alleged youth gang problem and how the media treats the topic. The three guests clearly indicated how the talk show would frame the topic.

In the first place, there were no minorities taking part in the debate. All of the guests were white Finns.

Viimeinen sana did not a word about Marko Forss’ past, the policeman invited to the program and from questionable backgrounds.

Forss has a shady history when it comes to minorities and migrants. Even if a racist joke about the Romany minority is a minor matter for him, he was an admin of a racist and secret Facebook page that Long Play uncovered.

Here is the updated Long Play link to the scoop.

The Facebook group where Forss was the admin consisted of over 2,800 members, or about one-third of Finland’s police force of 7,000, according to Long Play.

Did any of the police officers in the group get reprimanded? What about Forss?

Nothing happened.

MTV: “Violent juvenile crime has soared, even 10 year-olds rob [people]”

The other two guests were Tiia Palmén from MTV, which writes pretty biased stories about migrant youths (see above), and Matti Näsi of Helsinki University.

While Näsi pointed out that the gang problem in Sweden is light years from Finland, a minority youth worker and even I would have given a different view of things.

Two important questions weren’t answered on the program:

Kokoomus proves it again: racism coupled with nationalism is a good fix before a parliamentary election

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Perussouomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra wasn’t the only one overjoyed by the latest Helsingin Sanomat opinion poll, which showed the radical-right party overtaking the Social Democrats to second place after the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Behind Purra was Kokoomus chief Petteri Orpo, gleeing.

Finns will go to the polls on April 4 to elect 200 MPs.

While observers debate the reasons behind the good showing of the PS, we can cite three:

Fear-mongering about minority youths in gangs.
President Sauli Niinistö’s endorsement of that fear.
Kokoomus’ willingness to form a right-wing government with the PS.

**Then Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said that Finland will immigration removal centers to deport asylum seekers whose asylum application has been rejected. Source: *Yle*.**

Orpo and former Prime Minister Juho Sipilä rejected the PS in 2017 after the party split in two because the party was led by Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and for breaching the sanctity of religion.

Sipilä’s government didn’t need the PS since the newly formed faction, Blue Reform, was there to offer its support to keep the government intact.

I am worried about the amnesia of political parties like Kokoomus, the media, and many politicians who don’t see racism as a problem. One good example is Purra’s promotion of ethnonationalist ideology by suggesting that Finland should exclude foreigners from getting social welfare. Not one newspaper in Finland, never mind a single politician, denounced what she said.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #91: The right to generalize and victimize minorities

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Those who are worried about the blow to the credibility of the security guards due to several scandals that even led to the death of a woman in Espoo are quick to point out one should not jump to conclusions and label all security guards and the sector.

True, we should always be careful not to generalize.

There is, however, something wrong with that defense. The same people who are saying that we must not generalize are the ones who constantly generalize about migrants.

President Sauli Niinistö, who is no friend of Finland’s culturally diverse communities, added more feathers to tarred minority youths in the ongoing debate on youth crime. Source: *Yle*

Downplaying the problem is also an important part of the narrative about white crime versus crime committed by minorities.

Sanna Marin: Bravo for stating that the PS is a racist party! Better late than never.

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Politicians like Prime Minister Sanna Marin have offered long-overdue leadership when challenging racism in Finnish politics by stating what many know: The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is a racist party.

“Looking at the speeches of individual [PS] MPs, these speeches have been racist and genuinely hostile to certain minorities,” said Marin in a debate with Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). “There is no denying this; it is a fact. I don’t understand why we politicians should smile and pretend that these speeches are not real.”

Two PS MPs, Vilhelm Junnil and Veikko Vallin, showing off their MAGA caps by former President Urho Kekkonen’s bust. Does a “normal” party cack President Donald Trump after all the revelations of financial crimes and coup plotting? Source: Facebook

Finnish politicians need to be faster to react to the rise of the PS. In the 2011 parliamentary election, when it won 39 seats from 5 seats previously, Finnish political parties like the Social Democrats wanted to capitalize politically on anti-immigration sentiment.

Riikka Purra: I am a racist and proud of it!

Posted on January 13, 2023March 18, 2024 by Migrant Tales

After the leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Alliance announced that they would not form part of a future government with the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS),* Riikka Purra has lashed out against her party’s critics.

The latest racist talking points of the PS is excluding foreigners from getting social welfare and creating a modern Nordic apartheid state where foreigners would be legally second-class citizens.

The knee-jerk reaction by Purra is because the three parties don’t see the PS as “a normal party” and therefore do not wish to sit in the same government as her Islamophobic party.

Purra tweets: “There is nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide about our (party’s) values. We are a nationalist and patriotic party defending Finland and Finnishness. I am very proud of our concept of humanity and our values.”

**Do you see any visible minorities in the picture? Maybe one. Source: Twitter**

Finland’s security business sector must be placed under greater scrutiny

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

I always ask if the politician or public official will change anything or keep the status quo. The answer you may get offers rapid insight into the problem.

The security business scandal grew Thursday when a former Securitas manager is suspected of aggravated fraud in a fictitious case involving protection for a possible victim of an honor killing. The amount of money obtained fraudulently, together with a social worker of the Center for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres), was “about three million euros,” according to MTV.

The alleged crime happened between November 2021 and September 2022. The suspect was detained for a month by the police and freed in November, but he is still a suspect.

The different shortcomings, even fatal as happened in Iso Omena on Saturday, of security companies, reveal a wider problem that has come to the public light thanks to the little scrutiny of the business.

It is a good matter that Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen wants a full investigation of the sector. “It is safe to say that these are not isolated cases, as there have been several recently,” she was quoted as saying in Yle.

Good start Minister Mikkonen but why do you make such a statement now? Didn’t you suspect anything before?

If we follow the news, some matters reveal themselves: downplaying the problem by the heads of Securitas, Jarmo Mikkonen, and Avarn Security, Niklas Saklén; (2) downplaying the problem by politicians like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Mari Rantanen; (3) downplaying the problem by using the police and so-called “security experts” as sources by the media; (4) downplaying or not even citing ethnic profiling by security guards.

PS MP Rantanen, who heads the parliamentary administration committee, said in A-studio, that the scandal has surprised her and that we should not label all security workers.