The Republicans exposed the clown show in choosing, after six failed attempts, the speaker of the house. It is a mirror image of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* parliamentary group. All there is personal political greed, simplistic 1+1=2 (non)solutions, and utter incompetence.
Today, Yle published its latest monthly opinion poll, which showed the PS overtaking the Social Democrats to become the second-most popular party after the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).
Disgraced former National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman announced that he’d join the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. After announcing Monday that he’d leave Kokoomus, the latest announcement did not come as a surprise considering Rydman’s anti-immigration stance.
But some questions remain. In Kokoomus, he had built a reputation for being the Jussi Halla-aho of the party. Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. The far-right politician is responsible for steering the PS on its radical right path.
The next day he announced that he’d join the PS. A campaign poster for the 2011 parliamentary election, where Rydman claims, among other matters, that Finland should only accept the number of migrants it can adapt. In the ad, Mukhtar Abid, a social worker, states, ” This is why I, a Helsinki Social Democrat, will vote for Kokoomus’ Wille Rydman.” I sent Abib a message to ask him what he thought about the scandal and if Rydman was the right person to back in 2011. He has not responded to my message. Source: Migrant Tales
Will Rydman feel at home with so many Islamophobes? He will no longer be the Halla-aho of his party but will be part of a nasty mass of Islamophobes PS MPs.
Another important question: Does the scandal, which led to him being indefinitely ousted from Kokoomus’ parliamentary group in June, means the end of Rydman’s political career?
A Helsingin Sanomat investigative story exposed in the summer MP Rydman’s sexual harassment of underage girls to whom he sometimes offered alcohol.
“That’s the central issue, people who want to be here need to accept our core values: democracy, equality, human rights and all of that. If they don’t, they can’t stay in Finland.”
During the many years I have written about President Sauli Niinistö, he has always disappointed me. For me, he represents a Finland where time will steamroll over it. If you read many of his comments throughout the years, one matter stands out like a sore thumb: He does not like anti-racism activists, Muslims, and minorities like people of color.
Instead of uniting all the people in this country from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, his populism gets the better of him.
There are many examples, like when he addressed parliament in 2020. Without mentioning radical-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, he warned about the rise of “anti-Semitism and racism.” There is nothing wrong with that, but what was odd was he did not mention a word about Muslims and Islamophobia.
Cartoonist Ville Ranta’s view of President Sauli Niinistö’s two-extremes argument.
Islam is Finland’s second-biggest religion, with 120,000-130,000 followers.
A good example that he does not respect cultural diversity is the following statement he made in 2018, which is the worst of the worst.
He said: “I read in a newspaper about an Iraqi who had lived a long time in Finland, and he said that this [his culture] isn’t any problem. When I leave home for work, go to the store, or anywhere, I behave like a Finn. In this society, [I] follow the rules of the [cultural] game. But when I come home, I have Iraqi culture – truly impressive. And together with acquaintances can practice [my culture] very well, but the starting point is that Finland’s values are respected, democracy, gender equality.”
The surprising matter about the Avarn Security scandal, when (in)security guards used excessive force and humiliated their victims, was that it wasn’t a surprise. Poor selection criteria, lack of proper psychological training, little to no internal and external regulation, and near-blind trust would eventually lead us to the present scandal.
The positive side of the scandal is that the police service and media can make a difference by bringing to light such abuses.
Migrant Tales has written several cases involving the questionable professional treatment of security guards. Remember in June 2020, when two security guards aggressively escorted a black East African nursing student out of a train? One of them held her arm, and the other had her in a chokehold.
What about Moustafa Tito Sliem, who alleges that he was assaulted by five security guards in Helsinki’s Itäkeskus? Another case reported by the Helsinki Times of a black father and his son being treated dehumanizing after returning from a basketball game in Tampere.
Another case in 2020 that received a lot of coverage by the media. Two friends, one black and white youth passed the security guards at the Helsinki Railway metro station who were checking tickets. The security guard didn’t stop the white youth, but the black one was.
Writes Dr. Faith Mkwesha, the mother of the black youth, posted on Facebook:
I asked Dr. Mkwesha what thoughts she had when she heard about the Avarn Security scandal. The same company had detained her child.
“When I saw this thing in the newspapers About Avarn Security, it triggered my trauma due to what happened to my son in Helsinki,” she said. “For me, the pain [of that incident] came back.”
Dr. Mkwesha said that if the conversation she had with Avarn Security had helped the company mitigate the use of excessive force, the current scandal would not have happened. Moreover, my son would have never suffered what he did at the Helsinki metro Railway Station.
Instead of improving their ways, all efforts were made to cover up what happened, according to her.
“The police investigation ended quickly in a hush-hush style by stating that there was no [racism and ethnic profiling] case,” she continued. “And then it was my son’s fault, a seventeen-year-old boy still suffering from traumas due to what happened.”
The scandal that has rocked and come to public light about Avarn Security gets more incriminating by the day, revealing a culture of downplaying and coverup. Avarn Security Managing Director Niclas Sacklén’s initial reaction to Helsingin Sanomat was disbelief.
According to the daily, Sacklén considered the allegations “unbelievable.” Moreover, he initially would not confirm if the company, which has an annual turnover of 100 million euros, terminated the employment of the suspected security guards.
Sacklén has denied in repeated interviews with Helsingin Sanomat that the company as zero tolerance for violence by security guards. Now he admits that the company has failed in this task.
Sacklén’s assurances are nothing more than a coverup. A security company that does not provide security but terrorizes people is highly problematic. The problem reveals a wider problem in Finnish society, which lacks the will to regulate itself. Sacklén should resign from his job.
Avarn Security Managing Director Niclas Sacklén’s said upon seeing the video was “truly terribly,” according to Helsingin Sanomat, which has uncovered several cases of assault like the one above. The video is of another incident that does not involve the suspects held in custody by the police. What is worrying and suggests that the violence by Avarn Security guards is more widespread and a bigger problem than Sacklén admits. Continue reading “Avarn Security Managing Director Niclas Sacklén should step down”
Helsingin Sanomat has closely followed the story about six Avarn Security guards suspected of assault. In the latest stories, the daily reports that four security guards have now been remanded into custody. It also raises three unanswered questions about the scandal.
Mikko Minkkinen, crime commissioner of the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department, said in a statement Wednesday: “In the suspected offenses, the security guards transported the victims they encountered during their work to a more sheltered location near the train stations, after which they assaulted the victims and filmed the acts.”
Helsingin Sanomatraises three important questions about the scandal.
Source: Avast Security
One of the questions is motive. The second is if Avarn Security has done enough to prevent such a thing. Finally, an essential yet obvious question is if security guards are under enough scrutiny. Here is question number four: How many security guards have been sentenced for using excessive force?
Hopefully, this case will not end up like so many involving the police and other public services that abuse their power.
What kind of reaction can you expect from a country that continues to see foreigners like Muslims and other people of color as a threat?
Remember Oulu and the sexual harassment cases that spun out of control thanks to the fuel that politicians, the media, and the police were feeding? It’s déjà-vu again: politicians, the media, and the police are at it again.
Instead of sexual harassment of minors caused by asylum seekers, we now have youth gangs “of foreign background” terrorizing our streets.
The first story I found was published six days after Sweden’s September 11 election, where youth gang violence was turned into a political campaign issue by the far-right Sweden Democrats and the National Coalition Party’s sister party, Moderates. The knife in the picture is intended for extra drama. Source: MTV
Let’s go back to 2019.
The media, politicians, and the police caved into their exaggerated lies by turning an important issue into a storm in a teacup.
It was a social media lynching like I have rarely seen in Finland. While politicians will go to any lengths to get votes, a black stain remains on the media and police.
Has the media and police learned anything from the Oulu case?
Parliamentary elections are in April. How can I tell? When National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) politicians like MP Atte Kaleva spread lies and populist soundbites about migrants.
Kaleva has a tough time stomaching criticism, and usually, his answers are knee-jerk reactions.
One of these is when he charged Professor Panu Ratikiainen with defamation because he called him a racist.
Did the media notice? No.
There was one, however: Seiska, the lowest gossip journalism you can find in Finland.
Can you take him, MP Kaleva, seriously? Do his words carry any weight?
Not an ounce but he can surely pile it high and deep with his anti-immigration tirades.
MP Kaleva calls migrants or so-called “people with foreign background,” mamus. Mamu is the Finnish n-word for migrant.
Yassin, a father of a two-month-old daughter, was pinned to the floor by three security guards and handcuffed at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The ordeal ended at 23:30 am after trying, without luck, to get on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. His wife and two-month-old daughter accompanied Yassin.
“I have never been handcuffed in my life and pinned down to the floor with three security guards,” said Yassin, a native Moroccan naturalized Finn. “My [Italian] wife said she does not want to step on Finnish soil again. You can go back yourself!”
He said he will press charges against the security guards and send a complaint to Lufthansa.
While it is difficult to prove, some who know the ticket agents who served Yassin and are not Lufthansa employees have had racial issues. “I don’t believe that a white Finn would have been treated as I was,” said Yassin.
The ordeal happened when Yassin, his wife, and baby were supposed to board a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt with a connection to Trieste, their final destination. According to him, they faced delays and poor service from Lufthansa for about twelve hours.
Yassin’s family traveled during the holidays for their daughter to visit for the first time her grandparents. “After we passed the security check, we received an email 10 minutes
“After we passed the security check, we received an email 10 minutes later that our connection flight from Frankfurt to Trieste is cancelled and that we’d have to spend the night in Frankfurt,” he said. “We started to worry about our baby’s luggage that would be sent to Trieste and where we’d get things like diapers.”
I would go as far as to predict that after the election in April, the youth gang issue will disappear. It was the case in Oulu when Finland became hysterical about sexual assaults committed by migrants.
We’re in the same situation today. True, we have to address social problems with good social policy. Fortunately, Finland has a comprehensive welfare state. Still, parties like the Perusuomalaiset (PS)* and the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), who want to slash such spending if they win the election, lead us towards a cycle of exclusion and deception.
Remember what happened in Oulu in 2008-2009?
Let me refresh your memory. The media, politicians, and even the police caved into their exaggerated lies by turning an important issue into a storm in a teacup.
Every sexual assault is too much, period. However, if we look at the coverage of these cases, we see the same problem as in 2018-2019 with the so-called “rising” of youth gang violence that Yle and other media are spiking.
Similarities with the Oulu sexual assault cases: parliamentary elections, gang violence, a winning issue in Sweden’s election, and lack of correct checks and balances by the media and politicians.
For the police, it is also a winning issue. It ensures that more funds will be earmarked for them.
Have any of you seen any statistics about youth crime violence?
Why are the police and politicians holding back?
Considering that Finland’s gang “problem” is only a drop in the bucket compared to Sweden, the debate has revealed some nasty things about politicians and the media: washing our hands of the problem, simplifying and scapegoating migrants and minorities, and outright racism. President Sauli Niinistö, who never has anything positive to say about Muslims and people of color, joined the populist bandwagon over a week ago. Shameful.
Despite all the fear-mongering, it is a good sign that papers like Helsingin Sanomat are questioning the populism and hardline stance to solve the problem by parties like the PS and Kokoomus.
Quoting David Saudsdal, a sociologist at Lund University, he claims there is no proof that tougher laws against gang violence in Denmark have worked.
