Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 46 of 245

Ilta-Sanomat’s message hasn’t changed in the past 30 years: Islam and refugees are a threat to Finland

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Ever wondered why tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat continue to publish racist stories? When the first Somalis came to Finland in the early 1990s, the tabloid had a field day (see billboards below). Imagine headlines like “Somalis will remain in Finland,” “Somalis tricked (authorities) to get asylum,” and twenty years later, “10,000 illegal refugees will come this year to Finland.”

As we all know, there is no such thing as an “illegal” refugee. Refugees are refugees, period.

The latest story by Ilta-Sanomat is on EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen, who said something positive about Islam on her visit to the United Arab Emirates (see tweet below).

What does the Ilta-Sanomat story reveal about anti-Muslim racism in Finland? It shows that Finnish tabloids and the media have successfully framed Muslims as a threat to Finland. If you say something positive about Muslims, you are a traitor and must be crazy.

Why do the Perussuomalaiset speak in code when referring to Muslims?

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Throughout the years, far-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have in recent years mainly used code words to refer to Muslims. Some of the most common ones are sexual offenders, overrepresented in crime statistics, asylum seekers, and, now the latest, vieraskieli, or “people who don’t speak Finnish as their mother tongue.”

One article published last week by Helsingin Sanomat highlighted the issue.

Russian and Estonian speakers were the most prominent vieraskieli groups in the story about Espoo schools. Arabic speakers were the third-biggest mother language group.

When far-right politicians like Riikka Purra use the term vieraskieli, it means in code Muslim and people of color.

One researcher pointed out that using the term vieraskieli is safer and more sanitized to express anti-Muslim hatred. It may help you avoid ethnic agitation charges.

Many understand that the Finnish media is part of the country’s racism problem. Any sensible person can see that the media rarely asks racialized people their opinions, never mind experts’ views on issues like racism and discrimination.

One overbearing message of parties like the PS and the near-silence and flirting of parties like the National Coalition Party is that people who are granted asylum are portrayed as a threat to Finnish values and culture.

Racism is deeply ingrained in Finnish culture. Excluding other voices means that little to nothing will change. Institutional racism must be challenged head-on.

I believe that if Finland’s newsrooms weren’t so white, they would write about racialized people differently.

It would be a big blow to the racist narrative of parties like the PS, which always label racialized groups with suspicion.

Viaje a la Colonia Finlandesa, Argentina

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Empezá tu viaje a la Colonia Finlandesa, Argentina, pinchando aquí.

How the Finnish media Others racialized pupils

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Migrant Tales

One of the casualties of the war in Ukraine will be social rights and the recognition of racialized people in Finland. Are we witnessing more aggressive reporting as a result?

Helsingin Sanomat published Wednesday a whole spread about how “over half of the students at several schools in Espoo don’t speak Finnish as their mother tongue.”

And it leads the story claiming that a researcher warns that what is happening in Espoo is a part of a “worrisome” European trend.

Sounds pretty sensationalist, right?

To top it off, Yle published a survey a day earlier showing that a majority of Russian speakers in Finland have a negative view of the country’s membership in Nato.

The Yle story labels Russians in such a toxic way that it feeds the Russophobia beast that resides inside many Finns.

**The story can only be accessed through a paywall.**

The Helsingin Sanomat, like the Yle survey, have a common message: Don’t trust “foreigners.” They are a problem.

Another question that the Helsingin Sanomat article raises is the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS).* We have heard for a long time how the Islamophobic party has spread ethnonationalist views and the great replacement theory.

How institutional racism entrenches at a Finnish school

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Migrant Tales

How does institutional racism survive unchallenged at a Finnish school? An anonymous source got in touch with Migrant Tales and pointed out how structural or institutional racism survives at a Finnish school.

One of the most crucial factors for its survival aren’t surveys and legal ineffective and false assurances against discrimination and racism but what the principal or leadership of the school thinks about such social ills. Is anti-racism a low priority, and does the school management camouflage its racism usually with its silence?

In Finland, according to the source, it is easy to house racist views and seek cover in the protective structural racism infrastructure. One can even get money from the state for anti-discrimination work by throwing out catchphrases like “this will be good for integration.”

In many cases, the promise that “this will be good for integration” is false and misguided and feeds structural racism. Integration, or adaption, is a two-way process. Even so, this is usually forgotten.

The majority is not required to “integrate” but the newcomer is.

**Guiding principles of the EU National Plan Against Racism 2020-2025. One of the many important objectives is to tackle structural racism.**

Here are some of the factors that maintain structural racism at a Finnish school:

Peddling theories about ethnic replacement in Finland for political profit and blood

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Migrant Tales

I received a call from an old Migrant Tales reader who was distraught about a letter to the editor written by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth of Lappeenranta. The headline? “The nation-state is our best protection.”

Is it?

The reader continued: “How can Helsingin Sanomat publish something that openly excludes non-white Finns and other minorities in Finland? I’m worried about my child. What kind of a country are we heading? Nazi Germany?”

After reading the letter to the editor, I agreed and understood the reader’s concern. Like the Republicans in the US, the PS of Finland are openly subverting our Nordic democracy by replacing it with an autocratic system like Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.

Apart from excluding minorities in Finland and forgetting what racism and hatred of Nazi Germany in World War 2, the PS Youth claims the following:

Exposing white privilege in Finland #86: Maryan Abdulkarim and Finland’s amnesia

Posted on May 14, 2022 by Migrant Tales

I can’t remember. It’s not important anyway.

Finland’s political amnesia shrowded in denial and hostility comes in the form of knee-jerk reactions. Those knee-jerk reactions may appear by acting dumb to difficult questions or by destroying your credibility in public.

I met Maryan Abdulkarim many years ago and commended her bravery in the face of continuous suspicion and hostility. Many in this country see her bravery as a positive matter needed in a Finland that suffers from too many Teflon politicians and political amnesia.

After six years of being a host on the Yle television show Jälkivisaat raati, which discusses topical issues of the day, Abdulkarim decided to leave after the program decided to include former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson (1995-2017), Timo Soini, as its new host.

Will Nato membership for Finland be good for migrants and minority rights?

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Migrant Tales

If truth Is the first casualty in war, then the second casualty is the loss of your civil rights.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin are due to announce Thursday that Finland should join Nato “without delay,” according to The Guardian.

While Finland’s security concerns are valid enough for its giant eastern neighbor and what’s happening in Ukraine, the rushed pace of our membership in Nato has stymied debate about Finland’s major foreign policy shift.

One of the matters that worry me is if our hardened stance against Russia will continue to fuel our xenophobic tendencies. As a Nato member, will Finland find understanding to promote social equality for minorities, including Muslims, Africans, and people of color?

Another aspect that raises question marks is the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).

Even if Nato will improve our security, the new tougher face of Finland could have a negative impact on our Nordic values and how they are applied to different groups.

Disagree?

How the Finnish media frames “good” and “bad” refugees

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Länsiväylä is a community newspaper that lives off advertising revenues. One story on Ukrainian refugees raking a park in Kirkonnummi, a city near Helsinki, is another chapter in framing Ukrainian refugees as “good” refugees, while similar people from the Middle East are viewed as “bad” refugees.

One PS politician states:

“These Ukrainians are pretty different from many who sought asylum in Finland.

Thankfulness is shown in this way (raking a park lawn. See picture below.)

I hope that some of them remain in Finland when the war ends.

They are needed here.

I believe they will not be over-represented in crime statistics. “

Iraqi asylum seekers raking leaves in a story published in 2015. Source: *Yle*

Instead of framing “good” and “bad” migrants, it would be good for the media to show that we are as a society humane and ready to help others. If we can open our hearts to Ukrainians, why couldn’t we do the same for people from the Middle East and Africa?

Not a Muslim “terrorist” but a white Finn belonging to the far-right PS

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Migrant Tales

A 33-year-old driver driving at high speed in the city center ended up hitting several cars and crashing in front of a cafe on Pohjoiesplanadi on May Day Eve, according to Yle News. Three people were injured including the suspect.

The suspect, a member of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and a public servant at the ministry of economic affairs and employment, resisted arrest and yelled at the police.

In a video, he calls the police the devil and says repeatedly “amen” on the ground as he is being apprehended.

The suspect was a PS candidate in the country election held in January and on the same list as Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the far-right party.

The suspect is being held for aggravated endangerment of traffic safety, aggravated drunk driving, grievous bodily injury, resisting an official, and insubordination, the police said in a statement, according to Yle News.

**(Left) Snapshot of the suspect’s Instagram page and (right) Iltalehti reporting on what happened.**

Strangely, there has been no response from the PS on what happened.

If the person had been a Muslim, we all know how the PS and the Finnish media would have reacted.

Shouldn’t we demand, in the far-right PS example, an apology from all the party members for what happened?

The best news is that nobody was hurt seriously.