Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 69 of 245

The PS and its obsession with migrants

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Migrant Tales

If you had the opportunity to listen inside the brain of a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politician, you’d probably hear the following word: migrants, maahanmuuttajat, migrants, maahanmuuttajat…

The head of the PS parliamentary group, Ville Tavio, regurgetates that obsessive word in countless tweets and statements.

Tavio tweets: “Finnish human rights are threatened as a result of massive asylum-seeker policies. Such migration should be kept in check, so it isn’t a threat to the country’s economy, security, and national culture.”

Tavio, who has before mentioned his admiration of France’s National Rally far-right head Marine Le Pen, claims that some conspiracy permits “massive” asylum seekers to enter Finland.

I understand that Tavio does not wake up in the morning and looks in the mirror, whispering to himself that I am such a racist.

Or does an Islamophobic mindset make people delusional? They attract voters with their exaggerations and lies and get hooked to power like junkies.

According to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), there were 4,550 asylum seekers in 2019, of which 2,467 were granted residence permits. Where is the massive amount of asylum seekers you speak of Tavio?

The PS believe that they can get away by lambasting migrants, especially Muslims and people of color, without any consequences.

A party like the PS that bases 90% of its politics on Islamophobia and Afrophobia cannot tap from the well of hatred and discord forever. One day that well will dry out.

No matter how much politicians like Tavio and his band of Islamophobes kick and bitch, we are here to stay.

“Sheikki”-niminen kansanedustaja kysyy kuka on “aito” suomalainen

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalainen kansanedustaja, Kristian “Sheikki” Laakso, kysyy kuka on “aito” suomalainen.

Onko “Sheikki” ns. aito suoalainen nimi? Sheikki on henkilö, joka on Koraanin asiantuntija. Sheikki on sama kun imaami.

Miten voit kutsua itseä “Sheikki”-nimellä jos vihat muslimeja kuten puolueesi, Perussuomalaiset?

Sinun selitykset aito suomalaisuudesta ovat sekavia ja naurettavia.

Muista yksi asia, Kristian Laakso: Ihmiset päättävät keitä ovat eikä asia kuuluu sinulle.

Se on integroituu eikä intekroituu.

From Belle Selene Xia to Helena Puustinen and Joy Aalto and the Perussuomalaiset mindset

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Migrant Tales

We read about Joy Aalto, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party member, who gave us 1 + 1 = 2 advice on becoming a Finn. If such a simplistic recipe for integration – learn Finnish and get a job – worked for her, that is fine, although I have my doubts.

Before reading on, this post is not against women from the Far East but wants to raise a question: Why does the PS believe that such women – not men – are acceptable foreigners?

Why don’t we see the PS empowering Somali and Muslim women?

**Joh Aalto states that she became a Finn by learning the langauge and getting a job.**

Let’s hope that Joy Aalto will not turn into a Helena Puustinen or house the opinions of former Helsinki deputy councilperson Belle Sene Xia, who wished death to members of the Falun Dafa religious sect.

So what did Helena Puustinen post?

Puustinen said that she would like to lock up Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government in Auschwitz and devise “a better plan than Hitler” to, I suspect, exterminate the ministers of her cabinet.

Puustinen’s hostile rant did not spare asylum seekers. Dropping atomic bombs on them would do the job.

Puustinen in a picture with a Waffen SS of Holland ad asking people to join in the fight against Bolshevism.

And who could forget Belle Selene Xia, who got sacked from the Helsinki PS for wishing that they kill members of the Falun Dafa religious sect?

**Read the full story in Finnish here.**

Before getting the boot, Helsinki PS municipal candidate Belle Selene Xia didn’t consider her former party racist or against migrants.

“They’re only people’s stereotypes against the Perussuomalaiset,” she said. “The Perussuomalaiset are strongly against racism. Moreover, the PS is in favor of labor immigration.”

Surprisingly, she changed her opinion after getting sacked from the Helsinki chapter of the party.

She then said that her foreign background played a role in her sacking.

KOTOUTUMINEN #12: Integration is as easy as 1 + 1 = 2. NOT!

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Having taught many students about Finnish society for many years, two matters surprise me about this teaching line: Are the people giving these courses qualified and simple, 1 + 1 = 2, explanations to a complex matter as adaption.

If the integration model is overly simplistic, treat it with tweezers because its conclusions are suspect. Integration, adaption, or properly inclusion is a complex matter.

During my years as a teacher of these courses, I have requested material taught by other teachers. Not one white Finnish teacher has, however, has shared with me the material they teach newcomers about Finland.

I get the impression that the only requirement to teach newcomers about Finnish society is that you are a white Finn with some teaching background. Every white Finn knows what our culture is, right?

Telling newcomers about our society riddled with exceptionalism, ethnocentricm and even racism partly explain why, I suspect, that the majority of these people have no idea what kotoutuminen means or implies.

If you want an example of a 1 + 1 = 2 integration model, check out Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Kristian Sheikki Laakso’s tweet below, who affirms this is how you become a part of Finnish society.

Joy Aalto, who is a candidate for the upcoming municipal election in April for a party known for its hostile Islamophobic rants, gives us her recipe for integration:

Language is key to changing the way we debate cultural diversity. It is a powerful weapon that xenophobes fear.

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Language and how people are labeled are some of the reasons why racism and anti-immigration politicians have exerted power on the national debate on our ever-growing cultural diversity. If we did away with these toxic terms, which label people as eternal outsiders, matters would change radically.

First and foremost in the debate, we should dispense with words that label and group people as outsiders. By labeling people as outsiders, like the term person with a foreign or migrant background,”

For this reason, we need a bold and innovative approach to how we perceive ourselves as a society and what Finnish identity is. That discussion must happen now.

With all the hate and hidden messages that portray and frame Others in our society, the debate would clean up pretty fast since we would change from referring to people as Finns or as one of us.

If our society is open and encourages equity, the langauge we use to label Others should reflect it.

**Debate about youth crime by so-called “people of migrant background” is a good example why we need to use more inclusive language that respects difference.**

So, what terms could we use when referring to non-white Finns? The labels they want us to use like AfroFinn, brown Finn, Somali Finn, etc. White Finns should stop placing unilateral ethnic categories on people of different backgrounds.

One way of changing the way we debate difference and cultural diversity is by not using terms that group people as outsiders.

Two PS Youth members convicted of ethnic agitation

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth deputy chairperson Toni Jalonen and Johannes Sipola, the former chairperson Johannes Sipola were sentenced by a Pirkanmaa District Court fines for ethnic agitation, according to YLE News.

Jalonen, who announced in February that he is “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and a fascist,” was slapped with a 50-day fine (300 euros) for ethnic agitation. Likewise, Sipola, who blamed the Christchurch, New Zealand killings of Muslims in March 2019 on multiculturalism, was given a 40-day fine (240 euros) for ethnic agitation.

The convictions came after images were published on social media. One of them had a picture of a black couple looking at their baby lovingly, with the text: “Vote for the Perussuomalaiset so that Finland’s future won’t look like this.”

The other racist ad was a picture of two women wearing niqabs with a warning: “Do you want our country to look like this? Don’t stay sleeping. Vote.”

The tweet and Facebook postings cost the PS Youth dearly. They first lost 115,000 euros of funding from the ministry of education and then saw their association dissolved.

Toni Jalonen living in his fascist alternate reality world.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #75: Obsession with race, ethnicity, and us versus them

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

If we want to give a massive blow to racism in Finland and parties that promote this social ill, we need to change the language we use when speaking of all those that live here. One label that I have always disliked is “person with migrant or foreign background.”

What does it mean and why is it used?

In many respects, it is a hostile term whose main purpose is to exclude and distinguish people who are so-called “real” Finns and those who are not. How can a person with a foreign background, even if he or she was born here, compete if you are from nowhere?

It’s encouraging that Green League politicians like Maria Ohisalo, the minister of the interior, brought this up in a session of parliament. In an interview, she reiterated her message: “Many youths have asked me how long them must be a person of migrant origin before they can be Finnish citizens.”

Placing people in such categories offers racist amunition. Racist and Islamophobic politicians from parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have a narrative to protect.

Fortunately, there are people who are challenging these racist categories. AfroFinns, brown Finns and any other types of Finns come to mind.

FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #75

If we want to give racism a blow, we need to change the language we use when speaking of Other cultural and ethnic groups in Finland.

The labels and langauge we use must inspire inclusion, not exclusion.

Even if Finland is a highly racialized country with some circles obsessed by its whiteness, I am confident that this will change in time and that classifictions used by Statistics Finland will become history.

Statistics Finland has some doozies for ethnic classification like (a) person of Finnish origin born in Finland; (b) person of Finnis origin born abroad; (c) person of foreign background born abroad; (d) person of foreign background born in Finland; (e) unknown.

Sensational stories about youth crime by brown Finns: Tom Packalén in 2014, Helsingin Sanomat in 2020

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Migrant Tales

What does Lari Malmgerg’s column on youth crime remind us of? In 2014, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Tom Packalén wrote a similar story about how brown Finns were terrorizing white Finns in East Helsinki.

At the end of the day, Packalén could not prove his claims, and the whole issue was forgotten even if he succeeded at labeling and reinforcing prejudices about brown Finns.

Wrote Packalén in Uusi Suomi: “The youngest member of the gang is 10 years old. Publically about 70 have been abused [by these gangs]. After twenty years as a police officer, I believe that the real number of attacks and robberies are many times bigger [than officially cited].”

THE COLUMN BELOW IS UNSUBSTANTIATED AND MISLEADING

**Read the original story (in Finnish) here. WARNING: THE COLUMN IS UNSUBSTANTIATED** **AND MISLEADING.**

Six years later, Kuokkanen’s headline in Helsingin Sanomissa reads: “Over one hundred possibly dangerous youths with migrant backgrounds roam about downtown Helsinki – according to experts, this is a new migrant phenomenon.”

What do these two stories have in common? They are both incomplete and based on personal opinion.

Even if Packalén and lately Kuokkanen labeled in a hostile manner so-called “youths of migrant background,” Police Commissioner Jari Taponen shot down what the reporter claimed.

Writes Yle: “According to Taponen, suspects apprehended by the police come from broken homes. The media have labeled them as persons of migrant origin. Even so, the police emphasize that all of them were born in Finland. Part of them have parents who are of foreign origin.”

While it is a positive sign that the police refuted with facts the careless and even judgemental writing of some reporters, the damage caused by Kuokkanen was done. Prejudices have been reinforced, and the story is still out there, even if it has been proven false and misleading.

Helsingin Sanomat’s Lari Malmberg claims that the fuss the article raised was that we have problems debating a difficult topic like cultural diversity. He also states that the media must bring these topics to the public light.

True, but I would not want Malmberg to lead the discussion.

The column he wrote sounds more like a flimsy excuse for publishing an opinionated and poorly researched story by Katja Kuokkanen.

Malmberg revealed in the same column two days later how the original story should have been read.

He stated that the original story did not imply that all youths with migrant backgrounds, or brown Finns, are criminals;
Such youths are not in special danger of becoming criminals;
Even if some youths break the law, it does not mean that the absolute number of crimes has grown;
Youth crime in Helsinki has gone down;
Finland is not in danger of having the same problems as Sweden with migrants;
A very small number of these groups appear to act aggressively.

Which groups did Helsingin Sanomat’s story serve?

The answer is clear: It gave ammunition to populists, their xenophobic narrative, and reinforced our prejudices.

Helsingin Sanomat: Brown people are dangerous and a threat to white society

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Katja Kuokkanen, the reporter who wrote a provocative story about youth crime committed by non-white youths with the following headline: “Over one hundred possibly dangerous youths with migrant backgrounds roam about downtown Helsinki – according to experts, this is a new migrant phenomenon.”

The headline in Finland’s biggest daily could not be more disturbing since it automatically ends up labeling all youths with migrant backgrounds as criminals.

The claim made by the Helsingin Sanomat headline, which was later retracted with new stories and a Helsingin Sanomat column, is very similar to how sexual assaults are treated in the media and especially by Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).*

After the commotion had hit the fan, Malmberg points out in a column two days later that the story did not mean to label all brown Finns as criminals and that youth crime had gone down in Helsinki.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with Malmberg. He claims that the strong reaction to his opinionated and poorly researched story showed that we still don’t know how to debate these types of topics in Finland.

**Finland’s biggest daily** **with the main headlines of the day: “Brown youths are dangerous. Source: a hunch.”** **Source: Twitter.**

The problem isn’t that Finns don’t know how to debate sensibly about migrant topics, but we still live in deep denial about society’s and our own racism and prejudices of people of color.

One rule of thumb is to avoid simple answers to complex social questions.

Sometimes the media, like HS, waters the poisonous flower of xenophobia

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Migrant Tales

The headline of a Helsingin Sanomat article sparked fear on Tuesday: “Over one hundred dangerous youths wander in downtown Helsinki – according to experts, this is a new phenomenon caused by migration.”

When the Helsingin Sanomat story was published, it spread fear and with it xenophobia.

Is the newspaper article true?

In the first place, the police reported that after the article was published, crimes committed by minors have decreased between January and September, according to Superintendent Katja Nissinen.

Writes Yle News: “The paper reported that the young people had a tendency to settle conflicts with violence and to get into scuffles with kids their own age. They also used the Snapchat app to network. Later on Tuesday Helsinki police said that a small proportion of city youths got themselves into trouble committing criminal offenses. These groups included both ethnic Finnish and foreign background youngsters.”

One of the matters that the Helsingin Sanomat story reinforces is not only poorly researched journalism, but that xenophobia is alive and kicking in Finland.

The story by Finland’s largest daily was also a present to the Islamophobic PS and their spiteful politicians, which spread the narrative that Finland’s “harmful migration” is turning our country into a Sweden, where migrants riot and burn cars.

We saw this with the Oulu sexual assault cases last year. The reaction that the suspected crimes caused and the media’s reaction caused hysteria. Yle alone reported 77 stories on the topic, 13 on one day, about the sexual assault cases during November 27-February 13. During that period under review, the Oulu police published 13 statements on the topic.

Thus, if the spark “migrant” is linked to a crime, that is enough to ignite hysteria among the population and media.

Finland’s media should learn that you do not need a bazooka to kill an ant. In this case, the bazooka is the media and the ant “migrant” youths.

This type of journalism does nothing more than eat away at credibility and gives populist Islamophobic ammunition to parties like the PS.