Category: Enrique Tessieri

Living in the PS Outokumpu bubble – beware of Muslims even if there are hardly any foreigners

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is one matter that bonds all the Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs in parliament: They use migrants, especially Muslims and asylum seekers, to get votes. Their ads and rhetoric reflect well their racist disposition.

Take, for instance, the ad below that promises that she will make “Finnish well being and security” priorities.

Some of her pet topics are Muslims even if in her small, far-flung town of Outokumpu (6,803 inhabitants), there are hardly any foreigners, never mind Muslims.

Ouokumpu is located in such a far-flung place that it would be a miracle if a foreigner, never mind a Muslim, would find it on the map. Source: Wikipedia.

In Outokumpu – are you ready for this – there are 177 people (2.6% of the total town population) who are not Finnish citizens, 231 (3.39%) who were born elsewhere than Finland, and 239 (3.51%) who do not speak Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their mother tongue.

Despite their minimal numbers, Antikainen does not miss a chance to label Muslims as rapists and terrorists.

That is why she is obsessed with the message: prioritizing white Finns’ well-being and security.

Perussuomalaiset MP Sanna Antikainen campaign slogan and promises to defend the “well-being and security of Finns’ priorities.”

Antikainen’s Islamophobic worldview raises a lot of questions.

One of these is how she graduated as a registered nurse and what kind of an oath she took. The Hippocratic oath of nurses is also based on the Nightingale Pledge, named in honor of Florence Nightingale,

In the United States, nurses vow to treat patients equally: “Discrimination in any form is harmful to society as a whole and in opposition to the values and ethical code of the nursing profession, which directs the nurse to ‘…respect the inherent dignity, worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals.’” (American Nursing Association, 2015, p.17).

Below are a Finnish nurse’s views about human rights and how to deal with people she does not like.

The PS likes Trump and his racist policies that are against migrants. Don’t be surprised if MP Antikainen would want to build a wall about her small town. Source: Twitter.
This claim that “Europeans do not have the money for their social security,” is an old Islamophobic excuse to not help asylum seekers. We are a rich continent and we DO have a lot of money. Source: Twitter.

I sent MP Antikainen Thursday the following questions:

  • What do you mean when you state that you are “on the side of Finns?”
  • What about if a person was born in another country but is a Finnish citizen? Are you on his or her side as well?
  • What about if the person was born in Finland and is black?
  • Do you defend the interests of all people in Finland irrespective of their backgrounds?

I never expect to get an answer from Antikainen. Even so, the fact that she didn’t answer is already an answer that reveals a lot about herself and her party.

If the PS ever could change the laws of Finland, that would be a sad day for Finnish democracy and the rule of law.

It would be a very sad day indeed because it would be based on racism and far-right populism.

We won’t allow it to happen and, in the meantime, we will give parties like the PS and MPs like Antikainen a run for their money.

White power, blonde hair, us versus them

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS POST WAS UPDATED

Being proud of your heritage is fine as long as you don’t use your whiteness to socially exclude and oppress minorities.

I have seen many pictures of Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MEP Laura Huhtasaari, who appears to pour it on with her whiteness. Her comments are not only often racist and absurd, but her blonde hair, photoshopped blue eyes, and made up white skin appear exaggerated.

The former logo of the PS Youth is a perfect example of ethnonationalism and fascist whiteness.

The late Risto Laakkonen (1939-2020) said that whenever a group starts talking about itself as a tribe, it starts to flirt with racism.

Former PS Youth logo and MEP Laura Huhtasaari. Both are examples of ethnonationalist whiteness.

There are many examples of why some Islamophobic and far-right politicians dye their hair a certain color depending on the political mood.

Black hair Jenna Simula in an ad when she ran for Oulu city council and promised she would continue being a Nazi on immigration policy if elected. As an MP, Simula now changed to blonde hair. She is a member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association that supports ethnonationalism and fascism.
Before and after. Why did Sanna Antikainen change the color of her hair? Is blonde more appealing to white Islamophobic voters? Antikainen has a way of making racist comments.

There are many other examples.

Former Perussuomalaiset minister and MP Hanna Mäntylä with black and white hair. Sources: Yle and Seiska.
Tiina Wiik isn’t a member of the Perussuomalaiset party, but she speaks and talks like one on steroids. Sources: Yle and Twitter.
And who could not forget Ulla Pyysalo of the Perussuomalaiaiset party? She was caught trying to join a neo-Nazi group. Surprisingly, she doesn’t like foreigners, too. Source: Länsi-Saimaan Uutiset.
What is far-right Marine Le Pen’s real hair color? Source: France 24.
I’m sorry to post this picture of Katie Hopkins. Who is she? Read this factsheet about this Islamophobe with a capital “I.” Source: Twitter.

Kokoomus’ perilous path, caving into far-right populism and xenophobia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Conservative parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) are on a dangerous path putting in peril human rights and the rule of law. The latest suggestion by Kokoomus parliamentary group leader, Kai Mykkänen, to pass legislation so Finland could suspend asylum applications like Greece is worrying.

The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party clutched political power in the last decade with the help of anti-Muslim racism. Only white EU citizens were spared from their hateful rhetoric as long as they kept quiet.

Anyone from outside the EU with different skin color or religion was targetted and victimized by their hateful rhetoric.

Since the historic victory of the PS in the 2011 parliamentary election, when they won 39 seats from 5 seats previously, the party’s message has steered further to the far right.

Even if it was only a time when the PS would show it real far-right colors, it is disappointing to watch how Kokoomus has climbed into bed with the PS.

Kokoomus parliamentary group leader Kai Mykkänen stated after Greece decided to suspend asylum applications for a month that Finland should pass legislation to do the same.

Even if politics makes strange bedfellows as in the case of the PS and Kokoomus, it is worrying how much alike they are in their xenophobic knee-jerk reactions. Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

“Finland must be prepared, if necessary if we were exposed to pressure from a large number of [asylum] applications coming towards Finland,” he was quoted as saying in Yle and added that the country should be able to do what Greece did under exceptional circumstances.

Somebody should tell Mykkänen and his party that it is a human right, specifically Article 14, guarantees the right to seek asylum. It does not read that such a human right can be suspended under any circumstances.

With such arguments, we could put on hold our democratic system whenever a political party in power deems.

Kokoomus, never mind the PS, are placing Finland on a dangerous path.

The new PS youth association is led by Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu members

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party decided today to found a new youth association after the previous one, PS Youth, was replaced by a new one called Perussuomalainen nuoriso, or unofficially Young Perusssuomalaiset, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Last week, the former PS Youth turned down a motion from the parent party to change the bylaws and force its members also to be members of the party.

Six days before the vote on Saturday, former PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen admitted he is “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and fascist.”

Even if the PS party leadership likes to speak in code to convey to its voters that they support ethnonationalism and fascism, Jalonen’s candid statement was too much for the party.

PS MP Jenna Simula is the chairperson of the new youth association. In the city council elections in Oulu, she told voters that she planned to be a “nazi” after being elected councilperson. She proudly states that she is a PS politician that is against “harmful” migration. Simula’s far-right colors come from her membership in Suomi Sisu, a Nazi-spirited association. She was PS MP and Suomen Sisu chairperson Olli Immonen’s aide.

Surprise, surprise, the new vice president of the youth association is Asseri Kinnun, the former chairperson of PS Youth.

Asseri Kinnunen posing in front of a Suomen Sisu rollup in fascist attire from the 1930s Lapua Movement and Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaalinen kansanliike, IKL).

The new youth association of the PS is a farce. The only thing that changed is the control that the parent party has over the association.

Pelottavatko turvapaikanhakijat? Yle vastaa sinun puolestasi: “Kyllä!”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jos katsoo eri lehteä etusivuja ja kirjoituksia siirtolaiskriisistä Turkin Kreikan rajalla, melkein heti alkaa karmia. Ihmiset, jotka ovat menettäneet kaiken, luokitellaan “hallitsemattomaksi” uhkaksi?”

Tämä on mielestäni vastuuntunnotonta tai populistista journalismia.

Miksi eivät lehdet kirjoita kuinka näitä ihmisiä voi auttaa?

Jotkut poliitikot Suomesta väittävät ettei Eurooppa kestä enää miljoonaa turvapaikanhakijaa, kuten vuonna 2015.

EU on kuitenkin rikas ja vauras maanosa. Toisen maailman sodan jälkeen Euroopassa, joka oli melkein tuhottu raunioiksi, oli arvioitu 7-11 miljoona pakolaista.

Hoidimme asiat kuntoon.

Suomeen tuli silloin noin 420000 evakot tai pakolaista Karjalasta. Vuonna 2015 saapui n. 32000 turvapaikanhakijat, joka on n. 8% yllä mainittusta luvusta.

Varo! Nyt he tulevat! Populismista journalismia harjoittaa myös Yle. Katso alkuperäinen kirjoitus tästä.

Our incapacity to feel for others, our indifference to their suffering is what is causing our moral downfall in the EU

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some studies claim that vote share for Eurosceptic parties has more than doubled in two decades, according to the Guardian. This problem has many answers. One of these is that Europeans have not done enough to root out all forms of racism.

Our colonial legacy still hangs as an onerous shadow that encourages us to delay and deny our history and who we are today.

Alan Kurdi who washed ashore after drowning in 2015. During 2014-2019 there were a total of 18,328 people (2019 410, 2018 2,299, 2017 3,139, 2016 5,143, 2015 5,054, 2014 3,283) who died attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Millions of Europeans emigrated in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century to other shores. Ever asked why? Social inequality, nationalism, ethnonationalism, and war.

Let’s return for a moment another factor that characterizes the Marine Le Pens, Matteo Salvinis, Boris Johnsons, Viktor Orbáns, Geert Wilders, Jussi Halla-ahos and a long list of others.

Captain Gustave Mark Gilbert, the US Army psychologist at the Nuremberg trials (1945-46), said what the Nazi war criminals on trial had an incapacity to feel with their fellow men. That fellow men and women are today Muslims, among other groups.

“Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy,” he said.

Greek-Turkish border crisis: Shame on the EU, shame on Turkey, shame on us

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

Shame on Greece. Shame on Turkey. Shame on Europe. Shame on President Sauli Niinistö as thousands of migrants are massing at the Greek-Turkish border.

The pictures that Europeans are witnessing the humanitarian crisis through their local media are scary.

Yesterday, Monday, it was reported that a child aged 6 or 7 died off Greece when a boat capsized, according to Euronews.

An invisible Alain Kurdy? Remember the little boy called Alan Kurdi who drowned and whose lifeless body was found washed up on a beach? You know, the boy that exposed our shame for a while until we pushed it away.

Read the full story here.

Too many of our politicians, like the media, spread fear as well.

President Sauli Niinistö appeared on television Monday using terms such as “uncontrolled” immigration, a favorite term of the far-right, and in some conservative circles. He said that the situation at the Greek-Turkish border is pretty much the same as in 2015.

“It (the situation) is very awkward,” he was quoted as saying in Yle. “I do not see much difference in the situation that took place in 2015. It was then, mainly with the help of smuggling people [to Europe], that a lot of people appeared and came to Europe. Then I would call it uncontrolled immigration wave, and this is not the second one.”

How does President Niinistö know that we are facing a so-called second wave of immigration from the Middle East region and Afghanistan? Why doesn’t he speak of the suffering that Europe, Russia, and the United States have brought to the region?

Reaction from opposition parties like the Perussuomalaiset* and the National Coalition Party convey the same message. They do not offer any viable solutions except for closing borders and taking harsh measures.

The situation is pretty simple: the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and destabilized the region. Europe and Russia are involved in bombing and selling arms to the region, causing a humanitarian crisis and millions of displaced people.

A shameful video is showing how Greece and Europe are paralyzed in finding a solution to the conflict in Syria. Is turning back asylum seekers illegal and a breach of human rights?

Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at HEC Paris, said that Greece’s decision to close the border may be illegal and a breach of international agreements. “[It] represents a manifest breach of both European asylum law and international humanitarian law by creating an unprecedented mechanism that will likely condemn deserving asylum applicants to deportation and death,” he said in Euronews.

He said that the action by Greece would be challenged “at national, EU and international level.”

If we are fair and honest, Europe is a wealthy region, and tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of migrants, will not force our countries to go bankrupt.

Europe has seen worse.

The only thing that is bankrupt now is the EU’s sense of justice and values.

Wake up Finland! Is the PS far-right political agenda who we are?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Toni Jalonen story of the former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* second vice president who resigned because he said he was a fascist, is an opportunity for Finland to take a long and deep look in the mirror.

Above all, it is an opportunity to look at the hypocrisy within the PS and political culture. It also reveals the lack of teeth of the media.

Jalonen gives the thumbs up to PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho on keeping Finland white and Muslim-free and people of color-free.

Toni Jalonen is a hardcore ethnonationalist and a fascist. In the tweet, he “totally agrees” with Halla-aho that the PS does not want a Finland that is culturally diverse Finland. Source: Twitter.

Here is the question: How can a country like Finland find sympathy for a party that promotes ethnonationalism, far-right ideology, and fascism?

I mentioned in a previous posting the following:

  1. About 20% of Finland’s population are hardcore racists who like or agree with fascism;
  2. We deny what the PS is because acknowledging it would be saying something ugly about ourselves. It’s like the story of the alcoholic who has a difficult time admitting that he has a drinking problem and must go to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Disagree?

Why, then, doesn’t the media put PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho in the hot seat and ask him about his racist and far-right writings? Wasn’t he convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012? Yes.

And just a fast comment about PS Youth chairperson Asseri Kinnunen, who voted Saturday for a change in the bylaws of the youth association, is seen standing in fascist attire from the 1930s Lapua Movement and Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaalinen kansanliike, IKL).

Are you too a fascist PS Youth chairperson Asseri Kinnunen? What’s with the black shirt, blue tie and that Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu rollup behind you? Source: Toopics.

If I had the opportunity to get an answer from these PS politicians, I’d ask them to elaborate on the following questions about their far-right political program:

  1. The PS wants to bar Muslims and people of color from coming to Finland. Does this mean that you will ditch international agreements like the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Declaration of Human Rights?
  2. Does the PS believe that these radical changes, which would imply Finland leaving the EU, are possible?
  3. The PS wants to scrap hate speech laws. How will you assure that migrants and minorities won’t become victims of racist harassment and hate crime?
  4. Could the PS define what is racism and social equality?
  5. What does social equality mean? Is it only a white Finnish right?
  6. Your party clearly states that it does not want Finland to be culturally and ethnically diverse. (Duh. It already is). If this is the case, and it is, what are you going to do about all those who are not white like you and live in Finland?
  7. Is the PS going to put them in camps, islands and/or send them back to where they, their parents or grandparents came from?
  8. When the PS speaks of making radical changes in immigration law, does this mean that migrants and minorities will become officially treated as second- and third-class citizens before the law?
  9. Tell us specifically what would Finland look like if you had your way in changing immigration law and the constitution? What would you do to people who oppose such changes?

I suspect that the PS would only answer these questions totally off the record and anonymously.

Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulah: Returning to Finland’s Black February 2012

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: The story below was one that was published in February 2012 about “Black February,” when three Muslims died and a Finn committed suicide after killing one Muslim and wounding another. As with the Pakistani who was viciously attacked in February 2018, there were a lot of question marks about how the police carried out the investigations.

Today we talk openly about instigating civil war and about politicians admitting they are fascists. The party? Guess.

This artricle below is to raise our consciousness about how Islamophobia is a cancer spreading in our society at this moment.

______________________________________________________________________________

Remember Black February? Over about three weeks we read about the deaths of three Muslims , a suicide and a Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman who offered to give a medal to a white Finn for killing one of these victims in cold blood. On Monday Migrant Tales had the opportunity to meet the father and a family friend of one of the victims, Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulah. 

The first thing that you notice when you meet Abdisalam’s father is his grief.  Anguish inhabits all of  Mursal Abdulah: It’s in his eyes, in his face, in his posture, in his voice,  in his persona.

The death of his eighteen-year-old son was such a strong blow that he is still recovering from the shock when two policemen broke the tragic news to him and his wife on a Friday February 17 at 10am.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he said returning to that terrible moment of his life. “My wife fainted.”

See also:

Abdisalam’s father and wife were in the first group of Somali refugees that came to Finland in August 1990 by train from the former Soviet Union. Their son was born in Finland. Abdisalam was a good athlete,  student, and son, according to his father.

“He [Abdisalam] planned to study medicine,” he continued. “I was ready to send him abroad so he could become a doctor.”

Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulahi was a Manchester United fan. In August he would have turned nineteen.

The last time that Abdisalam’s father saw his son was on Thursday night. “His last words were that he was going to take a shower, go to a [high school] party and return,” he said. “He never did.”

Abdulah isn’t at all happy with how the police have handled the case.  Apart from not expressing any empathy for the parents’ grief, it was difficult to get any information from them about the crime.

“We were treated coldly and felt like we were the criminals,” he said. “The police appeared to be more concerned about keeping the case under wraps because they feared a revenge attack by Somalis.”

Abdulah says that if a crime were committed by a Somali it would have received a lot of  media attention.

“The thing that struck us the most was when we went to the police station,” he said. “The same information that they wouldn’t give us, we then read in the tabloids right after we left the police station. How is it possible that the papers knew more about Abdisalam’s death than us?”

Abdisalam’s death happened between midnight and 7am.  The suspect and the victim were school acquaintances.  Abdulahi says that his son died from a mortal blow to the head.  The suspect’s father was present at the crime scene as well.

I asked Abdulahi if he feels that justice will be done? “I don’t know,” he said trying to be diplomatic. “I’m not sure that I trust the police.”

One of the matters that the father has a big question mark is the complicity of the father in the whole affair. He doesn’t believe the police that the father was not an accomplice in the crime. “Abdisalam was big and physical compared with the attacker,” Abdulah said. “There must have been somebody else helping him [that could have been the father].”

A friend of the family present at the interview speaks.

“The worst thing in Finland is that if you have a different religion, culture and language, you are left on the  fringes of society,” he said. “No matter how much you try to integrate you are always left outside.”

Abdulah concludes: “Those Somalis that went to Australia and Canada are living better lives than I in Finland. All I have to show for over twenty years in Finland is a cold country with long winters and the death of my son.”

Migrant Tales expresses to the parents, relatives and friends its condolences for Abdisalam.

White ethnonationalism is here, there, everywhere in the Perussuomalaiset

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Being white is ok if you are white, but when you use your whiteness to oppress others and promote ideologies like fascism, then we need to have a discussion.

On the left is the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth logo, which portrays an ideal of whiteness and ethnonationalism with fascist overtones.

I have always wondered about the exceptionally white image that MEP Laura Huhtasaari portrays. Hair dyed super white, blue eyes bursting out of her eye sockets and her very white skin enhanced with the help of makeup racist myths.

These are just a few images that the PS uses to attract voters with the help . of hashtags like #ItsOKtobeWhite and #ItsOKtobeChristian

On the left is the Perussuomalaiset Youth logo and on the right MEP Laura Huhtasaari.

Despite these manifestations of ethnowhiteness, there is one quote that left me guessing with a question by none other than former PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen.

Feeling sorry for himself because the world does not sympathize with his view of fascism, I wonder what Jalonen would say 10 years from now if he looked at the quote below.

I suspect he’d wonder what the hell he was saying and doing.