I would rather be a little nobody than to be an evil somebody. Anonymous
Perussuomalaiset MPs Ville Tavio and Riikka Purra are a bunch of bullies because they pick on some of the most vulnerable people of our society, in this case, Muslim women who want to wear burkinis.
Migrant Tales is not a vulnerable group, and we will say it in plain English: Both Tavio and Purra are Islamophobic opportunists.
Both of these far-right hotheads post on their Facebook wall that they have sent a written question to parliament complaining why the burkini is now at public swimming halls.
The written question comes from a non-discrimination ombudsman decision that deemed burkini prohibition at swimming halls discriminatory.
Both Tavio and Purra are sad examples of what is wrong with Finland.
Despite their kicking and bitching about migrants, and especially people of color, there is nothing that they can do to stop Finland from becoming ever-culturally diverse.
We will not forget their hateful language and we will ensure that our children and grandchildren never forget as well.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
The saying in Latin, To set a wolf to guard sheep, raises the right question about a YLE news story on a hate speech study and how it intimidates politicians from expressing their opinions.
The study reveals that 75% of the messages come from anti-immigration groups, with the rest coming from left-liberal circles, according to Helsingin Sanomat, which quotes the study’s findings.
Forty percent of all politicians in the study admitted that they were intimidated by the hate speech. The party least affected by hate speech was the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, according to Iltalehti.
The study looked at 375,000 messages between March and August. Of these, 5,500 were hate messages from 2,200 accounts, of which 200 were the most active. Fifteen politicians received over 100 hate messages. These were PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, Green Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo, Prime Minister Antti Rinne, National Coalition Party head Petteri Orpo and Education Minister Li Andersson.
The study blames social media platforms like Twitter for allowing these types of hate messages to be sent to politicians even if they are against their community standards.
We could take the question a bit further: Why don’t the Finnish authorities, namely the police, openly demand social media platforms to follow their community standards?
Moreover, there are too few police, at the most 10, monitoring hate speech, according toan earlier Yle story. Last year, a mere 31 ethnic agitation cases ended up in, according to Migrant Tales, citing the justice ministry.
Going back to the wolf guarding the sheep, Yle interviews two MPs for the story that was aired Friday. They are PS MP Riikka Purra, who built her political career on Islamophobic soundbites, and Anna Kontula of the Left Alliance.
One does not need rocket science to discern that Finland’s hostile environment against migrants and minorities and growing hate speech derives from mainly one party: the PS.
Reija Härkonen asks the right question about the Yle story: “The Perussuomalaiset don’t consider hate speech a problem. Seventy-five percent [of hate messages] come from anti-immigration groups. Isn’t it really interesting that Yle‘s news chose to show how the Perussuomaliset party suffers [from hate messages]. According to Iltalehti, very few PS politicians said they were intimidated by hate speech.
Purra, who usually doesn’t speak anything more than bad about migrants, especially people of color, claiming they are unemployable freeloaders, and blasting black rapists as “human scum,” is the wolf guarding the sheep in the Yle story.
As she is interviewed by the reporter, Purra sheds crocodile tears to the camera about how she is a victim of hate.
“Today I received a letter from a person in Kuopio,” she said with a poker face, “where the person hopes that I die of cancer or get run over by a car. I’m told that I am a terrible person and that this curse will happen.”
Some friendly advice to Purra and her party: Stop victimizing migrants, stop your cooperation with neo-Nazis, and other Islamophobic far-right groups. Stop spreading hate.
It’s high time that Finland and the government start dealing with hate speech and racism.
This is not a request, but a demand.
A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
There is one matter that makes my blood boil when there is a clear case of racist behavior, but the person hearing it, who can be your boss, remains silent, hoping that the uncomfortable situation passes over and returns to “normal.”
“Back to normal” in this case means that nothing has changed and challenged. Matters will remain as they are. Get over it.
A good example of how strong institutional racism is in Finland is a Council for Mass Media (JSN) ruling against Järviradio for playing (April 6) a racist song by Irwin Godman called “Sand n-word and n-word clown.”
The song, which is shamelessly racist and offensive to brown and black people in Finland, was released in 1989. It has been seen on YouTube three million times.
One wonders why these types of songs are played on Youtube.
To add more salt to injury, the Järviradio commentator played the song on the request from a listener who said, “The Perussuomalaiset* are taking back Finland.”
Another coating of populist racism.
White Finnish privilege #63
If the radio commentator should have known better that Goodman’s song is racist and inappropriate, which the JSN ruling reinforced, the editor of Järviradio, Markku Mäenpää, appears clueless.
Mäenpää said that he has no opinion about the song or the lyrics.
The only reason why Mäenpää does not have an opinion about Goodman’s racist song is that he does not think the lyrics are racist and offensive even after 30 years when the song was released.
Mäenpää’s statement is a shameful example of how institutional racism and prejudices find protection and see another day in Finland.
Goodman’s songs are racist, and his opinions about migrants only reinforce that he was multiculturally challenged.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
The tragedy that took place Tuesday in Kuopio, which claimed the life of a person and left ten injured, including the suspect, raises a lot of questions. One of these is if we should treat what happened as a terrorist act or just some mentally troubled lone wolf?
The National Board of Investigation (Keskusrikospoliisi) Detective Chief Inspector Olli Töyräs was quoted as saying in Yle that the motive of the crime is still unknown and under investigation. According to the latest information, the police believe that the suspect acted alone and had no ties to organized crime.
The suspect, who was a student at the Savo Vocational School, did not know any of the victims. He allegedly set a fire in the building that was quickly put out.
Helsingin Sanomatreported today that the suspect was not in a relationship with any of the victims.
Speculation was rife on social media that the suspect was a foreigner.
The reaction of some Finns on social media was disgraceful. Some blamed the attack on a foreigner and appeared to be disappointed when it was confirmed that the suspect was a white Finn.
The Perussuomalaiset*, which specializes in fear-mongering and spreading racist hatred of groups like Muslims, were strangely quiet on Tuesday.
Green Party Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo said that despite what happened in Kuopio, Finland is still one of the safest countries in the world.
True, Minister Ohisalo, but for whom? Remember what happened after the Turku stabbings in August 2017? Migrants and especially Muslims were harassed and attacked and blamed by white Finns for the stabbings. If the attacker in Kuopio were a Muslim, what type of violence would be unleashed against non-white Finns and migrants?
Would Ohisalo reassure us then that Finland is one of the safest counties in the world?
Even without these types of crimes, Finland is not a safe country for too many migrants, especially people of color.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
On my daily walk, I saw a number of far-right vigilante group Soldiers of Odin stickers last week on lampposts. This evening, I encountered two neo-Nazi Kansallinen vapaustaistelu* stickers in Mikkeli. They ended up having the same fate as the Soldiers of Odin stickers.
Neo-Nazi Kansallinen vapaustaistelu stickers before and after. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.
*Unofficial translation: National Struggle for Freedom.
Se sabe ya desde hace mucho tiempo que los senegaleses que viven en la Argentina son discriminados y hasta brutalmente tratados por las fuerzas del “orden” público. Así pasó otra vez en los barrios porteños de Flores y Once donde, según Megafón, hubo más de mil senegaleses fueron detenidos.
Todo esto huele a algo mal y la pregunta que deberíamos hacer es ¿por qué la justicia porteña ordenó ahora el allanamiento en un domicilio (Alsina 2677) donde viven trabajadores ambulantes senegaleses?
¿Es una coincidencia que la Argentina tendrá el 27 de octubre elecciones presidenciales, por diputados y por senadores? Es una coincidencia que el jefe de gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, pertenece al mismo partido que Mauricio Macri?
Escribe Megafón: “Ingresaron efectivos policiales con muchísima violencia y desde organizaciones de trabajadores de la calle y organismos de derechos humanos, denuncia una clara persecución del gobierno de Horacio Rodríguez Larreta contra los inmigrantes.”
La Argentina no sólo tiene una larga y rica historia de inmigración europea sino, también, una parte de nuestra historia blanqueada es de los afroargentinos y pueblos originarios.
A comienzos del siglo XIX, un tercio de la población de la Argentina fue negra, según el historiador John Lynch.
No es la primera vez que los seguidores del Presidente Macri usan mano dura contra inmigrantes vulnerables como los africanos, los bolivianos, los peruanos, entre otros grupos.
El trato a los senegaleses es una vergüenza que debería ser fuertemente condenado.
The snap elections in Austria saw the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) suffer a blistering defeat with the number of MPs plummeting by 37.3% to 32 from 51. Sebastian Kurz of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) was the biggest winner getting 38.4% of the popular vote and gaining 11 MPs to 73 MPs.
FPÖ vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and his ministers were forced to resign in May after a video published by two German newspapers offered damaging evidence of him allegedly offering government contracts in return for political support from Moscow.
Austrian election result. Sebastian Krutz’ ÖVP is the clear winner with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) coming in second place and in third the FPÖ. The Greens (Grune) did well in the election as well. Source: Austrian interior ministry.
Even if the FPÖ got clobbered in the election, minorities such as Muslims are worried about Kruz’ anti-Muslim rhetoric. “He did not understand that repeating hardline anti-immigrant rhetoric in a nicer tone does not defeat far-right populists,” said Nina Horaczek, an investigative reporter at Falter, who was quoted in NPR. “It makes them stronger.”
Even if 2019 was supposed to be the year when far-right parties break down the election door, the Danish People’s Party, which is a close ideological ally of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, lost 21 of its seats in July to end up with 16 seats in that country’s parliamentary elections.
The PS, in which the Danish election result sent shivers up the party’s spine, its political message under the leadership of Jussi Halla-aho is entrenched in far-right and radical-right ideology.
Copying the tactics of Lega Nord’s Salvini in giving firey Islamophobic messages, the PS has used the same rhetoric to gain support. Such violent language against minorities is like a flat bicycle tire: You must pump it constantly for air to remain in the tire.
The ever-Islamophobic and racist language of the PS not only continue to fuel the hostile environment but directly incites and legitimizes violence against migrants and minorities.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
On one of my nightly walks on Tuukalankatu in Mikkeli, I see a Soldiers of Odin sticker on a lampost. Since these types of groups are toxic and hazardous to society, I scrape off the sticker.
Now you see it, but now you don’t.
Soldiers of Odin before and after. Photo: Enrique Tessieri
The cruel arm of Finland’s asylum policy is not only Migri (The Finnish Immigration Service) but too many politicians who lack the courage to show their humanity and empathy for others.
One of the consequences of one’s journey to Europe is not only many years of waiting and despair, but death.
In the rural region of North Karelia in eastern Finland, there is an island called n-word in Finnish. Yes, you heard right: n-word, according to Journalisti, a publication of the Union of Journalists of Finland.
But that’s not all.
In Finland, the n-word is inappropriate and racist. The island in North Karelia is not the only example of the n-word in Finnish geography.
The offensive word explains why the Union of Journalists North Karelia (PKJY), which owns the small island, applied to the Institute of Languages of Finland (Kotus) to change the name to Uutiseksi (News).
The proposal by PKJY, which approve the name change at a board meeting earlier this year, turned to Kotus but its request was turned down.
“Even if the n-word is used in a derogatory [and racist] manner today, the name cannot be changed because it makes some feel uncomfortable,” Kotus said in a statement.
Somebody should enlighten Kotus that the usage of the n-word today is racist and offensive, “not uncomfortable.”
The decision by Kotus is a good indication of how Finland deals with racism, or how it does nothing substantial to challenge it.
The island derives its name from lehtin-word, which was what some called journalists and people working for the media in the 1980s.
