Enrique Archives - Page 14 of 152

Interior Minister Räsänen disagrees with findings of police report on the Romany minority

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales asked Monday what kinds of arguments will politicians now come up with to criminalize begging after a police report didn’t reveal any links between Romany beggars and human trafficking and organized crime.

The police report not only exposed shameful urban legends used to victimize poor Romanies from Romania and Bulgaria, who make 10-20 euros a day, but revealed the populism, racism and sheer contempt that some politicians have for this minority.

Conservartives like Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen for her homophobic, anti-abortion and anti-immigration views. Read full story here.

After over six years, this blog has taught me an important lesson: intolerance blinds. Those who are blinded by their prejudice and bigotry have learned to dress their arguments with suits and ties. One of these concerns the Romany minority.

The old stereotype about the Romanies in Finland was that all of them are criminals and therefore shouldn’t be trusted. An old prejudice that existed in Finland at the turn of the century was they were horse thieves.

Many of the politicians who want to criminalize begging, grew up at a time where the Romany minority were seen as criminals.

The most incredible fact about those politicians who want to criminalize begging is that they’d care less for the victims. If you look closer, they are shedding crocodile tears if that.

Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, a conservative who believes that homosexuality is an illness and claimed this summer that it’s ok to break the law (abortion) if it is against the Bible, is the first politician to comment on the police report.

“There are perceptions as well that [during 2005-09] there are links [to human trafficking and organized crime],” she was quoted as saying on YLE.

Why is Räsänen so keen on maintaining a view that these Romanies are victims of human trafficking or victims of criminal organizations? Because that’s what her argument has been all along in order to criminalize begging.

The same argument will be used by other MPs. These are National Coalition Party’s Arto Satonen and Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, both who are members of the extremist Suomen Sisu association.

YLE interviewed on Tuesday Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen, who said he would be in favor of criminalizing begging because it “isn’t something we’re used to” in the Nordic region.

We should ask Pajunen, who makes about 200,000 euros a year, more than the mayor of London, if it is in the Nordic spirit to make so much money and care so little about the needy.

Shame on Pajunen and all those that want to sweep the Romany problem under the rug.

Finnish police: Roma beggars are not victims of human trafficking or linked to organized crime

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Remember the hostile reception that Romany beggars have got in the past from some Helsinki municipal politicians like mayor Jussi Pajunen, Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs like Olli Immonen and National Coalition Party MP Arto Satonen, who wants to make begging illegal?

The Finnish police now claims that Romanian and Bulgarian Roma beggars that come to Finland aren’t victims of human trafficking or in league with organized crime but come on their own will, according to Tampere-based daily Aamulehti.

The news is quite a setback for those that lobbied for a get-tough approach to Roma beggars. Just like the ludicrous claim that Muslim women should stop wearing veils and headscarfs because they are “being oppressed” by men, a similar argument is being used by some Finnish politicians to “help” Roma beggars.

The only way to end begging by the Roma – they argue – is by criminalizing it on the grounds that those that do it are either human trafficking victims and/or exploited by organized crime.

Left without any credible excuses, it’ll be interesting to see what politicians like Satonen come up with to continue victimizing Roma beggars, who make between 10 and 20 euros a day, according to the police.

PS MP Immonen said last year on his Facebook page that the only way to deal with Roma street beggars from Eastern Europe was to make begging a crime and forcibly deport them back to their home countries.

Even if the Roma are the ones being targeted by some politicians, it’s the same suspicion and fear of foreigners that we have seen for so long in this country.

The police’s findings coupled with the reactions of politicians reinforce what Migrant Tales has suspected all along: Shameful ignorance and racism towards the Romany minority by members of the National Coalition Party, PS and Christian Democrats.

We wrote in a blog entry over a year ago:

“But let’s try to understand the recent red-herring debate in parliament between the opposition PS and government [concerning Romany beggars]. Why are we so concerned about these people coming to Finland? Is it our racism and loathing that reflects back on us when we see them begging? Is it our failure as a society to deal with our own Romany “problem?” Are we shocked to see that there are actually people in Europe who are poor and exploited?”

Are these Roma, who make small sums of money daily, a threat to us or have they revealed that some of us are just greedy racists.

Why we must challenge anti-immigration parties across Europe

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

A political party that bases its popularity on anti-immigration and populist rhetoric is like playing a risky political game of Russian roulette. The game continues until the only bullet in the revolver goes off in your head. Higher bets are placed each time that the revolver doesn’t fire: more xenophobia, more hate speech, more racist rhetoric, more prejudice…

Read the major headlines of Europe’s main dailies, social media websites and Migrant Tales to understand that we are on a perilous path. Even if we wanted to change our xenophobic ways, some of us have passed the point of no return.

One story that struck me this week happened in Paris, France. A veiled woman was beaten in a bus and later arrested by the police. The victim could be a member of the Romany community in Eastern Europe, anti-Semitism in Denmark, a black minister in Italy, or a Somali refugee in Finland.

Here’s what happened:

“Ms Lamia is a professional caregiver…On June 30 2013, at 6 pm, Lamia takes the bus like any other night to go to work. When an elderly woman gets on the bus, Miss Lamia naturally gives away her seat, but the lady refuses and violently invectives Lamia about her headscarf. Follows a stormy debate: ‘Dirty Arab, go back to your country, you should read the Koran …’ screams the lady. As she is about to get off the bus to go to work, Ms Lamia faces once again the aggressiveness of the old lady. She thinks Lamia is following her, so she shoves Lamia who, this time, replies. At that moment, a tall man comes to Miss Lamia and violently slaps her. She clings to him to hold him while calling for help. It took the intervention of a few people to stop him. Requested by Lamia, the police arrives on the scene and, instead of arresting the aggressor, decides to put Miss Lamia in custody.”

The fact that this still happens in a country like France shows that we have learned very little after about 100 million died in two World Wars. It shows as well that the medicine to treat a serious illness like intolerance is insufficient. It’s like giving aspirin to a patient with terminal cancer.

Here’s another story about the rise in hate crimes against Muslims in France:

Hostility rises when Islam is in the news, for example last year when an Islamist killed seven people or when a politician accused Muslim children of stealing classmates’ snacks, the Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said. The CCIF welcomed a European Parliament decision on Tuesday to lift the legal immunity of far-right leader Marine Le Pen so she can be tried on racism charges for comparing Muslims praying in the streets here to the wartime Nazi occupation of France. The group said in its annual report (French) that anti-Muslim acts rose to 469 last year, after 298 in 2011 and 188 in 2010. The rise reflected trends cited by other recent reports that also noted increasing levels of anti-Semitism and racism in France.

Check out the weekly headlines by I CARE:

Kosovo Jails Macedonia Mass Murder Suspects
Macedonia: Spate of Anti-Gay Attacks
A Mosque in Reykjavík Threatens Icelandic Culture
Sweden: fall in number of hate crime reports
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on Finland
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on Portugal
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on San Marino
Polish Jewish leader protests handling of anti-Semitism cases
Islamophobia in the Netherlands
Position of LGBT population in Serbia “improves”
Tipton mosque blast was ‘terrorist attack’, say police (UK)
Newcastle Division’s Lee Patrick wants to gas Muslims (UK)
Harpenden Town Council condemn ‘fake’ Gypsy site notice (UK)
Right-wing extremists launch bid to revive Fascist party (UK)
Disquiet over ‘shameful’ policing of racial violence in Brent (UK)
Veiled woman beaten in a bus in Paris, the police arrests the victim (France)
Anti-Muslim acts rising in France, rights group says
Marine Le Pen expected to face charges for incitement to racial hatred (France)
Islamophobia assaults in Argenteuil (France)
Need for the immediate investigation of homophobic, sexist and racist motives behind two attacks (Cyprus)

The fact that a particular political party, like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), Danish People’s Party, Sweden Democrats and others across Europe, base their political agenda on anti-immigration rhetoric tells you that they are playing with fire and are one of the main causes of the cancer spreading throughout Europe.

There’s still time to tackle the biggest threat to our societies today, which is right-wing anti-immigration populist ideology, and wake up those who pay homage to them with their silence.

What does the PS’ new party secretary mean by “tightening [Finnish] immigration policy?”

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Left Alliance MP Risto Kalliorinne asks Perussuomalaiset (PS) new party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo to elaborate what she means by ”tightening immigration policy?” Apart from labeling herself a chauvinist, Slunga-Poutsalo “demanded” that Finland should tighten immigration policy.

Read original story here.

While Left Alliance MP Kalliorinne poses an important question, we all know the answer that Slunga-Poutsalo would give if she elaborated on what she said.

The answer lies with the far right Danish People’s Party’s EuroMP Morten Messerschmidt, who was invited to speak at the PS’ annual congress in June. He said recently:

“I think we need three sets of rules of immigration. One for Europeans, who will be regulated by EU-law. One for people from the rest of the Western World, including parts of East Asia, South America, etc. And then a third set of rules for the third world, who in general do not really offer anything we can benefit from…”

The latter statement by Messerschmidt is in line with the Nuiva Manifesto and the thinking of many PS anti-immigration extremists like MP Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others.

The interesting question, however, is why the PS hasn’t yet revealed more aggressively its DPP colors on immigration policy. The answer probably hinges on how much the PS thinks it can profit from an anti-immigration political stance.

Slunga-Poutsalo believes that the party can, which explains why she is making anti-immigration statements in the first place.

The problem lies in the PS as well. Ever wondered why its chairman plays down its far right anti-immigration faction? It’s not because he’s a nice guy and likes immigrants, but because he sees this faction as a threat to his political base.

Soini has claimed in the past that PS’ anti-EU stance played a key role (80%) and anti-immigration a minor role (20%) in its historic election victory of 2011.

If you want to know where the PS’ anti-immigration policy is heading and how it will end, study the far right DPP.

Ask Finland’s Romany minority about ethnic profiling by the police

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Two talk shows today, one on television and another one on radio, on ethnic profiling follows a report published Tuesday by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). Contrary to concerns by the ECRI, the police flatly deny in both shows that ethnic profiling takes place even if a policeman at the Helsinki Railway admitted that people are indiscriminately stopped because “they look foreign.”

Ethnic profiling, and denials that it even takes place, not only reveal how strong institutional racism is in Finland but how far the police will go in defending their right to carry out ethnic profiling of immigrants and visible minorities.

All those terms that serve to exonerate Finnish white privilege should be challenged. Why do you think people who were born here and have lived all their lives in this country are labeled “people with immigrant backgrounds?” The aim of this label is to socially exclude non-whites as equal members of society and citizens.

What is a person with “immigrant background” anyway? Who decides if you have or don’t an immigrant background?

When the police divide the population into white Finns and “people who look like foreigners,” even if they are Finns, they are given a carte blanche to profile people indiscriminately on ethnic grounds.

Watch television program here.

While it’s pretty clear that if the ECRI and Ombudsman for Minorities in Finland have expressed concern about ethnic profiling by the Finnish police, there must be something wrong.

Sadly, the whole debate concerning the issue of ethnic profiling in Finland points to denial by the authorities and Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, who is either covering up for the police or totally ignorant.

Both the police and Räsänen sound like Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini playing down racism in his party. It reflects how the police, one of the most conservative institutions in Finland, doesn’t want to acknowledge that we are today an ever-growing culturally diverse society as well as ignorance.

Maryan Abdulkarim, who was interviewed on television today with deputy Helsinki police chief Lasse Aapio, correctly pointed out that not all “foreign-looking” people are immigrants but Finns.

On the radio program, National Coalition Party MP Kari Toivonen, a former policeman who denied that ethnic profiling takes place systematically, reveals his ignorance by pointing out that a foreigner called him a racist because in his country women can be raped freely.

Listen to radio program here.

If Toivonen believes this to be the case, it shows a tremendous amount of ignorance on his part and why ethnic profiling continues to take and why the police don’t get it. No culture or any religion accepts rape as something “normal.”

It’s pretty clear that the same arguments used to justify ethnic profiling of groups like the Romany minority in Finland in the past is being used against immigrants today. Whenever immigrants or non-white Finns are stopped by the police it’s because they are either undocumented or victims of human trafficking.

Instead of going around in circles and wasting years on debating whether ethnic profiling takes place or not, why isn’t Finland’s Romany minority asked its opinion on the matter? What they may tell you is extremely unsettling: Even if they have lived for about five centuries in Finland, ethnic profiling – never mind discrimination – still takes place.

A US state department human rights report stated recently: ”Groups of Roma have lived in the country for centuries, and Roma are classified as a ’traditional ethnic minority’ in the ombudsman’s report. The Romany minority was the most frequent target of racially motivated discrimination, followed by Russian-speakers, Somalis, and Sami.”

Migrant Tales will ask members of Finland’s Romany minority for a future blog entry about ethnic profiling by the Finnish police.

Finnish Defence League strikes Mikkeli, Finland

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

I was quite surprised to find this rude sticker of the far right Finnish Defence League (FDL) near my home today. That follows another one placed on a lamppost in front of my house in March 2012 by the neo-Nazi Kansallinen vastarintaliike (SVL).

The good news is that the FDL stickers, which erroneously claim the group supports human rights, are a cinch to peel off but you need a sharp object like a key.

The stickers used by the neo-Nazi SVL are a bit tougher to peel off. They will, however, come off with the help of a coin or key.

Both the FDL and SVL are pernicious and violent organizations that believe the only way to live with other cultures is to be openly hostility to them.

A study recently linked hate crime to far right groups like the English Defence League.

The far right Finnish Defense League strikes Mikkeli.

The neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta claims that “multiculturalism is hazardous for your children and grandchildren.”

Council of Europe concerned about ethnic profiling by police in Finland

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Is it a surprise that the Council of Europe’s anti-racism body expressed concern in a report that Finnish police ask people’s ID based on ethnic appearance? No need to get an official answer to find out because ethnic profiling doesn’t happen in Finland. Why not ask immigrants and visible minorities instead if you went a candid answer?

The Council of Europe anti-racism body, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), published its fourth report Tuesday where it expressed concern over ethnic profiling by the police in Finland, reports YLE in English.

The ECRI report said that the police in Finland have the right to question foreign-looking people in places where they are believed to be causing problems.

“There is one [regulation] which increases the risk of racial profiling by the police, so this is the police singling out people based simply on the basis of their visible appearance,” Council of Europe communications officer Andrew Cutting told Yle. “Another issue [the report] raises is that foreigners can be detained whilst their identity can be ascertained in certain situations, and that this too is discriminatory.”

Ethnic profiling is part of the the wider problem of institutional racism in this country.

The fact that the police and Christian Democrat interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, deny any wrongdoing concerning ethnic profiling is highly revealing in itself. Such denials suggest that the contrary does take place and that it is a much wider problem than the authorities want to admit.

The police and the interior minister are, however, adamant: No ethnic profiling goes on in Finland by the police.

But is this the case?

The Ombudsman for Minorities has been in negotiations with the police to have in force this year new anti-ethnic profiling guidelines.

Rainer Hiltunen, the Minority Ombudsman’s head of office, told Migrant Tales last year that he receives calls from foreigners who say they have been repeatedly questioned in the street by police. Some of those stopped are naturalized Finns and visible minorities.

Even if the police and Räsänen claim that foreign-looking people aren’t stopped by the police, Migrant Tales understands that the problem is far more common than officials want to admit.

It is, however, a good matter that European organizations like the ECRI are looking into the matter.

Read full ECRI report here.

Former SMP leader links Immonen’s writing to Nazis

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The former chairman (1979-89) of the Rural Party (SMP), Pekka Vennamo, linked Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen’s recent column to Nazis, according to tabloid Iltalehti. The far right PS MP wrote in his most recent blog entry about how nationalism should play a central role in Finnish politics.

Vennamo, who is the son of Veikko Vennamo, the late founder and legendary political figure of the SMP from which the PS emerged in the mid-1990s, doesn’t spare Immonen much sympathy. ”[Using the term] nationalism always brings Nazis first to mind,” he said.

Immonen, who is chairman of the extremist anti-immigration Suomen Sisu association that aims to keep Finland white, didn’t take the former SMP leader’s views lightly. “Pekka Vennamo is a turncoat and an old nut,” he said.

The former party chairman said that SMP was never against immigrants and even less against the EU. “We were warmly in favor of the country joining the EU and being in the euro,” he said.

Despite assurances by PS’ chairman Timo Soini that his party isn’t racist or that it harbors racists, its anti-immigration wing has found a permanent home in the PS.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has called Soini’s relationship with the PS’ far right as a pack with the devil.

He writes: “The spirit that Soini opportunistically freed from the bottle by accepting extremist [candidates] of the Suomen Sisu [association] to run for office will soon permanently tarnish the ability of the party to cooperate with other ones and may even soon threaten Soini’s position as party leader.”

Blog “neighbor” Zuzeeko: Keep up the great work!

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Immigrants and minorities should never forget to stand up for each other, especially if anyone of us is being harassed in a racist manner. When I worked as bureau chief in Colombia, one of the most violent countries in the world at the time, I always felt that I’d never be abandoned by my employer and colleagues if put in harm’s way.

Migrant Tales’ blog “neighbor,” Zuzeeko, got a racist tweet this morning (see below) that should be condemned.

Why? Because intolerance is a serious social ill that isn’t only costly to society, but stunts its growth and ruins the lives of people by short-changing them of opportunities.

We take intolerance seriously on Migrant Tales and that is why we want to show our solidarity with Zuzeeko.

@Zuzeeko tweets that there are four-month waiting lists to enroll in a Finnish language course in Helsinki. @jaskapask responds: “Nothing keeps you from studying [Finnish] on your own you n-word rapist, go back to where you f-word came from!!!”

Our response to what happened to Zuzeeko.

While there is a lot of unity in the immigrant and minority community of Finland, there are still those who think they can control the debate on our ever-growing cultural diversity. These individuals commonly act in an authoritarian manner, play down racism, and even chastise those who disagree with their point of view. There are Tuomo-setäs in Finland as well.

We have written on a number of blog entries in the past that show the intolerance of immigrants by immigrants is sometimes worse than those of native white Finns.

Sad but true.

UK study links hate crime with far right EDL

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Migrant Tales

A study in the UK finds that members of the far right English Defense League (EDL) were linked to a third of the abuses against Muslims last year. Almost two in every three cases of anti-Muslim incidents go unreported in the UK, according to Teesside University’s Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies.

Read full report here.

Takin onboard the findings of the UK study, we could ask the same question in Finland. Is there a connection in the rise of hate crimes in Finland to the 2011 election victory of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party?

Contrary to the EDL, the Finnish Defense League is too small to have the same impact as its sister organization in the UK. The only group with such clout is the PS.

A story reported by Migrant Tales in early 2012 appears to reinforce the latter claim. A story on Kajaani-based daily Kainuun Sanomat claimed that racist abuse and attacks on the Somali community in Finland started to rise after the PS election victory.

Refugee of the year (2011) Saido Mohammed was quoted as saying: “After the parliamentary election [Somalis that live in] Helsinki have said that they are spat at daily.”

After the 2011 election, traffic on Migrant Tales has soared as well. This is not only an indication that immigrants are concerned about their situation in Finland, it has apparently emboldened racists and those who are opposed to cultural diversity to come out of the closet.

The study in the UK on anti-Muslim sentiment is based on the Tell Mama online helpline, where victims can report about abuse and harassment.

Visit Tell Mama online site here.

The report states that there’s been a 150% rise in anti-Muslim hate crime in London from January to May.

Attacks against Muslims have picked up especially after the murder of Lee Rigby in May. This is in contrast to another claim that around half of the mosques and Muslim centers in Britain have been targets of Islamophobic attacks since 9/11, according to The Independent.

The interesting question we should ask is why isn’t there a study in Finland that would show the same findings as those in the UK? Is this due to lack of political will or that Finnish society still continues to play down intolerance?

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