Category: Enrique

A new view of our diversity as a society is needed by the Finnish police

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The violence we have witnessed recently against immigrants in cities like Oulu and Espoo Leppävaara put into question the claim that hate crimes fell by 15%  in 2010, according to the Police College of Finland. Apart from raising worrisome questions about the present direction of our society it looks at the role of the police in answering this threat.

Reporting a hate crime to the authorities can be easier said than done, according to a Migrant Tales blog entry.  The low hate-crime figure in 2010 could reveal a worrisome reality:  Mistrust of the police by some immigrants.

It is nothing new that Finland’s society is becoming more culturally and ethnically diverse. The rise of some parties like the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS), and the ongoing heated debate on some anti-immigration forums, reveal that some Finns, and even immigrants, are either in denial or ignorant about such an ever-growing group.

This reality can be seen in our police force, where you’ll find dear little representation of that ever-growing “Other” Finland.

Migrant Tales got in touch with the police and asked how many non-white police there were in Finland. According to the present law, the police are not required to reveal the ethnic identity of its employees. While steps are being taken to diversify Finland’s police force and change the law in order to recruit more non-white Finns to the force, it is still unclear when this will happen, according to the police.

While I am certain that there are many service-community minded policemen and policewomen in Finland, there appears to be at present a lack of political will to do so.

The apparent lack of will to change matters on this front could explain why the immigrant community has mixed feeling about the police.  Some claim that the police do a fine job while others express mistrust and accuse them of racial profiling.

One good way to undermine mistrust and bolster credibility of the police force is by diversifying it and ensuring immigrants and visible minorities in the process that they are equally protected, not persecuted.  Being colorblind, or arguing that ethnicity has no bearing on a crime, does more harm to the integrity of the police force and its assurances that it serves each member of the community equally.

Changing Finland’s police force to represent “Other” Finns and immigrants may be easier said than done.  As with the rest of society, many still find it difficult to accept immigrants and Finns who are visible minorities as equals. The recent warning by the police about hate speech and racism on the Internet reinforce the latter perception and should concern us all.


Soini and the PS to ban "racists" from running for office

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

In light of the recent scandal that has rocked the Perussuomalaiset (PS), party chairman Timo Soini now promises to banish “racist” candidates from taking part in the municipal election of October 28, according to Helsingin Sanomat, citing Swedish-language daily HBL. Can we and should we believe Soini’s latest promise?

The answer to that question is on a TV news interview on Nelonen right after the April election and what he said during a presidential debate in December, according to MTV3. On Nelonen Soini assures us that there “isn’t one racist” in the PS but then on MTV3 he admits that there are at the most “one, two or three” cases.

Racism poses the biggest threat to Soini’s plans to build a credible party. But renouncing racism is easier said than done. It is like like asking the Communist Party to renounce Karl Marx and substitute him for Adam Smith.

How do Soini and the PS define “racist?” This is unclear even if much of their energy in the past months has gone into denying racism as a wider problem in the PS and Finland.

When trying to make sense of what a right-wing populist party like the PS is really saying, you have to venture behind the meaning of the soundbites. What does Soini mean when he announces plans to ban racists from running in the municipal election of October?

He is telling us that the PS is worried about how racism is deflating credibility from the party. This is a good piece of news because, if you recall, racism, anti-immigration and anti-Islam were factors that helped the PS from becoming Finland’s third-largest party in April.

Do I believe Soini is serious about tackling a social ill like racism in the PS and Finland?

Do you believe in political fairy tales?  No I don’t.

His party is a part of the problem.

Migrant Tales gets mentioned on YLE's Suora linja

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales was mentioned Wednesday on YLE’s Suora linja, a television program. It picked out one of our bloggers, Depressed 4 Reason. Judging by the traffic we are getting from January, our blog will continue to grow significantly this year.

We are a hand-on-heart operation. We write and comment because we are passionate about one thing: we don’t like racism and urban tales spread by opportunistic politicians.

Migrant Tales aims to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.

MTV3: Poliisi pelkää kostoa Espoon taposta – Tekijä on kiinni

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Remember the story about the death of a Somali youth in Espoo Leppävaara that Migrant Tales wrote about on the same day? Well it looks like the police are concerned about what happened because some groups may be seeking revenge.

We do not know exactly what the police is implying because it is unclear in the story.

What is clear, however, is that some immigrant groups, especially Somalis and Muslims, don’t feel safe in this country.  The tragic events that took place over the weekend are extremely troubling. 

First we have the crimes that caused the death. What is far worse, however, is the reaction from the politicians, police and a large sector of the public.

Racism has lived in Finland for a very long time. An former schoolmate put it very well in a recent Facebook entry: “If you’ve been asking the same questions for months or even years, yet are still stuck, it’s probably not that you haven’t been given the answers, but that you don’t like the answers you were given.”

And adds: “It takes a lot of courage to admit that something needs to change, and a lot more courage still, to accept the responsibility for actually changing it.”

_____________

Poliisi pelkää koston kierrettä Espoon Leppävaarassa perjantaina tapahtuneen väkivaltaisen tapon seurauksena. Tutkinnanjohtaja, rikoskomisario Rauli Salonen kertoo Espoon lähipoliisien kautta tulleen tietoa, että nuorten keskuudessa on ilmennyt kostomentaliteettia henkirikoksen vuoksi. Taposta ja sen tekijöistä on liikkunut paljon huhuja, joiden hän sanoo olevan virheellisiä.

Read whole story.

Zuzeeko's blog: Finland – Shooting of Immigrants in Oulu pizzeria must be condemned

Posted on by Migrant Tales
By Zuzeeko Abeng
In a country where a Member of Parliament for the Perussuomalaiset (PS) political party can openly use racist and derogatory language (video) against Muslims and people of African decent and is not forced to resign as representative of the people, it is easy to conclude that racism is deep-seated. However, any racially motivated shooting or killing must be unequivocally condemned in the strongest terms by all people of goodwill.
On Saturday 18 February 2012, a gunman opened fire in a pizzeria in Oulu, northern Finland – killing one man and injuring another. The gunman – a 24-year old Finn – turned the gun on himself and later died in the hospital on Sunday evening.
The pizzeria shooting claimed the life of a 21-year-old man of Moroccan origin and left a 42-year-old Moroccan man wounded. The owner of the pizzeria – an Algerian – was not hit. According to a news report published in Metro Helsinki, a daily newspaper in Helsinki on Monday 20 February 2012, the shooting could have been motivated by racism. Other sources say police believe the shooter was not motivated by racism.

However, given the current toxic political climate and hateful rhetoric by some influential politicians, members of parliament and ordinary Finnish citizens targeting immigrants, racism cannot be easily ruled out as a motivation.

Following the Oulu pizzeria shooting, for instance, Tommi Rautio, a board member of PS – a right wing anti-immigration party – reportedly wrote on Facebook that the shooter should be given a medal because there is “a war going on and for every war decorations are handed out.” [Source]. This speaks volumes about what the PS is made of and sheds light on the sorry-state of affairs in Finnish-Immigrant relations.

A poll commissioned by Helsinki Sanomat revealed that Muslims in general are among the groups most affected by racism and intolerance in Finland. In 2011, President Tarja Halonen expressed concern about the rise of racism and xenophobia in Finland.

The Oulu pizzeria shooting is the third incident in less than one month that resulted in the tragic death of immigrants – two Somalians and one Moroccan.

Finland is going down the wrong road. All persons of good conscience in the Nordic country must condemn racism and racially motivated crimes in the strongest terms and distance themselves from people who use immigrants and other minority groups as targets or punching bags. Politicians who use their influence to preach hate or sway public opinion against minority groups must be held to account. More importantly, law enforcement must take hate crimes more seriously and perpetrators should bear the full weight of the law. No one should be killed or discriminated against because he or she looks different or professes a different faith in a society that prides itself as free and democratic.

Read story on Zuzeeko’s blog.

Facebook PS killer "medal" scandal: Shame on Timo Soini and the police

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The action of some exemplary Finns, who are shocked by the growing appetite that some Finns have  for racism, played a key role in the political downfall of Perussuomalaiset (PS) city councilman Tommi Rautio. If blogger Ossi Mäntylahti would not have pasted on Facebook what Rautio had said on Sunday, the PS politician would not have faced such a political storm. 

Migrant Tales published Rautio’s comments shortly after Mäntylahti’s Facebook entry.

Rautio chose a very bad day to suggest decorating the killer who shot Saturday night a Moroccan pizzeria employee before taking his life. That killing followed another one on Friday, when Migrant Tales revealed the victim to be a Somali.

Why did it take such a long time for PS chairman Timo Soini to condemn what Rautio said? Was he waiting for the storm to blow over on Monday? Or was it the media and common Finns on social media, outraged by the cold-blooded killer being glorified by a politician that made the difference?

When I heard about Soini condemning what Rautio said, I heard his words with a large pinch of salt. Such statements have little meaning except a patch-up job for his party. Take a look at the following news clip shortly after the April 17 election on TV channel Nelonen,  where he claims with a poker face “there isn’t one racist” in his party.

Soini was also quick to criticize the foreign media.

Another worrying matter that the Rautio scandal revealed was the police, which first decided not to investigate whether the PS councilman incited racial hatred with his statements. The police announced Tuesday, however, that they would carry out an investigation after all.

I sometimes get the feeling that the police in Finland are more interested in showing that racism isn’t a problem as opposed to exposing the social ill.

Were the police forced to make an about-turn and carry out an investigation on Rautio due to the avalanche of criticism and a loss of face if they had let the PS councilman off the hook?

Just like Anders Breivik impacted negatively anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region, Rautio’s contribution will be similar to the PS’s popularity.

How much of an impact it will have on the PS depends on how much support Finns want to hand to parties and politicians who openly support racism and fascism in a 2010s context.

Fascism thrived in the 1930s from demonizing groups like Jews. Today, fascism demonizes different groups like Muslims, Romany minorities and others.

Uusi Suomi blog: Aina hyväntuulinen Ismael, joka kuoli

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Here is a beautifully written blog entry about the tragedy that cost the life of a Moroccan employee at a pizzeria. 

I am left without words and still in shock. On Migrant Tales we have had to cover three tragic deaths involving two Somalis and one Moroccan in just over three weeks. 

A question hounds me and should hound all of us: I still don’t know what shocks me more: the actual cold-blooded killing or the reaction of some people?

I am personally outraged by what has happened and so should every sensible person be in this country. The threat to our society does not come from abroad but lives within our borders. It comes in the way of intolerance and hatred. 

What happened in Oulu over the weekend is a good example of that. 

Here is the link to the original blog entry. 

____________________

Ahmed Al-Nawas & Miriam Attias

Ismael kuoli lauantaina. Kuolinsyy: luoti päähän.

Ismael oli ujo 21-vuotias, aina hymyilevä ravintolatyöntekijä, jonka harrastuksiin kuului pelata perjantaisin jalkapalloa.  

Työpäivän päätteeksi, puoli tuntia ennen sulkemisaikaa pizzeriaan saapui asiakas, joka tilasi pizzan, kävi WC:ssä ja jostain syystä ennen pizzan valmistumista hermostui ja ampui kohti kolmea ihmistä.

Näkikö hän jotain, mistä ei pitänyt? Esimerkiksi sen, kun Ismael rukoili ruokasalin takaosassa WC:n vieressä?

Voiko tätä ymmärtää? Pitääkö edes yrittää? Ei ole olemassa hyväksyttävää syytä tappaa. Vai onko?

Ihmiset etsivät selityksiä ja netissä on jaettu kokemuksia pizzapohjan laadusta ja täytteistä. Samalla joku antaisi ampujalle mitalin, koska tappaminen sodassa on sallittua ja kunnioitettavaa, eikä poliisi edes automaattisesti tutki lausuntoa rikoksena, mikäli kukaan ei nosta syytettä. Onko Suomi vuonna 2012 siis sodassa? (Sodassa tappaminen on sallittua. Mutta jopa sodassakin kiellettyä on sivullisten ja siviilien tappaminen.)

Selitystä ei ole. Kukaan ei voi tietää mitä ampujan päässä liikkui. Vaikka kyseessä oli ”impulsiivisena ja väkivaltaisena” tunnettu henkilö, jonka tapana oli käydä pizzalla, kuten lehdistö on päätellyt, ja vaikka kyseessä olisi hetken päähänpisto, emme tiedä, oliko rasistinen reaktio tappamisen laukaiseva tekijä. Pelkkä rasismi ei tapa ilman asetta. Vaikka ampuja oli tappanut aiemminkin, ”hänellä oli tapana” ei myöskään riitä selitykseksi. Voi olla sattumaa, ettei jotain tapahtunut muualla. Mutta se, että joku tilaa marokkolaiselta pizzayrittäjältä pitsaa, ei poissulje rasismia. Rasismi on muutakin kuin se vastaus, jonka sinä antaisit kysymykseen ”tilaisitko pizzaa marokkolaiselta yrittäjältä”.

Halusimme tai emme, jouduimme tapauksen johdosta kuitenkin keskelle rasismi-keskustelua. Jos motiivin rasistisuudesta on epäselvyyttä, siitä ei ole epäselvyyttä, etteikö keskustelut sitä olisi. Se, että joudumme kuolemantapauksen johdosta lukemaan siitä, miten ampujaa onnitellaan ja haluttaisiin palkita, ja siitä, kuinka se nyt olikaan, ”saavatko ne oikeasti enemmän toimeentuloa kuin muut” ja siitä, kuinka tappaja periaatteessa oli mukava tyyppi hänen ystävän mielestä, voimme päätellä, että a) tapaus, jossa uhri ei ole ”kantasuomalainen” koskettaa hämmentävän vähän, b) ns. breivikiläinen henki on muuttanut maahan ja c) vihanlietsonta, halventavat puhetavat, väkivalta ja ihmeelliset selitykset eli kaikki, mitkä ämpäriä täyttävät, on tulleet niin normaaleiksi, että paljoa ei tarvita siihen, että mikä tahansa on jollekin se viimeinen pisara.

Ismaelin kuolema ei ole mikään maahanmuuttopoliittinen kysymys.

Mutta joka tapauksessa, rasismia tai ei: on kaksi pohtimisen arvoista kysymystä. Siinä tapauksessa, että teko oli rasistinen ja olisit maahanmuuttaja, olisiko huolissasi?  Tai entä sitten, siinä tapauksessa, että teko ei ollut rasistinen ja olisit kuka tahansa, oletko huolissasi? Onko oikeusjärjestelmämme nyt sitten ihan varmasti kunnossa, jos vuonna 2006 taposta tuomion saanut väkivaltaisena tunnettu henkilö oli jo nyt vapaana kävelemään ladattu ase taskussa pizzalle?

Toivon voimia Ismaelin veljelle ja muulle perheelle tragedian keskellä.

Miriam Attias

entinen oululainen

osa sitä yhteisöä, jota Ismaelin kuolema ja välikohtaus kosketti

Finnish police confirm ethnic background of second death on Friday

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Finnish police have confirmed to Migrant Tales that the second death of a young man to be a naturalized Finn who was born in Somalia.  The young man lost his life on in Espoo on Friday. It is the third killing of an immigrant in just over three weeks.

The first one happened in Oulu, when a Somali fell to his death while attempting to escape from three Finns that barged into his home.

Iltalehti reports the death in a short story the death of a young man on Friday but those not mention his nationality.

In a span of about three weeks, Finland has seen three deaths involving two Somalis and one Moroccan over the weekend.

Facebook PS "medal" story update: Rautio may be sacked from party

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Tommi Rautio’s statement on Facebook that he would give a medal to the Finn who shot two Moroccan workers at a pizzeria in Oulu Saturday night “because we are at war,” has become quite a sensation on the Internet but all for the wrong reasons. The Perussuomalaiset (PS) may sack Rautio for his racist comments that not only condone but encourage violence against immigrants.

Rautio is a PS city councilman of Köyliö and a member of the party’s Satakunta region board.

When the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) got in touch with Seppo Toriseva, the chairman of the PS’ Satakunta region, he claimed that he did not know about Rautio’s comments on Facebook.

“I will get in touch with him [Rautio] today,” he said. “The incident will be weighed by the [PS’] board as well as in the regional board. We will follow the legal path but it may be that there is enough in our [PS’] bylaws to sack him from the party.”

The interesting matter to watch now is how long it will take for the PS to react and what they will do to Rautio.

Here is an update by tabloid Iltalehti.

Populist PS of Finland: Living and dying by the political sword

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The chairman of the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS), Timo Soini, has assured us on numerous occasions how racism and hate speech have no role in his party. He has said that those who wander down such a questionable path will end up being devoured by what they preach. 

Aren’t the latest gallup figures a good example of what Soini warned: live by the sword, die by the sword?

When you study an anti-EU and anti-immigration party like the PS and its leader, you have to look right under your nose for the answer to uncover the deception in the statement.

Even if Soini doesn’t use the same hate speech and racist language that many of his PS MPs do, his ideological views about immigration and other matters like women’s rights are very similar to his followers.

This explains why Soini is not moved by the racism in his party never mind about PS members belonging to the neo-Nazi groups like Suomen Kansalinen Vastarinta.

The political nomenclature that the PS leader uses resembles that of a good-cop-bad-cop approach to an issue. While a PS member like Tommi Rautio can suggest on Sunday that the Finn who killed an immigrant and wounded another at a pizzeria in Oulu over the weekend should be given a medal because we are at war against immigrants, Soini will smile back and claim with a poker face: “Racism is bad.”

The ongoing cat-and-mouse debate in Finland, whether racism is a problem or not in this country and the PS, exposes yet a more worrying matter. Our dysfunction as a society to challenge an issue like racism.

We don’t need the PS or anyone to confirm our deepest worries. Our silence confirms it.

The question is not to be in shock-and-awe at the type of Finland we are seeing before us but to tackle the problem.

We are all responsible for allowing the ogre of racism out of its cage in Finland. Politicians, the media and the general public, especially immigrants and Finns with international backgrounds, must join forces and give parties like the PS and those who want to turn Finland into a segregated society a very clear message:

You won’t get off the hook easily anymore. We will not tolerate your racism and we will challenge you everywhere.