Gay, Syrian, and forsaken by society because of language and depression

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Farid* is a young Syrian who has lived in Finland for the past six years. He claims to have no friends in this country and suffers from depression and spent some time in a psychiatric ward. Farid is also gay.

When listening to Farid’s story, it becomes clear that he is a person without a societal seeing eye dog to guide him through the culture and bureaucracy of his new homeland.

Farid, who suffers from depression, blames his problems in Finland on racism.

“I have never been treated as badly in Syria and Lebanon, where I lived a few years,” he said. “Finland has crushed by life.”

Farid spoke about what happened a year and a half ago to him at the Helsinki Kalasatama health station.

“I was feeling terrible and wanted to get checked by a doctor,” he said. “The nurse turned me away and told me to leave because she did not believe I was sick. I had a fever of 38.8°C.”

Farid tried again.

“I retook another number, but it did not help and they showed me the door,” he continued. “Since I refused to leave, the nurse called the security guards who escorted me outside. I called the police.”

To make a long story short, they locked up Farid in a police van and drove him to the police station.

“I got a panic attack inside the van and started to kick the windows,” he said. “I yelled and asked at the top of my voice, where they are taking me?! Why am I inside the police van?! I got no answers.”

The police then proceeded to administrate pepper spray, which made matters worse.

“I am allergic and was worried that my body would react to the spray,” he said.

At the police station, matters got worse. When he demanded his rights, and to talk to someone like a lawyer, the woman police officer in charge told him that “he could not complain because he is a foreigner.”

Farid filed a complaint a week ago to the prosecutor general after trying, unsuccessfully, to complain to the National Police Board of Finland.

Another problem with Farid’s case is that it happened a while back and moved slowly, yielding no results.

Farid shows the bruises he incurred by in police custody. He claims that the police used a taser.

After the incident with the police, Farid contacted Seta, LGBTI NGO, but they could not help him in offering legal help.

He admits that the incident at the health station forced him to take different types of pills to lower his stress level and help him sleep.

Continue reading “Gay, Syrian, and forsaken by society because of language and depression”

The toothless response of the police and society to human trafficking is similar to other social ills like racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A column by Helsingin Sanomat gave a realistic view of human trafficking and why there it continues unhinged. One problem that the column cites, and which is a problem concerning other racist crimes committed against migrants and minorities, is fear of the police.

The column, which exposed some of the shortcomings of protecting victims of human trafficking and exploitation at work, sheds light on a more significant problem: Indifference fed by prejudice and racism.

The Finnish police have a questionable history when dealing with racism. Migrant Tales wrote some of these issues in 2018 that persist to this date:

  • The police’s suspicion without proof that asylum seekers are rapists and criminals;
  •  A poll showed that close to 80% of the police in a survey considered the asylum seeker crisis as the most severe threat to Finnish security;
  • The same poll revealed that 25.1% of those polled voted for the National Coalition Party (NCP) and 24.4% for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. The PS and NCP parties are the most anti-immigration parties in parliament;
  • Ethnic profiling continues to be a serious issue among the Finnish police service;
  • The Council of Europe has expressed concern about ethnic profiling in Finland;
  • A study by the European Agency of Fundamental Rights (FRA) claims that a third of people of African descent (PAD) surveyed have experienced racial harassment in the last five years. The highest harassment took place in Finland.

Paavo Teittinen’s column hits it right on the nail: “The source of human trafficking and similar type of exploitation in Finland is not inevitable. It has been allowed to happen. Criminals can run their [businesses] fairly freely due to the lack of information, resources, and [police] interest.”

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Some of the main points of Teittinen’s column:

  • Employers are not worried about being reported to the police because of lack of interest;
  • An employer can commit human trafficking with few to no consequences;
  • Few human trafficking victims turn to the police because they fear deportation. They continue to fear the police like in their former home country;
  • The police and authorities don’t actively seek to curtail human trafficking;
  • The powers granted to the Regional State Administrative Agencies (AVI) is negligibly coupled with a shortage of staff;
  • Interior ministry has shown little interest in the problem;
  • Few police resources allocated to fighting human trafficking;
  • Some police play down the problem because they are suspicion of asylum seekers and their motives;
  • The police justify their inaction by stating that even if a person was underpaid, it is more money than he ever made in his home country;
  • Victim Support (Riku) said in a statement that laws to protect human trafficking victims are inadequate in Finland. The victim usually ends up holding the short end of the stick.

So what does the inadequate tratement of human trafficking expose?

It tells us that the police are not only ill-equipped to serve Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse community, but many continue to allow prejudice, racist attitudes, and structural racism to continue.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #72: False police reporting is an example of violence and open hostility

Posted on by Migrant Tales

White Finnish privilege is powerful since you can use the police to project the need for defense and protection. In the United States, we saw two viral examples (see below) involving Amy Cooper and Lisa Alexander.

For those who don’t remember, Cooper is the “Central Park Karen” for false reporting to the police. She falsely stated on video that she was in danger of being attacked by a black man after he told her to put her dog on a leash.

The second case involving Alexander, or “San Francisco Karen,” happened when she and her husband approached a black man who was writing on his front lawn, “black lives matter.” The couple did not know that it was the black man’s property.

These two cases not only reveal white privilege but hinge on myths dating to the era of USAmerican slavery when they viewed black slaves as sexual threats to white women.

In Turku, we got a sour taste of the latest example of false reporting. The police report in a tweet that a robbery took place in Turku. According to the “victim,” the man had “a field jacket, dark pants, dark hair, was of Middle East origin.”

The police tweet later on: “The incident is over. Everything is fine. The person [who made the false report] is resolving the matter with the police since he/she admitted that he/she had made the whole thing up.

Patrol resources could have been better used elsewhere.”

FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #72

Like in the two recent cases in the United States, will we see the perpetrator of the false report in Finland apologize? How much damage does such a false report, tweeted by the police, impact people of color?

It is surprising that the Finnish police use outdated ethnic profiling identification. Today, a Finn can be of any color and ethnicity. Moreover, the ethnic makeup of the Middle East is diverse.

Grouping people by nationality is racist. The incident also exposes the police in an unprofessional and racist light.

How many more cases of false reporting are there, and what do they reveal about white Finnish privilege and its open hostility to people who are not white?

While in a different historical context, the false reporting in the US and Finland have the same goals: reinforce and embolden racism. Add to this prejudice and racism of the police, and you have a potent weapon against minorities and migrants.

https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1264965252866641920%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F5857023%2Fkaren-meme-history-meaning%2F

See also:

A synonym for fake news is the Perussuomalaiset and other racist groups

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland has been praised for its school program to teach children about fake news. Media literacy is important if we do not want to be led by the noses towards an autocratic state.

Commonly, when reading the comments by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MPs and other politicians, fact-checking is an exception and not the rule.

Some of the most significant sources of fake news that the PS spread is about migrants and asylum seekers, which is code for Muslims. The cost of migration, living off social welfare, crime, not interested in integration, and so forth.

The basis of the above claims is fake news, and the media should do much more to check their integrity.

Top Five Fake Migration News in Finland

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Näyttökuva-2020-7-31-kello-10.24.59.png
  1. These are not real asylum seekers. They come fo Finland and Europe for economic reasons; they want to take advantage of our social welfare system;
  2. Migration costs Finland billions of wasted euros that we’ll never get back;
  3. Migrants don’t want to integrate. They want to live in “ghettos;”
  4. Migrants mainly cause sexual assault crime to spike;
  5. Migrants, especially Muslims, want to take over Europe and force us to live under Sharia law.

All of the above are examples of fake news promoted by the PS and other xenophobic groups. Treat them with tweezers and throw them in the trash.

Trump and Huhtasaari: White supremacy in the US and Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we look at US President Donald Trump’s makeup and that used by Perussuomalaiset* MEP Laura Huhtasaari, we can conclude that their personas are different shades of white supremacy.

We all know about Trump’s white supremacist views and we know about Huhtasaari’s feelings on the matter. Her posts and hashtags (#proudtobeFinn and others) speak for themselves.

Even if both politicians are from different countries, they built their political careers on racism and white supremacy. Trump reached infamy by his birther claims that Barack Obama was not born in the US, while Huhtasaari went on the rampage against Muslims and the EU.

If we look at white supremacy in Finland, it does, as in the case of Huhtasaari, involve white-silver dyed hair, white clothing, lots of white makeup as well as white supremacist soundbites.

Source: Twitter
Different shades of Huhtasaari’s dyed hair and white supremacist image. Source: Twitter
Blonde hair and makeup do wonders for bringing out the white supremacist image. Source Google.

A guide to becoming a white supremacist politician:

  • Dye your hair blonde
  • Use a lot of whitening makeup
  • Spread racism by scapegoating vulnerable people like asylum seekers
  • Get elected and continue undermining democracy.

Rasistit kiikkiin!

Posted on by Reija Härkönen

Perussuomalaiset ja kokoomuksen laitaväki ovat nyt yhdeksän vuotta käytännössä esteittä edistäneet muukalaisvihaa, koulukiusaamista ja ulkomaisten työntekijöiden riistoa. Kun suosio välillä hiipuu, paukut kovenevat ja lähes jokainen persu-ulostulo on ilkeän vihamielinen, fasistinen tai natsistinen. Olisiko aika tehdä jotain?

Ei riitä se, että paljastetaan ja tyrmistellään persujen kamalia puheita. Niillä on oltava käytännön merkitys siihen, kuinka heihin suhtaudutaan eduskunnassa, kansanedustajien ja äänestäjien keskuudessa ja mediassa.

Jokaisen poliittisessa keskustelussa mukana olevan olisi aina nähtävä se vaiva, että tuo selkeästi, julkisesti ja päin naamaa esille vihapolitiikan synkeyden ja vahingollisuuden. Jokaiselle sellaisen politiikan harjoittajalle on osoitettava, että hänen toimintansa on häpeällistä. Jokainen lainvastainen puhe on tuomittava oikeudessa ja eettisesti ja moraalisesti kelvoton toimija on saatettava häpeään. Liiallisesta kohteliaisuudesta on luovuttava. Pelko pois! Rasisti saadaan kyllä oikeusvaltiossa tuomiolle hänen ihmisoikeuksiaan kunnioittaen, hänen halveksittavien tekojensa uhri harvoin saa oikeutta.

3175A18C-F401-4702-8BA4-CD77F5293EDD
Kun puoluejohtaja julkeasti toistaa ministereiden törkeän nimittelyn, hänen pitäisi joutua vastuuseen.

Tolkun ihmisen velvollisuus on olla äänestämättä rasistipuolueita, rasistisia ehdokkaita tai poliitikkoja, jotka ovat ilmaisseet halunsa toimia yhteistyössä rasistisen puolueen kanssa, jos sillä keinoin päästään hallitukseen.

Kaikki nämä yhdeksän vuotta, jotka olen ollut mukana kommentoimassa poliittista siirtymää äärioikealle, olen saanut kuulla kymmeniä kertoja asian vähättelyä ja väitteitä, että ei ole mitään syytä verrata tätä aikaa natsi-Saksaan. Ja kuitenkin polku poliittisen elämän kovenemiseen, vihaan ja siitä johtuvaan pahoinvointiin ja lopulta jopa kansanmurhiin on aina sama: aletaan rummuttaa ylenkatsontaa ja vihaa yhtä kansanryhmää kohtaan ja tehdä julkeata propagandaa heitä ja heidän puolustajiaan vastaan.

Toistolla on voimaa. Kun ollaan tarpeeksi pitkälle edetty, ei ole enää kysymys siitä, että rasistien äänestäjien joukossa oltaisiin huolissaan omasta tai läheisten pärjäämisestä ja kateellisia siitä, että sotaa ja vainoa paennut saa asunnon ja avustuksia. Valta kiihottaa, politiikassa edenneistä sukulaisista tai tuttavista ollaan ylpeitä ja silmät ja korvat suljetaan kauheuksilta, joita he tekevät. Viha myös kiihottaa ja yhdistää, on voimaannuttavaa vihata porukalla sota-alueelta perheensä kanssa paennutta tummempi-ihoista lasta.

Propagandan ei edes tarvitse johtaa fyysiseen väkivaltaan ollakseen vahingollista. On riittävän pahaa se, että maahan muuttaneiden elämää kenties useassa sukupolvessa vaikeutetaan, heitä ja heidän lapsiaan pidetään kakkosluokan kansalaisina, kiusataan, orjuutetaan ja nöyryytetään. Maassa, joka pitää itseään sivistysmaana ja esimerkkinä muille.

Politiikan pitäisi luoda yhteistä hyvää ja yhdistää ihmisiä, ei jakaa heitä vihattaviin ja hyväksyttäviin. Kenenkään ei tule hyväksyä politiikkaa tai poliitikkoa, joka tähtää yhtäläisen, luovuttamattoman ihmisarvon riistoon ja omaan poliittiseen nousuun vihaa nostattamalla.

Keskustelu, vitsailu ja herjaaminen tunnustavan rasistin somesivulla johtaa vain naakkaparven kerääntymiseen ja sulkien lisääntymiseen moukan hatussa. Media, huomion toivossa tai omaa agendaa edistäen, asettuu yllättävän usein äärioikeiston puolelle tai ainakin kylmästi, joskus ehkä tiedostamattaan, välittää kansalle heidän sanomansa.

Ajatus, että jokaisessa on jotain hyvää ja kaikkien pitää saada sanoa sanottavansa ei toimi silloin, kun aikuinen, täysvaltainen ihminen valitaan kansanedustajaksi edistämään ihmisvastaista politiikkaa, rajojen sulkemista väärän värisiltä ja maassa olevien vierasmaalaisten elämän tekemistä mahdollisimman ikäväksi.

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Kun häntä on tulessa, rasistit väittävät taas olevansa kansan tunteiden tulkkeja. Tämä on valhe, ei Suomen kansa ole rasistikansa.

Liliana Belatti’s humanity in times of war

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“[Leon] Trotsky once said that if the anarchists did not exist they’d have to be invented because they have done a lot of good things for humanity with their incorruptible opposition. They demonstrated having a principal that they never abandoned.”.

Osvaldo Bayer (1927-2018)

As the late Argentinean historian points out, social movements like anarchism in Argentina played an important role in demanding, and sometimes obtaining, justice. During the so-called Tragic Week of 1919, the anarchists almost succeeded at toppling the government.

One of the many anarchist organizations that fought for social rights was FORA (Federación Obrera Regional Argentina). My grandfather Nemo, and my great grandfather Dante, were anarchists.

If we looked at Argentina’s history from the nineteenth century when immigration from Europe started to whitewash the population, the struggles between the working and middle-class versus Argentina’s ruling class have lasted to this date.

During this dark period, state terror instigated by the military junta was the supreme ruler. Imagined and real enemies of the de facto state were apprehended, tortured and murdered by the so-called “security” forces. Over 30,000 “disappeared” this way.

When I lived in Argentina during 1976-78, I suffered from depression and post-traumatic syndrome. Even if you could breathe normally during the military dictatorship, I commonly felt that I was suffocating and gasping for air. The hatred of the military, their lust for power, and objectionable violence sucked all the air around you.

Whatever type of victim you may be, the most important gesture that anyone can show you is their caring and empathy. One of these persons I met during those trying times was Liliana Belatti.

Liliana Belatti in the 1970s.

I heard and saw many things in Argentina that still shock me today. One of the scariest was listening to a friend walk into the office and started crying that armed men had kidnapped his son, or being whisked in a squad car to a nearby police station for not carrying my identification papers.

Continue reading “Liliana Belatti’s humanity in times of war”

Turtiainen suffers another blow to his business as the International Powerlifting Federation terminates cooperation

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Ano, or Año Turtiainen, the former Perussuomalaiset MP who mocked George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman, boasts that he is “the best known Finnish powerlifter in the world.” CORRECTION: He is also known for being the most racist Finnish powerlifter in the world.

After Elitefts and the Canadian Powerlifting Union terminated last month their cooperation with Turtiainen, the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) announced that it too is terminating its cooperation agreement with Turtiainen’s firm Metal Sports.

IPF announced that the termination of the agreement with Metal Sports was due to a “non fulfilling the agreement terms.”

Turtiainen’s tweet was even noticed by George Floyd’s family in the US.

“The message glorifies police violence and criminal behavior,” said Goerge Floyd’s family lawyer in Teller Report. “It seems that this, not the first time MP Turiainen has published racist messages on social media. We believe that Turtiainen’s colleagues in parliament should be held accountable.”

See original statement here.

Migrant Tales wrote in June that Turtiainen’s career as a “dark comedian” and political career came down in flames with the Goerge Floyd tweet.

Turtiainen got his fingers burned to a crisp when he tried to show off his racism in a long list of tweets, inc including George Floyd.

See also:

See ogirinal posting here.
See original CPU statement here.

The outrage that Turtiainen has awoken from abroad and the consequences of his racist postings offer hope and some direction. For too many years, the MP from the small town of Juva (pop. 6,121) has made racist statements and shown off his “dark humor” with few if any consequences.

What does it say about Juva and our society as a whole?

Perussuomalaiset: The shameful a**hole party of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

“What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Still smart? Do you still like yourself?”

Toni Morrison (1931-2019)

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Mauri Peltokangas, a far-right politician and member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association, labeled government ministers “a**holes” for not expressing concern about the attack against the party’s campaign manager Pekka Kataja.

Those who have followed the Kataja incident will note that it is a pretty mixed up story. First, Kataja pins the blame on “Arab-looking” attackers, then changes it to far right even if he adheres to the same Islamophobic mindset.

The post on Peltokangas’ Facebook page was removed, which is yet proof that he is a loudmouth opportunist who takes racist, Islamophobic, and misogynist potshots at his rivals. Peltokangas can’t stand the heat so he is the first to exit the kitchen.

If you are surprised that the PS parliamentary group will not take any action against Peltokangas, this Islamophobe has a long history of rants and racist statements.

Writes Peltokangas: “Each of our ministers are sorrowful a**holes. Eveyone is silent even if the victim works for parliament.”

If a recent (22.2.2020) rant below, which lasts 2:36 minutes, Peltokangas utters around every 20 seconds the following swear words:

Continue reading “Perussuomalaiset: The shameful a**hole party of Finland”

Adam Al-Sawad: Missä menee sivistysvaltion raja?

Posted on by Adam Al-Sawad
SAVON SANOMAT PÄIVYRI Adam Al-Sawad, Puheenjohtaja perustettavassa rasismin ja islamofobian vastaisessa yhdistyksessä, Kuva: Akseli Muraja

Nationalististen tahojen kerätessä suosiota Suomessa, kohtaa Suomen poliittinen kenttä yhä useammin skandaaleja perussuomalaisten poliitikkojen toimesta. Yhdessä skandaalissa kannatetaan “eliminointia” ja tuhopolttoja (Turtiainen, 2015) tai levitetään räikeästi väärää tietoa rasistisin tarkoitusperin (Purra, 2020), toisessa vitsaillaan murhattujen tummaihoisten kustannuksella (Turtiainen, 2020) tai väitetään vielä elossa olevien tekevän kouluista eläintarhoja (Halla-Aho, 2007). Puolueen sisältä paljastuu tasaisin väliajoin kytköksiä väkivaltaisiin radikaaleihin (PVL/SVL) ja heitä tukeviin tahoihin (Suomen Sisu, Perussuomalaiset nuoret, RK! ja niin edelleen). Viranomaisten puuttuessa näiden tahojen toimintaan, perustetaan vain uusia yhdistyksiä tilalle. Yleensä tätä kaikkea seuraa pieni nuhtelu ja sulka hattuun puolueen sisällä (Verkkouutiset, 2019), tai korkeintaan muutamassa tapauksessa skandaalin keskipisteen etäännyttäminen emopuolueesta, toki niin että samalla paukutellaan henkseleitä sillä, miten nykyään ei saa sanoa mitään ilman että haukutaan rasistiksi.

Kaikkea tätä pahentaa se, että nykyään näihin skandaaleihin puuttumista katsotaan pahalla. Maltilliset tahot niin oikealla kuin vasemmallakin lakaisevat Suomen häpeäpilkkuna toimivan puolueen maton alle sen nimissä, ettei heille saa antaa lisää huomiota mediassa, kun taas puolue itse kapitalisoi saamaansa kritiikkiä keksimällä uusia “derangement syndrome” -nimityksiä heitä kohtaan osoitettavalle kritiikille. Kriitikot myös saavat osakseen jatkuvaa uhkailua, vähättelyä ja kyseenalaistamista, ja kun läheisten ikkunoita on käyty kerran rikkomassa äänekkään kritiikin jälkeen, on monen aktivistinkin vaikea enää löytää samanlaista ääntä itselleen toistamiseen. Lopputuloksena puolueen nyrkkisäkkeinä toimivat vähemmistöt saavat vuodesta toiseen miettiä, miten sekulaarina sivistyneenä länsimaana markkinoitavassa Suomessa voidaan hyväksyä tällaista radikalismia. Missä menee sivistysvaltion raja?

Raja on kuitenkin vedettävä johonkin, ja minusta se pitää vetää jo viimeistään tähän. Puolueen ajatushautomona toimiva, opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriöltä rahoitusta saava Suomen Perusta julkaisi hiljattain Jukka Hankamäen kirjan “Totuus kiihottaa”, joka on ajatuspajan mukaan “Filosofinen tutkimus vasemmistopopulistisen valtamedian tieto- ja totuuskriisistä.” Teos on käytännössä äärimmäisen radikaali populistinen teos, jossa etnonationalismi ja rotupetturuuden käsitteellä flirttaileminen kohtaa avoimen rotuopin ja eugeniikan puolustamisen. Sivulla 261 siinä lukee muun muassa näin: ”Osa naisista on saattanut haluta kostaa joitakin kaunojaan suomalaiselle yhteiskunnalle pariutumalla ulkomaalaisen kanssa, ja asiaan liittyvä epäreiluus on saanut suomalaismiesten veren kiehumaan. Samalla naiset ovat käyttäneet myös väestöpoliittista valtaa, sillä rajat ylittävillä pariutumisillaan he ovat muokanneet kansamme geeniperintöä tavalla, joka on rikkonut biologisen rodun, etnisesti määriteltävissä olevan kansan, valtio-opillisesti jäsenneltävissä olevan kansakunnan, juridisen kansalaisuuden ja valtiofilosofisesti voimassa olevan kansallisvaltionvälisen ekvivalenssin sekä korrelatiivisen ja luottamuksellisen suhteen.”

Saatamme olla toden totta kriisin keskellä, mutta tämä kriisi ei ole mikään vasemmistopopulistien masinoima kriisi valtamediassa, vaan nationalismin nousun aiheuttama poliittinen kriisi, jossa törkeästä, radikaalista ja ihmisoikeuksien vastaisesta politiikasta on tulossa Suomessa hyväksyttävää ja normaalia. “Meistä tulee uusi normaali”, iloitsi perussuomalaisten Laura Huhtasaari jo vuonna 2018. Onko tämä kriisi toden totta se uusi normaali, jota pitää rakennuspalikkana tulevaisuuden Suomelle? Vai onko puhe rotupettureista ja n******ukoista jo tullut jäädäkseen hyväksyttävänä osana vaalit melkein voittaneen puolueen politiikkaa.