“Since leaving the White House in 1981, Rosalynn and I have strived to advance human rights in countries around the world. In this quest, we have seen that silence can be as deadly as violence.”
Jimmy Carter
Some sectors of the media and other people like teachers believe that silence is the best response to racism spread by politicians.
One former journalist of the Mikkeli-based Länsi-Savo believed a few years ago that the best way to challenge racism was not to notice it.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho offers us many examples of the racism spread by politicians in Finland. His comments on migrants, especially asylum seekers, reveal a pathological obsession with the topic.
A new case of aggressive and dehumanizing treatment of a black father and his son by a Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) train ticket inspector and later on by the police, according to Helsinki Times. The reason: Not having a valid train ticket.
Both the father, David Gill, and his teenage son Max were returning from a basketball tournament in Tampere.
The event, which was a traumatic incident that won’t be forgotten for a long time by the father and son, reveals a system and problem on HSL’s transport.
In the last three months, the cases of aggressive and unprofessional treatment by HSL train inspectors or security guards became public on social media in June and July. The latest incident took place on August 5.
The first incident that received wide coverage on social media involved an East African nursing student removed aggressively from the train. In contrast, the following month involved a minor, also black, who was manhandled by the security guards for not having a valid ticket.
In all three cases the victims are black and on HSL-run trains.
In one of the videos below, the father, David Gill, asks the police what they are doing as they detain him. “Why are you searching me? What did I do? I didn’t do anything! I called the police as well!”
The statement by the father that he called the police as well as a sad reminder of what happens when foreigners ask for help. You call for help, and you get detained because the police give the benefit of the doubt to the security guards.
Below is a Helsinki Times account of how the incident developed:
Ylepublished Saturday, a study that tells us something we have known: The fear of losing one’s economic status is fuel for the rise of populist parties like the Perussuomnalaiset (PS). Hanna Wss, the researcher, states that the rise of populism in countries like Sweden, the United Kingdom (Brexit), and the election of President Donald Trump are similar examples.
No where in the story, however, is the word racism and scapegoating mentioned and how these social ills are fueled by social inequality.
A question: Does the fall in our economic status turn us into supporters of populist parties? Some will vote for such parties while others won’t irrespective of their socioeconomic situation.
Similarly, does civil war and the deterioration of one’s economic situation in another country makes me carry out acts of terrorism? For some, it may be the case but for the great number of people, it is not.
Why doesn’t the study tell us how populist parties deceive voters and don’t offer credible solutions to resolving economic inequality unless you believe that “immigration” or “asylum seekers” are at the root of the problem? The study is an example of populist political correct views.
Why doesn’t Wass’ study, or even the Yle article, point out that even if lower-class USAmericans vote for Trump, he has only worsened their situation by fueling greater inequality and by giving billionaires big tax breaks?
At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas. This election will decide if we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny. It will decide whether we rapidly create millions of high-paying jobs or whether we crush our industries and send millions of these jobs overseas, as has been foolishly done for many decades. Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, and agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.
And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it. That won’t happen.
Jussi Halla-ahon vaalipuheesta 2011:
Yksissäkään aiemmissa vaaleissa ei äänestäjällä ole ollut samanlaista mahdollisuutta ottaa kantaa, kuin nyt. Vuosia kestänyt maahanmuuttokriittinen projekti kulminoituu näihin vaaleihin ja se kulminoituu perussuomalaisten maahanmuuttokriittisiin ehdokkaisiin.
Tämä on tosiasia, jonka kaikki sisimmässään tietävät. Koko media ja kaikki muut puolueet ovat yksimielisenä laumana perussuomalaisten kimpussa siitä yksinkertaisesta syystä, että muutos maahanmuuttopolitiikassa voittaa tai häviää meidän mukanamme. Meidän vaalimenestyksemme on se, mitä seurataan. Meidän vaalivoittomme on se, mitä pelätään.
Jos me voitamme nämä vaalit, muutosta ei voi pysäyttää. Jos me häviämme nämä vaalit, maahanmuuttokriittisyys katsotaan torjutuksi ja monikulttuurinen höyryjyrä jatkaa kulkuaan.
Mitä eroa näillä kahdella todistajalla on?
Toinen on tullut valituksi supervallan presidentiksi, toinen pikkuvaltion äärioikeistopuolueen puheenjohtajaksi.
Mitäpä heillä on yhteistä? Höynäytettävät äänestäjät ja äärioikeistomyönteiset taustajoukot ja media.
Kuulun sukupolveen, jolle paperinen sanomalehti on ollut aamuinen riitti. Paikallislehteäkin on tilattu sen vuoksi, että saamme tietoa oman kylän tapahtumista ja voimme tallettaa pikkumainoksia puiden kaatajista ja halkojen myyjistä. Jos sekin vähä sisältö alkaa olla rasististen ennakkoluulojen kirjomaa ja jauhelihamainosten lisäksi ei oikein muuta asiallista luettavaa ole, alkaa tilausmaksukin tuntua kohtuuttomalta. Viimeinen niitti Aamupostin tilauksen lopettamiseen oli pakolaiskeskusta vastustava adressi, jota lehti mainosti sivuillaan 27.8.2015. Adressin koko teksti on kuvassa, siteeraan sisältöä tähän. Kirjoitusvirheet ovat adressin laatijan:
”Vieressä kouluja, uimala! Alueella ei tämän jälkeen voi ilman vartioita asuakkaan. Usa tuhosi pohjoisafrikan toimivat keskiaikaiset heimoyhteiskunnat-diktatuurit. Nyt anarkia tilalle.Suomenn ei islmisti pakolaisia. Sodan avulla levittävät asiaansa. Naisen asema kammottava. Somalaleistakin 70 % työttömänä. Eivät kotoudu ikinä.” Aamun lehdet luettuani lähetin tuolloin sähköpostin päätoimittajalle, Laura Liskille:
”Onko tämä todellakin toimituksenne linja? Haluatteko edesauttaa maahanmuuttajavastaisten rasistien toimia ja kertoa lehtenne sivuilla, missä noita kammottavia pakolaisrikollisia pääsee vastustamaan?”
Matias Turkkila, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* newspaper’s editor, is well known for his shenanigans and the way he spins the news. If there is one person who, like Iljas Janitskin, has furthered the spread of racism in Finland, that person is Turkkila.
Juha Kärkkäinen is the owner of a company that bears his name. Kärkkäinen has shopping centers in Ylivieska, Lahti, and Oulu. Apart from his stores, the owner has earned a dubious reputation for being one of the most prominent anti-Semites in Finland.
In a critical tweet about a Yle story that discusses Kärkkäinen’s moral compass, who was convicted for ethnic agitation, Turkkila alleges that Yle is part of a plan to destroy his businesses.
The radio program talks as well about companies like Fiskars, Finlayson, Otava, Tammi, and Makia that have stopped their cooperation with Kärkkäinen. Others like Fazer continue to supply their products to Kärkkäinen’s shopping centers.
Don’t businesses have certain ethic standards that they abide by? Is it ok to sell your products in a company that is openly racist and anti-semitic?
An appeals court in 2014 upheld a Ylivieska-Raahe court ethnic agitation ruling against Kärkkäinen for publishing anti-Semitic opinion pieces in Magneettimedia, reported YLE. Kärkkäinen was fined the previous year 45,000 euros for publishing anti-Semitic writings of Adrian Salbuch, Ted Pike, David Duke, and others as well as cartoons that bear a striking resemblance to the former Nazi tabloid, Der Strümer (1923-45).
Despite these facts, Turkkila likes to dabble in conspiracy theories which have helped him make a shady name for himself. Turkkila defends Kärkkäinen because his worldview is the same.
Turkkila claims that the “fierce” attack made by Yle against Kärkkäinen is part of a plan to destroy Juha Kärkkäinen’s businesses. He claims that one of the journalists that did the radio program is a member of the Left Alliance. Turkkila asks in the tweet: “@yleuutiset why do you allow a Left Alliance activist to use your platform to aim [at Kärkkäinen]?” He adds that Yle should follow its own rules and not publish material to advance the world view of others. Source: Twitter.Continue reading “PS’ Turkkila defends anti-semites and xenophobes like Juha Kärkkäinen”
Perussuomalaiset MP Veikko Vallin tweeted an apology for the “mistake” of publishing pictures of children and workers at a nursery school. Even if he is sorry, he stated that his “critical opinion” of women using a chador at nursery schools has not changed.
Vallin’s action of taking pictures of children and workers at a nursing home was unbecoming of an MP. The images not only exposed his racist side, but it also showed how much some politicians, especially from the PS, do to crave their need for media attention.
The PS MP states in the original tweet that the black chador used by a Muslim woman scares him because it reminds him of Isis, which have been pictured in refugee camps in Syria wearing the niqab.
Source: eurodebates.tv
A grown man who is afraid of women wearing a chador?
Give me a break! This Trmp-imitating politician must be even afraid of mosquitos.
Vallin and the PS pulled one of the oldest tricks used by racist politicians:
Make a racist statement or claim;
Say you are sorry or remain quiet if a reporter proves what you said was a lie;
Despite all the commotion, your base will love you for what you said;
The aim is to get media attention and communicate with your base, who does not care if what you said was racist or immoral.
One of the most surprising matters about the story is not what Vallin did, but the deafening silence of other politicians and the media.
Only the tabloids, MTV and a handful of others covered the story.
Few of us will forget the 2011 parliamentary election when an Islamophobic and no-holes-barred racist party saw the number of MPs rise to 39 from 5 in 2007.
Even if the result was a wake-up call for Finland, the reaction to the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) as a major political force. Some shrugged off the election as an anomaly and it would only be a matter of time when the PS would implode, like the Rural Party (SMP) in the 1970s.
It’s been near a decade since 2010 and the PS hasn’t imploded, disappeared but strengthened and influaneced its racist message on other parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).
Some analysts saw the rise of the PS as a direct answer to mounting social and economic inequality.
It could be a factor, but does growing social inequality turn you into a scapegoating racist?
Certainly not unless you had such issues before.
The most successful party of the 2011 (39 MPs), 2015 (38 MPs), and 2019 (39 MPs) parliamentary elections has been the PS. Even if suffered a hiccup in June 2017, when the party split into two factions, the PS, it has survived and lived to see another day.
When some Finns and parties talk about returning to the “good old days,” they are saying that they’d like to return to the days when foreigners had practically no rights and where racism was king.It was also a time of appeasement to the former Soviet Union, media self-censorship, impunity, and human rights abuses.
One of the most quaint matters about those who want to take Finland back to the good old days is that they weren’t even born during those troubled times.
The treatment of asylum seekers and watching over their rights brings stark memories of the good old days. Take back Finland? Source: Twitter
What kinds of laws were in force back then? The list below is by no means exhaustive:
Finland did not have any immigration act until 1983, or about 66 years after independence;
The Aliens’ Office granted residence permits on a one-by-one basis;
The Aliens’ Office under Eila Kännö functioned like a state within a state;
Even if Finnish women were the first to get the right to vote in Europe in 1906, they could not pass on Finnish citizenship to their born child until 1984;
Foreigners did not have the right to appeal if deported;
Police surveillance of foreigners by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) was standard;
Supo had a register of foreigners that showed which demonstrations the person had taken part in and if he or she supported human rights;
Human rights abuses of asylum seekers were the rule;
Soviet citizens were denied asylum in Finland even if they requested it;
Finland returned tens of thousands of Ingrians and Estonians at Moscow’s request;
There were so few foreigners in the 1970s (under 12,000) that the biggest national groups were Finns who were naturalized Swedes;
Racialization was the rule and carved in stone;
Foreigners could not own or publish newspapers;
The Finnish media portrayed asylum seekers from countries like Somalia in an overtly racist manner;
Journalists, except for editors, were not allowed to write about Finland’s special relationship with the former USSR;
Finland was ruled by a strongman, Urho Kekkonen, from 1955 to 1982;
Under the Restricting Act of 1939 (219/1939), which became redundant in 1992, foreigners were not allowed to acquire a majority stake in a Finnish company;
Ownership limits of Finnish firms were 20% normally and 40% under special permission;
Foreigners could not own shares in sectors such as forestry, securities trading, transportation, mining, real estate, and shipping;
Foreigners could not own land;
Most Finns never heard of pizza;
Food markets had very few if any foreign produce.
Does any democratic-loving person who respects human rights want to return to the good old days of above?
Migrant Tales insight: This story was written by a member of the Somali community and edited by Migrant Tales the following week after a young Somali Finn was knifed and killed at the Helsinki Kannelmäki train station. The letter will be published as charges against the suspect will be apparently made public by the police this week,
Many questions abound.One of the most important is if the tragic death of the young man was a hate crime and if not, why? What were the bias motivators? Was it witness perception? Intense violence? Difference between the victim and the perpetrators’ ethnic background? Or was there no other obvious motive, which is also a bias indicator. Some in the Somali community believe what happened was motivated by ethnic background. It is an important question that needs answering.
I first heard of what happened at home celebrating and breaking my fast on Sunday [April 26, 2020] night during the holy month of Ramadan. My mother knows the victim’s parents and they are devastated. Shortly before the death, the mother of the young man suffered another death when her child was born without life.
The death made me first angry, but then I told myself that this was going to happen since I live in such a racist country.
The roots of this tragedy go back to when the mayor of Helsinki [Jan Vapaavuori] labeled the Somalis [on April 14] as those spreading coronavirus. What he did was label us as part of the coronavirus problem of Finland. Anybody could see what was going to happen next. People get scared, and the racists get more aggressive and start targeting you.
Since I was a child, I have experienced racism in Finland. In the early 1990s, I was scorned at because of my skin color, but now it is also because I am a Muslim. It’s a double whammy.
Living in a racist society is scary and especially for our elders who may not speak Finnish well enough to understand or talk back to people who harass them in public.
What happened [in Kannelmäki] reinforced what many of us Somalis feel in Finland. What happened on Sunday could happen to us. And it has, before.
I don’t trust the police that they will bring justice to what happened.
Are the police going to sweep the issue of racism under the rug? Are they going to conclude that the suspects had mental issues? Were under the influence of alcohol or drugs? Are hardened criminals? Or grew up in broken homes?
Everyone should ask themselves why these two men were carrying knives.
When I go out, I have a goal: I go to work, go to the market, or some other place. What purpose did these men have by carrying knives?
For me the answer is simple. To hurt, or in this case, to kill a Somali.
