I spoke to a distraught Iraqi mother who told me how she was harassed, even shoved and pushed by six people who threatened to kill her in the Helsinki neighborhood of Malminkartano. Why? Because she and her daughters are Muslims.
“I was traveling with my nine-year-old daughter on the train from Vantaa and got off at the Malminkartano station,” she said. “The same people who were speaking loudly and yelling at us on the train got off in the same station. They kept on acting aggressively, cussing, and even surrounding us, telling us to go back to where we came from and yelling Allahu Akbar.”
The mother said that her daughter was very frightened by the incident and tried to distance herself from the attackers.
“We walked to our home about 500 meters away but the six persons, who were about 25 years old, three of them were men and three women, followed us to where we live,” she continued. “When we got home, I called the police, but they told me that they didn’t need to come since I was now safe at home.”
“The incident scared my daughter pretty badly, who is even afraid to go to the bathroom,” she said. “I don’t allow her to go out and play with her friends because I am afraid that something can happen to her.”
“My daughter does not understand why people are sometimes so mean,” she concluded. “She said that she was born in Finland and did not understand why some act in such a racist manner even if she is a Finn.”
Racism against People of African Descent in Finland occurs every day at the workplace, school, and public spaces, according to a report by the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman. The findings reinforce a study by the European Agency of Fundamental Rights that showed that perceived racist harassment of PAD respondents was the highest in Finland (63%),
The report stated that 67% of the respondents faced discrimination or harassment at school. The corresponding figure for the workplace was 60%. As many as 61% who face racist discrimination don’t report it.
Rainer Hiltunen, the acting Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, said that the findings of the report confirm that racism is deeply rooted in Finnish society.
“Our ways of thinking and our modes of action are, to a large extent, racist even if we do not notice it or are unwilling to admit it,” he said. “Individual racist acts and aggressive behavior are the easiest to identify, but the most dangerous are attitudes and structures which deprive those of African descent of the same opportunities that others have.”
The majority (67%) of the respondents said they had experienced discrimination in education. Racism arises from the actions of other students and teaching staff and other personnel such as guidance counselors and school nurses.
The highest amount of discrimination was experienced by other students when teachers or other staff are present. Racialized guidance takes place in guidance counseling and Finnish as a second language and literature courses.
Michaela Moua, non-discrimination ombudsman senior officer, stated that the treatment of PAD in the education sector has a significant impact on their career paths and social position in society.
“Deviating from the white norm affects how a person is seen and treated in school,” she said. “Racialized guidance which takes place in educational structures needs to be confronted and fixed, as it leads to the differentiation of life paths and social positions.”
High (61%) of respondents stated that they preferred to remain quiet if they were targets of racist discrimination and harassment. PAD respondents believe that reporting such an incident would not lead anywhere.
Moreover, respondents said that they experienced racism by employers, colleagues, and customers in the workplace. Job recruitment is one area where the respondents had experienced discrimination.
A study published in October by Akhlaq Ahmad reinforced how prevalent labor market discrimination is in Finland. The results of the study showed that out of 5,000 job applications, those with Finnish names got way more requests for interviews by the employer.
The report by the non-discrimination ombudsman and other ones should give politicians, policymakers, and people enough fuel not only to tackle but begin dismantling for good structural racism in Finland.
While what we see in the United States with nationwide protests is remarkable, what happened last week with former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party MP Ano Turtainen was equally significant.
Before mocking the death of George Floyd in a racist tweet, Turtiainen should have understood that there is a lot of sensitivity and support for black people who are constant victims of police violence and brutality in the US and elsewhere.
While Turtiainen has made racist remarks about blacks like in his infamous Ebola Facebook posting in which he claimed that Ebola is nature’s way of keeping overpopulation under control in Africa, Muslims are his usual targets of choice.
Apart from getting kicked out of the PS parliamentary group, further damage for his racism was handed by US-based Elitefts, a bodybuilding equipment company, which terminated its business relationship with Turtiainen’s company, Metal Sport & Gear.
The vast majority of the 240 comments (8.6) are by Finns, who thank the company for its action.
Source: Facebook.Another company in Canada has cut all ties with Turtiainen’s company. Source: CPU.
There is a troublesome question that arises from Turtiainen’s clash with the #BlackLivesMovement. What if George Floyd were a Muslim?
Would our collective reaction and outrage be as forceful?
Hopefully, the #BlackLivesMatter movement and our rebuke of US President Donald Trump and his policies will encourage us to condemn and take action against all types of racism wherever it may appear.
Thanks to the United States, Latin America has suffered human rights abuses, poverty, exploitation, and a long line of dictators. The latest coup we saw in that part of the world was in Bolivia when Jeanine Áñez usurped power and named herself president.
I lived under a ruthless dictatorship in Argentina. Memories from those times were so harrowing that I can never forget them even if I wished. Indeed, the military rulers who gave us the dirty war (1976-83) caused terrible scars on the country.
Argentina’s bloodiest coup in 1976 had the blessings of US President Gerald Ford and executed by his faithful henchman, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Some generals, like former Secretary of Defence James Mattis, rebuked President Donald Trump this week by stating that he is a danger to the constitution and that USAmericans in uniforms serve USAmericans, not a political agenda.
Mattis added: “We can unite without him [Trump], drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
Even if some have hailed Mattis for speaking out against Trump, his military career raises a lot of questions. The Marine Corps general fought in the Perian Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Amnesty International had questions about Mattis before his confirmation as Trump’s secretary of defense in 2017-2019.
“If confirmed, General Mattis would wield tremendous power, including the ability to order torture and flood Guantanamo with new detainees held without charge. General Mattis has said that those at Guantanamo should be held indefinitely – even though nearly all have been held without charge for more than a decade. However, he is reported to have rejected torture as a useful method of interrogation in conversations with [then] President-elect Trump.”
Mattis, who admitted that the Iraq War was a mistake, led the 1st Marine Division during the invasion and later oversaw the bloody retaking of Fallujah from insurgents in 2004. Some estimates claim that 90% of the people that the Marines killed in Fallujah were civilians.
Is General Mattis a war criminal, and is he an honorable broker with so much war history and blood on his hands?
Other high-ranking military leaders like John Kelly, John Allen, Mike Mullen, Richard Myers, Martin Dempsey, and others have also rebuked Trump. Even former President George W Bush, who condoned torture and invaded Iraq, is giving the thumbs down to Trump.
Remember formerWhite House chief of staff and general, John Kelly, who defended the practice of separating immigrant parents from their children at the border.
Kelly is now making money off caged children. He is currently the board member of Caliburn International, the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, which operates four massive for-profit shelters that have government contracts to house unaccompanied migrant children from south of the border.
It all sounds like a Hollywood movie with an unsure ending and a list of actors who may have committed war crimes and human rights violations. In all of this, we lose sight of the real issue: #BlackLivesMatter, social justice, and change.
In Argentina, the last military dictatorship that overthrew the democratically elected government of Isabel Martínez de Perón did so to restore “law and order.” They did this with presidential elections nine months away.
Coups in countries like Argentina usually kick off with a communiqué. The first one stated that “The country finds itself under the operational control of the armed forces…”
President Isabel Martínez de Perón being flown off by a helicopter from the presidential palace.
Even if Communiqué 1 asked for calm from the civilian population and not to intervene, it hid its most sinister plan, which was to unleash the suffering and death of tens of thousands of Argentineans.
If the end of democracy is near in the United States, I suspect it will kick off with an announcement like in Argentina in 1976. Contrary to Latin America, which is crude, even vulgar, in handling public relations with its population, the coup in the United States will not look like one but appear sugar-coated with deceitful lies.
The transition from an imperfect democracy that serves mostly whites at the cost and exploitation of blacks and other minorities won’t be hard. The United States has a lot of experience in Latin America, where its support for military and civilian dictatorships, domination, and torture are the trademarks.
The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 not only brought down a superpower without firing a shot but started the deterioration of another one called the United States.
The social chaos in the United States could end if the country were honestly interested in turning a new leaf and change its ways.
In the next few months, we will see the direction the country is heading on its wayward and perilous path.
Perussuomnalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtiainen [1], who was expelled from the parliamentary group Thursday, but could rejoin the group after the end of the year if he had changed his racist ways.
To this offer, Turtiainen gave a redundant no.
“I am not going to request joining [the parliamentary group] again, but they can come to ask me with cap in hand,” he was quoted as saying in Yle.
Turtianen admitted that the racist tweet about George Floyd was a mistake and placed the blame on people who don’t understand “dark humor.”
“Dark humor?” Since when did Turtiainen start a new career as a comedian?
Turtiainen said that he was planning to create a one-man party in parliament and was unsure if he’d take part in the municipal elections of Juva next year.
US-based Elitelts announced Friday that it is ending its business relationship with Ano Turtiainen’s company, Metal Sport & Gear. Source: Facebook.
Considering Turtiainen’s racist and offensive style, few will miss him and hope that he will only serve one term as MP.
Turtianen was elected in 2019 to parliament with 3,264 votes.
In a Yle election compass, Turtiainen’s view on immigration should not come to any surprise.
In one recent 2:36-minute monologue, which was taken down, Peltokangas used the following swear words every 20 seconds:
Shit (paska): 2 times
Fucked (perseestä): 2 times
What the hell, hell (mitä helevetti, helevetti): 2
The devil (perkele): 2
A Peltokangas monologue is like watching Benito Mussolini speaking from a balcony.
There are differences, however. One speaks Finnish and the other Italian; one wears glasses on his forehead while the other one does not wear glasses; one was in politics from the 1920s until he was hung lifeless by the feet in Milan in 1945, while the other one is building a political career today.
Check out the two videos and their loud-mouthed crude populist pomposity below and tell me if Peltokangas and Mussolini aren’t two peas in a pod.
For some strange reason, the video below where Peltokangas rants like Mussolini was taken down.
Since the PS are in government, they have been trying to clean up their acts. This involved whitewashing their racist rants.
The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* parliamentary group unanimously expelled Thursday MP Ano Turtiainen [1] until the end of the year for posting a racist tweet about the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“The suspension is permanent,” PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio was quoted as saying in Yle. “We had a discussion that if he wanted, Turtiainen could apply for membership in the [parliamentary] group after the end of the year if he’s corrected his behavior for good.”
Turtainen’s Facebook page is strangely quiet and makes no mention about the suspension. Source: Facebook.
Why wasn’t Turtiainen sacked permanently from the party? Because he wasn’t, it is difficult to assess if the outrage of the PS is genuine or just a publicity stunt.
I suspect the PS parliamentary group to be disingenuous. No matter how racist your ideas are, you will always find a home in the PS even after you’ve been expelled.
Apart from placing George Floyd’s purple-colored face on the pavement before he was killed with the words “Pink Floyd,” it is the comment the former PS MP made that was equally disturbing.
In the racist tweet, which he took down Wednesday, claimed that as blacks get more rights, the more unruly they become and the more difficult it is to put them in their places.
Turtainen did not offer any apologies to George Floyd’s family, #BlackLivesMatter, Finnish people of color and people of African decent, but stated that he took down the tweet because it harmed the party.
[1] ”Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is the anus.
Migrants search for hope. Their searching offer us hope.
Fourteen-year-old Ilayta’s family history and her drawings offer a glimpse of what hope is. They were searching for five years for a new home in Greece, and four years in Finland finally paid off in July 2019, when they were given a residence permit in Finland.
Uncertainty and deportationalways fiollowed them during those years like a shadow.
A long and grueling nine-year journey for Ilayta and her family that came to a happy ending in July 2019. From left to right: Sabah, Donya, and Ilayta.
Migrant Tales wrote about Ilayta and her family in January 2019.
“Their daughter [then] 13 years old and she speaks at least five languages. Since she is the only one who can speak Finnish, she not only interprets language but the family’s anxiety and fear.”
Despite that difficult phase of their lives, Ilayta draws a picture of a bird below to symbolize their new beginning in Finland.
“I drew a bird because it expresses freedom,” she said. “As asylum seekers, we weren’t free because everyone told us what to do. Now we are free [to get on with our lives].”
“Lintu on vappa ja se lentää niin kin muutkin linnut taivassa.” Translation: “The bird is free and its flies like other birds in the sky.” Drawing by Ilayta S.
“I want to become a language teacher and teach you people,” she said.
Ilayta speaks Turkmen, Finnish,, Greek, English, Finnish, and a little Swedish which she has learned at school.
“Speaking a language is important,” she continued. “Speaking five languages is like being five persons. Problems can be solved more easily because each langague offers a different perspetive.”
“Voi olla hyvää jos noi ulkomaalaiset ei olisi täällä! Älä arvostele toisi niiten ulkonään perusteella, et voi ikinä tiedää ne on kokenut!” Translation: “It may be a good matter if those foreigners weren’t here. Don’ judge others based on their appearance since you can never know what they have gone through!
We wish Ilayta and her family the best and how to write more stories about their lives in Finland.
Poor timing by Ano Turtiainen? Today, people in Helsinki demonstrated in solidarity with George Floyd and #BlackLivesMatter, according to Yle News. At the same time, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtianen mocks at the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Today’s demonstration to show support for George Floyd was a great show of solidarity by the people of Helsinki. What didn’t sit well now or ever a racist horse’s ass tweet by PS MP Turtainen denigrating George Floyd’s memory.
Demonstrators show their support for George Floyd and against police brutality at Helsinki’s Senate Square this afternoon. Source: Twitter
Turtiainen’s “joke?” It was apparently George Floyd’s wide-eyed face full of terror colored purple with the name of the 1960s rock band “Pink Floyd.”
Cruel, racist, and unbecoming of an MP but that’s not all he tweets. Turtainen stated that as black people get more rights, they become more unruly. He suggested that going back to Jim Crow and slavery would be an effective way of keeping blacks in line.
People should organize to do everything possible that MPs like Turtiainen don’t get reelected in 2023.
Meanwhile, PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio told Iltalehti that Turtiainen would face disciplinary action for the tweet.
Disciplinary action?! Why not sack him from the party?
Turtiainen’s latest tweet is really from the “ano,” or anus in Spanish. He tweeted a picture of George Floyd’s face on the ground as police officer Derek Chauvin kneels on his neck.
The tweet is not only a slap in the face of George Floyd and to all the suffering black people are experiencing, it is also a swipe at Finland black community.
The “joke?” George Floyd’s wide-eyed face full of terror colored purple with the name of the 1960s rock band “Pink Floyd.”
Cruel, racist, and unbecoming of an MP but that’s not all he tweets. Turtainen stated that as black people get more rights, they become more unruly. He suggested that slavery would be an effective way of keeping blacks in line.
George Floyd and Turtiainen’s racist humor. In the tweet, he states that as blacks get more rights the more difficult they become.
As a matter of policy, Migrant Tales no longer publishes racist pictures by racist politicians.
MP Turtiainen is a meber of Finland’s biggest opposition party.
Thank you Reija Härkönen for the heads-up!
[1] ”Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is the anus.
