This was sent to us today. It reads in Finnish: “Kontula
A short note from a reader: “Kontula eilen (neighborhood of Kontula yesterday).”
Migrants, minorities, and Others must stand up to Finland’s hostile environment
A poll by
Of all the Finnish parties in parliament, the PS is the most hostile to migrants and minorities.
I am pessimistic that white Finns and their parties could help rid the PS from the Finnish political map. They too are white like the PS. Why would they want to stick their necks out for migrants and minorities if there is no political gain in it?
Denmark offers a warning for us in Finland.
Even if some see the victory of the Social Democrats in Denmark in this weekend’s parliamentary election as a death blow to the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party, think twice.
Writes The Nation: “The Social Democrats, faced with waning support in the past two decades, have parroted the Danish People’s Party on immigration, backing hard-line policies they characterize as necessary to save the country’s prized welfare state.”
If the white political parties are to be believed, migrants are putting in danger the welfare state in a rich country like Denmark. Studies in that country show that strains on the welfare state hinge on an aging population.
The Nation continues: “While other social-democratic parties [in other countries] have adopted tougher immigration laws in times of ‘crisis’ and used anti-immigration and Islamophobic language, no party has so openly
The big question that we should ask is how far will the Social Democrats in Finland go and will they jump on the anti-immigration bandwagon as they already have in some cases. It may be that the Left Alliance, Greens and Swedish People’s Party are keeping them in check fo the moment but for how long?
It would be naive to leave to chance the future of migrants and minorities in this country to political parties. When matters get tough, they will be the first ones to ditch us.
This leaves us with an option: migrants, minorities and especially people of color have to unite and work hard to get their voices heard and our grievances answered.
Watching and listening to parties like the PS constantly mock and undermine our rights are a constant insult to decency. Their anti-immigration rhetoric is an insult to our Nordic institutions.
What I can say with certainty is that their leaders, like other xenophobes from other parties, will not be forgotten. We will do everything possible to inform our children and grandchildren of Finland’s hostile environment so that we never return to this wretched place again.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
PS MP Ano Turtiainen flirting with another feather in his cap
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtiainen [1] is a lawmaker that claims that breaking the law is a feather in his cap. His most recent posting on Facebook appears that the PS MP is fliting to get another feather in his cap.
The posting is demeaning and straightforward (which is why we prefer not to post it in Migrant Tales): There is a black man that looks lost and states “Hi, when will I get money.”
The black man asks for money because, in Turtiainen’s world, black people don’t work but live off social welfare. The black man is asking for money because Finland’s new minister of the interior is a woman, Maria Ohisalo, of the Green party.
The fact that there is a woman and, on top of it, a Green is heading the ministry of interior is like consuming poison for the PS in general and MP Turtiainen in particular.
The post reads: “Finland has a Green minister of the interior. What’s your opinion..?”
If we switched things around a bit we’d get the following Facebook post: “Finland got Ano “Feather in One’s Cap” Turtiainen as an MP. What is your opinion..?”
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
[1] Ano is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is anus.
Finland’s National Coalition Party gives the PS a helping hand in normalizing racism
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
Former Minister of Justice Antti Häkkänen, 34, is a conservative politician of the National Coalition Party (NCP) who
One of the matters that people say about Häkkänen in his home town of Mänyharju (pop. 5,900) is that apart from politics, he has never had a regular job.
What did Häkkänen tweet?
“Jussi Halla-aho [the chairperson of the PS who was convicted for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012] has strong confidence from the people due to his thoughts and actions. He is a politician with whom you should cooperate.”
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: When the PS reaches the end of the political line
“No party is immortal and there are clear signs of the Perussuomalaiset* party’s vulnerability. Their success hinges on how much they can scapegoat migrants and play down global warming. The fact that migrants are not a threat to Finland and that global warming is a very serious threat ensure an eventual fall from political grace for the PS.”
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
“Anna hukkua”-lista on osoitus meidän yhteiskunnalisesta tilasta
“Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes big things decay.”
? Sallust
Migrant Tales julkaisi vähän aikaan sitten listan “anna hukkua” -eurovaaliehdokkaista. Nämä ehdokkaat katsoivat, ettei ole EUn velvollisuus pelastaa siirtolaisia hukkumisvaaralta Välimerellä. Kolme näistä eurovaaliehdokkaista valittiin parlamenttiin 26.5.: Teuvo Hakkarainen ja Laura Huhtasaari perussuomalaisista sekä Henna Virkkunen kokoomuksesta.
Alma Media vaalikoneen väitteessä 13 lukee: “EU:n velvollisuus on pelastaa kaikki hukkumisriskillä Välimeren ylittävät Eurooppaan pyrkivät siirtolaiset.”
Vaikka ei olekaan yllätys, että islamofobiset puolueet, kuten perussuomalaiset, olisivat “täysin eri mieltä” tai “eri mieltä” yllä mainittusta väitteestä, melkein kaikissa puolueissa oli eurovaaliehdokkaita, jotka olivat eri mieltä tai suhtautuivat neutraalisti väitteeseen numero 13. Virkkunen oli “eri mieltä” väitteestä.
Kaiken kaikkiaan, 36,3% (85/234) suomalaisista eurovaaliehdokkaista olivat täysin eri mieletä, eri mieltä tai neutraali väitteseen.
Se, että näin suuri määrä eurovaaliehdokkaista arvelee, ettei ole EU:n velvollisuus pelastaa ihmisiä hukkumisvaaralta Välimerellä – välittämättä politiista seurauksista – osoittaa, kuinka syvälle me yhteiskuntana olemme vajonneet omaan suohomme.
Holokausistakin tiesi suuri joukko ihmisiä, joista enin osa kuitenkin päätti sulkea silmänsä, olla kuulematta toisten ihmisen kärsimyksistä: juutalaisten, romanien ja muiden vähemmistöjen, Natsi-Saksan vihollisien.
Virkkunen seisoo sanojensa takana ja lähetti seuraavat twitit:
Virkkunen ei koskaan vastannut tähän twiittiin:
The “let them drown” list of MEP candidates reveals our moral decay as a society
“Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes big things decay.”
? Sallust
Migrant Tales published recently a list of “let them drown” European election (MEP) candidates who felt that it wasn’t the EU’s obligation to save the lives of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Three of these candidates got elected on May 26: Teuvo Hakkarainen and Laura Huhtasaari of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and Henna Virkkunen of the National Coalition Party.
Statement #13 of the Alma Media election compass reads: “It is the EU’s obligation to save all those migrants who are at risk of drowning attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.”
While it isn’t surprising that members of Islamophobic parties like the PS and candidates like Huhtasaari and Hakkarainen “strongly disagree” with the above statement, there were candidates of most of the mainstream parties who disagreed or were neutral about statement #13. Virkkunen “disagreed” with the statement.
All in all, 36.3% (85/234) of Finnish MEP candidates disagreed or were neutral about the Alma Media election compass statement.
The fact that so many Euro election candidates can agree that it isn’t the EU’s obligation to save people from drowning in the Mediterranean without any consequences shows how far we have stooped as a society.
A lot of people knew about the Holocaust but the vast majority closed their eyes and became deaf to the suffering of the Jews, Roma, other minorities and enemies of the Nazi regime.
Virkkunen stood by her answer and tweeted the following:
I tweeted this question to MEP Virkkunen but never got a reply:
(1) Human rights are old fashioned and should be shelved or forgotten;
(2) Human rights should be preserved;
(3) Human rights should be strengthened.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
The use of ankle tags is another example of Finland’s hostile environment against migrants, especially Muslims
Seeking asylum and/or a better life is not a crime.
What is one to think of plans by the new government to use electronic ankle tags to monitor the movements of asylum seekers whose asylum application is rejected. Is it ok?
How would you like to wear an electronic ankle tag? Would it enhance your feeling of human worth or be just another example of Finland’s ever-worsening hostile environment against migrants and minorities?
Moreover, the use of ankle tags by asylum seekers reveals a fact about how Finland sees asylum seekers, especially those who are Muslim. It shows the authorities do not believe asylum seekers’ suffering and plight.
If one thinks that the hostile environment in Finland began in 2015, you should think twice. The hostile environment is an integral part of this country’s history throughout its independence.
Disagree?
How come it took almost 66 years after independence, in 1983, for Finland to have in force its first immigration law?
Things were much worse. So much so, in fact, that few people ever moved to this country.
We will not forget who is Halla-aho, Huhtasaari, Salvini, Le Pen, Farage and other past and present far-right politicians
Even if far-right parties made some gains in the European elections on Sunday, their project to disrupt and destroy the EU was crashed by the Green wave that swept Europe.
To Halla-aho, Huhtasaari, Salvini, Le Pen, Farage I have a simple message: Your brand of fear-mongering and scapegoating is going down. We will make sure that your attacks on our democratic institutions and racism are remembered by future generations, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We will not forget what you said, what you did, and who you are/were.
We will not also forget the near-silent mainstream politicians throughout Europe and the white media, nearly toothless when migrants and minorities are attacked and scapegoated, that allowed the far right to raise its ugly head.
And that is what they exactly did in the 1930s that sparked World War 2. My Bostonian uncle Alexander Cherkassky, who lived part of his childhood in Mikkeli, Finland, died on April 24, 1945, a day before victory was proclaimed in Italy against fascism and Nazi Germany.
PÄIVÄN SITAATTI: Kuinka kiristänyt maahanmuuttopolitiikka on vaikeuttanut maahanmuuttajien integroitumista?
“Tanska puolestaan on kiristänyt maahanmuutto- ja kotouttamispolitiikkaansa lukuisilla tavoilla 2000-luvun alusta lähtien. Tiukennukset ovat koskeneet työperusteisia oleskelulupia, humanitaarista maahanmuuttoa ja kotouttamispolitiikkaa. Myös valtion maksamia tukia pakolaisille on laskettu.
‘Tanskan ammatillisen keskusjärjestön FH:n mukaan tiukentunut kotouttamispolitiikka on vaikeuttanut maahanmuuttajien integroitumista Tanskaan ja maan työmarkkinoille. Politiikka on myös pahentanut työvoimapulaa ja aiheuttanut Tanskalle imagohaittaa,’ SAKn Eve Kyntäjä toteaa.”
Kysymys: Suomessa on kiristetty maahanmuuttopolitiikka. Kuinka se on vaikeuttanut maahanmuuttajien integroitumista?