Actions of the Finnish police and Yle reveal multicultural incompetence in coverage of Oulu sexual assault cases

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It is odd how little Yle takes the blame for being the facilitator of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment in regards to the sexual assault cases of Oulu. Migrant Tales documented 77 stories published between November 27 and February 13. On January 14, Yle published in one day 13 stories about the topic!  

When compared with a similar sexual abuse case of minors involving white Finns, there was a different reaction. The story about the pedophile ring accused of sexually abusing 6-15-year-old boys lasted only a week in the news with 7 stories published by Yle.

Are attacks against Muslims more common today due to the hostile environment against migrants and minorities? As far as we know, the picture above is of a 10-year-old Muslim girl who was attacked by a classmate. It reads: “What do they teach [children] at Finnish homes? That Muslims are terrorists? The little girl [in the picture above] is spending a normal day at school when four boys [classmates] tried to rip off her hijab from her head and kicked her unconscious. We are not talking now about a migrant but about a victim. @iltalehti [tabloid] I want you to write out loud that racism must stop once for all, this girl is an angel!” Read the full story here.

Typically, the police are tightlipped about giving statements about sexual abuses against minors, but in the case involving people of migrant backgrounds, there is an exception.

Writes Yle: “Police have faced criticism for quickly publicizing the case and other similar ones in Oulu. Their response is that grooming on social media seemed to be a phenomenon at the time, and it was necessary to inform and warn the public. Authorities stress that online grooming cases have included both Finnish and foreign suspects.”

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PART II: Migrant child custody in Finland aren’t always open-and-shut cases

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This is a follow-up story that was published on April 13 about a family and four daughters who have come under the scrutiny of the child-protection authorities. 

The ongoing drama of the Muslim family continues: three of the girls, aged 9, 7 and 2, are in a foster home while another one aged 14 is in another one for older children. The mother, who is an Iraqi who moved to the country in the early 2000s, is without her children but lives again together with her husband. 

The family has a lawyer but they are not too happy with him after child protection took custody of their children four months ago.

Go to the original website here.

“He [the lawyer] never explains anything to us and when we demand answers from him, he says that he knows what he’s doing and does not need any advice from us,” said a relative of the couple on the phone.

The mother of the four daughters once asked the child-protection staffers why she cannot have her children back. They allegedly told her it was because she is “a bad mother” who “cannot protect her children.”

It appears that the parents of the four children under child-care custody have not been told that the mother has a right to get them back. The mother can ask for such a plan from child protection, who in turn will give a list of demands that she must fulfil to get custody of her children.

“This ordeal happened four months ago when the mother and father were fighting at home,” said the relative. “Both were yelling at each other and the mother asked one of the daughters to call the police. The police came and the mother and children ended up in a shelter. After a while, the mother had to leave but her daughters remained [under child protection custody].”

Continue reading “PART II: Migrant child custody in Finland aren’t always open-and-shut cases”

Does the Press Freedom Index give us a complete story about freedom of the press?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Freedom of expression is a human right. To express oneself without fear of being persecuted, killed, harassed and/or jailed, is a fundamental right. While the 2019 Press Freedom Index ranks countries according to how journalists can conduct their work safely, the index isn’t comprehensive, even misleading. 

Should there be an index for what the media allows minorities and migrants to write and challenge the national narrative about such groups? Stories about migrants like asylum seekers are commonly one-sided and only give an incomplete picture of their lives.

The media is interested in writing about drowned asylum seekers in the Mediterranean but less so about their rights and exploitation on land.

If there were an index that would measure how much the national media permits minorities and migrants to write about their narrative on their own terms, I would bet that the Press Freedom Index list would be very different.

In Finland, the country where I live, ranks second on the 2019 Press Freedom Index list. Even so, can minorities and migrants write freely about racism and discrimination in society? Why do large dailies like Helsingin Sanomat treat such stories with less interest if it does not fit their news narrative?

Moreover, why are there so few minorities employed as full-time reporters and why aren’t there any working as editors?

I know for a fact that if I were to write about migrants and minorities for the Finnish media like I do in Migrant Tales, there would be a good chance that my writing would be rejected.

Disregarding Other voices in society is a serious matter and should be addressed in the Reporters Without Borders index.

Go here if you want to read about how biased in 2015 the Finnish media was when writing about migrants.

Go to website here.

 

The Finnish media’s ongoing fascination with Islamophobes and racists like Jussi Halla-aho

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What has surprised me about Finland is how the media and others seem fascinated by Islamophobes making racist statements. It gets media attention and helps you win elections. Why does racism and fascism appeal to us? Is it because their racist views resonate with some of us? 

By the way, where are those powerful editorials by dailies like Helsingin Sanomat that speak out against Islamophobia and racism? Where are those editorials encouraging a Finland that is more inclusive and condemning negative narratives about migrants and minorities?

Instead, our media prefers debating  Perussuomalaiset* (PS) chairperson Jussi Halla-aho’s past toxic and racist blog posts in the face of government talks. In these posts, he wishes left-green women get raped by foreigners, he insults and threatens to shoot gays, near-constantly insults Somalis and Islam.

Considering what he wrote, and we should never forget this type of open hostility, should the PS even be considered a candidate in a new government?

An apology or renouncing what he said will not do. Just like a virus, the place of his writings is either put in quarantine or destroyed altogether. 

One of the problems with challenging toxic people like Halla-aho and his extremist ideology is that it is done mostly by white Finns who may have good intentions but don’t have first-hand experience with racism, discrimination and being scapegoated. As long as Finland sits on the fence on racism and fascism and only white people speak for migrants and minorities, the problem will worsen.

Exaggerating?

Remember when Léo Custódio made the following observation below?

See original posting here.

What about adding a new line?

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QUOTE OF THE DAY Khadidiatou Sylla: Success and hatred

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Khadidiatou Sylla gave a talk at Turin’s Casarcobaleno this month together with Mor Ndaiye about life in Italy. There was a lot of intersectionality that came out  in her talk: being black, being a woman, third culture, West African, Italian cultural and ethnic diversity, among others. Education and labor markets in Europe are highly racialized and segregated. What about if you excel more than those that hold power and, in many cases, your fate?

Khadidiatou leaves us with a quote as an answer: “Did I succeed just to be hated more?”

Khadidiatou Sylla at her University of Turin graduation. She majored in languages and modern literature. 

 

The Perussuomalaiset of Finland’s hubris and arrogance are their political soft spot

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The election success of the Islamophobic and xenophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, reveals a party blinded, even more, today by hubris and hatred for migrants, especially Muslims. Their hubris and arrogance are their political vulnerability. 

Some Finns have put off the PS as a fringe phenomenon, something that will disappear in time.

The 2019 elections showed that they haven’t vanished.

Below are some sensible demands we should be asking European MEP candidates now and especially our MP candidates before the May elections.

A comprehensive list of demands by the European Network Against Racism, Europe’s biggest anti-racism NGO.

Yle, for one, searches for explanations why people vote for the PS. Even if they claim that it may have to do with limited education and low socioeconomic status, their conclusions are only excuses and denials of racism in our society.

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The election result in Finland was what it was. Stop acting surprised.

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Don’t be surprised by what you see. It is real and dangerous. 

Sunday’s election results should not come to any surprise. Far-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and white supremacist groups like Suomen Sisu have worked tirelessly to promote Finland’s hostile environment against migrants and minorities.

One clear and irrefutable outcome of Sunday’s parliamentary election is that Finland will become an ever-hostile place for migrants, minorities and especially Muslims.

The election result will encourage greater microaggressions and bullying at the work place and at school. It will embolden many people who have issues with racism. Why? Because words and actions have direct consequences.

Seventeen-and-a-half percent, or 538,731 voters, gave their blessings to the PS and hardline Islamophobes and fascists. These politicians speak of “migrants” near-constantly but forget to tell you that they are only targeting about 10% of them.

The election results also reinforced the need for migrants and minorities to raise their voices against the hostile environment being promoted by parties like the PS.

Continue reading “The election result in Finland was what it was. Stop acting surprised.”

Social Democrats win elections in Finland but hard times await migrants, minorities and especially Muslims

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

With 99.5% of the votes counted, it appears that the Social Democrats will win the elections. While the Finnish media has spoken about the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS) good showing, there has not been a word said about how far-right populism will continue to impact and change the country.

Considering the dismal leadership that our politicians, starting from President Sauli Niinistö, have shown in tackling xenophobia, none of us should be surprised by the result and the PS’ success at the polls.

Social Democrat chairperson, Antti Rinne, has said that he refuses to form a government with the Islamophobic PS.

If the rise of the PS under Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion, it is a stark warning that hard times await Finland’s migrants, minorities and especially Muslims.

What does the rise of the PS, which is the only party that had a clear anti-immigration message, mean for the country? How will it influence other parties and will it bring them in line with the PS’ anti-immigration message like the Danish People’s Party has done in Denmark?

The same fact that Sarah Chander, senior advocacy officer of the European Network Against Racism, raises an important question concerning social inequalities in society.

One good piece of news was the dismal result of the Blue Reform party, which did not win a seat in parliament.

If the election result is anything to go by, the good showing of the PS and some of its most Islamophobic voices show that a large segment of voters has a taste for Islamophobia and racism.

Social Democrats (SDP), Perussuomalaiset (PS), National Coalition Party (KOK), Center Party (KESK), Greens (VIHR), Left Alliance (VAS), Swedish People’s Party (RKP), and Christian Democrats (KD). Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

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.

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LAUSUNTO: POHJOIS SUOMEN ISLAMILAINEN YHDYSKUNTA: Muslimiyhteiso halua työskentelä tehdäkseen Oulusa paremman asumispaikan kaikille

Posted on by Migrant Tales

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN FINLAND

POHJOIS SUOMEN ISLAMILAINEN YHDYSKUNTA

Linnankatu 23-25, 90100. Puh: 0500582371

Lausunto

Oulun muslimiyhteisö on tehnyt paljon ja aikoo jatkaa väsymättömästi työskentelyä tehdäkseen kaupungistamme paremman asumispaikan kaikille.

Suojelupoliisilta on tullut raportti 22. päivä Maaliskuuta Suomen turvallisuustilanteesta. Mitään ei mainittu muslimiyhteisön panoksesta. Kansan pitäisi tieätää meidän panoksesta, mitä annamme maan turvallisuuden eteen.

Vuonna 2016 kantasuomalainen suunnitteli pommin asettamista erääseen konserttiin Oulussa, joka olisi tappanut ja vahingoittanut monia ihmisiä. Osa meidän muslimiyhteisön naisjäsenistä tunsi tämän henkilön, ilmoitti hänestä poliisille. Tämän ilmoituksen avulla poliisi sai ennaltaehkäistyä tämän hirveän suunnitelman totuetumisen.

”Oulun muslimiyhteisö teki kansalaisvelvoitteen mukaisesti ja antoi poliisille tärkeän vihjeen, jolla estettiin tragedia.” ”Ei ole meidän tehtävämme erikseen ilmottaa medialle tästä suunnitelmasta. Se on poliisin työtä.” Valitettavasti ihmiset eivät tiedä meidän panoksesta.

Muslimit eivät ole tuore ilmiö Suomessa, olemme asuneet tässä maassa jo 1800-luvulta kun Tatarit muuttivat tänne Venäjältä 1870-1920. Ensimmäisen kerran Ouluun muutti muslimi vuonna 1950. Suomen muslimeille tämän päivän vaikeasta ympäristöstä huolimatta on tärkeää korostaa näinä vaikeina aikoina meidän uskollisuutemme tälle maalle ja sitoutumisemme asua rauhassa ja harmoniassa kaikkien kanssa.

Continue reading “LAUSUNTO: POHJOIS SUOMEN ISLAMILAINEN YHDYSKUNTA: Muslimiyhteiso halua työskentelä tehdäkseen Oulusa paremman asumispaikan kaikille”