Timo Soini and the denial of Finland’s racism problem

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Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini announced after being at the helm of the anti-immigration party for twenty years that he’ll step down as chairman in June. The narrative and the way that some newspapers and politicians are picturing Soini is a good example of Finland’s denial of racism. 

Who gave a voice and platform to politicians that have made their political careers on spreading racism and bigotry like Jussi Halla-aho, Sampo Terho, Olli Immonen, James Hirvisaari, Tony Halme and a very long list of others? All you have to do is to take a look at the hateful quotes these politicians have made against migrants and minorities to understand the connection between Soini and them.

Why is it difficult to exclude and call out a party like the PS, Soini and its politicians as racist bigots?

The answer is simple: Very little to no cultural and ethnic diversity.

Racism doesn’t impact them directly and it’s invigorating for some of them to watch since they reinforce their closet racism.

PS MP and leader of the party’s parliamentary group Sampo Terho is worried about white Europeans becoming a minority due to Muslims. Source: Verkkouutiset.

While there are many examples of how our denial of racism is perpetuated, a few recent examples highlight how it’s done. One of these is Social Democratic Party MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari who said in last week’s A-studio:Talk that Soini was now ok because “he’s not a racist.”

“I respect Timo Soini,” she said. “He has said a number of times that he isn’t a racist, even if I want votes of the racists, I’m not racist [he’s said].”

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“Integration” Denmark style: Eat your racist cake and have it

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Integration Minister Inger Stojberg celebrates the fiftieth amendment to tighten immigration policy. Yes, the “integration” minister celebrated by buying a cake to tell her constituents that in Denmark we celebrate when we pass laws that make migrants’ and asylum seekers’ lives more difficult.

She writes on her Facebook wall:

“Today I got the 50th amendment to tighten immigration controls ratified. This needs celebrating!”

Even if some would want to throw the cake in the picture in her face, we should thank Stojberg for revealing the undercurrent of white nativist privilege and power in the Nordic region. Denmark is one toxic example.

No, Stojberg isn’t a member of the xenophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP) but a member of the Liberal Party. Yes, “liberal,” what ever that means in today’s Denmark.

Matters have gotten so out of hand in Denmark that politicians like Stojberg compete against the DPP to be crowned the most xenophobic. Even parties like the Social Democrats are no different.

Xenophobia is like a drug for Danish politicians. They need their daily fix like Stojberg’s cake.

The integration minister’s cake is another example of Denmark as not only a country that is xenophobic but one that is xenophobic on steroids. Read full post here.

Stojberg’s cake has been commented on widely in social media. Even the New York Times wrote about it.

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Somali National Television: Stop deportations! demonstration in Helsinki

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Xassan Kaafi Maxamed Xalane is a Somali National Television journalist who shares another news clip about the Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers demonstrating since February against unfair deportations and rejections for asylum by the Finnish Immigration Service. 

We at Migrant Tales agree and support 150% these people who were attracted to Finland by their hope to live in a country that could give them shelter and which respects human rights.

That was pretty much a lie if we look at the track record of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmVWkkwmXE

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Asylum seekers: Finland is not a country that abides by the rule of law

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What does a comment by a police service official say about our country if he obstructs an asylum seekers’ right to justice? Migrant Tales understands that an Iraqi family, made up of a husband, wife, mother-in-law and a child, was told the following by a police official after receiving their first rejection for asylum from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).
 
“Don’t appeal the decision [to the district court] because you’re going to get a negative decision anyway,” the police official is said to have told the family.
 
What does the answer from the police official reveal about his knowledge of our legal system and who has access to it? 
 
Children demonstrating in May at the Kolari asylum reception center that led to the sacking of the deputy manager.

The police official’s answer to the family reveals, in our opinion, not only contempt for the asylum seekers but for our laws and institutions.

If we have police officials that advise and give legal counsel to asylum seekers as if they had a crystal ball, it’s clear that we’re in trouble. We are in a predicament because for the police official to give such advice it means that their is widespread complicity.

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Anomus Lex Gaudius: Maahanmuuttotoimistolle, poliisille ja hallituksille

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Johdanto

Aseellinen konflikti a?a?rija?rjesto? ISISin seka? kurdien, Irakin armeijan ja hallitusta tukevien militioiden va?lilla? on leimannut Irakin ihmisoikeustilannetta vuodesta 2014 alkaen. Allekirjoittaneet lausunnon antajat pyyta?va?t, etta? Suomen Maahanmuuttovirasto tosiasiallisesti ottaa turvapaikkapa?a?to?ksia? antaessaan huomioon Irakin todellisen turvallisuustilanteen, jota koskevia tietoja ta?ssa? lausunnossa annetaan.

Yhdistyneiden kansakuntien mukaan summittaiset teloitukset, autopommit, salamurhat, tykisto?tulitus seka? ilmaiskut tappoivat tai vahingoittivat vuoden 2015 aikana yli 20.000 siviilia?. ISISin on raportoitu tehneen seka? sotarikoksia etta? rikoksia ihmisyytta? vastaan. Irakin valtion heikkouden takia merkitta?viksi yhteiskunnallisiksi toimijoiksi ovat nousseet lukuisat Irakin valtiota tukevat militiat, jotka suorittavat salamurhia, tuhoavat omaisuutta ja kaappaavat siviileja?. Vuodesta 2014 alkaen konflikti on pakottanut miltei 3,2 miljoonaa irakilaista ja?tta?ma?a?n kotinsa seka? keskeytta?nyt koulunka?ynnin yli 3 miljoonalta lapselta samoin kuin pa?a?syn terveydenhuoltoon, riitta?va?a?n ravintoon seka? puhtaaseen juomaveteen. Taistelut Ramadin, Tikritin ja Mosulin kaupunkialueilla seka? Diyalan, Kirkukin, Saladinin, Anbarin seka? etenkin Ninawan maakunnissa ovat aiheuttaneet raskaita tappioita kaikille osapuolille.

ISISin sotarikokset ja rikokset ihmisyytta? vastaan

ISISin sotarikoksissa ja rikoksissa ihmisyytta? vastaan on ollut kyse hyo?kka?yksista? siviileita? vastaan, summittaisista massamurhista ja muista laittomista tapoista, kidutuksista, kaappauksista, raiskauksista ja muusta seksuaalisesta va?kivallasta, orjuuttamisesta, lapsisotilaiden ka?yto?sta?, ryo?stelysta? seka? tarkoituksellisesta siviiliva?esto?n omaisuuden tuhoamisesta. ISIS on ilmoittanut tehneensa? kaksi tuhoisaa pommi-iskua, jotka tappoivat yli 115 henkilo?a? Khan Bani Saadissa Bagdadin pohjoispuolella heina?kuun 17. pa?iva? ja 67 henkilo?a? Jamilia-markkinoilla Bagdadin Sadr Cityssa? elokuun 13. pa?iva? 2015. [1] ISIS suoritti 3.7.2016 Bagdadin kaupungissa shiiojen asuttamassa Karradan kaupunginosassa tuhoisan pommi-iskujen sarjan, jossa kuoli yli 300 ihmista? ja haavoittui lisa?ksi satoja muita.

Irakin media on raportoitunut ISISin edustajien tappaneen tuhansia ihmisia?, joskus na?yto?sluonteisilla summittaisilla teloituksilla. Mosulin oikeusla?a?ketieteen laitos on lausunut ISISin pyyta?neen kuolintodistuksia 2.070 henkilo?lta?, jotka on teloitettu Ninevehin maakunnassa vuoden 2014 kesa?kuun ja?lkeen. Uhreina on ollut valtion paikallisten elinten ja?senia? seka? poliisin ja armeijan ja?senia?. Teloitettuihin on kuulunut turvallisuusupseereita, heimojohtajia seka? muita jotka ovat kielta?ytyneet vannomasta uskollisuutta ISISille tai muita, joiden ryhma? on epa?illyt tyo?skenteleva?n Irakin hallitukselle. 1.7. ISIS on vahvistetusti tappanut 22 ja?senta? Juburin heimon ja?senta? Bandushissa, Mosulin pohjoispuolella. [2]

ISIS on teloittanut henkilo?ita? va?itetyista? islamilaisen lain rikkomisista. On ollut kyse va?itetyista? homoseksuaalisuudesta, aviorikoksista, jumalanpilkasta ja noituudesta. ISIS on toistuvasti teloittanut homoseksuaalisuudesta syytettyja? ihmisia?. Teloituksia on suoritettu erityisen julmilla ja kivuliailla menetelmilla? kuten polttamisella, hukuttamisella, sa?hko?teloituksilla tai kivitta?misella?. Henkilo?t, jotka ISISin hallitsemilla alueilla ovat kielta?ytyneet rekrytoitumasta ja?rjesto?o?n, sa?a?nno?nmukaisesti kaapataan ja tapetaan. [3]

Vuonna 2015 ISIS rekrytoi lapsia itsemurhatehta?viin ja kantamaan ra?ja?hteita?. Kesa?kuussa Anbarin maakuntavaltuuston ja?sen Farhan Muhammad kertoi toimittajille, etta? ISIS oli kaapannut 400 lasta sotilaskoulutukseen.

Hallituksen ja sita? tukevien militioiden sotarikokset ja rikokset ihmisyytta? vastaan

Enimma?kseen ISISta? vastaan taistelevat shiiamilitiat, kuten Badrin ja?rjesto?, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq ja Kata’ib al- Imam Ali ovat suorittaneet laaja-alaisia ja systemaattisia ihmisoikeuksien ja seka? kansainva?lisen humanita?a?risen oikeuden vastaisia rikkomuksia. Kyse on ollut etenkin ISISilta? takaisin vallattujen sunnialueiden tuhoamisesta.[4]

Militioiden seka? Irakin turvallisuusjoukkojen taistelijat ovat elokuussa 2014 onnistuneet ajamaan ISISin taistelijat pois shiiaturkmeenien ja sunniarabien asuttamasta Amerlin kaupungista ja myo?hemmin hyo?ka?nneet useisiin kymmeniin naapurikyliin kostoksi. Ta?llo?in he ovat karkottaneet alueen sunneja kodeistaan muuttaakseen alueen va?esto?pohjaa. [5]

Hallituksen turvallisuusjoukot seka? militiat suorittavat jatkuvasti vakavia ihmisoikeusloukkauksia seka? kansainva?lisen humanitaarisen oikeuden loukkauksia ilman, etta? tekoihin puututtaisiin tai niista? rangaistaisiin. Joukot kohdistavat konfliktialueilta pakeneviin sunniarabeihin pida?tyksia?, kidutusta, kaappauksia, sa?ilo?o?nottoja seka? laittomia tappoja sieppaamisen ja?lkeen. [5] Esimerkiksi 30.5.2016 Irakin shiiamilitioiden kattoja?rjesto? Kansan mobilisointijoukot (Popular Mobilization Units, PMU) teloitti ilman oikeudenka?yntia? va?hinta?a?n 16 Jumalia-heimoon kuulunutta miesta? ja poikaa, jotka pakenivat siviileina? taisteluita al-Sijrissa? Fallujan pohjoispuolella. Edelleen 73 muuta miesta? ja poikaa kyseisesta? heimosta on kadoksissa. [6] Vaikka Irakin pa?a?ministeri Haydar al-Abadi ei omien lausuntojensa mukaan hyva?ksy tekoja, pita?a? ha?n niita? yksitta?isina? tapauksina, va?ha?ttelee niita? seka? on varoittanut liioittelemasta na?ita? ”rikkomuksina” pita?mia?a?n tekoja. Kyse ei kuitenkaan ole yksitta?isista? teoista.

Eritta?in vaaralliset alueet Irakissa (Ninewa, Kirkuk, Anbar, Salahuddin, ja Bagdad)

Yli 80.000 ihmista? on joutunut pakenemaan Mosulista taikka sen la?hialueilla, joista puolet on ollut 18- vuotiaita lapsia. Mosulin valtausoperaation alettua 17. Lokakuuta 2016 UNICEF on vastaanottanut 138.000 va?litto?ma?sti apua tarvinnutta maan sisa?ista? pakolaista. [7]

Kaikkiaan 480.000 ihmista? on hiljattain joutunut pakenemaan vuonna 2016 ISISin vastaiseen konfliktiin liittyvia? taisteluita. Kaikista maan sisa?isista? pakolaisista pera?ti 75 % eli 2,2 miljoonaa pakolaista on kotoisin Ninewan ja Anbarin maakunnista. [8]

YK:n tilastojen mukaan Irakissa on marraskuussa 2016 kuollut 2.885 ja haavoittunut 1.380 henkilo?a? terrorismissa, va?kivallassa ja aseellisissa konflikteissa. [9]

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Announcement by Lex Gaudius: Immigration Service, police and government petition

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IMMIGRATION SERVICE, POLICE AND GOVERNMENT PETITION

Dossier Faulty decisions made by the Immigration Service to the asylum seekers and actions of the authorities related on them.

Underwrites Representatives of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iraq; In cooperation with International law firm Lex Gaudius

 

I. FAULTY DECISIONS MADE BY THE FIINISH IMMIGRATION SERVICE

– (GENERAL) There have been many faulty decisions depending on different reasons some as:

  1. Unprofessional translators;
  2. Unprofessional new employees, who did not receive a proper training in such a delicate matters as issues regarding asylum requests;
  3. The employees who were responsible on valuating and making the decisions regarding singular asylum requests, were put under pressure because of the goal settled by the directors of the Immigration Service;
  4. Sources used by the Immigration Service are not comprehensive. Sources should be updated and enlarged. A crucial matter is that the Immigration service uses a large  amount of sources and facts given by the Human Right organizations’ reports;
  5. The Finnish Immigration Service’s country reports regarding Iraq and Afghanistan are not in line with the Swedish one. Country reports are not in line with the Swedish or international Human Rights organizations;
  6. The Finnish Immigration Service is interpreting the law more strictly than required, due to political pressure. For example, the Finnish Immigration service is applying the internal flight option against recommendations by international Human Rights organizations or the Swedish guidelines. For example, Sweden does not apply internal flight to Sunni Arabs in Iraq;
  7. Many times cases are not evaluated individually. Standard statements are copied to different kinds of cases, even when it has nothing to do with the person in question.

(SINGULAR) There have been many contradictory and illegal decisions some as:

  1. Huge amount of asylum cases where it is applied the article 88 e of the Finnish Law for the foreigners (Ulkomaalaislaki is applied 2004/301). There are too many cases where the Immigration service believes that the asylum seeker is persecuted in his home country and that he would have all the grounds for being granted a refugee status, nut still the Immigration service decides that the asylum seeker can return safely in another part of his/her home country. Asylum seekers coming from South and North Iraq are sent in Bagdad and asylum seekers coming from Bagdad are sent to Southern Iraq;
  2. Three brothers from Bagdad with same personal stories and backgrounds, one living in Helsinki and the other two living in Seinäjoki. The one living in Helsinki got refugee status while the 2 brothers living in Seinäjoki got negative decisions by the Immigration service and are now appealing to the administrative court.
  3. Two brothers, one gets asylum and the other one not, although they have the same case. The only difference is that the one with a positive decision is 13 years old; [1]
  4. The Finnish Immigration service claims that they apply the benefit of doubt in unclear cases. However, reality is quite the opposite – in many cases the Immigration service claims without further proof that there is no persecution or danger of persecution in the future; [2]
  5. Breaking the UN convention of the Rights of the Child, article 10 (families whose members live in different countries should be allowed to move between those countries so that parents and children can stay in contact, or get back together as a family). The Finnish Immigration stated in this decision that is in the best interests of the child to grew up without the presence of the father. [3]

The administrative court has serious difficulties in finding a remedy to all deficiencies made by the Immigration Service. All of those negative decisions given by the Immigration service on wrong grounds, put in danger the legal rights of some asylum seekers.

The Finnish Chancellor of Justice, Jaakko Jonkka, has criticized the methods of the Immigration service when its employees examined the cases of the asylum seekers. This is extremely serious criticism, that has to be taken in consideration properly. The Immigration Service has admitted its mistakes but still many of those faulty decisions have now power of law, meaning that all this new information, which is coming out, can’t rectify the faulty decisions.

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Behind Timo Soini of the populist Perussuomalaiset party is a hefty and mini #socialmediafrankenstein called Jussi Halla-aho and Sampo Terho

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One of the biggest questions some observers have asked for a while in Finland is what political house of horrors will appear after Timo Soini retires and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* return to the minor political leagues? We got the first glimpse of that answer today when PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho announced that he too is vying for chairman of the party. 

Soini, the PS’ long-term leader who will step down in June after leading the right-wing populist party for 20 years, has given a home to eccentrics like Halla-aho, among many others.

This time, however, matter didn’t go according to plan as he got bit by the same anti-immigration forces he unleashed against our ever-growing culturally diverse community.

The whole story of Soini’s political creation, the PS, could be summed up in two scenes from the 1930’s classic Frankenstein.

The first scene below is when Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster.

In the second scene the monster destroys his creator.

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Saturday’s demo by far-right groups like the Perussuomalsiset, Suomi Ensi, Rajat kiinni! and neo-Nazi fanatics was a stinging flop

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A handful of well-organized Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers demonstrating against deportations at the Helsinki Railway Square since February scored a victory over a splintered far-right anti-immigration counter-demonstration that turned out a flop. They were all there: the Perussuomalaiset* (PS), Suomen Sisu, Suomi Ensi, Rajat kiinni!, Suomen vastarintaliike and who knows what. 

Juha Mäenpää is a councilperson from Ilmajoki and a deputy MP of the PS who was at the counter-demonstration. He said in December 2015 that “god had answered his prayers” when an asylum reception center was razed to the ground.

Juha Mäenpää’s campaign ad when he ran for MP. Source: www.persujuha.fi

Some state that Mäenpää was one of the organizers of the counter-demonstration against the Afghan and Iraqi demonstration but he denied such claims.

“I don’t know who organized the event,” he told Migrant Tales by phone. “There were a number of demonstrations going on at the same time.”

On Facebook and about two weeks before the event, the counter-demonstration was announced as a “purge” against “illegal migrants who should leave Finland.”

“Do you think that the organizers would advertise that they’d ‘purge’ by force [such people] and advertise it on Facebook? the councilperson said denying that there were any plans of using violence. “[If they’d use violence] they’d keep their plans a secret.”

Mäenpää, who doesn’t appear to get along with Suomi Ensin leader Marco de Wit, said that in his opinion both demonstrations (Suomi Ensin and the asylum seekers) should be forced to leave the Helsinki Railway Square.

“It’s naive not to think that these people [asylum seekers] aren’t dangerous,” he continued. “We don’t know who they are. They could be criminals or Isis terrorists and therefore we need to lock them up like [asylum seekers] in Hungary and Estonia until we can figure out who they are.”

Hungary’s parliament has voted to put all asylum seekers in detention camps and to live in containers, according to the Guardian. Estonia has taken similar steps to lock up asylum seekers, according to Mäenpää.

He said that Muslim asylum seekers could never adapt to life in Finland.

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Thank you asylum seekers for exposing Finland for what it is!

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Finland got during 2015 and 2016 38,017 asylum seekers mostly from Iraq (21,698), Afghanistan (5,939) and Somalia (2,408), according to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). Even if these asylum seekers have received the government’s and Migri’s cold shulder, we should thank hem for exposing our deep denial of racism as a society and ineffective immigration-integration policy.

While the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is quick to point out that those 38,000-odd asylum seekers were housed and taken care off when they came here, it’s only part of the truth.

The full story is radically different and kept under wraps: The government squandered hundreds of millions of euros just to fulfill theirs and especially the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS) anti-immigration policy that hinges on racism, prejudice and greed for political power.

We spent hundreds of millions of euros just to keep tens of thousands of asylum seekers in asylum reception centers twiddling their thumbs.

Most of the organizers against the asylum seekers’ demonstration Saturday were members of the Perussuomalaiset party, according to the Kaivuri blog. We can’t say for certain but in the picture above is Ilmajoki city councillor Juha Mäenpää of the PS speaks at the event. Mäenpää said in December 2015 that “god had answered his prayers” when an asylum reception center was razed to the ground. Migrant Tales will post another story later today about the impact of Saturday’s demonstration.

Apart from revealing how unjust the government’s and Migri’s immigration and asylum policy is, asylum seekers in Finland have brought out the best in our society by showing that there are many of us who still believe in Nordic ideals such as social equality and fairness.

It’s clear that the government has lost its humanitarian compass if we look at its track record on immigration policy and its treatment of the most vulnerable sectors of society, like the unemployed and those that live below the poverty line.

Continue reading “Thank you asylum seekers for exposing Finland for what it is!”