A naturalized Finn and businessman cannot open a bank account at the only bank of Pertunmaa

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Pertunmaa is a small town of 1,800 inhabitants 18km off Highway 5 that takes you to Mikkeli. The owner of Pertunmaan Pizzeria, which opened its doors this month, has had trouble opening a bank account for his business at the only bank of the town. 

According to the owner, Rasoul Khorram, who has lived in Finland for six years and is a naturalized Finn, was told by the Osuuspankki savings bank manager Jouko Isokuortti turned him down when he wanted to open a bank account.

“He [Isokuortti] said that I couldn’t open a bank account at his bank because I was a customer of Nordea [bank],” he told Migrant Tales. “He said I didn’t speak Finnish well enough and should take more classes [to learn the language better].”

Khorram protested and said that it wouldn’t be practical to open a bank account at the nearest Nordea branch office which is Mikkeli located 57 kilometers away.

“When I told him that I’d like to get in touch with his manager, he ordered me to leave the premises,” he said.

Considering that Khorram is a Finnish citizen, it’s pretty clear that the Osuuspankki manager’s decision to not let him open an account is arbitrary and discriminatory.

While the interview for this story was made in Finnish with Khorram, the fact that he is a naturalized Finn should be sufficient proof that he can speak the Finnish language.

Pitäjänuutiset, the local newspaper that is read in Pertunmaa and Mäntyharju, wrote a story on the problem.

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Migrant Tales (December 27, 2011): Immigration laws reveal what kind of society we are

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: This opinion piece was published exactly five years ago. Check out what we wrote back then and how immigration law in Finland have tightened. If immigration laws reveal what kind of society we are, what do our immigration laws reveal about ourselves?

Last year, 32,476 asylum seekers came to Finland. While many of us received them with open arms, that welcome eventually turned into suspicion and a sinister wish that they’d leave our country as fast as possible.  

The attitude of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government, after he offered asylum seekers his home in September of last year, not only exposes hypocrisy but reveals moral cowardice in the face of a challenge. 
________________________

Tell me what your immigration laws are and I will tell you what kind of society you live in. Show me how those laws defend minorities and encourage cultural diversity and I will show you hypocrisy.

There is a saying that a person’s true character is not exposed during good times but when there is great adversity.

The global financial meltdown of markets in September 2008 and the euro financial crisis today is testing our “good will” to breaking point.

Far-right, populist and even right-wing conservative groups in countries like the U.S. have succeeded in making  racism sound fair, according to Colorlines.*

There are worse examples of how the spirit of the laws and that of deeds show how our societies are flirting and have succumbed in some cases to the ways of despotism.

A case in point is Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona, who got his wings clipped after the Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security stripped him of several federal tools for immigration enforcement, according to Police Patrol. *

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A letter of apology for the disgraceful treatment of asylum seekers in Finland by the government

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Dear Asylum Seeker, 

The cartoon below by Ville Ranta could apply to Europe as well. Instead of having politicians like Perussuomalaiset* Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and other government ministers stating that “you can’t come in because there’s no room for you,” it’s our hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy that has been exposed to the tee. 

Even if some may curse your present, I welcome it. Thanks to you, the over million asylum seekers that came to Europe in 2015, you have exposed our hypocrisy and our exceptionalism.

Aminkeng A. Alemanji wrote in his doctoral dissertation a very good description of how our exceptionalism works:

“The imperfection of the other is used to establish and maintain the hierarchies that put the dominant group [white Finns and Europeans] at the top and the Other at the bottom. [T.] Coates [2015, 105] reminds us that “a mountain is not a mountain if there is nothing below”, and in Finland it is the Other as a result of his/her imperfection that is below – the valley necessary for the mountain [the dominant group] to be a mountain.”

This is an old cartoon from last year but still topical. See the original posting here.

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Is Christmas a time of joy and hatred towards Muslims?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

An asylum seeker in Finland sent Migrnat Tales this picture at a bus stop in Mikkeli, located about 230km north of Helsinki. Finland is gearing up for the Christmas spirit as some racists post posters full of hatred towards Muslims. We apologize to our Muslim friends for posting such a horrible poster. 

The question about this poster is pretty simple: How come a person can easily place such a poster at a bus stop? Why didn’t they stop such a person? Why didn’t they tear down such a poster?

The people who posted this poster below are the same ones who will tell you with a poker smile that there’s no racism in Finland. They justify their hatred by believing in ethnic fairy tales.

Just taking down these types of posters in silence isn’t enough. Politicians, as well as other civil leaders and the general public, should go public and condemn such racist and Islamophobic diatribe.

Remember when PM Juha Sipilä offered his home in Finland to asylum seekers?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In September 2015, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä offered his home in Kempele to asylum seekers. Even so, the tone and position of the prime minister and the government changed by December when Sipilä said that he couldn’t offer his home to asylum seekers any longer because his hometown in northern Finland wasn’t safe for refugees.

Yes, you read right: The prime minister admits that his small town in northern Finland isn’t safe for asylum seekers. If Kempele isn’t safe for refugees, it isn’t safe for any visible migrant and minority.

It’s incredible that a prime minister admits that he cannot guarantee the safety of people in this country and, worse, does nothing to address such a problem.

The sequence of events in fall-winter 2015 tell it all: kind words by Sipilä to asylum seekers coming to Finland; a rape takes place in Kempele at the end of November, one suspect, who is an asylum seeker, is detained; Kempele residents come out like a lynching party to protest against the asylum reception center in the town, which moves to an undisclosed location.

Read story and watch video here.

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Repatriation agreement between Iraqi Ministry of Migration & Displaced and Finland comes to naught

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Talks between the Iraqi Ministry of Migration & Displaced and Finnish permanent secretary of the interior ministry, Päivi Nerg, have ended without any agreement, according to an official statement, which added that some 5,000 Iraqi asylum seekers have returned from Finland to Iraq. 

The Iraqi foreign ministry has confirmed as well today in a statement the latter by stating that it will not accept any deported Iraqis from European countries.

Last year, 32,476 asylum seekers came to Finland. Of these, 20,485 were from Iraq.

According to Finnish media sources, Finland has forcibly deported some 1,500 Iraqis against their will to Iraq. That compares with 1,600 who returned on their own will and 1,500 through the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Four thousand Iraqi asylum seekers have gone missing in Finland.

Migrant Tales understands that the police have urged asylum seekers to leave the country with a 1,000-euro incentive.

The ministry of migration & displaced said that Iraq would be willing to accept Iraqi criminals but Nerg said that such an agreement wasn’t possible, according to the statement.

Read original posting here.

Defining white Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police service and “them”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If there is an institution that is the epitome of white Finnish privilege that is doing everything possible to hinder cultural and ethnic diversity among its ranks, that institution is the Finnish police service. 

Am I exaggerating?

Just go to the police service’s online pages and you will not find a single person who is a visible minority.

Gathering from the police service’s website, women are well-represented but nothing, absolutely nothing, is said about visible minorities never mind the police’s sensitivity towards our ever-growing culturally diverse community.

Visit the Finnish police service’s web page here.

Definition #32

The fact that there isn’t a single visible minority on the Finnish police websites shows us that they are far behind the times of other European nations like the United Kingdom and Sweden.

There must be a lot of opposition to cultural diversity as well if  a recent poll showed that about half of the police surveyed claimed to have voted for the National Coalition Party and the anti-immigration populists Perussuomalaiset.*

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Terroristien palveluksessa!

Posted on by Ana María Gutiérrez Sorainen

Heräsimme taas kauheaan uutiseen Berliinin joulumarkkinoilla tapahtuneesta hirmuteosta. 12 ihmistä kuoli ja 48 loukkaantui. Saksan poliisi antaa muutaman tunnin kuluttua lisää tietoa. 

Rauhaa kaikille!

Olisi teko terroristin tai terroristien tekemä tai ei, ei sitä pysty mitenkään hyväksymään tai siitä ei mielestäni pitäisi tehdä pilaa tai yrittää kerätä irtopisteitä tulevia vaaleja varten Valitettavasti näin on kuitenkin tehnyt perussuomalainen meppi Jussi Halla-aho.

Kenen etua tragedian alla Jussi Halla-aho ajaa päivityksellä? –Yksi mahdollinen vastaus on, että ääri-islamistien. He toivovat nimenomaan lännen vihaa ja kaunaa kohdistuvan myös muslimeihin, joilla ei ole tekemistä terroristien kanssa.

Itse olen sanaton, mutta en yllättynyt Halla-ahon päivityksestä. Facebookin päivitys toistaa vanhan kaavan mukaan teorioita uppoavasta lännestä ja islamin invaasiosta. Halla-aho on tullut tunnettu noista samoista puheista. Halla-ahon vaalityö alkoi ja noilla mielipiteillä julkisuus on taattu!

Halla-aho toimii hyvän tavan vastaisesti kun kesken järkytyksen lietsoo ihmisiä.

Entäs kunnioitus uskonrauhaa kohtaan? Eikö sillä ole Suomessa enää väliä?

Perustuslain ja oikeusvaltion periaatteiden halveksiva puolue!

Posted on by Ana María Gutiérrez Sorainen

Meillä on hallitus ja erityisesti yksi hallituspuolue, jonka jouluinen tehtävä on päästää eroon kolmesta tuhannesta kielteisen turvapaikkapäätöksen saaneista ihmisistä. Tuon päämäärän eteen, noita ihmisiä pitää perustuslainvastaisesti kohdella toisin kuin muita yhteiskunnan jäseniä.

Saman puolueen kansanedustaja on sitä mieltä, että perustuslaki on “alkanut nyppiä”. Eikö eduskunnassa opeteta kansanedustajille mitään valtiosääntöoikeuksista? Saman puolueen sihteeri, sen sijaan että ottaisi kritiikkiä vastaan, osoittaa sormensa oikeuskansleria kohtaan. Olin siis oikeassa kun sanoin, että kannatta huolestua myös oikeuskanslerin asemasta. Mutta siinä ei ole ihan kaikkea, koska saman puolueen kansanedustajat ovat sitä mieltä, että perustuslakia tulee nyt muuttaa.
Palataan kuitenkin tämän hallituksen ”elintärkeään ongelmaan”. Ensin ulkomaalaisvirasto teki, poliittisten paineiden alla, turvapaikanhakijoista ei turvapaikkaa tarvitsijoita. Pakolaisneuvonnan johtava lakimies Marjaana Laine sanoo Suomen kuvalehdelle, että poliittiset linjaukset ja tehostamispaine näkyvät. Kokemattomat työntekijät tekevät päätöksiä kiireessä. Vaikka haastattelija olisikin kirjannut hakijan painavat henkilökohtaiset syyt?–?jopa kidutuksen?–?lopullisessa päätöksenteossa niitä ei otetakaan huomioon.
”Tämä ei ole ulkomaalaislain, EU-lainsäädännön eikä pakolaisoikeuden mukaista”, Laine sanoo.
Tiedän, että moni kansalainen tyrmistyy ulkomaalaisviraston julki tulleista kielteisistä päätöksistä. Hallituksen toiminta turvapaikanhakijoita kohtaan ei ole kaikkien suomalaisten mielestä oikein. Tietenkin myös moni suomalainen on tyytyväinen. Onnittelen teitä, että saitte näköisenne hallituksen ja Suomi. Suomen kuva “kirkastuu” nyt ulkomailla!

Uutisten valossa, hallituspuolueissa on kristittyjen oikeuksia puolustavia, jotka kohtelevat kielteisen turvapaikan päätöksen saaneita eriarvoisesti kuin vihollisia tai ”vääräuskoisia”. Hallituspuolueen perussuomalaisten mielestä ongelma on siis se, että koska perustuslaki ei anna mahdollisuuksia ihmisten syrjintään, perustuslakia pitää muokata tämän puolueen tahdon mukaisesti. Ikävä on seurata kahden muun hallituspuolueen hiljaista hyväksyntä tai jopa tukea perustuslainvastaisille puheille ja touhulle.

Hyvää joulunodotusta tasapuolisesti kaikille!

Finland’s about-turn in immigration and asylum policy reveal populism and suspicion

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is an interesting article in newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti that claims that before Finland gave 85% of asylum seekers a positive decision today it’s almost the opposite. 

The article quotes National Coalition Party (NCP) Interior Minister Paula Risikko, who claims that Finland’s hardline stance is the same as Sweden’s and no different from the EU concerning Iraqis.

“It [refugee policy] isn’t [different], on the contrary,” she was quoted as saying in Suomen Kuvalehti. “Finland gives its support to the commission to renew [and implement] a common a common refugee policy [for the EU]. The aim is to prevent abuse of the asylum procedure and to counter the ongoing illegal movement of asylum seekers from country to country and harmonize policy on this.”

If we study closer Risikko’s statement, it’s clear that it has nothing to do with reality but is purely political and based on suspicion of Iraqis, the biggest national group that came to Finland from fall 2015.

Moreover, her suspicion isn’t only seen in her statement but in the harsh laws that the government has proposed and passed that tighten immigration and refugee policy.

Read full story here.

One good matter that asylum seekers have given Finland is that they have exposed our ineffective immigration and integration policy as well as our exceptionalism and denial of racism.

Continue reading “Finland’s about-turn in immigration and asylum policy reveal populism and suspicion”