Migrant tales - Page 259 of 535

Zimema Mhone: Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike day 2

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Zimema Mhone*

When I woke up this morning, I did not know that I would be spending the afternoon with one of the most courageous people I have ever met in person. I went down to see Namir al-Azzawin, an Iraqi asylum seeker, after reading about his hunger strike last night on Migrant Tales.

I wanted to propose making a short film about his protest and gain a better understanding of the struggles migrants are currently facing in Finland. I wasn’t sure whether it is something he would want to do, given I am a complete stranger. I was also very nervous since this is a very real situation – in Finland, an estimated 20,000 asylum seekers are going to be denied residency permits because their countries have been upgraded to ‘safe’ by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).

Even those who were granted temporary permits may also have them discontinued based on the new Migri assessment. For asylum seekers from countries like Namir’s this is nothing short of a disaster. Namir is protesting this assessment with a hunger strike in front of Parliament House (more on this later…).

_1080230

When I arrived at 12pm today, the location was empty but for some very saddening images.

_1080208 _1080213 _1080216

Continue reading “Zimema Mhone: Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike day 2”

Ana María Gutiérrez Soranen: Vauvan äitiä ja kolmevuotiasta Sämää ei saa käännyttää Suomesta

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Ana María Gutiérrez Soranen*

Tänään moni suomalainen on järkyttynyt Riihimäellä asuva Huner Ali Muhammedin ja Gashaw Khaleel Hamadin perheen saamasta kohtelusta.

Ulkomaalaisvirasto on päättänyt erottaa perheen ja käännyttää äitiä ja kolmevuotias lapsi Irakiin. Heidän on lähdettävä Suomesta viimeistään perjantaina. Perheen kolmikuinen Klara-vauva saa toistaiseksi jäädä Suomeen, koska vauvan oleskeluluvasta ei ole vielä päätöstä.

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen voi lukea tästä.

Autonkuljettajana työskentelevä isä on asunut perheineen Suomessa jo seitsemän vuotta. ”Huner sai turvapaikan, koska oli ammattiurheilija Irakissa ja pyöräilyjoukkue johon hän kuului oli vaarassa. Joukkueen 15 jäsenestä 11 on tapettu, neljä on saanut turvapaikan Euroopasta. Hunerille on myönnetty turvapaikka ja pysyvä oleskelulupa Suomessa.”

”Perheenyhdistäminen ei onnistunut, koska perheen tulot ovat liian matalat. Perheen isä on tehnyt työtä ravintolan autonkuljettajana, mutta hänen palkkansa on päätöksen mukaan liian pieni.”

Continue reading “Ana María Gutiérrez Soranen: Vauvan äitiä ja kolmevuotiasta Sämää ei saa käännyttää Suomesta”

Irakilaisen syömälakko päivä yksi: “Irak ei ollut silloin eikä tänäänkään turvallista”

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Hyvät suomalaiset,

Aloitin syömälakko sunnuntaina protestina Maahanmuuttoviraston epäreilu päätös, joka nyt katso maita kuten Irak, Afganistan ja Somalia ovat turvallisia ja voi palauttaa turvapaikkahakijat kyseisin maahiin. Monet irakilaisia olivat pettyneet tästä päätöksestä. Pakenimme sieltä koska se ei ollut silloin eikä tänäänkään turvallista. En lopeta syömälakkoa ennen kun Maahanmuuttoviranomaiset ovat muuttaneet päätöstään.

Namir al-Azzawi

Katso alkuperänen kirjoitus Migrant Talesissa tästä.

Nameer al-Azzawin syömälakko alkoi tänään Eduskuntatalon ulkopuolella.

Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike day 1: “Iraq wasn’t and still isn’t safe”

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Dear People of Finland,

I started my hunger strike on Sunday in protest of the unfair decision by the Immigration Authorities (Migri), which claim that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia are safe to return asylum seekers. Many of us Iraqis were disappointed by the decision taking into account that we fled that country because it wasn’t and still isn’t safe. I will not stop my hunger strike until the Immigration Authorities change their decision.

Namir al-Azzawi

(Migrant Tales will report on a daily basis about the progress of the hunger strike. We hope that other media and bloggers will visit Namir al-Azzawi and write about him and his hunger strike).

Namir al-Azzawi carrying out his hunger strike next to parliament.

Continue reading “Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike day 1: “Iraq wasn’t and still isn’t safe””

Abdirahim “Husu” Hussein resigns from the Center Party of Finland because “he no longer believes in the party’s policies”

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Abdirahim Husu Hussein surprised everyone this week when he announced his resignation from the Center Party. In his words, he resigned from the party he joined 13 years ago because “he no longer believes in the party’s policies,” according to Suomenmaa.

While Husu’s decision was applauded by some, it leaves a sour taste about the state of politics and the role of some leaders of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society in national politics.

While Husu has taken a leadership role in promoting cultural diversity and good relations among different groups in Finland, he feels that he didn’t have enough support from his former party.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

The latter shouldn’t come to any surprise considering that the Center Party, which shares power with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (NCP), comprise one of the country’s most ant-immigration governments in a long time.

Continue reading “Abdirahim “Husu” Hussein resigns from the Center Party of Finland because “he no longer believes in the party’s policies””

Kolari reception center asylum seeker: Matters have improved because the new manager is very supportive

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Migrant Tales

After a very difficult month, matters are looking up for the asylum seekers of the Kolari reception center, located 214 kilometers north of the city of Kemi. “Matters have improved for us, and the new manager wants to help us,” an asylum seeker told Migrant Tales by phone. “He’s very supportive.”

According to the source, the reception center, which is managed by the Red Cross, no longer charges 10 euros for transportation and other services like gym and swimming hall fees but are now free. Before deputy manager Jari Sillantie was fired, asylum seekers were even charged 0.50 euros for a tomato or onion.

While a reception center can charge for services, used clothes and food, we have to ask if this is ethically correct taking into account that an asylum seeker at Kolari gets a monthly allowance of 92 euros.

The days of the deputy manager were counted after over 120 asylum seekers carried out a peaceful demonstration on May 4 that was reported by Lapin Kansa, a Rovaniemi-based daily. A day after Sillantie gave an interview to Helsingin Sanomat the Red Cross fired him on May 13.

Read full story here.

_______________________________________________

“Jari [Sillantie] never resolved any problems for us,” the source said. “He would just wash his hands and say that he couldn’t do anything to help us.”

Continue reading “Kolari reception center asylum seeker: Matters have improved because the new manager is very supportive”

Vigilante extremist groups in Finland are on the way out but they are a sad mirror of who we are

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

The life-and-death story of anti-immigration vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin or political parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is simple: create imagined threats to our society, like migrants and asylum seekers, and then set out to “protect” others from the presumed hazard.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, which interviewed representatives of the police service, vigilante groups in different cities of Finland are either disappearing or don’t exist any longer.

______________________________________________________________________

An Estonian Soldier of Odin interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat earlier this spring.

All of this is great news, but it leaves a lingering question: How come these group captured our attention in the first place? Why didn’t our politicians and the media oppose and question more strongly the rise of such groups in the first place?

The answer to the latter is, in my opinion, pretty obvious: Like a mirror, we saw ourselves. In that image our worst fears, prejudices and bigotry were crudely exposed.

Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat brings us additional good news: The vigilante group in Asikkala, a small town near Lahti, no longer exists.

Even if groups like the Soldiers of Odin are on their way out in Finland, their example has been copied in countries like the United States.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a USAmerican anti-Semitism and anti-bigotry group founded in 1913, describes the US chapter of the Soldiers of Odin as a white supremacist, anti-Muslim bigoted and extremist group.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”

Two pictures and a video of Wednesday’s peaceful demonstration in Helsinki by Iraqi asylum seekers

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Below are two pictures and a video of today’s peaceful demonstration in Helsinki by Iraqi asylum seekers protesting a new a new Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) assessment that alleges that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia are today safe for asylum seekers to return.

“About 150 people took part in the demonstration today in front of Parliament [in Helsinki],” an asylum seeker told Migrant Tales.

The new assessment by Migri makes it harder for asylum seekers in Finland to be granted residence permits.

Last year, some 32,500 asylum seekers came to Finland. Most of them were from Iraq.

The tightening of government immigration policies is attributable to the rise in anti-immigration sentiment and to the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which is a member of government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party.

An asylum seeker in Helsinki holding a picture.

Continue reading “Two pictures and a video of Wednesday’s peaceful demonstration in Helsinki by Iraqi asylum seekers”

Helsinki and Kemi demonstrations by Iraqi asylum seekers considered “successful” by their organizers

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Two peaceful demonstrations by Iraqi asylum seekers took place Wednesday in Helsinki and Kemi to protest a Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) assessment that countries like Iraq are safe for asylum seekers, according to the organizers.

“About 150 people took part in the demonstration today in front of Parliament [in Helsinki],” an asylum seeker told Migrant Tales.

“This is an important message that we must get across,” said another asylum seeker in Kemi by phone. “Countries like Iraq aren’t safe for us to return.”

The new assessment by Migri makes it harder for asylum seekers in Finland to be granted residence permits.

Last year, some 32,500 asylum seekers came to Finland. Most of them were from Iraq.

Seventy to eighty protesters took part in the demonstration in the northern city of Kemi on Wednesday.

Continue reading “Helsinki and Kemi demonstrations by Iraqi asylum seekers considered “successful” by their organizers”

AntroBlogi: Terveisiä monikulttuurisesta lähiöstä

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Helmi Räisänen, antropologian opiskelija ja Saara Toukolehto, VTM Podcast-lukija: Bea Bergholm

AntroBlogi pääsi 30.3.2016 kuuntelemaan yliopistonlehtori Marko Juntusen esitelmää “Muslimiväestöä jakavat konfliktit ja islamia ympäröivä turvallisuuteen ja sosiaalisiin uhkiin kytkeytyvä keskustelu monikulttuurisessa lähiössä” S uomen Antropologisen Seuran vuosikokoukseen Tieteiden Talolla. Esitelmä perustuu hänen meneillään olevaan kenttätyöhönsä Varissuon lähiössä Turussa.

Välinpitämättömyyden normi ja tyytymättömyys

Juntunen tutkii lähiöiden sosiaalista monimuotoisuutta Suomessa, keskittyen etenkin muslimidiasporiin. Häntä kiinnostavat lähiöt julkisena tilana ja niissä tapahtuvat sosiokulttuuriset muutokset. Tutkimuksessaan Juntunen peilaa kentällä tekemiään havaintoja Suomessa aikaisemmin tehdyn lähiö-tutkimuksen huomioihin. Ne seikat, joista tutkimustietoa ei vielä ole, valikoituvat hänen tutkimuksensa painopisteiksi.

Juntunen havaitsi muun muassa, ettei tutkimusta ole tehty 1970-luvulla lähiöihin, kuten Varissuolle, muuttaneiden työväenluokkaisten suomalaisten reaktioista lähiöiden sosiaaliseen muutokseen. Niinpä yhdeksi tutkimuskohteeksi valikoitui näiden maalta kaupunkiin muuttaneiden suomalaisten kokemukset lähiöiden nopeasta monikulttuuristumisesta. Lisäksi Juntunen pyrkii selvittämään, miten ensimmäisen polven maahanmuuttajat ja heidän jälkeläisensä kokevat lähiötilan ja esimerkiksi sinne kohdistuvan nykyisen maahanmuuton.

Varissuon lähiö. Kuva: Wikimedia Commons.

Aiemmin lähiöitä on Suomessa tutkinut muun muassa Matti Kortteinen 1980-luvun alussa. Kortteisen tutkimuksen aikoihin lähiöiden asukkaita olivat lähinnä maalta kaupunkiin muuttaneet ydinperheet, joille elämä kaupungin lähiössä näyttäytyi hyvin erilaisena maaseudun menoon verrattuna. Kortteisen tutkimuksessa keskeiseksi nousi lähiössä vallitseva “välinpitämättömyyden normi”, jossa naapurit kyttäsivät toisiaan yhteisöllisyyden tai poliittisen aktiivisuuden sijaan. Asukkaat eivät pyrkineet parantamaan elinolosuhteitaan lähiössä, mikä johti tyytymättömyyteen ja pyrkimykseen muuttaa pois alueelta ensimmäisen tilaisuuden tullen.

Continue reading “AntroBlogi: Terveisiä monikulttuurisesta lähiöstä”