Migrants’ Rights Network: Calais crisis: 15 years of ‘tough cop’ policies have failed – we need a new plan

Posted on by Migrant Tales
Don Flynn*
The UK government has given all the indications of being badly wrong-footed by the latest developments in the refugee crisis at the French Channel port of Calais. Higher fences and brawnier policemen are not the answer. A renewal of our commitment to humanitarian solutions is.

Three thousand migrants have congregated in the area known as the ‘Jungle’ in the past few weeks with many hoping that they will an opportunity to make a clandestine crossing of the Channel to find a safe haven in the UK.

Tension has been rising as the refugee presence has combined with disruption caused by the actions of employees of a ferry company who have lost their jobs when the firm was sold to a competitor. The slowdown in the movement of traffic through the town and its surrounding area have provided the desperate refugees with more opportunities to board lorries and other vehicles boarding the freight facilities at Coquelles, where trains are loaded to make the journey through the Eurotunnel.

Fatalities

The attempt to board in this way has involved great risk to the people involved and has resulted in nine deaths since the current phase of the crisis began in June.

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Finland: White teenage girls attack physically a 10-year-old and name him “n-word” and “rapist”

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Isn’t it surprising how our country, where racism is supposed to be an insignificant problem, is making headlines and encouraging Finns to challenge this social ill. The latest scandal comes from a playground in Helsinki, where a ten-year-old black boy was harassed in a racist manner by teenage girls, who kicked him and called him n-word and rapist, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Yes, right, you read it correctly: A group of under-fifteen-year-old teenage white girls attack a ten-year-old boy at a playground, kicked him repeatedly and named him n-word and rapist.

The first question that arises is where did these white teenagers learn this type of anti-social behavior? What motivated and emboldened them to attack such a child?

The evidence is quite incriminating in today’s Finland. Anti-cultural diversity sentiment is so thick in this country that you could cut and slice it and send it to political parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, to silent politicians, our too often toothless media that is in many cases a rubber stamp of the racist things politicians say, and to the countless families and teachers at schools that should know better.

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Media researcher claims Finnish politicians don’t challenge racism strongly enough because they fear losing voters

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Media researcher Anu Koivunen believes that Finnish politicians don’t challenge racism because they fear losing voters, reports MTV3. Koivunen said that reaction would have been stronger in Sweden if the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen scandal would have happened in that neighboring country. 

Organizing a 15,000-strong demonstration at the end of June as a reaction to Immonen’s declaration of war against multiculturalism shows that Finns have the potential to react just as strongly as their neighbors in Sweden.

 

Koivunen reinforces what Migrant Tales has been saying for a long time: There is a lack of leadership among politicians to challenge racism in Finland. This explains why a party like the PS can rise from near-obscurity to become the second-biggest force in parliament with the help of xenophobic and anti-EU rhetoric.

While some politicians may fear challenging racism because it could end their careers, it’s clear that their complacent silence is more an indication of support for the xenophobic rhetoric of parties like the PS.

While Koivunen speaks of politicians, she should also mention the Finnish media, which has been part of the problem with its too often toothless reporting and by giving a voice to racist politicians from parties like the PS.

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Marshall Niles: Everyday racism can break a person’s heart

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Migrant Tales insight: Our newest associate editor, Marhsall Niles, is very outspoken about migrant rights. We are happy that we have a person like Marshall on board since it makes sailing in Finland’s sometimes turbulent waters easier. 

Marshall is a good example that one can make a difference with his example. What he wrote a Facebook post that got noticed on Uusi Suomi. 

What he has one important message: Silence won’t be our language. 

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“Kato neekeri” (Look n-word), a group of idiots commented when I was in an ABC gas station. If people don’t know the difference between black, brown, yellow and white, and use the term neekeri ( n-word) to mean anyone of darker skin and foreign background, then, parents what the hell are you teaching your kids?

Months ago, a fat old drunk in our village’s only bar/restaurant called Petra, openly said how Somalis and immigrants deserve to be thrown out of the country. I was standing right in front of him when he said that. There have never been any Somalis in or around our village, and I can count about 3-5 immigrants amongst the 5000 Finnish inhabitants who live here. Yet, he seemed to enjoy stating loudly how immigrants and Somalis need to be thrown out (of the country).

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MP Olli Immonen, Birkenau death camp, and the PS’ party convention in Turku on August 8-9

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puoluekokous

 See original posting here.

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Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finnish white privilege, like any majority culture’s privilege, not only permeates in our institutions but marks the pace of how those with no privilege are treated in this society. Granting the police greater monitoring powers [1] to carry out arbitrary checks on migrants, and subsequently on non-white Finns, is a case in point in white Finnish privilege. 

Writes YLE in English:

New legislative changes came into force in May allowing police and border guard officials to perform immigration checks as part of their everyday duties, without any prior suspicion of crime. The wider powers will allow officers to conduct thorough inspections of business premises as part of their work.

The goal of the legal reform is to clarify the jurisdiction of police and border guards. Previously police were only able to investigate business premises for possible immigration offences if they suspected a crime had been committed.

The Council of Europe, and other anti-racism activists in Finland and abroad, have expressed concern about ethnic profiling by the police.

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The language and actions of anti-immigration parties and groups are based on violence

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Some 40 members of the neo-Nazi Suomen Vastarintaliike (SVL) took part in a demonstration Saturday ended violently, according to YLE in English. Thirty-two people were detained in the central Finnish city of Jyväskylä by the police and charged with rioting and assault.

While the SVL have always been a violent group, the statements that were made after what happened in Jyväskylä are the most surprising.

One of these is by the new National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehminen, who claimed on YLE that he was surprised that the SVL demonstration turned violent in such an organized manner.

The police may have been surprised by what happened in Jyväskylä but many aren’t. What can you expect from a group that openly wants to change Finland into a Nazi state with violence?

The other surprising statement was from Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, who declared in recent a Facebook post war on multiculturalism states, now claims that he “doesn’t support the use of violence under any circumstances.

The first thing that strikes me about these two statements is their incredulity. Before making such statements as the above, both Kolehminen and Immonen could ask the following questions:

  • Have the SVL grown in recent years?
  • If it hasn’t grown why has coverage of its violent acts become more visible in the media?
  • Is violence only physical? Can words be violent and/or cause acts of physical violence?
  • If a party like the PS constantly victimizes and excludes certain groups from being equal members of Finnish society, isn’t such a stance just as bad as an act of physical violence?

Iltalehti

Here’s one example of how rhetoric can turn in to violence. Tabloid Iltalehti reports that multiculturalism caused tempers rise to such a point that a man shoved a six-year-old.

Apart from posing with a group of SVL members in a picture in June, one could ask what Immonen really meant by condemning all forms of violence if his political career has been based on violent statements against migrants and minorities?

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Facebook: Can Nordic values challenge racism if racism has found a home in such values?

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Migrant Tales insight:

Christian Thibault is an active anti-racism activist that I’ve had the pleasure to know for some time. In a recent Facebook post below he brings up some good points about how even former and present presidents, like Martti Ahtisaari and Sauli Niinistö, lean towards the promotion of a more exclusive rather than inclusive society. 

No matter how much you try to ignore racism the more you become part of the problem.

I personally support the Nordic model but I understand perfectly well that it has issues with racism. Take a look at Denmark, Norway and Finland as examples. All three of these countries have populist anti-immigration parties poisoning the air with their Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric. 

Let’s not forget Anders Breivik and Olli Immonen’s recent declaration of war against cultural diversity. 

Let’s not fool ourselves as well like in Sweden, where some believe that we live in such a perfect society that racism and discrimination no longer exist.

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Writes Christian Thibault: 

“The Nordic model of a consensus democracy has a long tradition and is well respectable.

Anyway, lately, there appears to be at least two problems:

1. It only seems to be valid for what are received as ethnic Finns, possibly including Swedish speaking Finns and just maybe the traditional minorities, Tatar-muslims, old Jewish population, finnish Roma and Sami people.

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Avoin kirje perussuomalaisille ja Timo Soinille

Posted on by Maarit Snellman

Koska meilläkin on unelmamme.

Eilen olin yksi niistä yli 15 000 ihmisestä, jotka olivat Kansalaistorilla näyttämässä tukemme moninaiselle, monikulttuuriselle ja vihattomalle Suomelle. Me emme usko rasismiin emmekä salli rasismia fasismilla maustettuna tai ilman. Olemme asiassa todella yksimielisiä.

Joukosta löytyy monia kaltaisiani, jotka ovat itse mamuilleet muilla mailla tai muuten vaan työskennelleet monimuotoisissa ja monikulttuurisissa työskentely-ympäristöissä. Minä tiedän, millaista se on se integroituminen ja kotoutuminen.

Onkin todella hienoa, että Perussuomalaiset ovat juuri tästä kotoutumisesta huolissaan. Minäkin olen. Siinä voin auttaa. Minulla on siihen paitsi oma kokemus niin myös ihan koulutuskin. Tunnen paljon kaltaisiani ja niitä maahanmuuttajia. Sekä pakolaisia.

Saan varmasti mukaan muitakin meistä. Olemme valmiita auttamaan siinä, että kotoutuminen onnistuu Suomessa jatkossa paremmin kuin aiemmin ja missään muualla. Voimme ottaa opiksi muiden valtioiden onnistumisista ja epäonnistumista.

Mutta sen pitää perustua faktaan. Muuhun emme voi sitoutua. On monia tapoja olla suomalainen. Siksi on kovin vaikeaa tavoittaa tätä maassa maan tavalla. Lakimme kun koskevat jokaista täällä olevaa kuten ihmisoikeudetkin.

Jokainen ulkomaille muuttava käy läpi sopeutumisprosessin vieraaseen kulttuuriin. Sitä kutsutaan myös akkulturaatioksi. Mitä paremmin sen tuntemusta ja ymmärrystä kotoutumisen tukemisessa hyödynnämme, sitä paremmin se onnistuu.

Viestiä vaan tulemaan [email protected] .

29.7.2015 YT Maarit

Facebook: PS MP is ignorant of our constitutional rights to demonstrate

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Teivo Teivainen is a professor of world politics at University of Helsinki. This is the dialogue he had with a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP, who is strongly in the party’s anti-immigration wing and is ignorant of our constitutional rights to demonstrate.

PS MP Jani Makelä based his campaign on anti-immigration rhetoric.

________

Writes Teivainen:

“My Twitter questions and further dialogue with the Finns Party Member of Parliament have been further commented in some Finnish media. For this article they also consulted one of the main constitutional experts, Kaarlo Tuori. Even if our debate seems to have some entertainment aspects, I hope it can also be useful for understanding the constitutional right ro demonstrate.”

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This Facebook post has been published on Migrant Tales with permission.

* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English-language names 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.