Racism Review: The epidemic of colorblindness

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Is it also an epidemic in Finland and Europe?

__________________

Lessie Branch

There is an epidemic in our country. Other epidemics like obesity and AIDS create injustice in the body, but this one creates injustice in our society and the ways in which we relate to one another. We have a name for this disease: colorblindness.

What are the symptoms of colorblindness? The most notable is the refusal to admit that the color of a person’s skin affects that person’s opportunities in America. Other symptoms include a callous rationalization of racial violence, a denial of one’s own racial prejudices, a minimization of ubiquitous bigotry, and, in extreme cases, a belief that race is a personal choice.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-9 kello 14.25.20

Read full opinion piece here.

Let’s take a look at some recent cases of this rampant disease. Several weeks ago, Tahera Ahmad ordered a can of soda on a United Airlines flight. For sanitary reasons, she requested an unopened can, but she was denied. “Big deal,” you might think. “It’s probably just some obscure airline regulation about canned drinks, right?” Unfortunately, no. This was a symptom of America’s insidious disease.

Continue reading “Racism Review: The epidemic of colorblindness”

Unfriend those Facebook friends that are openly racist, homophobic and sexist

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

The old saying claims the latter but does it have to be that way? 

There’s one matter that continues to baffle me about Finnish politics: How openly xenophobic and Islamophobic politicians are Facebook “friends” with people who claim to champion cultural diversity and anti-racism. If we look at the US Civil Rights Movement (1955-68), there’s one key lesson: Don’t flirt with those that are your enemies, name and shame them. 

The Civil Rights Movement had a big impact on the United States depending on where you lived. Many parts of my former hometown of Los Angeles were “liberal,” or in favor of the aims of the Civil Rights Movement.

How did the Civil Rights Movement impact my life in the 1970s? For one, we openly named and shamed those that still lived in their racist mindset of the pre-Civil Rights Movement. If you had issues with racism, you had to tread with extra care so you wouldn’t be branded a racist.

Continue reading “Unfriend those Facebook friends that are openly racist, homophobic and sexist”

Migrant’s Rights Network: How the legacy of racism continues to make ‘others’ out of migrant people

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Anna De Mutiis* 

The ongoing crisis on the Mediterranean has shed light on an old unsolved – and clearly so often poorly addressed problem at the heart of Europe: namely its relation with its Other.

Europe’s favoured perspective seems to concentrate on a diplomatic, political or geopolitical crisis – as suggested by the very notion of a ‘Mediterranean’ crisis – which leaves aside the tragedy of human losses, drowned hopes, the expectation of finding shelter, and the dream of a safe place to live and the chance to survive.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-7 kello 13.38.44

Read full opinion piece here.

The European and International media have played a big role in how this tragedy has been appropriated and narrated especially to EU citizens. Even if some headlines have clearly condemned European powers for neglecting their responsibility and remaining indifferent to more than 28.000 death in the last 15 years, many media accounts rode on the old rhetoric (echoing Thatcherite themes) of fearing an ‘invasion’ of migrants.  The implication that ‘we can’t take them all’ contains the inevitable suggestion that we should let some, at least, die in the sea.

Continue reading “Migrant’s Rights Network: How the legacy of racism continues to make ‘others’ out of migrant people”

Because I am a girl

Posted on by Maarit Snellman

Sahar asuu Pakistanissa äitinsä ja viiden veljensä kanssa. Sahar on aina halunnut lääkäriksi. Siksi hän on opiskellut ahkerasti, kunnes kaikki muuttui. Saharin äiti ei enää uskalla päästää Saharia kouluun happoiskujen pelossa. Sitä ei enää katsota hyvällä silmällä – Koulunkäyntiä. Koska hän on tyttö.

Kiinassa Bik syntyi maalla vähävaraiseen perheeseen. Vanhemmat toivoivat itselleen poikaa tulevaisuuden turvaksi, mutta sai Bikin. Bik on nyt orpo, sillä vanhemmat hylkäsivät hänet. Koska hän on tyttö.

Illalla Jarul oli kävelemässä kotiin ystävättärensä luota, jonka luona hän oli ollut tekemässä kotitehtäviä. Hän on intialainen. Joukko paikallisia nuoria miehiä raiskasi hänet. Oli kuulemma liian myöhään ulkona ja hän menehtyi. Koska hän on tyttö.

Tina viettää iltaa paikallisessa pubissa kuten tavallisesti. Lontoon ulkopuolella Isossa-Britanniassa paikallisten suosimassa paikassa. Hän herää sidottuna sänkyyn tuntemattomassa paikassa. Illan tapahtumat eivät ole muistissa. Hän ymmärtää saaneensa tainnutustippuja. Koska hän on tyttö.

Suomessa Jaana hakee kovin töitä. Hän on nuori ja hyvinkoulutettu. Kantasuomalainen. Vielä lapseton. Työhaastatteluissakin päässyt käymään, mutta häviää aina mieskandidaatille, jolla on poikkeuksetta vähemmän asiantuntemusta kuin Jaanalla. Jaana on törmännyt lasikattoon. Koska hän on tyttö.

Tämän kevään kohun aiheita Suomessa ovat mm. olleet raiskaustapaus, jossa tekijöinä oli kolme ulkomaalaistaustaista nuorta miestä. Raiskauksesta on tehty uskonnon, ihonvärin ja etnisen taustan asia. Siitä huolimatta, että kyse on sukupuolittuneesta väkivallasta ja halusta alistaa nainen. Joskus kohteena on satunnaisesti valittu nainen ja toisinaan sitten taas tuttu ja jopa oma kumppani.

Halu alistaa ei liity automaatin lailla uskontoon ja etniseen taustaan, joskin kulttuurilla saattaa olla siihen vaikutusta. Kuitenkin valinta on aina yksilön eli miehen. Kohteleeko hän naista yhdenvertaisena yksilönä vai valitseeko hän alistavia ja syrjiviä toimintatapoja. Mies voi valita, koska hän on mies.

Is PS MP Laura Huhtasaari an Islamophobe?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jay Smooth offers some valuable advice when dealing with racism. He divides the plan of action into two strategies: the what they did conversation and what they are conversation. 

As some are well aware,Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari, who is no stranger to our readers, got her fingers burned last week by Helsingin Sanomat when they found her profile picture on a racist Facebook page.

Even the name of that Facebook community, Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! or “The racist background of rapists [hiding] in bushes,” would set alarm bells ringing.

Anti-immigration, or particularly anti-cultural diversity politicians, leave a lot of smoking guns about their ideology. They commonly hide behind red herrings to cover up their real intentions. Huhtasaari is no different.

In a Facebook thread there’s an Afro Finn who claims on a video clip to not have read Jussi Halla-aho’s writings but considers the PS MEP, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, a “nice guy.” He even wishes him “the best of luck in his political career.” 

Fine, but isn’t that falling into the what they are conversation as opposed to the what they did conversation?

Let’s give the Afro Finn a helping hand. He claims to not have read Halla-aho’s Islamophobic and xenophobic writings. We’ll help him out. Is he joking or not? No, folks, he messaged me and said that it wasn’t a joke.

Below are some quotes to challenge Halla-aho on the what they did conversation:

Näyttökuva 2015-7-6 kello 13.22.11

Jussi Halla-aho, published in Gates of Vienna Inter Arma, November 30, 2007.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-6 kello 12.00.10

Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta guest book, May 19, 2006.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-6 kello 12.01.45

Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Lisää rikollisuudesta, September 30, 2005.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-6 kello 12.04.38

Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Mietteitä kansainvaelluksesta, April 20, 2005.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-6 kello 12.07.07

Jussi Halla-aho, Scripta Mietteitä kansainvaelluksesta, April 20, 2005.

Continue reading “Is PS MP Laura Huhtasaari an Islamophobe?”

Maarit Snellman: Mitä yhteistä on Olli Immoksella ja Dylann Roofilla?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Maarit Snellman

Tämä tekstini oli liikaa Uuden Suomen Puheenvuoroblogi-palvelussa ja sain varoituksen kursivoidun kohdan vuoksi. Se perustuu kuitenkin alla oleviin lähteisiin ja erityisesti Olli Immosen itse antamiin haastatteluihin, jotka eivät jätä mitään epäselvää. Kommentteja en jaksa tähän kopioida – ei niissä sen ihmeellisempiä ollut. Lukuun ottamatta, että minun  olisi pitänyt perustella, että ihminen ei ole lajityypillisesti rasisti, vaan se opitaan. Saa vihata, uhata etnisen taustan vuoksi henkeä ja rajoittaa vapautta tai uhata ei-rasistisen mielipiteen vuoksi raiskauksella. Se on sallittua, mutta Suomessa ei saa tehdä reflektoivaa kriittistä analyysia siitä, miten rasismi ilmenee mm. mediassa. Sanavapaus ei siis ole tältäkään osin kaikkien oikeus. Se on rasisteilla ja fasisteilla, mutta minä, joka en näitä ihmisyyttä vastaan koskevia rikoksia tule koskaan hyväksymään, en saa sitä harjoittaa.

Tässä alkuperäinen kirjoitukseni Ollista ja Dylannista:

Molemmat ovat viime aikoina näkyneet lehdissä. Olli kotimaassa ja Dylann kaikkialla. Dylann toteutti sen, jota Olli ihannoi – poliittisen murhan. Dylannilla on rasistinen ajatusmaailma. Olli edustaa Suomen kansaa eduskunnassa sekä fasistista kansalaisjärjestöä. Olli kannattaa kansalaismielestä kansannousua. Dylann on sitä mieltä, että tarvitaan rotusotaa. USA:ssa Dylannin ajatusmaailman jakaa ne amerikkalaiset, jotka kuuluvat maassa vaikuttaviin 784:ään viharyhmään.

Suomessa avoimesti rasistinen puolue, jolla on fasistisia ja uusnatsikytköksiä, johtaa eduskuntaa ja istuu hallituksessa. Vapaa-ajallaan Immonen saa kuulemma tehdä mitä tykkää. USA:ssa Dylannin rasistinen vihaisku on sitten yksittäistapaus. Kun värillinen vie kaupasta karkin, poliisi vie oikeuden kautta vankilaan kulkematta lähtöruudun kautta. Konservatiivien globaali tapa sivuuttaa rasismi.

Continue reading “Maarit Snellman: Mitä yhteistä on Olli Immoksella ja Dylann Roofilla?”

PS MP Laura Huhtasaari’s problems deepen concerning her alleged membership in a racist Facebook community

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales understands that a complaint had been made to Facebook about a racist community called  Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! or “The racist background of rapists [hiding] in bushes.” Facebook concluded that it did not breach community standards.  

Does this mean that the Facebook site doesn’t insult and degrade minorities like blacks and Muslims? Not at all!

Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are responsible for much of the racism and bigotry that you’ll find on social media today.

But at least Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari considers the Puskaraiskaajien rasistinen tausta ! Facebook community to be so racist that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. 

Huhtasaari is in hot water this week after  Helsingin Sanomat exposed her belonging to that racist Facebook community.

Posting a picture on that Facebook site of a black child in a pail eating a watermelon that reads “a bucketful of shit” does not apparently breach Facebooks’ community standards. Fine.

But at least Huhtasaari has more sense than Facebook since she considers her membership in that community could either hurt or boost her political career.

Racism and xenophobia are crowd pleasers in today’s Finland and can do wonders for your political career.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-4 kello 12.13.40

 

Näyttökuva 2015-7-4 kello 12.13.52

 

Continue reading “PS MP Laura Huhtasaari’s problems deepen concerning her alleged membership in a racist Facebook community”

UPDATE (July 4): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

July 4

Bloggaja väittää: Huhtasaari liittyi rasistiseen Facebook-ryhmään itse (Satakunnan Kansa)

What’s wrong with this story? This story by Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa is a good example of lazy journalism at its best.It is also an example of how some newspapers are reluctant to challenge politicians with xenophobic agendas. Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari got her fingers burned this week when Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s biggest daily, scooped that she was a member of a racist Facebook site that has pictures of black children in pales eating watermelon with the following text, “A bucketful of shit.” Huhtasaari accused without any evidence that Sakari Timonen, one of Finland’s best anti-racism bloggers, had tipped off Helsingin Sanomat and even hacked her profile on the racist Facebook page. Instead of stating that the blogger claims that Huhtasaari joined the Facebook site herself, why didn’t Satakannun Kansa ask an IT expert to resolve the matter? Under her profile picture on the Facebook site it read that Huhtasaari joined and was not joined by some person. Huhtasaari claims that her profile ended up on the Facebook site by somebody without her permission. Sounds fishy, especially coming from a declared anti-immigration politician like herself.

UPDATE: It appears that our efforts to get in touch with Satakunnan Kansa paid off. In a new story published on the same day the daily asks an Internet authority about Huhtasaari’s defense. The Internet authority claims that Huhtasaari could have been joined to the racist Facebook community if somebody had access to her password.

 

Näyttökuva 2015-7-4 kello 10.25.36

 

* 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.

Sweden’s former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is bewildered by Finland’s immigration policy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Sweden’s former right-wing Moderate Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt expresses bewilderment by Finland’s immigration policy, writes business daily Kauppalehti. “It is remarkable that before theelections in Finland they spoke about the importance of labor immigration but are [now] struggling to close Finland’s doors [to such people].”

Bewilderment? I would call it disappointment and caving in to one’s fears and populism.

The answer is simple and it comes in a long  and unfriendly name to pronounce for foreigners: P e r u s s u o m a l a i s e t (PS).*

The PS are in government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party. Immigration policy is under PS Labor and Justice Minister Jari Lindstöm.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-3 kello 17.27.32

 

Read full story here.

Our foreign minister is the head of the PS, Timo Soini, who has some issues with the EU and is the main apologist for the racist behavior of his party.

This racist behavior that he defends as a good cop discourages skilled migrants, foreign investment and jobs from growing in this country.

Continue reading “Sweden’s former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is bewildered by Finland’s immigration policy”

PS MP Huhtasaari gets fingers burned after Helsingin Sanomat uncovers her membership in a racist Facebook site

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Laura Huhtasaari of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party found herself in hot water Thursday after Finland’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat did some investigative journalism about the MP’s membership in a racist Facebook site that has pictures of black children eating watermelon in a pail that read another “bucketful of shit.”

Huhtasaari is well known to Migrant Tales. Yes, right, she’s the Islamophobe blonde with the kindergarten teacher smile who got a hand from MEP Jussi Halla-aho in her campaign.

Halla-aho was sentenced for ethnic agitation and is the leader of the PS’ far right anti-immigration wing.

Näyttökuva 2015-7-2 kello 19.11.18Read full story here.

Certainly the revelation by Helsingin Sanomat that she belonged to the racist Facebook site “Puskaraikaajien rasistinen tausta,” or “The racist background of rapists [hiding] in bushes,” didn’t make her very happy.

Continue reading “PS MP Huhtasaari gets fingers burned after Helsingin Sanomat uncovers her membership in a racist Facebook site”