A good question is why the public’s fascination with far-right populism has caught on. US President Donald Trump is one sour example but so is the changing political landscape of Europe. In Finland, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition Party (NCP) believes it can continue to do business with the anti-immigration Finns Party (PS) and form…
Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson’s shameful blame game
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson not only blamed migrants for the violence in Sweden, he sent a message to all of the Nordic region. It’s called the blame game. Blame is an excuse and a tool for attack that distorts reality and a way to avoid responsibility. He reiterated Sweden’s about-turn in strict immigration policy…
Surprise, surprise, immigration to Finland in 2024 plummeted by 13.9%
Migration to Finland in 2024 took a 13.9% dive to 63,049 from 73.236 in the previous year, according to Statistics Finland. Some of the biggest drops were in the number of Ukrainians seeking international protection. Their numbers plummeted by 53.02% 13,551 persons. The number of work permits for specialists retreated to 1,224 permits from 1,604…
Migrant Tales (28.9.2012): Why I write about racism
Migrant Tales insight: I stumbled upon this posting published over twelve years ago. I reposted it because it shows the fuel that I have used to push the blog ahead. Finland is a very different country than it was in 2012. We are slowly but surely awakening to the fact that racism is a dangerous…
Helsinki Noir: A play reflecting troubled times will show today (25.1) at Botta, Museokatu 10, Helsinki
Come an watch today at 7 pm a wonderful play reflecting these troubled times at Botta, Museokatu 10, Helsinki. Below is a review that Migrant Tales wrote about Helsinki Noir at the end of December. “Writer and director Ahti Tolvanen, who is a member of the Migrant Tales board, has written a play that reflects hard and…
Opulence and injustice are deadly mixes
Watching political events in the United States and the Donald Trump’s inauguration as the US’ 47th president, brought despair and forced me to dig deep for hope and consolation. One of the matters that I will never forget is the last military dictatorship (1976-83) of Rafael Videla in Argentina. His stranglehold over the country was…
Mahad Sheikh Musse* (Facebook): Nuoriso ei voi kantaa vastuuta siitä, että yhteiskunta pettää heidät
#Nuoriso, #vanhemmat ja #viranomaise – vastuut ja epätasa-arvon haasteet! Rakenteellinen syrjintä ja rasismi heikentävät yhdenvertaisuutta viranomaistyössä, ja pahimmillaan ne toimijat, joiden tulisi tukea nuoria, sulkevat heidät ulos tärkeistä palveluista ja mahdollisuuksista. Tämä epäoikeudenmukaisuus ei koske kaikkia nuoria samalla tavalla, vaan kohtelu riippuu usein heidän taustastaan. Kantaväestöön kuuluvat nuoret ja maahanmuuttajataustaiset nuoret kohdataan eri tavoin –…
Iraqi asylum seekers in Finland: Awaiting and living under the axe of deportation
Deportation is one of the cruelest matters about migration. Another deportation ruling hangs over an Iraqi family of five who has lived in Finland for ten years. Tragic is the fate of the children, aged 16, 14 and 7 years, who don’t read and write in Arabic and remember their parents’ former home country through…
The ever-greying of Finland and our new citizenship
Twenty-eight years ago I wrote in a Finland Bridge column about the greying of Finland. Even if Finland has the third-oldest population in the world after Japan and Italy. Has anything changed since 1997 and what are the solutions to our demographic woes? Some far-fetched solutions I suggested back then was to raise the retirement…
Fabricated charges will not silence me
Former Perussuomalaiset* and today Center Party councilperson Tanja Hartonen’s attack on me is a good example of political revenge aimed at silencing me and Migrant Tales. I am sure that all these made-up stories about what I said at city committee meeting will not stand the light of day. The truth is that Hartonen became…