Turku Islamic Center suffers attack over the weekend

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Turku Islamic Center, which has served the Muslim community of the southwestern city for over twenty years, was attacked over the weekend, according to YLE. Apart form destroying furniture, spreading salt and flour on the ground, a number of Korans were torn. Some 200 Muslims attend the Turku Islamic Center. 

The police have been notified and are investigating the attack.

This is not the first time that a non-protestant church has been attacked in Turku. Three years ago, a Buddhist temple suffered an arson attack in September 2010.

The attacks against the Buddhist temple and now to the Turku Islamic Center reveals the ugly face of intolerance that has lifted its head in Finland. When politicians in parliament base their political support on spreading hatred and racism, only a naive person would believe that such attitudes have no consequences.

Another matter that surprises Migrant Tales is why was such a serious incident reported on Monday by Turun Sanomat? This act, which should outrage sensible people because it reveals that some will take the law into their own hands to make their point, appears to suffer from the silence of politicians and civic leaders.

Migrant Tales strongly condemns such attacks.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-18 kello 0.12.31 Read full story (in Finnish) here.

”On Saturday we brought our children here to study the Arabic language and religion,” said Yari Adbulkarim. ”This was in terrible shape. We were really surprised and shocked from what we saw. The children were shocked as were all of the parents.”

Abbdulkarim said that the center had been attacked on other occasions but nothing compares to what happened over the weekend.

”It is a deep insult when the Holy Book is torn,” said Abdulkarim, ”It’s really a big thing. The Holy Book is the Holy Book.”

 

Government talks in Norway are a preview of what may happen in Finland in 2015 with the PS

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Take a close look at Norway if you want to see what may happen in Finland after the 2015 parliamentary elections, when the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) may be in government.The populist anti-immigration Progress party (FrP) of Norway will form part of a coalition government with the Conservative Party (Høyre), Christian Democrats and Liberals.

If the Conservative Party can accept to govern with a party that used to have mass killer Anders Breivik as a member, certainly the Center Party of Finland, if it wins the next parliamentary elections, won’t have any problems governing with the PS, even if some of its members have been sentenced for ethnic agitation.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-17 kello 12.03.41

Read full story here.

Parties like the FrP, PS, Danish People’s Party, Sweden Democrats and other of the Nordic region, which are anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam, are a good example of the intolerance and racism that has creeped into Nordic politics.

How do these parties work and what is their role in strengthening intolerance and institutional racism in their respective countries? They function as watchdogs gaining our attention, even our sympathies, with the help of fear-mongering and spreading intolerance thanks to our prejudices.

Their strategy is simple: The best way of maintaing things as they are is not to challenge or question anything. If in doubt, blame the immigrant or minority x.

Eyeing power, it’s natural that parties like the FrP want to sound sensible just before the formation of a new government.

A good way of finding out the real issues and cut through the snow job is to watch closely what politicians deny and, most importantly, what they don’t say.

The new incoming Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, claims in an interview with The Local that the FrP ”is not a xenophobic party.”

She continues: ”…Parts of the immigration policy they [FrP] are pushing for have already been implemented elsewhere in the Nordic region.”

Solberg doesn’t elaborate but let’s get it straight from the FrP party leader’s mouth, Siv Jensen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWkIL41HQ40&feature=player_embedded#t=0

Apart from playing down the FrP’s anti-immigration and anti-Islam stances, one of the most incredible things I hears Jensen say in another interview with The Local  was that she was against Norwegian immigration policy, not immigrants.

According to political editor Martine Aurdal of the daily Dagbldet, who is Jensen’s biographer, claimed that after 22/7, when Breivik killed   77 people, the leader of the FrP has left out more extreme rhetoric from her speech.

Why?

Because it sounds awkward especially after what Breivik did and certainly doesn’t win you over votes.

So what’s the lesson we can learn from all this?

Attitudes and xenophobia remain intact. The only matter that changes is the message.

Artist Kiba Lumberg: “Don’t box me in!”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In order to understand Kiba Lumberg, 57, you need to know some Finnish history, the plight of minorities like the Roma, and what it is like to live in worlds shaded by different hues of grey. Since this story is about an artist who doesn’t want to conform to set norms imposed on her by society, it’s useless for me to fence her in with the help of words. 

Roma Pavilion, Lumberg, Crazy Artist Diary

Kiba Lumberg, Diary of a Mad Artist,  2010–11. Her work has been widely published in comic books, illustrations and scripts.

If there’s a quote that could possibly describe Lumberg, who wants to stay as faraway as possible from ethnic labels, it’s what Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous ”I have a dream” speech of 1963:

”I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

No other person is better qualified than Lumberg to throw a monkey wrench in the works of those who want to box people in groups and dress them up with stereotypes.

Lumberg was raised by Romany parents and is a lesbian.

”I’m against anyone boxing me in an ethnic group because I am first and foremost a human being,” she said. ”I’m against groups, like heterosexuals, who try to torpedo who I am.”

She says that the heterosexual world is so imposing in our society that it doesn’t permit her to share her experiences and stories with others.

“As a lesbian you are seen as a threat because you change the so-called natural order of things of heterosexuals,” she said. ”What about my relationships with people who are important in my life?  Why can’t I openly share them with others?”

Not being white but a member of a minority like the Roma and a lesbian in Finland not only makes it hard for some people to accept you, but the same rejection and suspicion comes from the Roma community.

Lumberg states emphatically that she doesn’t seek the acceptance of any group.

Understanding the struggles that she has faced to find her identity and sense of balance, it shouldn’t come to any surprise that much of her artwork deals with issues like multiple identities, gender diversity, sexual politics, cultural understanding and otherness. All these are essential if we live a culturally diverse society that is not only heterosexual but respects sexual minorities as well, she said.

“In a way I understand what the Perussuomalaiset are saying because their message of intolerance comes from fear,” she said. ”For a multicultural society to work, it not only requires mutual acceptance and respect between people and groups, but similarly not bowing to any culture at the cost of who you are and what you think. Respecting human rights is key.”

Lumberg adds that while group identity is important, we should never forget the person as an individual human being and his or her right to choose his or her lifestyle and thoughts independently.

The artist, who ran for parliament in 2011 on the Left Alliance ticket, admits that ethnicity does play a role in Finland and can impact a person’s life.

Help how can I get

Kiba Lumberg, Diary of a Mad Artist, 2010–11.

“In Finland it’s usually easier to get a job and get ahead in life if you are white,”  she said, adding that the 10,000-strong Romany minority doesn’t need any lessons on what prejudice and racism are because they have lived in this country for five centuries.

Suzana Milevska in Call the Witness Roma Pavilion, a review of Lumberg’s 2010-11 exhibition, sums up who the artist is as a person, or how her gender and sexual orientation have joined hands and created a multifaceted identity full of contradictions, which have worked in her favor.

She writes: ”Yet life on the edge of these two worlds could be exactly the space where a new subjectivity is born, a loudly speaking subject who testifies about her disenchantments, while simultaneously constructing her singular destiny with confidence.”

Doesn't look good

Kiba Lumberg, Diary of a Mad Artist, 2010–11.

I would take what Milevska wrote a bit further to a poem I wrote a long, long time ago. It was about a transgender cowboy, who was a communist that lived in Texas during the Cold War. 

The transgender cowboy represents for some the worst thing a person can be in a state that is not only openly conservative, but anti-communist and anti-gay. Even so, there’s one side of the poem that you must understand to get it: It takes raw guts to be openly those things in Texas.

That’s why the transgender cowboy is the bravest son of a bitch to ever ride the West.

PALJASTETTU.: Voidaanko “väitellä” suvaitsemattomuuden lisäämisestä?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri

On ollut mielenkiintoista huomata kuinka Kokoomusten Nuorten Liiton (KNL) puheenjohtaja, Susanna Koski, on saanut paljon julkista huomiota tällä viikolla. Tästä kohusta syntyy kysymys: Onko suomalainen media taas antamassa rasisteille ja radikaali maahanmuuttovastustajille tunnustusta?

Miksi on niin, että suomalainen media useasti hurmaantuu suvaitsemattomuudesta, rasismista ja nationalismista?

Suomalainen media on ollut niin antelias, että se mahdollisti pienen populistisen puoluetta kasvaa maan kolmanneksi suuremmaksi puolueeksi 2011 eduskunnan vaaleissa.

Koko populistinen maahanmuuttovastainen kupla Suomessa perustuu liioittelun, kiihottamiseen ja valheisiin. Sitä harjoitettiin mm. Englannissa 1970- ja 1980-luvulla. Enoch Powell väitti silloin, että ”vaahtoavia verisiä jokia syntyy” River of blood puhessa kun valkoiset britit ja maahanmuuttajat käyvät toistensa kimppuun.

Jos olisi mahdollista ehdottaa suomenlehdistölle virheet mitä tehtiin Englannissa noin 35 vuotta sitten kun kirjoitettiin maahanmuutosta, laatisin seuraavaan lista:

– Kun puhutaan maahanmuuttajista, aina on valkoinen asiantuntiajat joka neuvoo. Harvoin kysytään maahanmuuttajien mielipidettä
– Suomen lehdistön on valkoinen
– Harvoin lehdistö kysy ovatko kantasuomalaiset syypäitä ”maahanmuutto ongelmiin”
– Kun rasismi vahvistu Suomessa, enemmän palstatilaa annetaan sille
– Rasismin nousu yhteiskuntamme osoittaa kuinka ennakkoluuloinen ja epäkriittinen on mediamme
– Media on osaa syypää rasismin ongelma Suomessa.

Jääviys on toinen tärkeä asiaa, jonka haluan mainita listaan. Ihmiset jotka kuuluvat poliittisin puolueisiin kirjoittavat ja esittävät mielipiteitä lehdistössä mm. maahanmuutosta.

Hyvä esimerkki on Tuomas Enbuske, Helsingin Sanomien kolumnisti ja televisiojuontaja. Hän haastatteli tällä viikolla Koskea ja antoi KNL:n puheenjohtajalle oleellinen ponnistuslauta esittää omaa neoliberaalisia ja rasistisia näkemyksiä.

Enbuske on maininnut Uuden Suomen blogissa, että hän kuuluu Kokoomuksen puolueeseen.

Ei ole ihme, että Enbusken ohjelmassa ei kyseenalaistettu Koskea kriittisemmin ja mitä hän ajatteli ehdotuksesta poistaa lakipykälän, joka kieltää kiihottamisen kansanryhmää vastaan ja Vähemmistövaltuutetun viranlakkauttamisesta. Miksi? Koska ei ole yhtään maahanmuuttajataustaisia ohjelmassa.

Se on outoa, mutta ne, jotka haluavat muuttaa radikaalisti maatamme, kuten KNL, perussuomalaiset ja muut poliittiset tahot, haluavat ”väitellä” enemmän suvaitsemattomuudesta. Jos esittäisin tuon näkökulman valkoisten suomalaisten perspektiivistä, kysyisin voimmeko ”väitellä” vähemmän naisten oikeuksien puolesta, vähemmästä palkasta ja edistää seksististä syrjintää?

Voimmeko “väitellä” vähemmän ihmisoikeudenpuolesta?

Tuskin.

Meidän hyvinvointivaltio on pyrkinyt saavuttamaan paljon hienoja asioita kuten tasa-arvon. Siksi se on meidän velvollisuus puolustaa näitä tärkeitä etuja eikä ”väitellä” kuinka voisimme lisätä ja hyväksyä pahoinvointia, rasismia ja epätasa-arvoa.

Itsenäinen ja kriittinen media on tärkeä rooli Suomessa ja Euroopassa kun äärioikeisto ja äärinationalistiset äänet saavat enemmän jalansijaan yhteiskuntamme.

Näiden suvaitsemattomat äänet, jotka harvoin antavat ratkaisuja mutta etsivät syntipukkeja, ovat Euroopan suurin uhkaus tänään yhdessä kasvavassa köyhyyden kanssa.

Media pelaa tärkeä rooli demokraattisille vahtikoirana.

Ilman sitä olemme tuomittu.

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen voi lukea tästä.

Former Perussuomalaiset councilman convicted for ethnic agitation shows no remorse

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Who can forget Black February 2012, when three Muslims lost their lives in a span of about three weeks in January-February? The last one, which was horrific, ended with the cold-blooded killing of a Muslim at a pizzeria in Oulu. A former Perussuomlaiset (PS) councilman wrote on Facebook that a medal should be awarded to a Finn called Janne for shooting and killing one of the victims. 

The former PS councilman from Köyliö, Tommi Rautio, was sentenced in December and fined 120 euros by a Satakunta regional court for ethnic agitation.

He was sacked from the party in March and not reelected in October to city council. He got nine votes.

National Coalition Party Helsinki politician Ossi Mäntylähti was responsible for bringing Rautio’s comments to national media attention. Migrant Tales was also present in informing the immigrant community and foreign media, of which Boris Peltonen of Germany daily Die Welt got in touch with Mäntylahti and Migrant Tales.

Read Die Welt story (in German) here.

Rautio resurfaces Sunday on Mäntylahti’s Facebook thread. He explains all of the things he lost after his conviction but nowhere does he express any remorse for what he wrote.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-15 kello 12.20.33

Go to Ossi Mäntylahti’s Facebook page here.

He claims that what happened to him was Mäntylahti’s fault because he was provoked. After his conviction, Rautio claims he lost all of his friends, relationships, job and source of livelihood.

Rautio claimed in court that what he wrote about giving a medal to Janne was done ironically.

This is what he wrote after the killing in February:

”If Janne is the one [who shot the foreigners at the pizzeria] then we should give Janne a medal…if not Ossi [Mäntylahti] there is already a war going on and in every war [soldiers] are decorated.”

If you visit Rautio’s Facebook page, you’ll find Islamophobic postings and groups.

This week, the Youth League of the National Coalition Party published its 2014 program, where it suggests, among other things, scrapping ethnic agitation laws in Finland.

If ethnic agitation laws were scrapped, Rautio would not have been convicted for hate speech.

The Finnish and European media still have a lot to learn about racism and intolerance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One matter that is interesting to note when looking at the media before the historic victory of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party in April 2011, is the present controversy surrounding the Youth League of the National Coalition Party’s program. Is the media giving racists, radical anti-immigration groups and voices inflated respectability and importance?

The whole Susanna Koski affair is a case and point. Like poking an angry beehive, there is initial shock that soon subsides after the stings don’t hurt because we’re wearing protective clothing. Our protective clothing to the far right and anti-immigration message of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing program appeared like a knee-jerk reaction, which subsided thanks in part to our prejudice.

In other words, the program of the National Coalition Party’s youth league started to sink in.

Why is the Finnish media swept off its feet and dazzled so often by intolerance, racism and nationalism? Our media has been so generous in the past to these social ills that it was in part responsible for the rise of the PS and the election of a number of far right MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari, both sentenced for ethnic agitation.

Migrant Tales published recently a story where it looked at how the Finnish media gave inflated respectability and importance to racists in this country. This is nothing new in Europe. It happened in Britain about thirty years ago and is happening here in Finland right now before our eyes.

Below are some of  obvious symptoms when the media writes about cultural diversity:

  • White sources are always used as authorities when immigrants and minorities are concerned
  • Editors of Finland’s main dailies are white
  • Immigrant and visible minority voices are rarely if ever permitted to make their case
  • Rarely if ever do editors ask if whites are the source of the”immigrant problem”
  • We give inflated respectability and importance to racists because they mirror our attitudes
  • In Finland, the stronger racism became, the more airtime it gets
  • The rise of racism in our society and our coverage of it reveals how unbalanced and uncritical our media is
  • When it comes to fighting racism, the media are part of the problem

Another important point I would like to add to the list above is conflict of interest. People who are card-carrying members of a political party write and promote their views in the national media.

A good example is columnist Tuomas Enbuske, who is a Helsingin Sanomat columnist and hosts a popular television talk show. He interviewed this week Koski, and gave the youth leader of the National Coalition Party a platform to spread her neoliberal and racist points of view.

Embuske had advertised on Uusi Suomi that he is a member of the National Coalition Party.

No, the show hosted by Enbuske was not outraged by what Koski suggested, that the Ombudsman for Minorities office and laws that govern ethnic agitation should be scrapped.  Why? Because all of them are white.

In my opinion, the Youth League of the National Coalition Party’s program to scrap ethnic agitation laws have the potential to unleash the same hate as the Nuremberg Laws did in 1935 against the Jews.

If the Finnish media wants to bolster its credibility, it should look at dailies like The Guardian. Possibly then our embattled media, which is the victim of Finland’s growing nationalism and intolerance, can start to gain more credibility in the eyes of the public.

It’s odd but those that want to change radically our country, like the Youth League of the National Coalition Party and others, believe that we can “debate” matters like more intolerance. To put it in a white Finnish perspective, can we “debate” watering down women’s rights, lower pay and further sexism?

Can we “debate” greater approval of human rights violations?

I doubt it.

Our Nordic social welfare state has made remarkable gains in the areas of social equality. We should defend these rights instead of “debate” how to further and make social inequality more acceptable.

A media that is critical and independent has a very important role to play in Finland and the rest of Europe today as far right and ultra nationalistic voices gain momentum.

Those voices of intolerance, which never give you any effective solutions except for scapegoating, are the real threat to Europe together with rising social inequality and poverty.

The media plays a crucial role in being the critical watchdog of our democratic system.

Without it we’re doomed.

From Anonymous to Dana

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales Blog – Message of Condolences to Dana

as she mourns for her bereaved parents

We say….. Dana! you are not alone….but MTs and our own

 

Even if  the body tremmors with shock from the thrust and pressure trigged by the double

tragedy for your beloved parents they are not yours alone but also…………Migrant Tales

and our own

 

Even if your heart is crying with pain and the wall that protects it, has cracked with tears

 drain, but we are here not there, we are hear so near, to your ear, for you are us and ours

 and, our own

 

Even if your mind is clogged and exhausting the brain we can share the burden and strain

 for we are with you all the way and you are not alone or on your own but with us as one 

of our own

 

Even if your soul is encapsulated with grief and creates a strain but we hold our hands 

together and between the two letters M and T is a hug from Migrant Tales from your 

beloved Baba and Mama as they represent us, for you are us, and one of us,……. ours 

and, one of our own

 

Even when colourless tears turned bloody tears your chests wets, but our also ours

drains, for you are a part of MTs nuclear family and community member of our own

 

Dana !you lost your beloved parents it is shocking and devastating may at  times bring

you to the rhetoric question of, why……………..why me? Oh my Lord !  its Gods will!

Its Almighty Gods wish……………..no mistake…………………………..no question about it!

Remember God loves you,  for you are his own, but also you are our own.

 

Dana you are not an orphan nor alone but MTs child with a voice and as a free-spirited

bird who can fly and when emotionally overwhelmed can land on MTs shoulders and lean

 on...for we are here for you….if you need us… or need a listening-ear….we shield you 

with our words not with an arrow and spear against whoever wants us to tear but as a

community we become your sweet pear among a society….dear, as you are one of our own

 

Even if two five to five plus two seven seven dates……. doesn’t make the sum even, but 

menories of dark and bitter/sad days bodys stiffens as it spurs traumatic events, we are

with you 24/7 and can not leave you alone, like a cone we are with you, and your`re 

among us and not alone, even if you are now on your own, you are like a limp of our 

body-own 

 

Its Almighty Gods will – nothing and no-one can convince him to re-schedule nor adjorn

we are here to support you, hope our presence will serve as a pain-relief and further……. 

devastation adjorn and let you know that you are not alone but with us now and always

as our own 

 

For their time has come, for them to say goodbye, to the earth and world, for their lord has

their soul beckon to meet them not to your life..torn, but be rest assured even if they were

in a hurry and forgot……………..to say goodbye to Dana, they are safe, for they are his own 

and you are not on your own, but with him thy-Lord and safe in MTs hands as our own

For Gods`action may sometimes imply or hiddenly encripted in a silent…secret message 

we may not decipher, God knows better………………but may be………… ,  he is trying to 

convey a message to you, that says Dana! be strong for your brothers`sake and take 

care of yourself and for each other and think someday of initiating a life of your own

 

Escorted by angels to heaven and Dana`s bloody tears is dear turns clear, and even far 

is near, for it showers the way and leaves a fragrance and scent of musk and UuD on their

souls and gowns adorn, for your their beautiful baby and no one other than their own but

also a daughter of our own

 

Don`t despair for you will leave in their hearts forever and ever Ameen! but leave us never!

for you are not alone but in our minds as MT member, as a friend and as a blogger and as 

one of our own

 

Bide them a warm farewell kiss for their sweet souls to rest in eternal peace mingled with

prayers from Danas lips, its a crown, their shrine will shine, for your are not alone theirs, 

but also as a daughter, our sister and as one of our own

 

For you are their special gift in heaven and on earth, don`t despair 24/7, for you will meet

them one day, but for now, you have to be very strong for yourself and for your brothers sake

here and, continue to make MT proud…………… for you are one of us, and, ours and our own

 

Dana! say Mama and Baba goodbye! and rest in peace for you`re my world! My body! My 

heart and my soul! My sunshine and My beloved ones! and both  you are in my heart and

soul for now and always! you will stay nor torn or thrown, for you will never be deceased

but remain alive- and never cease, as a crown for your are my own parents and only my own

 

Dana! say nothing will tear us apart! even if already gone for your memories will always be 

cherished and remain in my soul adorn, and not thrown, for they are no ones else but only 

specially mine and only mine alone, like my gown, I own, and they are my own

 

With a tender touch like a birds feather heeze is Migrant Tales breeze that soothes and calm

your heart and nerves with shared empathy and mutual understanding and care with a breeze

of its own kind encased in letters MT, Migrant Tales whispers softly in your ears, Mmmmmmm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………………Ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

sounds like Emp..tttttttttttttttttttty.!..EMPTY.!…Dana !…the dark closet holding the unbearable pain…

to avoid being traumatized, for you are not alone but, MTs and our own

Engraved with letters M and T, is a special message from Migrant Tales to you our Dana! 

Which says ” We are with you! As you! We stand by you ! And we are always for you and 

We will always be with you……………………….. dear Dana! to help create a new  fibre and a

new layer to numb the pain that swelled and roots grown, for your one among many in our

community and not one of a kind but one of our own

 

For MT has helped your ordeal known, with a bright light it shines in one of the darkest 

night and, continues to lighten the earth and shines the sky yet clears your chest off, the 

burden, that suffocates and hearts hardens as like a string your sorrow are now also in their

soul sown, for you are not alone nor like anyone else but as Dana! you are one of their own

 

Dana! you are not alone as you embark in this difficult journey to recovery and healing 

for you are not  alone… look! who is sitting next to you..Enrique; beside you…is JD, Mark 

among others, for we are all here, with you not away from you, but so……. near.. to you..

for you are.. dear, and not alone in a deserted zone like a drone, we are with you here and

its known, as you are one of our own

 

MT will wrap you in its colourful Migrant Tales shawl, showered with inordinate sympathy

and  sincere message of condolences so far yet so near, and, will still continues to be shown,

to help you regain back your strength and be as fit as a fiddle –  for your are one of Finlands`

family members, who is mourning for her beloved parents and one of our MTs communitys`

members and our own

 

 

Like a water spray we cool the burning tears and sorrow that engulfes your body, mind and

soul for we can see and hear and not at all far but so near, within a press of a button or a 

click of a mouse, as together we all mourn, for you are not alone, but always remember

you are one of our own

 

Even if there is nothing to hang out for a moment but incredible stress but you can bear

for your stronger inside as outside even if torn – we standby you, to pick you up when you

fall or trip, for you not theirs alone, but also, our own

 

As we embark with you in this journey not to unknown, but to help you recover and from 

grief known, for you are not alone, but our special Dana! who is always with us, and none

other, than one of our own

 

Migrant Tales flag has been flying half-mask from May to July and will continue as we 

mourn for the demise of Dana`s beloved ones- her parents-dear Baba and Mama who are

not none other, than also our own. 

 

Its a moment of silence, as we tie a ribbon of Migrant Tales, with initials MT, together

with our bare two hands and say good bye to Danas Baba and Mama! for they are not

your parents alone, but also our own

 

Migrant Tales as a special community among a society in Finland is engaged in a shared unified sense of purpose of  giving a voice  to the voiceless and reaching-out  to touch lives and make a difference, like now Dana as we mourn all together………for you’re also one among many, and as a part and a parcel of MTs blog, we are touched by your pain and sorrow and as you are grieving, you can`t be left alone but kept under the shelter of the MT`s tree which offer a shed of a kind of its own, for you are  Dana!  one of our own.

To Dana…………………………………………………………….From Migrant Tales!

 is our message of sincere condolences, as we say in unisom Dana! 

You are not alone but ours….. and one of own and together we mourn

For your grief is our grief…………………. and your sorrow is our sorrow

for your parents are also our parents and as a community we mourn

for you are our own

Anonymous

Courtesy of Migrant Tales

 

YLE in English: Lifting visa requirements from Russians would create thousands of jobs

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This has got to be one of the strangest stories I’ve read on YLE in English. It claims that lifting visa requirements for Russians would create thousands of job in Finland. Is xenophobia so ingrained in some Finns that they still think that foreigners and Russians are such a threat that they don’t grasp that tourism, never mind immigration, spur economic growth and create jobs? 

Writes YLE in English: “Visa freedom would boost the Finnish economy and increase employment, according to researchers at the University of Eastern Finland. Last year Russians made four million journeys to Finland, with a visa-free regime expected to double the volume of traffic.”

The negative attitudes that some house of immigrants, which is maintained by myths and prejudice passed from generation to generation and learned at home and at school, is the real culprit that is feeding our ignorance.

It not only feeds our ignorance and fear but is impoverishing us as a nation. It is our prejudice that is robing us of new blood, innovation and hard work.

Ever thought why we are required in this country to raise the retirement age? Because our population is graying and because there are too few young people replacing those jobs left by our ever-growing army of pensioners.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-12 kello 13.11.45

 

 

Read story here.

Some Finns are still suspicious of immigrants and outsiders no matter how many positive examples you show them.

Even if  an OECD study published in June that immigration boosted economic growth in Finland in 2011 by 0.16%, there are too many in Finland who believe that immigration is a burden and threat on our society.

As long as we continue to see immigrants and Otherness with suspicion, the more harm we will inflict on our nation.

Therefore, those who spread urban myths of immigrants and racism are the real enemies of our society who will leave you without a job and a future.

Amir Zuhairi: Ulkomaalaisena Suomessa

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Amir Zuhairi

Millaista on elää irakilaisena suomalaisten keskellä?

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-12 kello 13.02.43Minulta on kysytty joskus, tunnenko itseni suomalaiseksi vai irakilaiseksi, koska olen syntynyt Suomessa. Kadulla kävellesäni tunnen itseni niin ulkomaalaiseksi kuin vaan voin, ne mulkkaavat katseet, pahasti katsominen, tahallaan tai tahattomasti, puhumattakaan huuteluista. Nämä herättää erilaisia ajatuksia; onko minussa jotakin vikaa? mitä ulkokuorella on väliä? tekeekö vaaleampi ihonväri sinusta parempaa ihmistä? Tekee mieli aina avautua sille mulkkaavalle hemmolle. Päädyn aina siihen, että jatkan matkaani eteenpäin hiljaa toivoen, että tästäkin kansasta tulisi joskus suvaitsevaisia, ennakkoluulottamia, ja avarakatseisia varsinkin ulkomaalaisia kohtaan.

Kerran käveltiin koulusta kotiin kaverin kanssa, matkan varrella oli kaksi, noin 8-vuotiasta poikaa, toisella oli FC Barcelonan reppu (futisjoukkue), joten minun kaverini tokaisi hänelle “Kiva reppu“, pojat tujoitti toisiaan hetken aikaa, ja toinen sanoi meille “Onko teillä paskaa naamassa?“, haha oltiin ihan shokissa ja naurettiin asialle. Jälkeenpäin mietin, mistä ihmeestä tuon ikäinen on oppinut tuollaista. Yleensä se on se kasvatus…vanhemmat, perhe, läheiset. Ihan hemmetin surullista.

Mietitäänpä ihmisiä lahjapaketteina. Olet toivonut jotakin tiettyä lahjaa todella pitkään, heitätkö kaikki saamasi lahjapaketit pois erilaisen/ruman/epämieliyttävän lahjapaperin takia?

Ymmärtäkää hyvät ihmiset, että se mistä ihminen tulee, mitkä ovat hänen taustat, erilaisen kulttuurin ja uskonnon omistamisella jne. ei ole mitään väliä. Ainoa millä on väliä, on hän itse ihminen.

Entäpä, tunnenko itseni koskaan suomalaiseksi? Harvoin tunnen itseni supisuomalaiseksi. Välillä sukulaiset ja läheiset muistuttavat minua jostakin minun asenteista/käytöksistä, joita olen saanut vaikutteita suomalaisilta, tokaisemalla huumorilla “Hei, me ei olla suomalaisia, tuollainen ei kuulu meidän tapoihin”.Vaikka kuinka paljon kaljatuoppeja kulauttelen, HK:n makkaraa ahmisin, katsoisin SM-liigaa, seuraisin Salattuja elämiä klo 19.30, ja ottaisin saunakaljaa mukaan saunaan, kadulla ihmiset silti katsoisivat minua muukalaisena. Että hei vaan, olen minäkin ihminen! 🙂

Joten sanoisinko näin fiksusti; Suomi on kotimaani, Irak on isänmaani.

Muistakaa, että erilaisuus on rikkaus.  

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen voi lukea tästä.

Tämä blogikirjoitus julkaistiin Migrant Talesissä luvalla.

Susanna Koski: “The Youth League of the National Coalition Party has zero tolerance to racism”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Susanna Koski is quoted as saying on Helsingin Sanomat that the Youth League of the National Coalition Party that she is president of has zero tolerance to racism. “We don’t accept racism in any form or shape,” she said.  

Kuvankaappaus 2013-9-12 kello 1.23.38Read original story (in Finnish) here.

Right, Koski, you don’t tolerate racism but want to do away with those laws and institutions that protect immigrants and visible minorities from racism.

What kind of society would Finland be if you did away with the Ombudsman for Minorities and laws that govern ethnic agitation?

Your comment sounds like the double-talk that we commonly hear from far right Perussuomalaiset (PS) politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and Timo Soini to justify racism and intolerance in this country.

The reason why you claim to have “zero tolerance to racism” is simply because you are white and have no idea what racism is. Your denials remind me of what happened before the April 2011 elections, which opened the floodgates of intolerance for the racists.

Let me refresh you memory. Back then, National Coalition Party chairman Jyrki Katainen said “debating immigrant issues in this country didn’t make you a racist” and Social Democratic Party (SDP) Economy Minister Jutta Urpilainen’s  infamous maassa maan tatalla (In Rome do as the Romans do) statement.

If you have zero tolerance to racism why are your arguments similar to PS MPs that have been sentenced for ethnic agitation?

We wrote this week:

Some of the proposals put forth by the National Coalition Party’s youth wing are barbaric because they would bolster and reinforce our prejudice, discrimination and outright hostility to people who are different from us.

Isn’t that type of behavior barbaric?