After a three-month summer break, the September issue of the Foreign Student came out and wished all the members welcome back and gave them a heads-up about the Foreign Students Club’s 15th anniversary celebrations in October.
Vice chairperson Alexandr Sannemann wrote that in Finland there is a lot of room for improvement concerning foreigner rights.
“We believe it is important that foreign students become actively involved in the task of improving their situation in Finland by getting organized. Find out more at the Foreign Students’ Club,” wrote Sannemann.
The January 1982 issue of the Foreign Student was the last newsletter that came out. The newsletter did not shy away from controversy, but the last issue was too much for some. The Foreign Student got itself in trouble with the newly elected president of the club, Fadi Kriokorian, who wanted less controversial stories published.
In protest, the whole editorial board resigned and that was the end of the newsletter.
The women, who allegedly changed her story and forced an Algerian law student, Adda Lahkar, to be deported from Finland, threatened to take the newsletter to court for defamation if I did not publish a retraction that “had to be approved by her.”
I told her to go fly a kite and if she wanted to sue I would be more than happy to see her in court. End of story.
If the April issue was the longest with 12 pages, then the summer issue was the shortest Foreign Student with only four pages. Apart from wishing everyone a good summer and thanking the activism of its members, the Foreign Student expressed disappointed with those who did not speak out.
“The past club year has been very significant. We have taken a stand and moved to better our lot as immigrants in this country. To all those who helped I extend my deepest respect and admiration,” wrote Enrique Tessieri. taken
There were some kind words for Foreign Students Club vice chairperson, Alex Sannemann’s wedding in Seurasaari.
The April 1981 issue of the Foreign Student marks an important turning point where the Foreign Students Club openly calls for better rights for foreigners. The front page picture, with two band-aids covering a Lux commercial woman’s mouth, was Enrique Tessieri’s and Alex Sannemann’s idea. The newsletter did not hide its intention either. On the front page, it now read “THE NEWSLETTER FOR STUDENTS AND IMMIGRANTS.”
The newsletter was packed with an editorial about challenging self-censorship, and a comprehensive update about the new aliens’ law.
What drives the government, particularly Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen of Perussuomalaiset (PS), to give utmost attention and tackle the issue of youth street gangs? Is it a sincere attempt to solve such a social problem, or an opportunity to further victimize migrants and minorities in Finland?
The assertion isn’t far-fetched. The PS is historically the first major contemporary Finnish party to benefit stigmatizing other groups, such as Muslims, Africans, and other non-EU nationals, as less valuable.
Many of Rantanen’s social media posts before the April election, which were deleted and white-cleaned after the election, were based on racist far-right conspiracy theories. “We shouldn’t be so blue-eyed that soon we won’t be blue-eyed,” is one of her infamous quotes. Sinisilmänen, or blue-eyed, means being naive in Finnish.
Moreover, although these types of quotes do not instill credibility in Rantanen’s ability to find solutions to youth problems, her efforts are further shot to pieces when she blames the “problem” on the “wrong” type of immigration policy.
Another takeaway is the government’s statements about clamping down on youth crime and its near-silence on far-right terrorism.
Another matter that raises red flags is the PS’s track record. In all the general elections in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2022, the party has used successfully a migrant crime theme to attract voters to the polls.
Neighboring Sweden held its election in September 2022 against a backdrop of spiraling gang violence where over 60 people were killed.
By promising to get tough on such crime, the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, and the Moderate Party led the right-wing bloc to victory. Their success also provided the PS with an important migrant crime theme to exploit politically. The problem, however, was that Finland’s youth gang problem was small compared with Sweden’s.
In the autumn of last year, the police estimated that there were 100-200 gang members in Helsinki and Turku.
As crime is usually an important topic covered by the media, it attracts more attention if so-called people of foreign backgrounds are part of the narrative. Should it surprise us that coverage of Finland’s youth gang “problem” started to grow rapidly in October after the September elections of Sweden?
In the May 1981 issue, the Foreign Student continued to mirror the activism of some of the Foreign Students Club’s members against Finland’s arbitrary and unjust treatment of foreigners. The newsletter reported on the Mayday petition, which received over 500 signatures demanding basic human rights for foreigners.
“If unity creates strength, don’t whisper anymore,” wrote the May issue of the Foreign Student.
Migrant Tales will publish all of the eleven issues of the Foreign Student, the newsletter of the Foreign Students Club of Helsinki. The March 1981 issue continued to test the waters by speaking out for foreigners’ rights.
Writes the Foreign Student: “Foreigners in Finland are taking a new stand concerning their rights here. All of us are asking: why such a tough stand concerning us while the Finnish Authorities are hypersensitive about the way Finns are treated aboard, as for example in Sweden?”
The February 1981 issue was the second of eleven newsletters that came out. The Foreign Student played an important role in giving migrants a voice during a period when foreigners were supposed to remain quiet about their civil rights.
Published in 1981, I wouldn’t have used today words like “Gypsy” and “Lapp” to refer to the Roma and Saami, respectively.
The second issue tried to speak about immigration and question Finland’s very restrictive policy towards foreigners.
Migrant Tales will begin to publish the Foreign Student, the newsletter of the Foreign Students Club of Helsinki. The January 1981 issue was the first newsletter, which came out 11 times until January 1982. The Foreign Student played an important role in giving migrants a voice during a period when foreigners were supposed to remain quiet about their civil rights.
When the Foreign Student was published about 11,000 foreigners lived in Finland. Most of these foreigners were Finns who were naturalized Swedes.
It also helped to drive up membership of the club and gave the foreign community a needed voice.
The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had a long love affair with Denmark’s anti-Muslim immigration policy, one of the toughest in Europe. With loaded guns in government, the PS must be happy that they can adopt, with the blessings of National Coalition Party (NCP) Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and the two minor coalition partners, the Swedish People’s Party (SPP) and Christian Democrats (KD), that country’s harsh immigration policy.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) used to call the anti-immigration shots in government but in recent years their support has declined abruptly. In the 2022 election, the DPP lost 11 seats to remain with five seats in parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 seats they won in 2015.
The fortunes of the DPP have been undermined by the Social Democrats who have adopted and succumbed to the same hardline immigration policy and rehotirc of the far-right party.
While some are debating if a radical right party becomes more moderate when in government, Denmark offers us an answer: it radicalizes other parties who must adopt more hostile stances in order to survive and not be devoured by a populist party.
Apart from the government’s immigration policy that disenfranchises migrants by weakening more their civil rights and making them vulnerable to exploitation by employers, one wonders how far the PS – with the blessing of the NCP, SPP and KD – will go in order to make life difficult for migrants.
in Denmark, the DPP went as far as to force migrants to speak only Danish at home and deport whole families if a member is convicted of a crime. When will we see the following aims below in Finland?
Spearheading these radical changes in Finland’s immigration policy is PS Interior Minister Mari Rantanen. She recently announced plans to speed up the asylum process to four weeks. The asylum seeker will wait for the decision at the border.
