Finnish anti-immigration party seeks to ban begging

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Three Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs plan to present a bill to Parliament that would ban begging in public places, according to YLE in English.  The aim of the bill has nothing to do with helping the Roma, a group that has suffered persecution in Europe for centuries. Its main aim is to reap political points for an embattled and scandal-ridden party, the PS. 

Scapegoating the Roma by banning begging will only exacerbate the problem by sweeping the issue under the rug. Such a law indirectly casts a shadow as well on Finland’s 10,000-strong Roma community and reinforces our collective suspicion of the group.

The proposed bill is a good example of how the PS are trying, with the municipal elections nearing in October, to capitalize on our xenophobia and racism.  

Why are Roma leaving Romania, Bulgaria and other eastern European countries to come to prosperous Finland? How many Roma are we speaking of? Are those begging on our streets a number-one national issue?  Why is an anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim party like the PS so interested in banning begging by the Roma?  

Behind all these questions you will find two factors orchestrating the rhetoric from behind: loathing for the Romany minority and political opportunism. 

The aim of the bill is what makes it especially suspect. Writes YLE in English: “The proposal states that begging has a negative impact on public safety and that permitting begging does not reduce the poverty and discrimination that foreign Roma face in their home countries.” 

Two of the PS MPs proposing the bill, Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen, have made their questionable political careers by bashing Muslims and immigrants.  Now their attention has shifted to the Romany minority.  

The third PS MP is Tom Packalén, a policeman.


Prejudice discourages employers from hiring deaf people

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I read an interesting news story on YLE in English about how prejudice hinders deaf people from getting jobs. Sounds like a familiar excuse heard commonly by immigrants, right? 

The jobless rate of deaf workers and immigrants in Finland is about three times greater than the national average. Unemployment in Finland in April stood at 8.4%, according to Statistics Finland.

Writes YLE in English: “…Getting a foot in the employer’s door is a challenge for many members of the deaf community and as many as twenty percent don’t find work. The Finnish Association of the Deaf [FAD] is worried that hearing-impaired adults are being excluded from the workplace due to prejudice.”

FAD unit manager, Borje Hanhikoski, admits that attitude plays an important role when hiring deaf people. ”I think this is more about the attitude of employers, a question of prejudice,” he said

Greed, narcissism, apathy and fascism are the greatest threats to Finland today

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters I have admired most about Finland is its underdog spirit. When I grew up part of the year as a child and adolescent in Finland with my grandparents, that fighting spirit was ever-present. It was the fuel that led the country forward and turned it into a model society today.

Despite our successes as a nation, you don’t have to search far to see social ills like greed, narcissism, apathy, totalitarian far-right ideology and ineffective checks and balances threatening our society.

Finland’s anti-immigration sentiment, based on greed and collective jealousy, is a part of the general malice that has spread like cancer in our society.

I remember reading in the 1960s a National Geographic feature on Finland, which claimed that there were so few auto thefts in this country that all of them could be listed on a single sheet of paper!

That sheet of paper has, unfortunately, grown into many volumes. Tragedies at schools in Jokela and Kauhajoki, tragic family killings as well as Hyvinkää, which caused the death of two people, reveal the serious illness that has inflicted our society.

Helsingin Sanomat reports today that the general managers’ salaries and bonuses of Finland’s 43 largest stock quoted companies rose on average in 2011 to 918,000 euros versus 792,000 euros in the previous year.

How can any human being be so valuable that he or she can make twenty-four times more money than an average worker? Weak checks and balances are certainly to blame.

It’s difficult to say what is more shameful, the avarice of general managers like Finnair’s CEO Mika Vehviläinen or his insistent denial of any wrongdoing in a suspected bribery case.

A number of politicians who should know better have rightfully got their fingers burned. One of these is National Coalition Party veteran MP Ilkka Kanerva, who was convicted in April of aggravated bribery.

Like the Vehviläinens and Kanervas of the business and political world, far-right parties and politicians  capitalize on general discontent by repackaging and simplifying social, political and economic problems into 1 + 1= 2 terms.

In Finland the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is a good example of how far-right ideology bloomed in the April 2011 election.

Like the CEOs that make hefty salaries and enjoy fat bonuses, politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others have struck gold with their racism and far-right rhetoric.

It’s so easy to attack defenseless people like refugees escaping war-torn regions and make up fairy tales about them. It is a shameful case of political opportunism, cowardice and chicanery.

Finland must and can do better than today. One of the ways of changing matters is to reinforce those very values that made us into a great nation today.

Those values are nothing more than social equality, empathy, modesty and patriotism, or a sense of community where everyone is accepted and included.

Migrant Tales Literary: Love

Posted on by Dana

??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??                               ??? ? ???? ??? ??? ???? ??
Love bangs on ur door, open it    –    be light and meaningful, come into song
??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?????                               ??? ?? ???? ??? ????? ??
Love gives strength, vitality  –   open ur embrace, come along
??? ??? ??? ? ???? ??????                                ??? ???? ???? ?? ??????
Love is the light, the path of mystics   – mystery of existence, being with lovers
??? ???? ?? ??? ????????                                    ???? ????? ???? ??????
Love makes the dead alive    –    he is the Jesus Christ of the living
??? ?? ????? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???                             ????? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????
Love calling u in each step    –  remedy to ur incurable pain
??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ? ???                              ???? ?????? ? ????? ????
Love is creative, a flower, a color, an art    –    witness to ur music and poetry
??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????                             ?? ????? ???? ?? ????? ? ???
Love falls to u at any time    –     sings ringtones of the heart and soul
??? ??? ???? ? ???? ???                                    ??? ?????  ???? ? ???? ???
Love is being and becoming   –   turn to sweet spirit and to the lovelorn
??? ???? ??? ??? ? ????                                        ??? ?????? ??? ?? ?????
Love has real stories    _                           Love is ur roof but in simplicity
??? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???                               ???? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ?????
Love has a house in the corner of ur heart   –   lover of each fiber of ur chignon, its ur mistress
??? ????? ????? ???? ????                                ???? ??? ?? ?? ?????? ????
Love is the clamor of ur seeking truth   –   power of love deep in the blood and tendons
??? ?? ?? ???? ? ?? ????? ????                              ??  ???? ????  ?????  ????
Love is in ur dream and vision   –   ah your only  wise sponsor
??? ???? ???????, ??? ???                                        ???? ?? ?????  ?? ?? ????
Love namely  family, touch sweetheart – sleep without concern in days of spring
??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???                                              ???? ??? ???? ???? ??? ??
Love is heat at my look and our look – hate has but the room under feet
??? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???                                     ?? ?? ???? ? ??? ?? ????? ????
Love is being, turning  into sea forever – bah bah, what has ador , it is ur resort

An email from a woman immigrant: Jungle law in Finland

Posted on by Dana

Some foreigners and immigrants give birth to babies near-constantly and therefore are unemployed. After 15, 10 or 7 years they enroll in a Finnish-language course and complain that they don’t learn a thing. They claim that Finnish is too difficult to learn.

Some Finns are more than happy to hear that their langauge is too difficult to learn. Only intelligent people can speak such a difficult langauge, right?  Another matter that makes them happy is that you’ll be unemployed since your knowledge of Finland is still elementary. You won’t be competing anytime soon for the same jobs as them.

Somebody like me appears and wants to improve her life but can’t change anything. It’s how jungle law functions in Finland:

  • The government and system loathe you. They think we are all doing the same thing (living off welfare) and we’re all the same;
  • That’s why some are so hostile to immigrants, especially if you try to find work or try to learn more Finnish;
  • In the meantime, while you live off welfare, you’re supposed to work for peanuts. Your daily wages amount to 9 euros and you work from 8am to 4-5pm;
  • There are immigrants who stay at home and complain near-constantly that they are sick, have a headache, have to take care of their baby or make up some other excuse to not go to work or class to learn more Finnish;
  •  Since they live frugally they have a lot of money in the bank and don’t really need to work at all. Why should they?
  • These types of immigrants abuse the law and system. Those like me, who don’t want to play this game, are singled out by the government, social workers, courts and police for standing up for our rights;
  • Those immigrants that never complain to anyone would never touch Migrant Tales with a ten-foot pole;
  • They just say everything is fine in Finland. It’s the best country in the world and everything is fine because they can take a long rest and do nothing;
  • To conclude, the social welfare system awards those that lie and punishes those that are honest.

Finns have a right to be angry at lazy people on welfare. I agree with them but they attack me and others who want to change matters. I would love to work and stop depending on social welfare.

There are two enemies out there: Immigrants and the social welfare system.

The solution? Change is only possible if I am accepted by society. Secondly, I must change my life completely. I need to get a job or establish a business so I can attain the Finnish immigrant dream: have my own apartment, raise a family, and bring my parents to this country.

All this requires money. Getting a real job or establishing a business. In other words: money.

 

 

Kun Suomi ei ole oikea vastaus

Posted on by Sasu

 

Olin mennyt viettämään koulujen päättäjäisiä yhteen puistoon. Kun olin jo jonkin aikaa jutellut yhden lukiolaisen kanssa, hän alkoi kysyä mistä vanhempani ovat tulleet.  Vastasin Suomesta. Se on teknisesti totta koska olen adoptoitu. Sitten hän kysyi missä heidän vanhempansa tulevat. Vastasin Suomesta tietty. Sitten hän jatkoi juttelua muista asioista.

Itselleni jäi ikävä tunne suuhun siitä. Miksi minun pitäisi alkaa selitellä mistä minun vanhemmat on. Toinen oli miksi hän ei uskonut, että vanhempani voisivat olla Suomesta. Tämä oli kuin jostakin stereotyyppisestä keskustelusta, jossa värillinen joutuu selittämään mistä tulee ja nykyinen asuinmaa ei ole oikea vastaus. Olisin kyllä voinut vain sanoa heidän olevan Kiinasta niin asia olisi mennyt ihan helposti ohi ilman lisämutkia. Mutta ei nyt viitsinyt alkaa valehdella.  Mitä se kertoo Suomesta jos kelpaava vastaus ei ole Suomi?  Ovatko nuoret nyt yhtään sen vähemmän rasistisempia.

Tämä tapahtuma olisi voinut olla olankohautus juttu, jos se olisi ollut vain yksittäinen tapaus, mutta tämä on kohtuu normaalia, jos päättää liikkua kadulla ja olla sosiaalinen. Parasta varmaan olla epäsosiaalinen niin välttyisin tällaisilta kohtauksilta.

 

Migrant Tales February 1, 2012: Why write about a Somali immigrant who died in Oulu, Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that has surprised me after Migrant Tales scooped more information about the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu on February 1 is the lack of empathy for the victim.  Finland and the Nordic region have not been the same after the April election and when Anders Breivik went on the rampage in Norway in July killing 77 victims. 

In both cases above, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric played a role.

One gets the impression by reading some of the threads on Migrant Tales and My Finland is International that since what happened in Oulu wasn’t considered a hate crime by the police, we should not give it much importance.

Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulahi was one of three young Muslim victims who was killed in Finland’s Black February.

Some have even gone as far as to claim that the tragedy in Oulu had nothing to do with immigration or racism.

I beg your pardon!?

What happened in Oulu had everything to do with immigrants and the social ills that threaten our society today.

We are proud that we can speak out for the victim and share on this blog our sorrow for what happened.

Add to what happened in Oulu the horrific events in Norway in summer 2011 and Finland’s ever-worsening atmosphere for immigrants and minorities, it is only natural that we react to a crime involving an immigrant, especially one where three Finns break into his home by force and perpetrated his death.

Migrant Tales will continue to report crimes against immigrants and hopes it will have the opportunity to do so in the future.

 

Somali taxi driver assaulted in Helsinki

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A Somali taxi driver was assaulted by two Finnish men on Thursday at 4:30am at the Helsinki Railway Station, according to a Migrant Tales reporter. The man was taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries to the lower jaw and chin. The two attackers were later apprehended by the police.

The victim, who was second in a taxi line waiting for customers, was approached by two men who asked if they could be taken to an unknown destination.

“I said ok and waited for a couple of minutes for them to enter the car because they were chatting between themselves,” he said. “I got suspicious and  decided against taking them because I feared that I could be robbed [or beaten up]. When I got out of the car and told them I’d refuse to take them anywhere, they attacked [me on the spot] and threatened to kill me.”

The taxi driver said that the two attackers called him the n-word and told him to go back to the country he came from.

The man was taken to hospital by ambulance. He was released the following day and is presently recovering at home.

 

Which party should I vote for in the Finnish municipal elections of October?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Which political party should I vote for in the upcoming municipal elections of October? If you are an immigrant or a naturalized Finn, probably one criterion is the party’s record on immigration and cultural diversity.  

The first important decision you should make, however, is to vote on October 28.

Very few immigrants vote in municipal elections. In 2008, only 19.6% voted compared with 60% Finnish citizens.

Those eligible to vote are:

  • Finnish citizens;
  • Citizens of the European Union, Norway and Iceland;
  • Other nationalities that have lived permanently in Finland at least two years.

While all political parties in Finland are officially against all forms of discrimination, it’s not clear what their real views are on the issue. How do they promote cultural diversity and how often do they speak out against racism?

The Christian Democrats are a case in point. They promote Christian values but there is not too much brotherly love shown by Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen when it comes to gays and refugee minors from Somalia who want to be reunited with their families.

The Center Party, Social Democrats and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) suffer from the same type of split political personality as the Christian Democrats. You will find in all of these parties members who are for and against immigrants and immigration. No other party has, however, so many openly anti-immigration members as the Perussuomalaiset (PS).

The PS is the only party in Finland that has capitalized politically on anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim sentiment  as we saw in last year’s parliamentary elections.

The Greens and Swedish People’s Parties, and even the Left Wing Alliance with some reservations, appear to be the most open to immigration and cultural diversity, according to some polls.

This municipal election poll was published by Helsingin Sanomat. 

One matter that concerns me the most about all of the parties I mentioned is that none of them speak specifically about the need in our ever-growing culturally diverse society for mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities.

What are some good questions you could ask a Finnish political party as the municipal elections near?

One question would be their big picture of Finnish society in this century. What is their stand on cultural diversity? How is our culturally diverse society supposed to function? Is it something that should be promoted or discouraged?

If they promote cultural diversity, the second question should be how. If they are against it, ask them what they plan to do with those people who live here and aren’t white Finns.

Remember to vote on October 28!

Blaming undocumented immigrants is sweeping the issue under the rug

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The treatment of an ever-growing problem like undocumented immigrants in Finland by the media and politicians resembles a debate where nobody really wants to tackle the issue. Our attention too often shifts to the undocumented immigrant, who is seen as the culprit and root of the problem. 

The ongoing  debate resembles discussing the reasons behind prostitution. Is is the woman’s fault for offering sex or the customer’s who buys such services from her? Who is to blame: demand, supply, or both?

Another problem with the debate on undocumented workers in Finland and Europe is terminology. The media and the rest of the public use a dehumanizing slur like “illegal.” Calling a human “illegal” is wrong and not only permits the employer to wash his hands of the problem, but is disrespectful. It opens the door to ethnic profiling and victimization of groups like immigrants.

If we take an extreme case like the United States, where there are an estimated 11-12 million undocumented workers, the answer why this type of activity takes place is clear: Businesses and the economy benefit immensely from undocumented workers.

As long as there are clear economic benefits for employers and the economy to hire undocumented workers, it’s wishful thinking that the issue will magically disappear. Moreover, our attention should shift  to the real culprit, the employer, rather than victimize undocumented workers.

Certainly undocumented workers are part of the problem but not in the same degree as employers, who have more resources and choices open to them than undocumented immigrants.

The first time I knew of an undocumented worker in Finland was in the 1980s. He worked for  a restaurant called Mexicana in Helsinki.  The cook, a Mexican, complained about low wages, long hours and how he had to sleep at the restaurant.

Whatever your view of this serious problem, a good and effective way to begin understanding and tackling it is by asking why this type of activity happens too often right under our noses.