Etelä-Saimaa: Persun kestäviä realiteetteja

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: How realistic and seriously should the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset be taken? In the column published below in Lappeenranta-based daily Etelä-Saimaa, Heli Tiusanen writes about two PS MPs,  Teuvo Hakkarainen and Reijo Tossavainen, who want to now close Finland’s borders to asylum-seekers.

The only foreigners that would be allowed to move to Finland are those with work.

Every day a new scene unfolds in the tragic-comic four-year play brought to you by the PS. This latest one is no surprise.

Iltalehti published a while back a list of MP candidates that belong to the anti-immigration camp. I am certain that the list is much longer than the evening tabloid suggests.  PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen is missing from Iltalehti’s list.

___________

Heli Tiusanen

Perussuomalaisten herrat Tossavainen ja Hakkarainen ovat kailottaneet kovaan ääneen, että Suomen pitäisi sulkea rajansa turvapaikanhakijoilta. Lintukotoomme voisi kyllä päästää sellaiset ulkomaalaiset, joilla on tänne tullessaan työpaikka. Kiintiöpakolaiset voitaisiin ottaa vastaan, pitkin hampain. Kumpikaan ei ole puhunut sanaakaan siitä, saako suomalainen tuoda ulkomaalaisen puolisonsa maahan.

Read whole story.

Diversity and Finland: One and the same

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

There are many ways to face diversity. You can try to quash it with nationalism as is happening in many parts of Europe, or make it work for as many as possible for everyone’s benefit. 

Unless we end up killing each other with the sword of indifference, it is only natural that humanity must learn one day to live with its diversity. It has to because if we fail in the task it will mean resurrecting those two dark riders of the apocalypse: war and squalor.

The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe is not only an unfortunate sign of the times but a dangerous warning because they are stoking the fires of hatred and divisions in society.

Populist parties like the Perussuomalaiset believe that their main job is to fuel more nationalism at the cost of those minorities they suspect or loathe. The nationalism that they are handing wholesale to the public with their rhetoric is hazardous to society.

Racism should not find an ever-growing foothold in this country but are parties like the PS concerned? When Teuvo Hakkarainen’s racist outbursts hit the public fan not one PS MP expressed condemnation or remorse.

As far as politicians and groups like the PS continue to use bigotry as a tool to secure votes and to increase their popularity, Timo Soini’s party can never be considered normal but a passing fad that will retreat back to single-digit percentage figures.

Diversity and Finland are one and the same. It should be defended and respected by everyone in this country, even by parties like the PS.

Spiegel Online International: Strict Immigration Laws ‘Save Denmark Billions’

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: This story below, published by German news magazine Der Spiegel, shows the never-ending arguments and excuses that the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP) will use to justify its hardline immigration stance. The DPP is of special interest to us because Perussuomalaiset anti-immigration hardliners like Jussi Halla-aho believe that Finland should follow Denmark’s path.

Denmark, which has the most restrictive immigration laws in Europe, now tries to tell us that such a policy is justified because it has brought savings in the last years to the tune of 6.7 billion euros. I wonder if they will ever put out a report on how much the country has lost due to draconian immigration policies.

Would you invest in a country that is especially hostile to non-Western immigrants?

The report was published by the integration ministry under anti-immigration hardliner, Søren Pind.

DPP leader Pia Kjærsgaard, who is known for her provocative statements, said that the report showed that Somalians are “no good for anything” and “that is simply not acceptable.”

The saddest matter in Denmark is that there is presently a stalemate due to the anti-immigration policies of the DPP. Even if they plan to tighten even more immigration policy because the country will hold elections this year, it appears that building a high wall around Denmark is the DPP’s only answer on how deal with immigrants.

Here is another interesting story on the DPP in Copenhagen-based daily Politiken in which the Social Liberals have refused any further tightening of immigration laws.  Read “No to Circus Kjærsgaard.”

_________

By Anna Reimann

Denmark’s strict immigration laws have saved the country 6.7 billion euros, a government report has claimed. Even though Denmark already has some of the toughest immigration laws in Europe, right-wing populist politicians are now trying to make them even more restrictive.

Read whole story.

HS: Kiviniemi vappupuheessaan: Pelottelulla moni sai ääniä

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: If there is a political party that I would thank in the last election it would be the Center Party. In her May Day speech, former Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi blamed the party’s election setback on its decision not to jump on the anti-immigration bandwagon.

The Center Party was the biggest loser in the April 17 election. It lost 7.4% of votes compared with 2007, or a total of 16 seats to 35.

Said Kiviniemi: “My message was that the Center Party should not ride its campaign on an anti-immigration platform. Not even if it would cost us in the parliamentary election.”

Some analysts believe that the Perussuomalaiset was one party that exploited the country’s anti-immigration sentiment to its fullest and was therefore able to make important gains in the election.  Factors like the bailout of Greece, Ireland and Portugal played important roles as well in luring voters to the PS’ side. 

Even though politics is a dog-eat-dog world, values do matter. US President Barak Obama was one of the few senators who voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  In the presidential election of 2008, he was able to capitalize on his leadership on this front.

When better economic times return to Europe, the Center Party could be gain from its courageous stand against racism. Parties like the PS, who capitalized on anti-immigration and anti-EU sentiment, would be the biggest losers.

Thank you Kiviniemi for not giving in to anti-immigration sentiment and racism.

Many will forget what you did.

____________

Keskustan puheenjohtaja Mari Kiviniemi sanoi toivovansa, että keskustelu maahanmuutosta jatkuu aiempaa monipuolisempana. Kiviniemen mielestä vaalien alla keskustelua käytiin pitkälti kriitikoiden ehdoilla ja erilaisilla nimimerkeillä internetissä.

Read whole story.

Iltalehti: Hakkarainen ei pyytele anteeksi rajuja puheitaan

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Perussuomaliset MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who created quite a stir with his racist statements against immigrants and Muslims during his first day in parliament, now says he will not apologize for what he said. He told Iltalehti that he had no reason to apologize since he “was protecting Finns (from immigrants and refugees).”

“I don’t approve that foreign men come here in groups just to use our social welfare,” he said.

Hakkarainen has tried playing the innocent country boy who still calls blacks the n-word. Center Party secretary, Timo Laaninen, asked in Jyväskylä-based daily Keskisuomalainen how Hakkarainen could pin his racist statements to people living in the rural countryside? Some consider this explanation a slap in the face to all country people living in Finland.

“It would be pretty hard to think of a worse insult to people who were born in the country,” said Laaninen.

The PS MP is trying to play dumb but there aren’t many that are buying his story, especially immigrants, minorities and the ombudsman for minorities.

_________

Tuore kansanedustaja Teuvo Hakkarainen (PS) jatkaa maahanmuuttajien ja homojen möyhentämistä puheenjohtaja Timo Soinin puhutteluista huolimatta.

Read whole story.

BBC: Eastern European migrants ‘add £5bn’ to Britain’s GDP

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:   Immigrants from eastern Europe that moved to the UK have given an injection of £5bn (5.64 billion euros) to the economy during 2004-09, according to the BBC citing a report by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

The NIESR report states that countries that imposed restrictions on eastern workers saw economic growth reduced.

The BBC writes:”During the same period Britain’s GDP grew by £98bn, or 7.7%, and the NIESR study says that a 5% share of the £98bn can be put down to the migrants. The NIESR says the UK probably benefited from the restrictions imposed by other member states. It says Germany will suffer a “permanent scar” on its level of output, with its GDP reduced by between 0.1 and 0.5%.”

Migration Watch UK, an anti-immigration lobby group, said bringing in so many labor migrants was a “poor deal” for the UK.

Why do you think Finland has attracted so few skilled workers to the country?

____________

Immigrants from eastern Europe have added almost £5bn (5.64 billion euros) to Britain’s economy since 2004, according to a report.

Read whole story.

El País: El ocaso de la tolerancia nórdica

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is story published Sunday by El País of Madrid on how the Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden and Finland have given ground to “far-right and populist” parties. The article, authored by Ana Carbajosa and Adrián Soto, who has lived in Finland for over thirty-five years, shows special concern over the last election in Finland.

Writes El País: “The last big (election) victory and which was probably more surprising was that of the Perussuomalaiset (the article translates the Finnish name of the party to Auténticos Finlandeses, or authentic Finns) who got two weeks ago 19% of the votes, or seven times more than in the last election (of 2007). Some analysts attribute the victory to the charismatic leader of the party, EuroMP Timo Soini.”

Could parties like the Perussuomalaiset, Danish People’s Party and Sweden Democrats mentioned in the El País story be knee-jerk reactions by some sectors of society to the rapid changes taking place in these countries due to globalization?

What is lamentable about these parties is that their responses are angry reactions with the usual round of anti-EU, anti-immigration and anti-Islam sentiment. Their hostility and nationalism only aggravates the problem.

Do you agree?

____________

Adrián Soto y Ana Carbajosa

La victoria electoral de los Auténticos Finlandeses ha supuesto una pequeña revolución en el país nórdico, pero sobre todo ha hecho saltar todas las alarmas en una región en la que hasta hace bien poco era casi impensable escuchar argumentos tan extremistas como los que ahora circulan por los Parlamentos nacionales de la zona. Los partidos de extrema derecha y populistas nórdicos ya no pueden ser ignorados porque les respalda una parte del electorado nada despreciable. En Finlandia y en Dinamarca han sido la tercera fuerza más votada. En Suecia han aflorado de la semioscuridad y han entrado en la cámara parlamentaria.

Pinche aquí para seguir leyendo.

Thank you PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen of Finland for exposing yourself!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If we had to draw the face of racism that has lurked in Finnish society for decades, I would start by drawing Perussuomalaiset MP Teuvo Hakkarainen’s face.  He may look like a nice country boy from Viitasaari in Central Finland, but if you scratch the surface you will find the racism and ignorance that lives in some Finns. If you think that Hakkarainen is the only PS MP who has strong opinions on immigrants and refugees, you better think twice.

Racism and xenophobia come in different flavors in the PS.

It appears that we have for now four types in this dubious league: the Hakkarainens, serious Halla-ahos, serious little gray matter Halla-ahos and the ones that can hide it craftly. In order to be fair, I am certain that some of the 39 PS MPs that were elected are not challenged on this front. Isn’t it high time that they should come out and condemn racism to save theirs and the PS’ face?

Justice Demon sent us a few video clips of the first group, the Hakkarainens. The first one is the original interview by Helsingin Sanomat of MP Hakkarainen with English subtitles. The second and third are parodies of the original interview without English subtitles.

Taking into account Hakkarainen’s whirlwind start in parliament, his official web page leaves us even more perplexed. Apart from promising to “build together a better Finland,” Hakkarainen wrties that he has done consulting work in North and Central America as well as in Israel.

Haka-Wood is a sawmill company owned by Hakkarainen’s family. The company gets half a million euros in subsidies from the EU even though MP Hakkarainen is anti-EU.

Meanwhile, I asked a while back if anyone knew who was the elected MP for the PS that the Financial Times referred to as the  “ice cream salesman.”

His name is Kaj Turunen and he’s from the same electoral district as I (Etelä-Savo)! There is nothing wrong with selling ice cream in summer or being a businessman. The question goes deeper:  How qualified must you be to represent voters in a serious place like parliament?

Turunen writes in his blog that it is only a question of time when Finland leaves the EU.

I wonder what is going to happen to all those juicy farm subsidies and how much it will affect Turunen’s ice cream sales in the Savonlinna market place.

Perussuomalaiset: The end of imaginary Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Perussuomalaiset have a long way to go before the majority of Finns, never mind immigrants and minorities, begin to accept them as a “normal” political party. The racist outbursts of PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen and PS MP Jussi Halla-aho’s pledge to tighten even more the screws on immigration policy, have got people rightfully concerned about the kind of Finland we’ll be living in a few years down the road.

Certainly you can look at the rise of the PS as the Soviet Union’s last months of 1991, when a group of Communist hardliners, the infamous Gang of Eight, usurped power to salvage a sinking system. They didn’t salvage the ship but speeded instead its final demise.

The April election could be seen as a final call to salvage a Finland that only existed in between some people’s ears.

Seeing what kind of MPs Finns have elected from the PS, it’s pretty certain that 19% that voted for them will end up so outraged by what they’ll see that the protest vote in the last election will turn against Timo Soini’s party.

Instead of building a nationalistic, xenophobic, racist, conservative and anti-outside world Finland, the PS will, like what happened after the Soviet Union’s fall from grace, give birth to a new country. That new Finland is multicultural and proud of its diversity.

After Finland comes to terms with itself, it will be ready to make amends with its adverse feelings for the Russians.

The PS is bringing out the fighting spirit in a lot of people who simply will not stand for their type of limited black-and-white view of the world.

YLE: Hundreds Rally for Tolerance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Here is an example of the crowds that the four-year Perussuomalaiset’s tragic-comic play is attracting as a reaction to the party’s plans to tighten immigration policy.  The rally was organized with the help of Facebook. 

Writes YLE: “The organisers emphasised that the rally was not an attack against any group of people. However, it did aim to oppose the True Finns position on a number of issues, such as immigration, conservation, the status of linguistic minorities and gender equality. “

As the PS  willl see more opposition as it tries to turn Finland’s back on the world. It is a very positive sign that about 1,000 people rallied in front of parliament. It shows that immigrants and minorities in this country aren’t asleep.

Expect to see more types of these types of rallies.

As their election was a part of the democratic process so is the ever-growing outrage to the PS’ policies on immigration, refugees and minorities. 

___________

About 1200 members of the public gathered in front of the Parliament in Helsinki to rally their countrymen to respect tolerance and multiculturalism.

Read whole story.