Tag: anti-immigration

Do you think David Cameron should be given ‘a medal’ for immigration?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finnish Prime Minister Alexsander Stubb continues to surprise us. This time he proposed giving the UK, or Prime Minister David Cameron, ‘a medal’ for immigration. Taking into account how Cameron sees himself threatened by the UKIP and how he’s caved in to anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric, the distinction proposed by Stubb is odd to say the least. 

Cameron’s anti-immigration rhetoric is nothing new.

One of the matters that becomes clear in Martin Barker’s The New Racism (1981) is that the same anti-immigration sound bites are used today. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher claimed before the 1979 general election on BBC Radio 4 that Britain was being ‘swamped’ by immigrants and alien cultures.

Remember when Cameron warned how Britain was going to be swamped by Bulgarians and Romanians that on January 1, 2014? Such claims were totally false.

Why do politicians make such irresponsible statements that victimize whole groups? Is it because they lack backbone and seek political gains at any cost? Is it because immigrants and minorities are easy targets to bully publicly?

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Read full story here.

 

I never could understand how a country that was a colonial and imperialist power like the UK is so touchy about immigration. Since Cameron is into populist anti-immigration rhetoric, certainly we can make a case for the abuse of hundreds of millions of people under colonialism. What about its complicity in the slave trade?

Whatever happened to that Subb before the 2011 parliamentary elections, when he took a strong stand against the xenophobia, racism and ignorance gripping the debate on immigration and immigrants in Finland?

Should we give the Finnish prime minister ‘a medal’ for forgetting that intolerance and populist anti-immigration rhetoric, parroted by Cameron, have little to do with our Nordic values?

 

 

The PS has found its political role model in the Sweden Democrats

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén is an example of how the good election result of the Sweden Democrats has invigorated him and the PS to start scapegoating migrants in Finland. Taking into account the poor result of the PS in the last presidential, municipal and EU elections, it’s clear that some PS MPs will do anything to get attention and hopefully votes.  

Even if the PS claim to not have any official contacts with the Sweden Democrats, they are perfect political soul mates. Both parties loathe migrants, especially those that aren’t white like them.

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Read full blog entry (in Finnish) here.

 

Packalén’s blog entry on Uusi Suomi is quite revealing not for its well-balanced points of view but because it scapegoats, generalizes and victimizes all migrants.

Packalén admits on the blog that his anti-immigration views were the reason why he went into politics.

Here are a few questions Migrant Tales would like to ask the PS MP:

  • You label the members of the youth gang on your blog entry as migrants but how many of these are Finns? Do you even know?
  • Finland has one of the lowest number of migrants in the European Union. From your anti-immigration perspective, doesn’t this mean that immigration policy has been “successful?”
  • You call these so-called migrant youth gangs “racist.” Do you have any what white racism is?
  • Instead of whining about “failed immigration policy,” what solutions do you want to bring to the table? In your blog entry you offer none.

Migrant Tales does not condone any type of violence but we don’t go around – like you – stressing and pinning the blame on all Finns when a crime is committed.

That, MP Packalén, is the difference between your opportunistic and populist claims and what we are saying.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Who spreads hatred in Finland: YLE or the PS?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Attempting to gain the maximum political mileage from the act of vandalism against the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* office in Helsinki on Thursday, party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, is pointing the finger at the “green-left alliance” (a favorite catchword that the party uses to describe its enemies) and YLE for comparing it to the anti-immigration far-right Sweden Democrats.

Another ludicrous claim made by the party at the same press conference Friday is that the PS has sacked all of its racists and fascists.

Matti Putkonen, who made the claim, hasn’t apparently heard of Harri Tauriainen, a city of Kemi councilman, who used to have “white power” emblems on his Facebook page and who said: “…it’s odd that we can’t put in line in Finland this colored human group of trash. Just put a stamp on their ass and deport them for good from Finland.”

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PS councilman Harri Tauriainen’s Facebook page. He will be running for MP in the April.

Putkonen hasn’t heard as well of Suomen Sisu, a far-right association whose chairman is PS MP Olli Immonen.

Suomen Sisi believes, among other fascist ideas, in “racial hygiene” and that white Finns shouldn’t marry foreigners.

Putkonen and the party appear to have conveniently forgotten about how its third vice president MP Juho Eerola is attracted to Benito Mussolini’s fascism.

There are many cases that clearly prove that the PS is rife with racists and fascists.

Gathering by these sound bites by Slunga-Poutsalo and Putkonen, it’s clear that there is manifest unease in the party. After getting 39 MPs elected in the 2011 parliamentary elections and becoming Finland’s third-largest party like the Sweden Democrats today in the Riksdagen (Swedish parliament), it’s clear that they won’t match that historic victory in 2015.

In the last presidential, municipal and EU elections, the PS has lagged far behind their best result so far.

We don’t hide the fact at Migrant Tales that the PS are for the above and many other reasons a menace to Finland and especially to migrants and minorities. We won’t vandalize their offices but we’ll fight them at the ballot boxes in April to send them back to the minor political leagues after the April 2015 elections.

Four years of the PS in the opposition has not only polarized our society, it has undermined our democratic institutions with its hostility towards migrants and minorities.

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Read full story here.

And here’s what we should be asking in light of what happened and what the PS wants us to believe: Who spreads more hatred in Finland – YLE or the PS?

Slunga-Poutsalo could ask the Somali and Muslim community, which have been a near-constant target of the party, what they think about much of the anti-immigration hostility against them. How has the spread of such hatred made their lives easier in Finland? Has it helped migrants in general to integrate and become equal members of this society?

The PS party secretary should ask as well how their intolerance has rubbed off on others like the National Coalition Party, whose MP, Pia Kauma, has spread outright lies about migrants buying new baby carriages with social aid.

Why does the PS continue to attack migrants and minorities? Why does the party continue to support Hommaforum, a racist website that is like a peep show where anonymous racists can see hate comments instead of naked women?

At the same time, Slunga-Poutsalo could ask Finland the same question: How have MPs like Teuvo Hakkarainen, Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, former PS MP James Hirvisaari and many, many others reinforced our Nordic way of life by promoting respect and social equality to everyone?

Slunga-Poutsalo could take a long look at the mirror herself and ask about the Nuiva Manifesto, which she signed. If the anti-immigration manifesto ever came into force, it would bolster racism and white privilege to new heights.

While acts of vandalism against a party should be condemned, so should the violence and hostility of parties like the PS against migrants and minorities.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Will the Sweden Democrat victory give a boost to the PS in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Swedish election result not only showed a shift and set for a minority-left government, but historic gains made by the far-right Sweden Democrats. Conservative Moderat Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who conceded defeat late Sunday, said he will hand in his resignation Monday after eight years in power.

Just like the anti-immigration Peerussuomalaiset (PS)* in 2011, the Sweden Democrats scored their best election victory to date by almost doubling their support to 12.9% (+29 MPs to 49MPs) from 5.7% (20 MPs) in 2010 in the 349-seat Riksdagen (parliament).

Like the PS, they too are today the third-largest party in parliament after the Social Democrats and Moderate Party.

The interesting question to ask is if the good showing of the Sweden Democrats will give a boost to the PS in next year’s elections.

An important matter to keep in mind when looking at far-right, populist and anti-immigration parties is that they are a reaction not a solution to our ever-growing cultural diversity.

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Seats gained by different parties in the Swedish parliamentary elections. From left to right: Left Party (V), Social Democrats (S), Greens (MP), Sweden Democrats (SD), Center Party (C), Liberal Party (FP), Christian Democrats (KD) and Moderate Party (M).

 

Sweden’s new prime minister is Social Democrat Stefan Löfven faces a daunting task in forming the country’s next government.

“I’ll talk to other parties,” he was quoted as saying on The Local. “My hand is outstretched. I’ll talk to the Greens, but also to other parties.”

A coalition comprising of the Social Democrats, Left Party and the Greens only adds up to 43.8%, while a center-right coalition totals 39.3%. This means theoretically that the far-right anti-immigration party holds the balance of power.

“We’re the absolute kingmaker now,” said Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson. “[You] can’t ignore us the way they have ignored us over the past four years.”

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Read full story here.

Sweden’s incoming Prime Minister Löfven said he would continue to shun the far-right party as have done all mainstream parties.

Whether the policy of excluding the Sweden Democrats has worked or not remains to be seen. Mainstream parties in Finland have taken a different approach and even invited the PS to form part of government after the elections four years ago.

Even if the Sweden Democrats are heading north and the PS are heading south, it’s clear that a lot more has to be done to challenge right-wing populist anti-immigration sentiment. More leadership is needed especially from migrant and multicultural Swedes and Finns.

Did outgoing Prime Minister Reinfeldt’s pro-immigration statements and stance help the Sweden Democrats isn’t the point. The issue is that politicians must show leadership during difficult times and not look for scapegoats.

Far-right anti-immigration sentiment has also grown in Norway and Denmark, where xenophobic parties did well in recent elections.

Parties like the National Coalition Party and Social Democrats have done a dismal job in challenging the rhetoric of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* The most recent baby carriage scandal by conservative MP Pia Kauma is a clear example how some mainstream politicians are flirting with xenophobia.

 What do we have in Finland to show after almost four years of the PS in the opposition? Polarization of society, political scandals, strengthening of urban myths and racism – in sum, a country that appears to have lost its way.

How will the Swedish elections impact Finland’s elections in April?

Certainly it won’t hurt them.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

MP Pia Kauma’s crusade against baby carriages is based on hearsay

Posted on by Migrant Tales

National Coalition Party MP Pia Kauma has become quite a sensation after she accused migrant women of  buying new baby carriages with welfare money. When asked on YLE’s A-Studio where she got such information, her answer was quite startling. 

”Of course it’s very difficult to get factual information,” she said on YLE’s A-Studio,  “but I have been in politics for ten years and traveled throughout Finland from time to time and have got similar comments from many different people. I was contacted about this matter recently.”

Instead of relying on hearsay, why didn’t Kauma get in touch with social workers of the city of Espoo? One reason why she probably didn’t do this is because they would have proved her claim to be wrong.

A social worker that appeared on the same program as Kauma said that migrants and Finns are only given 200 euros to buy baby carriages.

Good luck if you want to buy a new baby carriage with that sum of money.

The whole affair exposes Kauma’s disingenuous motives and opportunism. She believes it’s perfectly fine to relay on hearsay as long as the ones you are victimizing and labeling are migrants.  Add to this nearing parliamentary elections and a clearer picture emerges why she made such a statement in the first place.

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Watch YLE’s A-Studio here.

 

Kauma’s statement is no different from the white racists of the South that loathed black USAmericans for being on welfare. The aim is the same: label and spread hatred.

Migrant Tales hopes that MP Kauma not only gets her fingers burned by what she said but loses her seat in the April elections.

Taking into account the reaction to what she said on many social media forums, this may be possible.

 

 

 

Helsingin Sanomat poll shows the PS heading south

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A poll published today by Helsingin Sanomat reveals that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is at its lowest point (15.9%) in two years. The most popular party in Finland continues to be the National Coalition Party (22.1%) followed by the Center Party (19.9%).

The Social Democrats, which are still struggling, are in the mid-teens (14.9%) with parties like the Left Alliance (9.3%), Greens (8.7%), Swedish People’s Party 4.5% and Christian Democrats (3.4%) trailing far behind.

Should we be surprised that matters are looking politically bleak for the PS?

Figuring out what the PS is and getting a coherent picture of what the party stands for is challenging for anyone. While it’s clear that the party is anti-EU, anti-immigration, homophobic, chauvinistic and especially anti-Islam, much of its energy has been spent to tone down its hate rhetoric but to stand for the same things.

The PS continues to be an openly hostile party against migrants and minorities. It would be wishful thinking on their behalf to think that some have short memories in this country.

The PS is in a near-constant state of animation trying out political images like a model changing clothes every few minutes. No matter how much it tries to change its image, the PS will end up committing political harakiri if it becomes too mainstream.

Even if the PS wants to look like a responsible mainstream party these days, it’s quite another matter if voters will buy it.

If the latest Helsingin Sanomat poll is anything to go by, the answer is a clear no.

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Read full story here.

The last three elections after the PS’ historic win in April 2011 are clear proof that something isn’t right. If the same trend continues in next year’s parliamentary elections, it will face a stinging – if not a mortal blow – to its chances to remain as one of Finland’s four largest parties.

 

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The PS’s election fortunes after 2011 have been disappointing for the party.


* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

The political record and chicanery of the PS of Finland is what has estranged so many voters from politics

Posted on by Migrant Tales

While some are still scratching their heads about the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* joining the European parliament’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group this week, it shows why so many voters have become estranged from politics. 

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Read full story here. 

 

Before the historic 2011 parliamentary elections for the PS, when 39 of its MPs got elected from 5MPs previously, the party had a solid anti-EU, anti-immigration, homophobic and especially anti-Islam message.

It’s party leader, Timo Soini, watered down the PS’ stand on Europe recently by stating that he’s now against Finland leaving the EU. While its anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric are still strong and lurking in the sidelines patiently waiting to stir voter emotions, its most outspoken enemies these days are homosexuals and gay marriage.

Hoping to become the biggest party in Finland after next year’s parliamentary elections, the PS has, however, tried to give a more moderate and mainstream image of itself. This is understandable considering that it wants to be a member of the next government and the disappointing showing of the party in the presidential, municipal and euro elections.

In all three elections, the PS hasn’t come even close to its 19.1% showing of 2011.

But after criticizing and riding the wave of voter discontent and mistrust of mainstream parties, the PS is trying to look more like them. Is this a good matter or is it another trick by the party to lure voters?

While at Migrant Tales we have spoken out repeatedly against the PS’ racism, provincialism and nativist nationalism, what is happening inside the party resembles the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The last paragraph of Orwell’s book says it all with respect to the revolution at Manor Farm and what the PS did in 2011: 

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Green Party politician Ozan Yanar asks a very valid question on his Facebook page. He states with evident dismay that here’s the “labor party without socialism” that has joined David Cameron’s conservatives in the European parliament. The absurdity of the situation is further highlighted by the fact that AKP, the political moderate voice of Islam in Turkey, joined the ECR [through the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists], according to him.

Moreover, the ECR is in favor of Turkey’s membership in the EU. PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who has declared war on Islam in the same way as the worst Islamophobes in Europe, is now a member of a political group that approves Turkey’s membership in the EU. 

In anyone’s book a criminal record isn’t a good matter to have in your records. Even so, and in the conservative spirit, where social and economic inequality are acceptable because people aren’t equal, the membership of the PS and Danish People’s Party in the ECR proves that it’s politically worse getting arrested for shoplifting than ethnic agitation.

UK Prime Minister Cameron, the leader of the ECR, isn’t too bothered by racism and prejudice since it was his government that launched the “Go Home” campaign against undocumented immigrants and spread fear to Britons that the country will be overrun by swarms of Romanians and Bulgarians on January 1.

Cameron has been playing political catchup with dismal luck against his rival Nigel Farage of the UKIP. If the UK prime minister would have taken the time to see what happened in Finland when mainstream political parties started to flirt with the anti-immigration message of the PS before the 2011 elections, he would have learned an important lesson: Don’t try to compete against xenophobic parties because you give legitimacy to them.

While the PS’ leader Timo Soini wants to show that his party is “normal” and “mainstream” these days, we should never forget what the party said and did to get where it is today.

In that message and in their actions is concentrated the poison that has estranged so many Europeans from politics.

 

* The English name of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) is officially the Finns Party. The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. 

Migrants’ Rights Network: Is a new Immigration Bill to be announced in the Queen’s Speech?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Events in the United Kingdom resemble a self-fulfilling prophesy for white English and an ever-worsening and ever-hostile place for migrants and visible minorities. The treatment and approach to immigration of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is shameful. It reveals more cowardice than sound judgement.

The worst matter in the United Kingdom isn’t migration, but parties like the UKIP, Conservatives and Labor that feed the country’s self-fulfilling prophesy. Scapegoating is easier than sound leadership. 

________________

*

The ‘hostile’ Immigration Act 2014 was indeed a flagship piece of legislation and we are, it seems, set to see a second tough immigration bill announced in the Queen’s Speech this coming Wednesday.

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The first Immigration Bill, which became an act in May 2014 after a long battle with Conservative Backbenchers who believed it was not tough enough on EU migrants, introduced new measures that reduced the appeal rights for migrants, access to private housing, ability to access driving licenses and bank accounts, and new powers to strip the citizenships of migrants the Home Secretary deems unworthy of British citizenship.

Now, however, rumours are circulating that Iain Duncan Smith, the Work & Pensions Secretary, will team up with Home Secretary Theresa May, to introduce a short new bill that aims to respond to the United Kingdom Independence Party’s (UKIP) recent popularity in the European and Local Elections, where they topped the vote in the UK.

According to the Telegraph, the new measures in the bill will include extending powers on deportation and targeting EU nationals who are not employed, discouraging businesses from solely employing EU migrants, reducing the ability of unemployed EU migrants claiming benefits, and a new ‘wealth test’ that will ban migrants from new poorer EU accession states from entering the UK.

Theresa May is also set to lock horns with David Willetts, the Conservative universities minister, as further measures in the upcoming bill continue to drip out into mainstream media. May wants to stop international students reuniting with foreign spouses/partners in the UK, moreover, the Home Secretary will introduce greater sanctions on universities whose foreign students disappear, and allow for immigration officers to have greater access to universities who they suspect to have bogus students.

The last Immigration Bill was meant to be the most accelerated piece of legislation since the Coalition came to power in 2010. Starting its Commons stage in October 2013, the Bill was meant to receive Royal Assent by the beginning of this year but was slowed down by Nigel Mills’s amendment to stop Bulgarians and Romanians from entering the UK in 2014. The amendment received almost one hundred Tory backbench backers and stalled the legislation’s progress in parliament.

Given the scare UKIP delivered to the mainstream parties at last week’s local elections by campaigning primarily on the impacts of EU migration in the UK, a response from the Conservative Party would seem apposite. However, Paddy Ashdown, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats and their current election coordinator, has said that the Liberal Democrats will block the bill if it is not to their taste.

This new bill will certainly have EU leaders looking closely at the proposed measures although the government will be at pains to point out that the proposals are consistent with German legislation. The crucial obstacle for May and her colleagues is whether this bill meets the demands of despairing Tory backbenchers who are under threat from a UKIP surge.

Read original story here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

*Awale Olad is the Public & Parliamentary Affairs Officer at MRN, coordinating the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, supporting parliamentarians and policy makers on establishing a cross-party consensus on immigration policy.

 

Disingenuous Finnish PS MEP-elect Jussi Halla-aho fears image would suffer with parties like far-right National Front

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In an interview on YLE, Perussuomalaiset (PS) newly elected MEP Jussi Halla-aho said that it was doubtful that the anti-immigration party would form part of a parliamentary group with far-right parties like the National Front of France “because the party’s image would suffer.”

What a disingenuous statement by a politician who has based his career together with the PS on spreading racism and hatred of Muslims and migrants. Moreover, hasn’t he considered that the only group where the PS will be accepted is the present one, or the Europe for Freedom and Democracy?

If put in the right context, Halla-aho is saying that the PS’ image would suffer ever-greater damage if it grouped with parties like the National Front.

The French xenophobic party’s leader, Marine Le Pen, has said that she would like the PS to form part of her new group in the European parliament.

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Read full story here.

 

Without naming the National Front or Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom, Halla-aho said that far-right anti-immigration parties in Europe were in the same ideological ballpark as the PS.

In the face of Halla-aho’s comments, what then is the difference between the Lega Nord of Italy, which praised Anders Breivik after he murdered 77 victims on 22/7, and parties like the National Front?

The PS can blame itself and its actions for its right-wing populist, far-right and nationalistic anti-immigration, homophobic and especially anti-Islam image.

The PS forms part to the same European parliament group as the Lega Nord, Danish People’s Party, UKIP and others in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

 

The euro elections have shown parties like the PS to be hostile to development aid, immigrants, minorities and gays

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s clear that if we allowed ourselves to be spoon-fed by the populism and anti-EU, homophobic and anti-immigration rhetoric of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, minorities would always be threatened with social exclusion. PS MP Maria Lohela, who is said to turn into a Ms Hyde if you mention the word “Islam” to her, offered in parliament another one of her party’s “great” ideas on how to scrap development aid.

Lohela suggested a new development aide model for Finland that would be financed by taxpayers and that the role of the state would be to offer tax incentives so that people could give money to development aid out of their own pockets, according to Finland’s largest daily,  Helsingin Sanomat.

 

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

While it’s clear that Lohela and the PS loathe helping less-fortunate people living in development countries, the most recent proposal is just as absurd as the one the MP made earlier this year concerning gay marriage. Lohela said that Finland didn’t have to pass same-sex marriage legislation since homosexuals could marry the opposite sex.

With euro elections ending on May 25, the party has made very public its anti-immigration and racist views, like with the publishing of a racist cartoon below denouncing climate change as a hoax predicted by African “medicine men.”

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Read full story on Migrant Tales here.

 

A poll by Helsingin Sanomat of Finnish MEP’s showed that the PS to be the most eager in wanting to restrict the free movement of people within the EU.

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PS MEP candidates were the most for limiting free movement of people in the EU. Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

Taking into account the type of Europe the PS wants to forge, which is very similar to far-right Danish People’s Party and UKIP, people should get out and vote against these these types of anti-EU, homophobic, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam parties.

Why? Because we are against the model they’re trying to create for Europe since it would polarize our society and bolster intolerance and hatred of migrants and other minorities.

Why do countries that have built  a model social welfare state in the Nordic region want to support parties like the PS? Shouldn’t they instead challenge the root of the problem, which is poverty, inequality, racism and intolerance.