Finland Archives - Page 31 of 359

Government talks in Finland: to turn back the hands of time or not

Posted on May 25, 2023May 25, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Watching the ongoing government negotiations to give birth to Finland’s most right-wing and anti-immigration government can raise one’s blood pressure. The sticky issue National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) prime minister-designate, Petteri Orpo, hopes to resolve the sticky issue of migration and environmental policy.

In the face of a chronic labor shortage due to Finland’s graying population, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have made an ultimatum to Orpo: We will not form part of any government that does not tighten migration policy significantly.

One of the sticking points in the negotiations is how much a non-EU citizen makes in order to work in Finland. In the beginning, the PS stated a 3,000 euro minimum but is ready to lower it to 2,500 euros.

At a Yle A-studio talk show program Wednesday, Ilkka Oksala of the Federation of Finnish Industries (EK) said that one of the factors threatening economic growth is a labor shortage.

“The problem concerning [foreign] labor is that there is too little of it,” said Oksala, “so we should not place obstacles but contrarily place conditions that will bring labor migrants [to Finland]. We are in dire need of [more] labor.”

Technology Industries of Finland chairperson, Jaakko Eskola, who did not participate in the A-studio talk show, believes that Finland needs during a 28-year period 50,000 labor migrants annually, or 1.4 million people.

Riikka Purra threatens to walk out of government talks: The PS will not participate if migration policy isn’t tightened significantly

Posted on May 20, 2023May 20, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Watching the ongoing negotiations between the National Coalition Party, Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats to form Finland’s most right-wing and anti-immigration government is concerning. For one, PS head Riikka Purra’s usual vitriolic anti-immigration rhetoric reminds me of a Brexit minime bully.

Purra warned on Thursday that without “migration policy tightened significantly,” they will abandon talks.

Purra’s warnings sound like a Brexit minimi bully whom others, like National Coalition Party’s prime minister-designate Petteri Orpo, back down.

If you want to see the harm that Brexit has caused to the United Kingdom, the PS is a “mini” Brexit that will cause damage to the Finnish economy because of its hardline stance on labor migration and asylum seekers.

Xenophobic stances are costly to any society because they encourage unemployment, marginalization and crime.

The fact that Orpo, the Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats are negotiating to form a government with the PS is an extraordinary example of cowardice.

Source: Helsingin Sanomat

Helsingin Sanomat published a story revealing how a new government could tighten migration policy. There’s not much apart from worsening the already-low financial help to asylum seekers, tightening again family reunification, more effective deportations, and limiting the number of times an asylum seeker can appeal, among others.

Sounds familiar?

Thank you, Sanna Marin for your words of encouragement

Posted on May 18, 2023May 18, 2023 by Migrant Tales

There are many surprising factors about Finland’s parliamentary election result in April. One of these is how a progressive government with an internationally acclaimed politician, Sanna Marin, who became the world’s youngest prime minister in 2019 at 34, shifted to a possible conservative and radical right government.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s speech upon receiving an honorary doctorate from New York University Wednesday at the legendary Yankee Stadium offers some answers.

History will expose Prime Minister-designate Petteri Orpo’s deep denial and disregard for the country’s most pressing needs like human rights, inclusion, diversity, and empathy, and his disdain for outgoing Prime Minister Marin.

Whenever there was a coup in Argentina, we used to comfort each other by saying “no evil can last a 100 years.” Even if few humans live that long, the saying can be adopted in Finland to state “no evil can last four years.”

Time will expose Orpo, and the new austerity government in formation as a vain attempt to take Finland back to simpler times where 1+1=2 arguments answered all our problems.

The present government in formation, considered the most right-wing and anti-immigration in a long time if it survives present negotiations, is revealing and concerning. It shows we still have a long way to go to create a more inclusive and fairer society.

I will highlight some of the most inspirational parts of Marin’s speech in New York.

Copout journalism from Helsingin Sanomat

Posted on May 15, 2023May 15, 2023 by Migrant Tales

In a lengthy article on the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* Helsingin Sanomat reporter tells us we should not consider the PS a far-right party. The article offers a lot of sources to look at the question but the writer, Markko Jukkari, trips and falls on his face when he starts to editorialize the story.

He writes:

The Perussuomalaiset is not a revolutionary far-right party. It is the second largest party in Finland, with 620,981 people voting for it in a free and democratic election. It has also demonstrated a commitment to advancing its agenda through parliamentary means. Therefore, one should not call the party far-right.

Source: Helsingin Sanomat

Who says that the PS is a revolutionary far-right party?

Planning to move to Finland? Come at your own peril!

Posted on May 8, 2023May 8, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Finland is suffering from a chronic labor shortage in the face of an ever-shrinking labor force and graying of the population. If you want some friendly advice, Finland would be one of the last countries in Europe I’d move to. There are several reasons you should think twice before moving here.

One of the main reasons you should choose a friendlier country to build your future and bring up a family is that Finland is a hostile country towards migrants, especially Muslims and visible migrants.

We have asylum seekers who have been in legal limbo for eight years. Anywhere up to 10,000 people, according to some estimates, are undocumented.

Don’t be fooled by superficial surveys that claim Finland to be the happiest country in the world. It’s only a PR stunt. But here is the question: How can the happiest country have its second-biggest party in parliament, the Perussuomalaiaset (PS)*, be openly racist and hostile to migrants?

You have a choice: If you are white and can flow with the xenophobia, Finland could be a good country for you. Who knows, maybe you can become an example of a super migrant as seen by xenophobic politicians.

Who are these super immigrants?

The Perussuomalaiset: A party that spreads fear and justifies anger

Posted on May 7, 2023May 7, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is a far-right whose loudest message are foreigners and minorities threaten the country.

It’s been a while since the PS won its historic election in 2011. While downplaying their victory and rise to the major Finnish political league, people like me knew that this spelled trouble for our democracy.

The PS’ is very good at ethnic- and migration-bating through far-right conspiracy theories like the great replacement. Riikka Purra and the PS want their followers to be constantly angry even if matters are not as bad as they claim.

A new row has erupted in government talks with the PS after Sebastian Tynkkynen asked his followers which YLE content is unnecessary. Mauri Peltokangas, a cantankerous politician who named the government “pitiful a**holes,” lashed out at the Swedish People’s Party.

“I want your opinion,” he wrote on Facebook. “is it really the will of the people that a minority party with a few percent of support should be allowed to fuck around and stir the pot in government negotiations when forming a government n Finland? Och samma på svenska (the same in Swedish).”

Flirting with the PS is like playing with fire that will get you burned

Posted on May 6, 2023May 7, 2023 by Migrant Tales

There are two opinions about the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* membership in a future coalition government led by the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus): Let them join so the public will see who they are – a cantankerous and messy jumble of bitter hot air; and others point to giving former President Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt, which gave us his toxic polarizing legacy.

We are going through the same arguments about the PS as after the 2011 election when the party scored a historic victory when the party got 39 MPs elected from 5 MPs previously.

“Don’t worry,” some pointed out back then. “It will only be a matter of time before the PS will implode like what happened with the Rural Party (SMP) in the 1970s,”

In 2017, the election of Jussi Halla-aho as the leader of the PS resulted in a small implosion that divided the party into two factions. This event marked the downfall of former PS chief Timo Soini and serves as a prime example of karma. Politically exploiting racism is akin to handling a rabid dog that may bite back with force beyond your control.

Soini is today a wounded politician with his credibility in tatters.

The same fate that Soini suffered threatens Petteri Orpo and the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).

We should not be surprised that the PS’ second chairperson after Soini, Riikka Purra, considers our constitutional and human rights obstacles to her political ambitions and goals. Her political ideology like that of the party, is based on Finnish white supremacy.

Riikka Purra tweets: “The Finnish government has little chance of influencing anything if you ask the left. The obstacles are at least human rights, the constitution, the EU, international treaties, morality, empathy, [international] image, press freedom, and of course, the correct conclusion[s] of botched investigation[s].”

It would be simplistic to blame only Soini for the rise of a far-right party in Finland. The list includes the whole political spectrum, the media, the education sector, institutions like the police, and denial with a towering D.

Nordic far-right populism is a threat to the welfare state and the region

Posted on May 3, 2023May 3, 2023 by Migrant Tales

In Finland’s parliamentary election in April, the country shifted abruptly from a left-wing government led by the charismatic Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin to a possible right-wing government. Some see the good result of the conservative National Coalition Party, and especially the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS),* as a threat to those values, social welfare, and solidarity held dear to the welfare state.

Like in neighboring Sweden, the far-right Sweden Democrats did well in the election and helped boost the right-wing bloc to victory through cooperation with the Moderate Party. In Finland, the National Coalition Party is ready to give the PS a ticket to become a government coalition member.

Following the PS’ election victory of 2011, which saw their MPs increase from 5 to 39, the far-right party has done exceptionally well in parliamentary elections. In the last election, the PS saw its MPs rise to 46, a record.

The PS’ claim of success lies in spreading news stories about migrant crime to lure voters with the help of the media and police.

With some PS politicians openly supporting Viktor Orbán of Hungary, former President Donald Trump, and even violent far-right groups, do populism and polarization threaten Finland’s democracy?

In an interview with the Finnish League of Human Rights, Eliza Ruynowski, a human rights lawyer from Poland, cautioned Finns to avoid accepting simplistic solutions to complex issues. She advised them to be cautious of individuals who blame specific groups of people, whether they belong to a minority or hold differing political views, as a means of resolving problems.

But let’s go back in time to uncover the dangerous political path Finland, and the rest of Europe, are on.

In reporting about Adolph Eichmann’s trial in Israel in 1961, philosopher Hannah Arendt described the war criminal responsible for transporting millions of Jews to their deaths as an ordinary bureaucrat who, in her own words, was “neither perverted nor sadistic, but “terrifyingly normal.”

Arendt called this disposition the banality of evil or the state where Eichmann performed evil deeds without evil intentions. Thus he could fulfill his tasks diligently irrespective of their horrific crimes by the inability to think from the victim’s standpoint.

At the Nuremberg trials (1945-46), US Army psychologist Captain Gustave Mark Gilbert stated that the Nazi war criminals on the dock had one matter in common: Their incapacity to feel with their fellow men and women.

Media Monitoring Group of Finland:* Plurality and agency are essential

Posted on May 2, 2023May 2, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Asmaa is a black woman born in Finland who studies at the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamx). She was adamant about why she does not trust, never mind reads, the Finnish media. She emailed a response: I don’t read Finnish newspapers and none in particular. I find them very taxing to read. Constantly, people who look like me are vilified, branded as the devil himself and the root cause of all problems.“

Asmaa’s reply is an earnest response to a problem that reflects the media and Finnish society.

What are Finnish media giants like Helsingin Sanomat and others doing to fix the chronic lack of credibility in the eyes of some minorities? I suspect the answer is short and to the point: Nothing spectacular.

Source: The Guardian

Do you want to know why minorities in Finland don’t trust the media? The picture below says it all.

Source: European Islamophobia Report 2019

Although we remain hopeful and trust that the Finnish strive for impartial and equitable reporting that acknowledges the nation’s growing cultural diversity, progress has been sluggish.

Finland’s new government: No evil can last 100 years – but it can, possibly, last for four years

Posted on April 26, 2023April 28, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Finland’s next government will likely comprise of four parties: National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Even if the makeup of the government was pretty clear at the onset, many questions remain.

One is Finland’s chronic labor shortage and PS opposition to asylum seekers and labor migrants. Despite differences with the PS on labor migrants, Prime Minister-elect Petteri Orpo is more focused on having a right-wing government than sharing power with the Social Democrats.

The new government will have a majority (109 seats) in the 200-seat parliament. Source: Yle.

While we can criticize Kokoomus for giving a political platform for the PS to spread its populist rhetoric, one shameful member of the new government is the Swedish People’s Party.

While it is fair to say that the Swedish People’s Party is divided about joining the new government with the PS, it’s clear that the new coalition will be highly flammable and unpredictable.

Those that stand to lose the most with the new government’s austerity policies are the most vulnerable sectors of society: the unemployed, low-wage workers, and minorities like people of color. Even so, the biggest losers will be asylum seekers from outside the EU knocking at our door for shelter.