What kind of reaction can you expect from a country that continues to see foreigners like Muslims and other people of color as a threat?
Remember Oulu and the sexual harassment cases that spun out of control thanks to the fuel that politicians, the media, and the police were feeding? It’s déjà-vu again: politicians, the media, and the police are at it again.
Instead of sexual harassment of minors caused by asylum seekers, we now have youth gangs “of foreign background” terrorizing our streets.
The first story I found was published six days after Sweden’s September 11 election, where youth gang violence was turned into a political campaign issue by the far-right Sweden Democrats and the National Coalition Party’s sister party, Moderates. The knife in the picture is intended for extra drama. Source: MTV
Let’s go back to 2019.
The media, politicians, and the police caved into their exaggerated lies by turning an important issue into a storm in a teacup.
It was a social media lynching like I have rarely seen in Finland. While politicians will go to any lengths to get votes, a black stain remains on the media and police.
Has the media and police learned anything from the Oulu case?
Parliamentary elections are in April. How can I tell? When National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) politicians like MP Atte Kaleva spread lies and populist soundbites about migrants.
Kaleva has a tough time stomaching criticism, and usually, his answers are knee-jerk reactions.
One of these is when he charged Professor Panu Ratikiainen with defamation because he called him a racist.
Did the media notice? No.
There was one, however: Seiska, the lowest gossip journalism you can find in Finland.
Can you take him, MP Kaleva, seriously? Do his words carry any weight?
Not an ounce but he can surely pile it high and deep with his anti-immigration tirades.
MP Kaleva calls migrants or so-called “people with foreign background,” mamus. Mamu is the Finnish n-word for migrant.
Yassin, a father of a two-month-old daughter, was pinned to the floor by three security guards and handcuffed at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The ordeal ended at 23:30 am after trying, without luck, to get on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. His wife and two-month-old daughter accompanied Yassin.
“I have never been handcuffed in my life and pinned down to the floor with three security guards,” said Yassin, a native Moroccan naturalized Finn. “My [Italian] wife said she does not want to step on Finnish soil again. You can go back yourself!”
He said he will press charges against the security guards and send a complaint to Lufthansa.
While it is difficult to prove, some who know the ticket agents who served Yassin and are not Lufthansa employees have had racial issues. “I don’t believe that a white Finn would have been treated as I was,” said Yassin.
The ordeal happened when Yassin, his wife, and baby were supposed to board a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt with a connection to Trieste, their final destination. According to him, they faced delays and poor service from Lufthansa for about twelve hours.
Yassin’s family traveled during the holidays for their daughter to visit for the first time her grandparents. “After we passed the security check, we received an email 10 minutes
“After we passed the security check, we received an email 10 minutes later that our connection flight from Frankfurt to Trieste is cancelled and that we’d have to spend the night in Frankfurt,” he said. “We started to worry about our baby’s luggage that would be sent to Trieste and where we’d get things like diapers.”
I would go as far as to predict that after the election in April, the youth gang issue will disappear. It was the case in Oulu when Finland became hysterical about sexual assaults committed by migrants.
We’re in the same situation today. True, we have to address social problems with good social policy. Fortunately, Finland has a comprehensive welfare state. Still, parties like the Perusuomalaiset (PS)* and the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), who want to slash such spending if they win the election, lead us towards a cycle of exclusion and deception.
Remember what happened in Oulu in 2008-2009?
Let me refresh your memory. The media, politicians, and even the police caved into their exaggerated lies by turning an important issue into a storm in a teacup.
Every sexual assault is too much, period. However, if we look at the coverage of these cases, we see the same problem as in 2018-2019 with the so-called “rising” of youth gang violence that Yle and other media are spiking.
Similarities with the Oulu sexual assault cases: parliamentary elections, gang violence, a winning issue in Sweden’s election, and lack of correct checks and balances by the media and politicians.
For the police, it is also a winning issue. It ensures that more funds will be earmarked for them.
Have any of you seen any statistics about youth crime violence?
Why are the police and politicians holding back?
Considering that Finland’s gang “problem” is only a drop in the bucket compared to Sweden, the debate has revealed some nasty things about politicians and the media: washing our hands of the problem, simplifying and scapegoating migrants and minorities, and outright racism. President Sauli Niinistö, who never has anything positive to say about Muslims and people of color, joined the populist bandwagon over a week ago. Shameful.
Despite all the fear-mongering, it is a good sign that papers like Helsingin Sanomat are questioning the populism and hardline stance to solve the problem by parties like the PS and Kokoomus.
Quoting David Saudsdal, a sociologist at Lund University, he claims there is no proof that tougher laws against gang violence in Denmark have worked.
When the media speaks of youth gang violence, it usually spikes it with provocative adjectives and fear-mongering. MTV’s interview and good comments by Elina Pekkarinen, ombudswoman for children, were exceptions.
If you want a good example of how the media frames this topic, look at the picture behind the host. It reads “violence” next to a fisted hand that looks like it has grease. Is it the fist of a black Finn?
Thank you, Pekkarinen, for making the following comment: “We have to acknowledge at the same time minors who are discriminated against and victims of racism; [if this is the case there is no point wondering why this phenomenon exists.”
Two hard-hitting editorials by Helsingin Sanomat on the mistreatment of labor migrants could indicate how the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset* will do in the parliamentary election. I makesuch a claim because I am an optimist.
We saw something similar in the US Midterm elections, which showed how voters rebuked Donald Trump and his election deniers.
Apart from two important editorials, good reporting on the case of a Mongolian nurse showed the good side of the media exposing and defending people’s rights.
The first Helsingin Sanomat editorial, published on Saturday, highlights what Migrant Tales mentioned weeks ago: Youth gang violence is a campaign topic for the opposition. The last one strongly criticizes the Finnish Immigration Service for arbitrarily mishandling Mongolian nurse Anudari Boldbaatar.
Struggling with the slow pace of due process in Finland to challenge Migri’s deportation order, a district court eventually overturned it, Boldbaatar had had enough and moved to another country.
I agree with both editorials and commend Finland’s biggest daily for speaking out against the hostile environment against migrants and minorities. The editorial on Boldbaatar asks how it is possible that Migri can ruin a person’s live and get away with an apology.
“The Agency [Migri] has traditionally played an important role in Finland’s immigration policy, mainly aimed at preventing foreigners from entering Finland.”
Katja Marova, a Russian speaker from the border city of Lappeenranta, spoke to Migrant Tales about how the war in Ukraine had impacted her life as that of other Russian speakers in her home city. Russian speakers are the biggest group in Finland (88,000) followed by Estonian speakers (50,000).
The Russian border is only a stone’s throw away from Lappeenranta. According to Marova, the atmosphere in her home city is different from Helsinki and other parts of Finland.
Katja Marova lives in the Finnish border city of Lappeenranta.
“The [Russophobic] situation is worse here than in Helsinki and related to fear,” she said. “Since we are next to the Russian border, people are afraid because we’d be the first to experience a military strike if a conflict broke out.”
Making matters worse are news stories by Yle on Lappeenranta’s bomb shelters and where people would be evacuated. Marova said that when people start to fear, they act strangely.
“This has led the city [of Lappeenranta] not to follow the example of other cities like Helsinki, which openly condemn all forms of racism,” she continued. “The city has not agreed to make a public statement against discrimination and racism.”
Marova said that she had asked victims of racist harassment to contact the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.
President Sauli Niinistö, who has a track record of speaking disparagingly about Muslims and asylum seekers, was quoted as saying on Yle’s 8:30 news that he fears Finland “apparently” is “moving a bit” on Sweden’s path concerning youth gang violence.
“It’s a very, very unfortunate and dangerous phenomenon, we seem to be following a bit behind Sweden [concerning youth gang violence], he said.
Like other programs, Yle added fuel to the topic by stating that “youth gangs terrorize the streets of the Nordic region and now also in Finland.” “Terrorize” is a strong word, and such a claim should be backed up with hard statistical facts and sources with names.
President Sauli Niinistö talking to Yle.The yellow press magnifying what President Niinistö said about youth gangs. Thank you Ambrosius Wollstén.
It is surprising, if not incredible that President Niinistö does not offer us as well hard statistical facts about the “rising” problem of youth gang violence in Finland. His message reinforces what I have stated before: He isn’t and never was the president of all Finns, never mind that of our non-white communities.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Riikka Purra praised Ykkösaamu, claiming that it “has the best news and current affairs format in Finland, led by a professional journalist.” It is further proof of how the host, Seija Vaaherkumpa, didn’t do her job but offered journalistic lipservice to a radical right party with ties to violent groups in the far right.
I have said it once and will repeat it: If I ever win an award for my many years of anti-racism activism, I have failed and become complacent.
Vaaherkumpa should take the same advice. If the head of the PS hurls kudos at her for being “a professional journalist,” maybe it is time she retires or takes a long and hard look in the mirror.
Apart from not using Purra hard questions, Vaaherkumpa played along, even agreeing with her on generalizing about “rising” gang violence.
Yle should and can do a better job. Even so, the state-owned broadcaster is responsible for spreading unsubstantiated facts and leaving out important questions.
One of these is why we haven’t seen any hard statistics on “rising” youth gang violence. Another is why some media, like Yle,allow Purra to lie and openly distort the facts.
Alarm bells should start to ring when politicians like Purra warn about “taking Sweden’s path” and that Denmark, which has one of the toughest immigration policies in the EU, is a country we should copy. We should remember that migration continues to help Sweden’s economy and that some 750,000 Finns moved there after World War 2. “Finland’s path” is not doing anything and scapegoating immigration.
Saturday’s interview with Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Riikka Purra on Ykkösaamu was a good example of how the media avoids asking tough questions, never mind doing fact-checking. Purra was able to spread her urban tales about migrants. Considering that the PS is a radical right party, host Serija Vaaherkumpu did not as one question about the party’s ties with far-right groups.
The PS’ cooperation and links with far-right groups in Finland is topical today considering that in Germany the police had arrested a far-right group that was aiming to overthrow the government.
Moreover, the police announced a year ago Finland’s first neo-Nazi group that was planning a terrorist attack. Detective inspector Toni Sjöblom confirmed to Migrant Tales at the end of November in an email that charges would be brought against the five suspects “within a few weeks.”
The interview with Riikka Purra revealed how much the PS wants to keep non-white Finns and migrants as second-class members of society when the PS chairperson said that only Finns could get social welfare. Shameful that Purra would suggest it and toothless reporting by Vaaherkumpu for not asking if excluding people’s civil rights is ethical.
“The Perussuomalaiset’s long-term aim is to make social welfare rights based on nationality, but this will, unfortunately, not happen in the next [parliamentary] term but is a long-term aim,” said Purra.
