Tag: Finland

Was the stabbing of an eighteen-year-old Somali Finn a hate crime?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales asked in April after the tragic death of an eighteen-year-old Somali Finn in Helsinki on April 26 is treated by the police as a hate crime.

What is equally surprising is the total news blackout on social media by the police as if communities affected by what happened don’t have the right to express their mourning and outrage.

The young Somali who was stabbed and died in April was Keyse Abdifatah Macalesh.

Even if there is some indication that the motive of the fatal stabbing may have had a bias motivators like ethnicity, the Finnish media is more interested in reporting about the suspect’s criminal background instead of how ethnicity may have played a role.

One Somali Finn that I contacted after the fatal stabbing stated:

“The death first made me angry, but then I told myself that this was going to happen since I live in such a racist country.

The roots of this tragedy go back to when the mayor of Helsinki [Jan Vapaavuori] labeled the Somalis [on April 14] as those spreading coronavirus. What he did was label us as part of the coronavirus problem of Finland. Anybody could see what was going to happen next. People get scared, and the racists get more aggressive and start targeting you.”

A hate crime comprises of two factors: the crime + bias motivation. Thus a hate crime is determined by bias, which includes: victim perception, organized hate groups, crime pattern, intense violence and specific targetting, timing, the difference between the victim and perpetrator, and by no other obvious motive.

The latter category, no obvious motive, is also relevant because it suggests that the crime was motivated by bias.

Indeed, people who commit a hate crime will do their best to play down or claim amnesia when it comes to determining their bias motivation.

One of the most critical questions about the death of the young Keyse Abdifatah Macalesh is why the police service mustn’t play down or overlook hate crime.

One of the most obvious reasons is so that they will not encourage the spread of similar crimes from happening.

My question to the police: Are there any bias motivators taken into account in Macalesh’s case?

We will soon find the answer to that question.

Gay, Syrian, and forsaken by society because of language and depression

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Farid* is a young Syrian who has lived in Finland for the past six years. He claims to have no friends in this country and suffers from depression and spent some time in a psychiatric ward. Farid is also gay.

When listening to Farid’s story, it becomes clear that he is a person without a societal seeing eye dog to guide him through the culture and bureaucracy of his new homeland.

Farid, who suffers from depression, blames his problems in Finland on racism.

“I have never been treated as badly in Syria and Lebanon, where I lived a few years,” he said. “Finland has crushed by life.”

Farid spoke about what happened a year and a half ago to him at the Helsinki Kalasatama health station.

“I was feeling terrible and wanted to get checked by a doctor,” he said. “The nurse turned me away and told me to leave because she did not believe I was sick. I had a fever of 38.8°C.”

Farid tried again.

“I retook another number, but it did not help and they showed me the door,” he continued. “Since I refused to leave, the nurse called the security guards who escorted me outside. I called the police.”

To make a long story short, they locked up Farid in a police van and drove him to the police station.

“I got a panic attack inside the van and started to kick the windows,” he said. “I yelled and asked at the top of my voice, where they are taking me?! Why am I inside the police van?! I got no answers.”

The police then proceeded to administrate pepper spray, which made matters worse.

“I am allergic and was worried that my body would react to the spray,” he said.

At the police station, matters got worse. When he demanded his rights, and to talk to someone like a lawyer, the woman police officer in charge told him that “he could not complain because he is a foreigner.”

Farid filed a complaint a week ago to the prosecutor general after trying, unsuccessfully, to complain to the National Police Board of Finland.

Another problem with Farid’s case is that it happened a while back and moved slowly, yielding no results.

Farid shows the bruises he incurred by in police custody. He claims that the police used a taser.

After the incident with the police, Farid contacted Seta, LGBTI NGO, but they could not help him in offering legal help.

He admits that the incident at the health station forced him to take different types of pills to lower his stress level and help him sleep.

Continue reading “Gay, Syrian, and forsaken by society because of language and depression”

The toothless response of the police and society to human trafficking is similar to other social ills like racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A column by Helsingin Sanomat gave a realistic view of human trafficking and why there it continues unhinged. One problem that the column cites, and which is a problem concerning other racist crimes committed against migrants and minorities, is fear of the police.

The column, which exposed some of the shortcomings of protecting victims of human trafficking and exploitation at work, sheds light on a more significant problem: Indifference fed by prejudice and racism.

The Finnish police have a questionable history when dealing with racism. Migrant Tales wrote some of these issues in 2018 that persist to this date:

  • The police’s suspicion without proof that asylum seekers are rapists and criminals;
  •  A poll showed that close to 80% of the police in a survey considered the asylum seeker crisis as the most severe threat to Finnish security;
  • The same poll revealed that 25.1% of those polled voted for the National Coalition Party (NCP) and 24.4% for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. The PS and NCP parties are the most anti-immigration parties in parliament;
  • Ethnic profiling continues to be a serious issue among the Finnish police service;
  • The Council of Europe has expressed concern about ethnic profiling in Finland;
  • A study by the European Agency of Fundamental Rights (FRA) claims that a third of people of African descent (PAD) surveyed have experienced racial harassment in the last five years. The highest harassment took place in Finland.

Paavo Teittinen’s column hits it right on the nail: “The source of human trafficking and similar type of exploitation in Finland is not inevitable. It has been allowed to happen. Criminals can run their [businesses] fairly freely due to the lack of information, resources, and [police] interest.”

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Some of the main points of Teittinen’s column:

  • Employers are not worried about being reported to the police because of lack of interest;
  • An employer can commit human trafficking with few to no consequences;
  • Few human trafficking victims turn to the police because they fear deportation. They continue to fear the police like in their former home country;
  • The police and authorities don’t actively seek to curtail human trafficking;
  • The powers granted to the Regional State Administrative Agencies (AVI) is negligibly coupled with a shortage of staff;
  • Interior ministry has shown little interest in the problem;
  • Few police resources allocated to fighting human trafficking;
  • Some police play down the problem because they are suspicion of asylum seekers and their motives;
  • The police justify their inaction by stating that even if a person was underpaid, it is more money than he ever made in his home country;
  • Victim Support (Riku) said in a statement that laws to protect human trafficking victims are inadequate in Finland. The victim usually ends up holding the short end of the stick.

So what does the inadequate tratement of human trafficking expose?

It tells us that the police are not only ill-equipped to serve Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse community, but many continue to allow prejudice, racist attitudes, and structural racism to continue.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #72: False police reporting is an example of violence and open hostility

Posted on by Migrant Tales

White Finnish privilege is powerful since you can use the police to project the need for defense and protection. In the United States, we saw two viral examples (see below) involving Amy Cooper and Lisa Alexander.

For those who don’t remember, Cooper is the “Central Park Karen” for false reporting to the police. She falsely stated on video that she was in danger of being attacked by a black man after he told her to put her dog on a leash.

The second case involving Alexander, or “San Francisco Karen,” happened when she and her husband approached a black man who was writing on his front lawn, “black lives matter.” The couple did not know that it was the black man’s property.

These two cases not only reveal white privilege but hinge on myths dating to the era of USAmerican slavery when they viewed black slaves as sexual threats to white women.

In Turku, we got a sour taste of the latest example of false reporting. The police report in a tweet that a robbery took place in Turku. According to the “victim,” the man had “a field jacket, dark pants, dark hair, was of Middle East origin.”

The police tweet later on: “The incident is over. Everything is fine. The person [who made the false report] is resolving the matter with the police since he/she admitted that he/she had made the whole thing up.

Patrol resources could have been better used elsewhere.”

FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #72

Like in the two recent cases in the United States, will we see the perpetrator of the false report in Finland apologize? How much damage does such a false report, tweeted by the police, impact people of color?

It is surprising that the Finnish police use outdated ethnic profiling identification. Today, a Finn can be of any color and ethnicity. Moreover, the ethnic makeup of the Middle East is diverse.

Grouping people by nationality is racist. The incident also exposes the police in an unprofessional and racist light.

How many more cases of false reporting are there, and what do they reveal about white Finnish privilege and its open hostility to people who are not white?

While in a different historical context, the false reporting in the US and Finland have the same goals: reinforce and embolden racism. Add to this prejudice and racism of the police, and you have a potent weapon against minorities and migrants.

https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1264965252866641920%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F5857023%2Fkaren-meme-history-meaning%2F

See also:

Trump and Huhtasaari: White supremacy in the US and Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we look at US President Donald Trump’s makeup and that used by Perussuomalaiset* MEP Laura Huhtasaari, we can conclude that their personas are different shades of white supremacy.

We all know about Trump’s white supremacist views and we know about Huhtasaari’s feelings on the matter. Her posts and hashtags (#proudtobeFinn and others) speak for themselves.

Even if both politicians are from different countries, they built their political careers on racism and white supremacy. Trump reached infamy by his birther claims that Barack Obama was not born in the US, while Huhtasaari went on the rampage against Muslims and the EU.

If we look at white supremacy in Finland, it does, as in the case of Huhtasaari, involve white-silver dyed hair, white clothing, lots of white makeup as well as white supremacist soundbites.

Source: Twitter
Different shades of Huhtasaari’s dyed hair and white supremacist image. Source: Twitter
Blonde hair and makeup do wonders for bringing out the white supremacist image. Source Google.

A guide to becoming a white supremacist politician:

  • Dye your hair blonde
  • Use a lot of whitening makeup
  • Spread racism by scapegoating vulnerable people like asylum seekers
  • Get elected and continue undermining democracy.

Perussuomalaiset: The shameful a**hole party of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

“What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Still smart? Do you still like yourself?”

Toni Morrison (1931-2019)

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Mauri Peltokangas, a far-right politician and member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association, labeled government ministers “a**holes” for not expressing concern about the attack against the party’s campaign manager Pekka Kataja.

Those who have followed the Kataja incident will note that it is a pretty mixed up story. First, Kataja pins the blame on “Arab-looking” attackers, then changes it to far right even if he adheres to the same Islamophobic mindset.

The post on Peltokangas’ Facebook page was removed, which is yet proof that he is a loudmouth opportunist who takes racist, Islamophobic, and misogynist potshots at his rivals. Peltokangas can’t stand the heat so he is the first to exit the kitchen.

If you are surprised that the PS parliamentary group will not take any action against Peltokangas, this Islamophobe has a long history of rants and racist statements.

Writes Peltokangas: “Each of our ministers are sorrowful a**holes. Eveyone is silent even if the victim works for parliament.”

If a recent (22.2.2020) rant below, which lasts 2:36 minutes, Peltokangas utters around every 20 seconds the following swear words:

Continue reading “Perussuomalaiset: The shameful a**hole party of Finland”

The Norwegian mass murderer, 22/7, and Jussi Halla-aho

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Hateful and racist words can turn into bullets.

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Two days and nine years had gone by when Norway and Europe witnessed the horrific events of 22/7 that left 77 people dead and many others with physical and psychological injuries for the rest of their lives.

One of the matters that we can learn from the far-right terrorist is that words can turn into bullets.

The far-right terrorist and “the end of an era of multiculturlaism.” Source: Springer

In his manifesto, “2083 a European Declaration of Independence,” he cites the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and its chairperson Jussi Halla-aho as a credible (sic!) source on the takeover of Europe by Muslims.

Continue reading “The Norwegian mass murderer, 22/7, and Jussi Halla-aho”

The Pekka Kataja account of his attackers’ identity changes again

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

The Pekka Kataja story, the Perussuomnalaiset (PS) councilor of Jämsänkoski, is constantly changing. First, he claims that “Arab-looking” men assaulted him. That has now morphed into “possibly” it was the far right or far left.

Kataja even claimed that he was attacked due to his opinions of an asylum reception center, which he wanted to be closed.

The problem with the latter theory is that few if any at the asylum reception center has ever heard of him.

“The asylum seekers at the reception center don’t read Finnish papers so they are unaware of people like this man [Kataja], said a Jämsänkoski asylum seeker.

While we should forcefully condemn all types of violence, there is a generous dose of hypocrisy emerging from the Kataja affair. On the same day as Kataja was attacked, the family of Left Alliance Helsinki councilperson Suldaan Said Ahmed was threatened with a bb-rifle.

How many PS politicians condemed what happaned to Ahmed’s family?

Why isn’t anyone showing their repugnance for racism and hate speech perpetrated by parties like the PS?

Continue reading “The Pekka Kataja account of his attackers’ identity changes again”

Islamophobe warning: Look out for the “Arab-looking” and “bearded minor!”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

On Friday, we read about an assault against a Perussuomalaiset (PS) politician in Jämsänkoski. Pekka Kataja, who was rushed to the hospital to treat his head wounds, broken ribs, and a concussion. The PS politician, who has made a name thanks to his anti-Muslim opinions, claims that the men who attacked him were “Arab-looking” and that the attack was politically motivated.

As we wrote in a previous blog entry, we should do everything possible to condemn and stamp out violence. If the attack against Kataja was politically motivated, this would be a very worrying sign.

But some question marks arise from Kataja’s claims. Some of these are:

  • Did the “Arab-looking” suspects speak Finnish with an accent?
  • Kataja has a long track record for his Islamophobic views. In a 2017 Yle election compass, he mentioned as one of his goals was to end “asylum tourism” and that Finland cannot afford to pay billions [of euros] to provide for them;
  • ” Didn’t any red lights start to flash when the two “Arab-looking” suspects asked him to show his ID for a package with party flyers?
  • Did the suspects speak Finnish with an “Arabic” accent?
  • The PS believes that the attack was politically motivated. Why would anyone target a political noncelebrity in a small town in Finland?

Another one of these questions is that the attack was politically motivated because he wanted the Jämsä asylum reception center closed.

Speaking to one former resident of the reception center, expressed elation of its closing.

“It was the best news I had heard,” he said.

The “Arab-looking” suspect claim smells like a conspiracy theory of the PS. They have used such campaigns very effectively in the past, as we saw in Oulu with the sexual assault cases.

Thanks to the Tapanila sexual assault case about a month before the parliamentary elections of 2015.

In the last three parliamentary elections, conspiracy theories about sexual assault by foreigners have played an important role in attracting votes.

Continue reading “Islamophobe warning: Look out for the “Arab-looking” and “bearded minor!””

Condemn the attack, but don’t blame “Arab-looking” people

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Pekka Kataja, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* campaign manager from Jämsänkoski, was brutally attacked Friday at his home by what he called two “Arabian-looking” men. He claims that the attack was political because, as an ardent Islamophobe, he was in favor of shutting down the Jämsä asylum reception center.

While all forms of violence should be condemned, what happened to Kataja is unacceptable and an affront to the rule of law. We hope that Kataja’s recovery will be swift.

Here is the flip side of the story: Of all the parties in Finland, the PS knows how to label and exploit Islamophobia for its political means.

Moreover, there may be something fishy or missing from the big picture when members of the PS start to spread conspiracy theories like the Tweet below by Olli Kotro.

“I wonder if the murder attempt against Pekka Kataja was an attempt and ordered by the EU elite or the EU intelligence services?” Olli Kotro is MEP Laura Huhtasaari’s aide. Source: Twitter

There are a number of questions that the Kataja incident raises:

Continue reading “Condemn the attack, but don’t blame “Arab-looking” people”