Tag: Finland

When will Finland have a black or gay prime minister?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The hostility that Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government has faced is a good example of the misogyny that still exists in Finland. While Finland has made important strides in gender equality, women still make, on average, 20% less than men.

Even if women in Finland became the first to have the right to vote in 1906, it was not until 1984 when women were able to grant citizenship to their children through jus sanguinis.

Finland also had draconian laws against foreigners and foreign investment thanks to the Restricting Act of 1939 (Law 219/1939), which was made redundant in 1992.

Moreover, Finland got its first Aliens Act in 1983, or about 66 years after independence in 1917. Finland was also the last Nordic country to approve gay marriages in 2014.

If Prime Minister Marin’s government is made up mostly by women, when will we see ministers who represent minorities? When will Finland have its first black or gay prime minister?

The next important step in social equality in Finland will be having minority ministers. Source: Newsweek.
(Top picture) Sanna Marin’s government is an important step in gender equality in Finnish politics and government. (Lower picture) The days when the government was all male and white. Prime Minister Harri Holkeri’s government (1987-91). Source: Facebook.

I am confident that that day will come no matter how much racist, homophobic, and sexist kicking and bitching we see in Finland from the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset,* and mainstream parties like the National Coalition Party, Christian Democrats and other.

These social ills, which have come out into the open, are examples that not only must we do more work in tackling these problems but that we are winning the battle.

In Argentina, we had a saying whenever there was a military coup. We used to say to each other that “there is no evil can last a hundred years.”

Stop bickering and repatriate the wives and children of ISIS fighters now

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The reaction to what Finland should do about 10 Finnish women who are alleged wives of ISIS fighters and their 30 children at the al-Hola camp in northeast Syria has all the characteristics of social media lynch mob populism and Islamophobia.

The biggest trolls are not anonymous persons but opposition politicians of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and the National Coalition Party (NCP). They are a worrying sign of the stranglehold that populism has over Finland.

Imagine. A country with one of the best education systems in the world, one of the highest standards of living, a social welfare state that serves as a safety net for those that need it, is acting like an unruly mob ready to lynch its victim.

Part of the blame for the present hysteria is the former government of Prime Minister Antti Rinne, who has shown reluctance and dragged its feet concerning the repatriation of the wives of ISIS fighters.

The sooner Finland repatriates these women and children, the better.

And why shouldn’t they if these women and children are Finnish citizens?

“The people are scared! What does an ISIS child look like?” Source: Ville Ranta, lltalehti.

The best way to cast away the hateful trolling of the social media lynch mobs shadow is to bring back the wives and children stranded at the al-Hol camp.

Let the rule of law and our justice system do the rest.

Iraqi asylum seekers vow to continue demonstration in front of the Finnish Immigration Service building

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

After a setback on Sunday, Iraqi demonstrators in front of the Finnish Immigration Service building have vowed to continue their protest, according to Walid Sahib, one of the organizers of the demonstration.

A total of four demonstrators were detained by the police on Sunday and released from custody three hours later.

“We will continue [with our protest],” said Sahib. “We are seeking permission from the city [of Helsinki]. We will go somewhere else if they say we cannot demonstrate in front of Migri.”

Iraqi demonstrators protesting in front of the Finnish Immigration Service building on Thursday. Photo: By demonstrators.

See also: 

Asylum seekers start indefinite demonstration in front of the Finnish Immigration Service

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A group of present and former asylum seekers decided to hold an indefinite demonstration in front of Helsinki’s Finnish Immigration Service’s (Migri) on Thursday for better rights and security in Finland.

Walid Sahib, one of the persons taking part in the demonstration, said that the most important matter is to raise awareness for the plight of undocumented migrants and others in limbo waiting for decisions on their asylum applications.

“There are many [thousands] people with no permission in Finland and [others] waiting for four years for their residence permits,” said Sahib. “It is a very difficult situation.”

Demonstrators outside the Finnish Immigration Service offices in Helsinki. Photo: By demonstrators.
Sahib said that there is no time limit to the demonstration. The last demonstration held by Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers at the Helsinki Railway Square lasted for 140 days. Another shorter hunger-strike demonstration was held in Helsinki in 2017. Photo: By demonstrators.

In 2016, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä tightened Finland’s immigration law and did away with residence permits on humanitarian grounds. This change in the law forced the number of undocumented migrants to rise from a few hundred to a few thousand.

Then Social Democrat MP Nasima Razmyar, who is today Helsinki deputy mayor for culture and leisure, voted in 2016 to end residence permits on humanitarian grounds.

Razmyar is herself a former asylum seeker from Afghanistan.

Other migrant rights were eroded by Sipilä’s government as Amnesty International points out below.

Read the full Amnesty International Report 2017/18 here.

I would like to extend my support for these brave migrants for demonstrating for their rights. In today’s hostile environment of Finland, it is an effective way of raising your voice and invite public concern to your cause.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: How to celebrate Finland’s Independence Day

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The best present that we can receive on Finland’s Independence Day is an inclusive society that respects everyone irrespective of their background. Mutual respect is the bridge that unites this society.

So set aside your medals, distinctions, and invitations to the President’s Independence Day ball because social equality and respect for diversity is the only medal I would pin on my soul.

Celebrating your independence is a celebration for our cultural and ethnic diversity. Rosa Emilia Clay is one example of our rich heritage.

Some good news concerning the bed bug problem at the Jämsä asylum reception center

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Good news! The management of the Jämsä asylum reception center decided today to throw away all the furniture, some mattresses, and buy new ones deal with a bed bug problem that has persisted since before November 2018.

The reception center, located in central Finland about 4 kilometers from the nearest market, is run by Pihlajalinna, a private company that offers social and healthcare services for the public sector.

Pihlajalinna was in the news earlier this year for the negligent care to the elderly at their rest homes.

The decision to do away with the furniture and some mattresses came a day after Migrant Tales published an article Sunday with pictures affecting 30-40 asylum seekers at the reception center.

The Jämsä asylum reception center houses about 120 asylum seekers.

The Jämsä asylum reception center has had a bed bug problem for over a year.

The question that one asylum seeker who has suffered from bed bugs asks is why it has taken such a long time to solve the problem.

“Doing away with the bed bug problem costs [the company],” an asylum seeker who lives at the camp and who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That’s why it has taken such a long time to resolve. The other reason is that the camp management does not care about us.”

Migrant Tales wrote in 2016 about Luona, a private company that ran asylum reception centers and whose aim was to maximize profit.

The Jämsä asylum reception center.

The Jämsä reception center nurse is a good example of how the camp tries to save money.

“An asylum seeker staying at the camp was dying of cancer,” he said. “The nurse told him to drink a lot of water and take Burana, and that would relieve his pain. A while later, he was diagnosed with cancer and died last year in Jyväskylä.”

The actions of the nurse show ignorance and the lack of understanding of the suffering and trauma of refugees.

“I once visited the nurse and told her that I had problems sleeping [see Ulysses syndrome],” said the asylum seeker. “She asked me why I had such a problem and promised to get me medicine in mid-November. I’m still waiting.”

The person who visited the nurse about insomnia also suffers from panic attacks. The nurse told him just to rest and the problem would go away.

“The nurse promises to get medicine for us, but she always late with the medicine or forgets altogether,” he said. “Apart from keeping expenses as low as possible, people at the camp don’t like the nurse because she always forgets or [allegedly] lies outright.”

Budget cuts by Pihlajalinna can be seen as well in fewer staff workers at night. Before on Fridays, there was a worker at the camp until midnight, but now it is until to 9 pm.

On Saturdays and Sundays, there are employees only between noon and 6 pm.

“For the whole camp, there are only three washing machines that are in the office,” the person said. “They have promised to buy two more washing machines. On weekends, we cannot wash clothes at the camp after 6 pm.”

Kotoutuminen* #6: The white Finnish teacher and the migrant adult child. Stop infantilizing!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Red lights should start flashing whenever a person teaching integration 101 to newly arrived migrants states: “These students are my children.”

It is important to note, however, that there are many good and inspiring teachers who do wonders for their students and make them feel welcome.

Schools can be violent places for non-white people as this poster alleges. A THL study showed that first-generation migrants face at school bullying, physical and sexual harassment. Shouldn’t integration courses should also teach newcomers how to challenge such violence, prejudices, and discrimination that are too commonplace?

But for those who see their students as “children,” even if their students are grown-up adults, exposes their cultural arrogance, and racism.

If it were up to these types of teachers to “integrate” and turn these migrants into active members of society, the result is preparing them to become second- and third-class members of society.

Another serious problem is that there are few if any bodies that directly actively evaluate the teacher and his or her prejudices. Usually, white people are doing this type of evaluation if any.

I believe that a teacher aims to offer the best education possible to the students. If I were giving a talk to such teachers, the first thing I’d tell them is to stop underestimating and treating them like children.

I would turn to bodies like the European Network Against Racism to offer anti-racism and cultural diversity courses.

In the meantime, let’s stop infantilizing migrants!

See also:

*Kotoutiminen is the Finnish term for integration.

Bed bugs are a constant problem at the Jämsä asylum reception center

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Pihlajalinna, a private company that offers social and healthcare services in Finland for the public sector, was in the news earlier this year concerning the negligent care of its clients in elderly homes. The company also runs an asylum reception center in Jämsä, which has a bed bug (lude in Finnish) problem.

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are insects that feed on human blood. Their bites can cause several health problems like skin rashes.

According to an asylum seeker at the reception center, 30-40 people are suffering from bed bugs. The problem started before November 2018.

“The company that is supposed to fumigate the bed bugs has been here over 20 times, and we still have the problem,” said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is an asylum seeker. “It’s always the same story: they fumigate, but the problem persists.”

The asylum seeker alleges that Pihlajalinna tries to save money to maximize profit, and this explains why the bed bug problem persists at the reception center.

Some 30-40 asylum seekers suffer from bed bugs at the reception center.
More bed bugs. ..
Bed bugs cause skin rashes like with this asylum seeker at the reception center.
The Jämsä asylum reception center, run by Pihlajalinna, is a private company that offers social and healthcare services for the public sector.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

What is better: Scoring high on the World Press Freedom Index or uncritical reporting?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

Finland will wake up too late when incompetent populist parties, their politicians and policies lead us to the doorsteps of hell just like what happened in Germany after 1933.

Even if Finland ranks second in the World Press Freedom Index after Norway, how high does it score when it writes about populism, radical-right nationalism, policies that fuel social exclusion, and racism?

The fact that Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, has not written an editorial denouncing racism and how damaging populism is to the country, tell us of the extent of our denial.

Why have no dailies investigated how Finland’s geopolitical isolation during the Cold War helps the country to fall prey to populist and racist parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*?

Since almost everyone, especially most of the Finnish mainstream media, is fascinated with opinion polls these days, it’s clear that dailies like Helsingin Sanomat will give parties like the PS space and the benefit of the doubt.

A media that turns a blind eye to a threat like the PS is leaving our future to chance. Fortunately, Finland does have – even if only a few – solid columnists like Yrjö Rautio, who offers well-rounded analyses of the PS in his columns.

A recent interview Saturday in Helsingin Sanomat of PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho is a good example of uncritical journalism. Halla-aho built his political career by inciting hatred on groups like Muslims with Islamophobia, homophobia, and racism to name only a few.

In 2012, he was convicted of ethnic agitation and for breaching the sanctity of religion.

You can read some of his most racist quotes in English here.

This list is the DNA of the Perussuomalaiset party but is rarely asked about them.

It is unfortunate for our democracy that the Finnish media doesn’t do more to hold parties like the PS accountable for what they say and do.

A tweet by @TuomoKondie gives us a ten-point list of some questions that Helsingin Sanomat and other media could ask Halla-aho:

  • Racism spread by the PS;
  • Links with neo-Nazi groups;
  • Pipedream [and neo-liberal] economic policies;
  • Why they sympathize with Russian leader Vladimir Putin?
  • Scapegoating migrants for all of Finland’s problems;
  • Systematic lying;
  • Why PS politicians have the most criminal convictions than of any other party?
  • Harassing those that oppose the PS;
  • Climate change denial and naivety;
  • Unqualified politicians.

Here is something that every journalist in Finland should take into account when writing about the PS:

The Perussuomalaiset is not a normal party. It isn’t normal because it built its base on racism, far-right extremism, and neo-liberal economic and social models. It has an utter disrespect for our Nordic values. One of these is Section 6 of the Constitution that states: “No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.”

Below are more examples and disappointments of how uncritically the Finnish media writes about the PS.

Too few of them put the PS in the hot seat and why they spread and support social discrimination, exclusion, racism, and scapegoat near-constantly migrants for all of the country’s problems.

MP Riikka Purra’s and her Perussuomalaiset party’s trolls and helpers in the postal strike

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The postal strike is over but not the foul Perussuomaaiset (PS)* stench that lingers from the usual scapegoating and lies about migrants.

When the postal strike started, MP Riikka Purra and the PS had nothing better to do but to blame migrants for the labor dispute.

Migrant Tales wrote about Purra’s and her party’s victimization of migrants and how they cooked the facts to serve their argument.

This video is in Finnish.

Her first claim was that even if migrants make up about 20% of Posti’s total workforce, this was apparently a bad matter since foreigners worked and paid taxes.

Posti, the postal company, shot down Purra’s claim.

The PS MP was adamant and went even further to scapegoat foreigners by exaggerating a bogus claim: 98% of employees that carry your post in the early morning are so-called “people of foreign origin.”

She cited as her “source” the management of the Finnish Post and Logistics Union’s (PAU).

Migrant Tales got in touch with PAU, but they did not answer my calls and never confirmed Purra’s claim. The only one that confirmed her claim was herself.

On top of this, Purra’s little trolls and PS helpers came to her rescue.

One of these trolls is Tiina Wiik, who claims that Purra is right and Posti wrong about the amount of foreign postal workers. I asked her partner, Moroccan-born Junnes Lokka, if he considers himself to be a Finn or a person of foreign origin. He never answered my tweet.

As with the previous statement, Posti rejected Purra’s second claim by stating that about 30% of early morning postal workers are Finns. There is a big difference between Purra’s 98% claim and Posti’s 70%.

But this leads us to the most salient question of all: Who gives a flying f**k if there are non-white people working for Posti? Aren’t they offering a service and paying taxes?

In light of the latter, we should ask why is this such a big issue for the PS?

OK, we know the answer to that question.

They hate migrants, especially people of color.