Tag: Freedom of speech

What does not kill you makes you stronger

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some may have noticed that Migrant Tales has been for almost two weeks due to a barrage of long and sustained hacking that corrupted the database. Fortunately, and thanks to Jarkko Hakanen’s expertise, Migrant Tales is now well-guarded against future attacks.

Hackers are like killers, who try to silence you.

They can’t and never will.

Those who have followed Migrant Tales know that we have had hacker problems for several years. However, none of them were as bad as the last one.

We will not go away and continue to publish and be that voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians, and the public.

YLE now ensures that it will be easier to distinguish news from opinion pieces

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has received an email from YLE regional and radio current affairs director, Teijo Valtanen, ensuring that the broadcaster will make sure that the blog entries of MPs published Fridays are clearly separated from news. 

If we look at the opinion piece by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, which was published on Friday, the headings don’t separate clearly enough news from opinion.

We’ll see on Friday if there is any change, indicating that the blog entry being read is opinion, not news.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-3-26 kello 6.49.57

PS MP Olli Immonen’s opinion piece published as “news.”
Kuvankaappaus-2013-3-23-kello-5.39.46-400x188PS MP Immonen’s opinion piece appearing briefly as “opinion” before changing back to “news.”

Taking into account that there are many politicians in this country who are ready to compromise freedom of speech, it is important that the newsroom stays off-limits to politicians and other interest groups.

Meanwhile, PS youth leader Simon Elo suggested on his Uusi Suomi blog that Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary should be barred from entering Finland.

It is surprising that a party that champions for hate speech like the PS, is so eager to censure others.

It’s pretty clear that if the PS ever ruled Finland, the first matter to fly out of the window would be our civil rights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finland, the PS and far right: How long before the chickens come home to roost?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I’ve lived and worked in countries like Colombia and Argentina during the dirty war (1976-83), where people were and still are killed for what they write. Never would I have imagined that I’d receive my first death threats twenty years ago in this country, Finland. The threats and harassment haven’t stopped.  

When I read about this serious problem affecting university researchers who study a social ill like racism and even journalists, I not only wonder how we have got here but how long it will take before something snaps.

Unions representing university researchers brought up the issue in mid-February, stating that threats to their members at the University of Eastern Finland  have been on the rise. A new story on MTV3 today reveals the same problem on a much wider scale.

Another sad example was Jyväskylä, were a group of neo-Nazi thugs disrupted a book event on the far right in Finland.

It’s clear that those who harass and threaten people for what they do or write, have little respect for our democratic institutions. They are like lawless vigilantes full of bravado but turn to cowards when their identity is  exposed.

Racism and hatred are sexy for some people. Some politicians fall in love with them because it brings them to the public light and feeds their low self-esteem, narcissism and bizarre ego trips. What they don’t know – or don’t want to know – is that racism and hatred know no master. It can bite back, and hard.

Anders Breivik is a good example. He’s the dog on the short leash that turned into a mass murderer. The smoking gun were the hate sites he visited and that fed his twisted world where, like in a fairy tale, you can rewrite history to suit your ignorance.

What is Perussuomalaiset (PS) leader Timo Soini going to do about the extremists in the PS like MP Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola and others?

Nothing because he can’t and because he has already let the ogre out of the cage. Living on an overdose of wishful thinking, the PS leader believes he has control over the violence that his party has sown but well understands that he is now a hostage.

That monster that lurks in our society spreading hatred is the same one that is threatening university researchers, journalists and writers that challenge it.

Like a cancer, we must isolate and neutralize it.

Or maybe we should continue covering our eyes and leave everything to chance.

 

 

Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet (Part 2)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Since Wednesday Migrant Tales and I personally have been harassed by persons from a website called Ylilauta that made it a point to defame and insult me publicly.  When I got in touch with the administrator, Tuomas Siitonen, and told him that I was being attacked again, he pleaded the First Amendment (freedom of speech).

“You wouldn’t want to interfere with free speech, would you?” he said.

It is odd and a pretty weak argument to claim that defaming a person on the Internet protected under free speech.

What about my free speech? What about my right to express myself on Migrant Tales without being intimidated and attacked by publishing where I work?

Siitonen says in an email : “Naturally, if they are spreading personal information such as phone numbers and private addresses, we can interfere with it because, well, we’ve got moral standards too. Internet isn’t serious business and shouldn’t interfere one’s personal life physically.”

Is it a coincidence that on Friday I gave a talk to a group of high school students in Vantaa about the role of the media in guaranteeing freedom of expression.

I pointed out to them that even if in the United States we take the First Amendment very seriously, there are some limitations. Some of these are defamation, causing panic, incitement to crime as well as other exceptions.

Having lived in Argentina during the so-called dirty war, when the country was ruled by a ruthless military regime during 1976-83, there were very clear limitations on freedom of expression imposed by the de facto government.

What is the difference between a military dictatorship that censors the media and one where social media lynch mobs roam the Internet anonymously in Klu Klux Klan robes? Not much except that in the former you could be thrown in jail, tortured and killed.

Apart from the latter example, the intimidation by these social media mobs is no different from a ruthless military dictatorship since the aim is the same: instill fear, hopelessness and self-censorship. They are, as well, a wake up call about the social illness that has inflicted our society.

Granted, Ylilauta may be ” one of the internet’s dirty toilets filled with shit and puke” as BlandaUpp pointed out. Even so, it is the same ogre in different form that roams our society hindering us from effectively drawing the line between what is acceptable and not acceptable in our society concerning racism.

Every thing that is written on Migrant Tales is done to help future generations so they may live in a society that is more acceptant and where racism and far-right ideology are clearly on the defensive.

After enduring these attacks to my person for what I write on this blog, I reported the matter to the police on Saturday.

There is more at stake now than just a free-for-all against me, but the right of every person (especially visible minorities)  in this country to feel secure and express himself or herself freely.

Suomenmaa: Lapsellista sensuurihenkeä

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is a bit more about how some Perussuomalaiset like none other than MP James Hirvisaari and his wife have filed a complaint to the Council for Mass Media (JSN), according to Suomenmaa, a Center Party daily.  The complaint stems from the usage of the term “persu” by the media, which Hirvisaari claims is being used in a derogatory fashion against the PS.

This complaint follows PS MP Jussi Halla-aho’s decision to boycott Aamulehti because he did not like the pictures that the Tampere-based daily publishes of him.

Halla-aho stated that “cooperation” with Aaamulehti would end as a result. Newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti wrote in a column that they did not know that a large daily like Aamulehti had a cooperation agreement with Halla-aho.

As we have mentioned earlier, it is surreal that of all people Hirvisaari is the one trying to tell the media its job. Moreover Hirvisaari and Halla-aho belong to Suomen Sisu, a Nazi-spirited association, according to the Finnish Criminal Police (KRP) and Supo.

Does a member of such a questionable organization can give advice to Finland’s media?

Suomenmaa doesn’t spare the Hirvisaari couple any mercy: “The MPs behavior (to complain to the JSN) is childish and the way censorship enforced in the worst dictatorships.”

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Kansanedustaja James Hirvisaaren (ps.) puoliso Merja Hirvisaari on kannellut Julkisen Sanan neuvostoon median suhtautumisesta perussuomalaisiin. Hirvisaaren mielestä tiedotusvälineet yrittivät vaalien alla muokata kansalaisten mielipiteitä perussuomalaisia vastaan. Erityisen törkeänä esimerkkinä hän pitää persu-sanaa, jota hänen mukaansa käytettiin ”halventavana, pilkkaavana ja valheellisena mitätöinnin työkaluna.”

Read whole story.

The PS’ dangerous advice to the Finnish media

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

It was pretty surprising to read about Perussuomalaiset MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari offering the Finnish media lessons on how they should do their job. Whenever governments and politicians start to blame the media for their shortcomings we know there is something wrong. 

Just like the separation of the church and state, there must be a clear line between the media and politicians. Telling journalists how they should do their job or what the editorial policy of a newspaper should be is simply unacceptable in a Western democratic society.

Certainly we could take examples of countries like Myanmar, North Korea or Russia to see how governments and politicians manipulate the media for their own aims.

Apart from criticizing the media on numerous occasions and preferring not to answer tough questions by journalists, Halla-aho has now decided to boycott Tampere-based daily Aamulehti. The reason? He does not like the pictures that the newspaper prints of him.

Halla-aho did not like this picture published of him by Aamulehti. He said he would no longer give interviews to the newspaper. (Picture by Kimmo Brandt)

In another odd statement, Hirvisaari said that the media was treating the PS with disrespect.

Both Halla-aho and Hirvisaari reached public notoriety with the help of their xenophobic blogs. They are what some have called the “far-right extremists” of Timo Soini’s party.

Both are members of Suomen Sisu, a “Nazi-spirited” association, according to the Finnish Criminal Police (KRP) and Supo.

Can representatives of a “Nazi-spirited” association seriously offer advice to Finland’s media?

Can two people who base their writings on spreading stereotypes and hatred of immigrants and refugees in Finland tell the media what is ethical and correct? Seeking advice from Halla-aho and Hirvisaari would be like an ex-smoker with terminal lung cancer asking tobacco companies for advice.

Halla-aho was asked recently on a television program if he renounced the work of Alfred Rosenberg and David Duke, a former Klu Klux Klan head. It is understandable why associations like Suomen Sisu don’t have any issues with Rosenberg, who was tried in Nuremberg and sent to the gallows in 1946.

In Rosenberg’s The myth of the twentieth century, his argument is the antithesis of cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, which Suomen Sisu and Duke are vehemently opposed. Rosenberg believed that in order for the Germans to become the “master race” it needed to expel the Jews from the country. Only then would Germany reach greatness.

Tens of millions of people perished in World War 2 after Nazism and its representatives like Rosenberg were defeated and placed on trial to answer for their crimes.

It is ludicrous that people like Halla-aho and Hirvisaari want to teach our free media how to do its job. By keeping these two politicians, as well as others under scrutiny, we know that the media is doing its job.

Those who give freedom of expression a bad name in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

One of the most incredible claims by anti-immigration groups like the True Finns is that they are not allowed to criticize immigrants and Muslims in particular. When they bash and insult minorities they claim that all they are doing is exercising their right to freedom of speech.

I sometimes get really confused when I hear the True Finns and other anti-immigration groups’ reasoning. On the one hand they claim that nobody can criticize immigrants and religious minorities in this country because the law “protects” them.  A quick visit to their blogs would, however, reveal another reality.

Let’s get one matter straight: People who have been accepted in our country as legal immigrants or have refugee status are not perceived as a threat by society. If their backgrounds have been rigorously checked and double-checked by the authorities, why do some like far-right groups insist on seeing them as a threat?

When speaking of freedom of speech, there is a big difference  if we live in a country where the government abuses human rights. Censorship and self-censorship are never acceptable under such circumstances. Many anti-immigration groups treat and attack immigrants and refugees as if they were despotic regimes.  They do so because they don’t have the faintest idea of what it would mean to live in a totalitarian society.

Whenever you hear a True Finn or another candidate of the far-right claim that certain immigrant groups are being protected from their criticism they should take a  look at what they say publicly.

What you will see are their blatant and shameful remarks.

YLE: Rasismi- ja viharikosten rangaistuspykäliin tiukennuksia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Where do you draw the line on freedom of speech and racism? What happens if Finnish chat sites teem with racist content? Does the state have the right to curtail such content on the Internet?

I personally believe that the racism that one finds too often on Finnish chat sites reveals how our educational system and society have failed to address this social ill. A racist joke or comment may sound innocent at first but its impact is more devastating. Think of what would have happened to Germany of the 1930s if it would have not stoked the fires of racism?

Certainly one outcome would have been less need to go to war and murder millions of people systematically. Racism justified such crimes.
Here is the link to the draft law and the ministry of justice statement.

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Hallitus esittää rasismi- ja viharikosten määrittelyä netissä tarkennettavaksi. Hallitus haluaa tiukentaa pykäliä muun muassa siksi, että niitä voitaisiin soveltaa rasististen rikosten lisäksi paremmin myös muihin viharikoksiin.

Rangaistavaksi tulisi aiempaa selvemmin rasismi- ja vihakirjoitusten esilläpito levittämisen lisäksi. Esimerkiksi rasistiseen väkivaltaan kehottavien kirjoitusten esilläpito omilla nettisivuilla tai yhteisöpalvelujen ryhmissä olisi aiempaa selvemmin rangaistavaa, vaikka ei olisi itse kirjoituksia kirjoittanutkaan.

Hallituksen esityksen mukaan rikoslakiin pitäisi lisätä erityinen törkeää kiihottamista kansanryhmää vastaan koskeva rikosmerkistö. Uuden törkeän rikoksen enimmäisrangaistus olisi neljä vuotta vankeutta.

Pykäliä voisi soveltaa tapauksiin, joissa kehotetaan tai houkutellaan joukkotuhontaan tai muihin vakaviin ihmisoikeusrikoksiin, murhaan tai terroristisessa tarkoituksessa tehtyyn tappoon.

Kiihottamissäännösten ulottaminen ns. viharikoksiin selkeytettäisiin niin, että rikoksen vaikuttimina mainittaisiin erityisesti uhrin ihonväri, syntyperä, vakaumus tai seksuaalinen suhtautuminen tai vammaisuus.

Viharikosten rangaistavuus ulotettaisiin koskemaan myös oikeushenkilöitä, kuten yhteisöjä ja yhdistyksiä.

Lakimuutoksella on tarkoitus saattaa voimaan Euroopan neuvoston tietoverkkorikoksia koskevan sopimuksen rasismin vastainen lisäpöytäkirja ja EU:n rasismin torjuntaa koskeva puitepäätös.

Esityksessä korostetaan sananvapauden merkitystä säännöksiä sovellettaessa. Ehdotetuilla säännöksillä ei ole tarkoitus rajoittaa vapautta keskustella yhteiskunnallisesti merkityksellisistä asioista.

Freedom of expression and religion

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What does freedom of expression mean? For me it represents a Montesquieuian framework of society where all the parts watch over the other. These checks and balances are crucial to ensure that basic civil liberties enshrined in documents such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights are vigorously defended and encouraged.

Even though the law is pretty clear what ethnic incitement is, it is an important safeguard that won’t allow certain groups to go on a vigilante rampage against certain minorities.

Freedom of speech works in the same way in the United States but with a very big difference. US’ mosaic society, which comprises of many ethnicities, has learned to live in relative peace after the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Europe is still light years away from the United States never mind Canada. All we have to do is open our history books and read about the horrors that took place in the former Yugoslavia, the racism that groups like the Roma suffer, and the Nazi Germany regime that over-dosed on its own madness.

Some Europeans still live so far back in time that they believe that diversity and innovation are threats.

The aforementioned are stark reminders of how Europe is still having a difficult time coexisting with minorities. That is one reason why the rise of far-right groups in Europe are a cause for concern.

Motives are another aspect that puts into question those ultra-right nationalistic groups. Are they really interested in defending everyone’s civil liberties if the first thing they would do if in power would be to put minority rights in cold storage? Can you trust a group that claims to defend civil rights with one hand and bashes certain minorities with another?

Do you set a good example for others to embrace your culture if the first thing that you show them is your loathing?

Any sensible person with a strong sense of justice and equality would not go around insulting and inciting other ethnic groups because they are different.

There are certain practical rules of conduct on how you behave when with members of the same groups or with those belonging to another culture. These rules only require common sense and are there because they facilitate peaceful coexistence.

Rule of thumb number one: Treat others like you would treat people in your own culture.

I personally believe that as our societies become more diverse we will find the right balance between what is appropriate and inappropriate. Such a balance will help us understand what the real meaning of freedom of expression means.