Immigrants Archives - Page 3 of 8

Dana: You are not welcome in Finland – go back to where you came from!

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

Yes, who invited you here?

If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go back to where you came from? This statement is aimed to tire and weaken you. It’s a dark trick with a dark ending for you.

And who knows about those dark goals better than I?

Back home you can hear the same statements still ringing in your head: “Go back to where you came from.”

Sometimes some foreigners who are working with Finns attack other foreigners; it’s as if Finland were fat meat and they want to eat it all. Or maybe they think they are the only ones who think they have the right to come and stay Finland…So the big question is if i should eat only veggies? Veggies are like gold in Finland. They are expensive as meat.

The first important lesson you will learn in Finland from politicians, the government, laws, courts, ombudsmen, parliament and all those organizations that are supposed to look after your rights is that u r not welcome in this country.

There are no human rights organization that will defend you either… oh yes, there are some, but they don’t really mean to defend your human rights. If something happens and you approach them, they will listen to you and repeat the following: ”Sorry, sorry that’s not our job…Oh Finnish law works like this. Oh this is the situation, this is how the law works. ”

So be careful

because

in the name of the law what is illegal is legal.

Why is the immigration debate in Finland so distorted?

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Here’s a question that needs serious debating in Finland: If refugees account for a minority of all immigrants, why do they get so much attention in the media? Why do anti-immigration parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) constantly speak of them and give us the impression that all of Finland’s immigrants are mostly refugees and Muslims living off social welfare?

In 2012, a total 3,129 asylum-seekers came to Finland compared with 3,089 in the previous year, according to the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS). Of these, about half (1,601) got accepted as refugees last year.

So why the distortion? It shows that those who oppose immigration, or cultural diversity, will distort, exaggerate and lie to drive home their point.

The strategy that anti-immigration groups use resembles me taking pedophile crime statistics and preposterously claiming that all Finns are pedophiles.

Read full 2012 annual report here. The majority (64%) of immigrants are from Europe, followed by Asians (20.5%) and Africans (9.1%).

The amount of refugees that we take in annually is tiny. In neighboring Sweden, there were a total of 43,900 asylum-seekers in 2012.

As a country, we should be ashamed of ourselves. Finland has committed itself to take in 750 quota refugees annually. The last time we filled that quota was in 2003, when we accepted 749 refugees.

Every year after 2003 we’ve missed the 750 quota target: 734 in 2012; 626 in 2011; 634 in 2010; 727 in 2009; 737 in 2008; 727 in 2007; 676 in 2006; 690 in 2005; and 679 in 2004, according to FIS.

One of the reasons why we haven’t been able to take 750 quota refugees annually is stiff opposition from municipalities. The PS, for example, campaigned in the municipal elections that municipalities should not accept refugees.

Having grown up in the United Sates, Argentina and studied culturally diverse countries like England, Canada, Australia, Brazil and others, I do not understand how somebody can claim that immigration is a burden on society. If immigration fuels growth in these countries, it spurs growth in Finland as well.

An OECD study published in June claimed that immigration boosted economic growth in Finland in 2011 by 0.16%.

Those who disagree with the OECD’s claims can take a close look at countries like the United Sates, Canada and Britain, which have large immigrant populations, and ask why they have the most powerful economies in the world.

Migrant Tales Literary: Sharp-sighted bird and the Yellow Crocodile Kingdom

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

Once upon a day

there were a pair of birds who made their first egg… after a short while

the egg broke and a female baby bird emerged and tweeted her first song…

Her parents were shocked and asked how come the little bird was so different from other ones…the bird had big wings and a loud voice… and could sing

and make other birds dance; it could fly up, up higher and argue with the big eagles…even eagles loved her and knew she is a free spirit.

The baby bird grew and was brought up with LOVE

BUT

could not accept the roles that were enforced on her.

She could see facts

but was incapable of closing her beak.

One day she left her homeland and moved to another one that she knew nothing of…

It was a white land that was a Yellow Crocodile Kingdom.

The local birds there suffering too but couldn’t open their beaks and protest

The sweet bird that left her land went there with a big smile and her loud songs but

there were yellow crocodiles everywhere that hurt her on the first day her arrival.

the new land had a big building with many chairs and a room for them… they gathered there and decided there on behalf of the birds and other crocodiles.

Crocodiles were kept separate from the birds and the birds were discouraged to stand up for themselves.

Among the birds there was the stranger bird

that was trying hard to stand up for her rights…every time she did the crocodiles bit her and wounded her wings and body…

Once they took her to an ugly crave for a day…the crave was dark and had an ironic door…they even insulted her in court… they

turned her life into a nightmare … even so, they couldn’t shut her up….

She was very very alone… no birds around her accepted her protests.

Birds in that country liked their crocodile rulers and wanted them to be their masters

….

After a long time she was far from home…her parents tried to move to the same country she lived… but crocodiles closed all the doors.

Doors were built with sharp stones and slippery sand

with crocodile soldiers guarding those doors.

Her bird parents tried their hardest to reunite with their daughter bird

but

the crocodile soldiers killed them both.

One by one

First, her Mama

And then her Dad.

That was a tragedy for the sweet bird, the baby bird who couldn’t open her beak and sing anymore, not even smile…She was crying and

crying and filling a lake with her tears….

She wanted to build a ship and sail on her own on that lake of tears and move to her brother’s home in another land

and save him because they had a crocodile rulers there too… they needed each other so bad…

The sweet bird came close to doors and tried to open them

But the crocodiles attacked her over and over again and wounded her

yellow crocodiles were so cross at her

because she could fly and they couldn’t;

she could see the colors from her height and the crocodiles could just see black and white;

she could see facts and they did not want to see this… they feared the sweet bird so much…

The sweet bird started to sing her songs about the Yellow Crocodile Kingdom’s crimes it had committed agaisnt her

and sent her songs by wind everywhere.

The wind responded and told her not to worry it wanted to help her:

“…and i will spray your songs even into the depths of the ocean and sea..” the wind told her message to other birds but some responded in a

hateful manner…sigh… others were very silent and tried to tell her to shut up… there were some good birds as well… who could slowly

slowly hear what she had to say.

Eagles came to her rescue and carried her songs to the mountains and clouds

A big tree gave her a safe nest in its middle….

Butterflies told her they will spray colours on her parents graves

and wind washed her parents grave with her tears that carried her behind the doors where there were two worthy graves for her.

Dust told the sweet bird not to worry, i have only ur parents’ body;

the angels came to her and opened a letter from GOD:

”Ur parents are with me… be safe… i love you… i will send you helpers from heaven and Earth and i got all of ur complaints about how

badly you’ve been treated by the crocodiles.”

She was breathing deeply…

Now she was crying in silence.

The sweet bird was an old friend of the wind, eagles and moon, big trees and butterflies

and she could talk with bees in the darkness of night;

she was a friend of the old birds…the old birds were sad and sick and no/one loved them…so she could spray love to them and make them

happy

She knew many stars… but in this white land she could not see them at all… she wondered why she couldn’t see stars in her new

homeland. However, the sky was blue and that was the only thing that was similar to her home land….

Crocodiles tried a lot to make her ill like they did her parents but couldn’t since they didn’t have wings to catch her.

Crocodiles were very jealous of her because she could fly to the moon with her big wings

The moon told her about its experience… and that it could see everything that happened on white land

And the SUN????

What about the SUN???

The sun abandoned this land because it felt sad for the sweet bird…The sun cried tears of blood and told the sweet bird that it won’t return…

She couldn’t shine its warmth on the cruel crocodiles because she saw how they had treated the sweet bird and her parents. For that reason the

sun left the Yellow Crocodile Kingdom for good.

The sweet bird sent the sun a message with the help of the wind

and told it:

”Please be back in summer even if i know u are suffering here but return just for birds…there are good birds that live here too…”

Then the sun cried and cried and cried and cried and told her OK.

In winter

This land is so cold and icy without the sun

And in summer, for a short while, the sun returns.

Still in summer, when the sun returns, it is so sad that it doesn’t like to show itself too much and therefore can’t see the crocodiles on land…

But

it has a pity for the birds and trees,

One day a baby bird got a letter from the storm

The storm told her that is very, very angry at the Yellow Crocodile Kingdom…and will come to destroy it… oh good news for the poor birds!

Then

Baby bird felt her mother’s soft wings on her head

and tried to wake up the baby bird:

“Wake up wake up my sweet bird.

How long do u want to sleep”

WHAT???

asked the baby bird

and opened her eyes:

“Oh

Sigh

Was it a dream?

What a horrible dream

Are u alive, Mama???”

She smiled and told her yes i am… what did you dream, come and eat ur seed breakfast.

She was safe

She checked her wings

They weren’t wounded

Baby bird was dreaming…… WOW!!!

I am very happy for her

Be safe sweet bird, be safe.

Migrant Tales Literary: Suomi tai Suola, Saltland or Finland (Part II)

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

Before a storm everything looks great but it will come and it will break and destroy perfectly

Wind will clean all happiness

And trees will cry their best

When a sun can’t make you happy

And when a rain is a curse

When a child is singing about death

And old men and women can’t rest in their nest

No/one wants them, they are alone

On the beds in hospitals, it is not rare

Oh look they are so sick and tired

Life doesn’t need them any more they are fired

They are crying, but with hidden tears

Death is flying around them with black birds

When children have two dads and moms

They just think about bread, butter and jam

When humans are greedy and cruel

Money is their only goal, they are real fools

When a president is rich and his friends even richer

He has no wisdom, believe me, he needs a teacher

When ministers have fake smiles on their faces

They are afraid of your thoughts, they close your case

When drunks scream in streets, and beer is their jest

Magazine gestures with meaningless pictures, no more no less

Why does the press publish some ugly nude words?

Nobody searches for the truth, where are real roads?

In that time judges can’t open their mouths

and courts cannot stand for their false rights

When a president dies like the poor

When a king and queen will fall in a hole

When a dog can see facts about their owners

When a cat will laugh at people in their corners

There won’t be any freedom for you

You will lose all in a moment that is the truth

When salt-land makes a kingdom of darkness

Big clouds will shower it with blood and sharks

When you close your heart to beauty

You will lose and your life will be bad and dirty

When your life is sad and dirty, means you are a guilty

You deserve no kindness, not even pity

Big round Earth will shake and shake and shake

Moon will laugh at jerk, and berk and jerk

Sigh

There is a storm on the way and nothing can stop it

Nothing can give sweetness to salt

You have zero chances

NOLLA*

* zero

Migrant Tales Literary: Suomi tai Suola, Saltland or Finland (Part I)

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

YES, that’s it!

Risk-land and jail-land

What is the opposite of the Nobel Peace Prize? Is there a Nobel Ignoring Prize or such a prize in the world? I mean a Nobel that could be given to people who neglect others?

For sure Finland does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and never will… that’s very, very clear… i have never felt peace in my life in Finland but it does deserve a Hate Prize because i’ve got so much hate constantly, right and left.

There is no human right in Finland… oh, okay, there are human rights organizations , well they claim to be but they all play the same music and melody…. La la la la that’s not my job, la la la la call another place, la la la la i am sorry,…. And on and on and on.

So there is no reason to offer the Nobel Peace Prize to Suomi or Suola.*

Like in their Parliament there r different groups and sides…A, B, C, kok, mock , pork,

D, E, F fake, fake this is what u will take.

They are all one body in different shadows.

They all play the same music with the same piano and same notes

Do re mi fa so la si do

Oh do re mi fa suola doors

Dol si la so fa mi re do

Wolves are hungry, racists sing so

And who chose and chooses them?

For sure not the aliens, but Finns.

And what is the Finnish people’s idea about their government?

Wouldn’t it be better if Finland never accepted a united EU?

And it could build some ironic doors on the ground and sky around itself?

With a currency they could call the suola?

Or paras

The best

Hmmm

Is there a best in this world?

Truly what is best? What is better? What is good?

Who knows?

What do you think about this as a human being?

Do you enjoy to being a human?

Have you ever asked yourself who and what i am?

Some of us are not human, even if we looks human with a face and body.

What makes us human?

For sure it’s not the face and body but a deep matter in us. What is it?

Who knows? Again who knows? Who knows – hands up, no i never seen a hand up.

How many questions are you asking yourself every day?

And how many answers do WE get?

What is your most important question?

Have you ever judged yourself? What happened to you then?

Do you have dreams?

Do u remember them? Have you had the same dreams? What do they mean to u?

Yes, i’ve had the same dreams… in different shapes…. My mama was with me, in a shop and streets…everywhere…we were talking and feeling safe….suddenly i lost her. she parted so fast… i saw her, i could not go behind her, i lost her… that happens all the time in my dreams.

I’ve seen this dream many times in the last months, before mama started a new life…. and now

After she left this earth

Those dreams are gone

I don’t see them anymore

Finish

I could not get the message

It was meaning to convey

mama will go… sigh, oh Mama I Love You So Much, just wish a touch, come and touch me, now i can’t talk anymore about my mama because i will cry. stop, stop.

But about Suola.

Can anything grow on salt? No wisdom ( that’s why there is no-one in Parliament that talks with wisdom; they are all in union, in union about the same thing, but they play different roles like a TV with different channel, but it is one TV with one system and one voltage and program) can grow on salt, no morals, no ideas, no creativity, just bitterness.

Finland is a risky country. Come to Finland if you hate yourself and you want to punish yourself… If you have no hope come here too; if you are lazy and tired of running come here.

Before you come here go and buy yourself ironic shoes because you will run here and there.

Do not come here if you are an intelligent foreigner….oh everything will be against you.

Every law and organization will be against you because they need a slave not a brave person who can think.

Do you want to tell me now about your tough experience in Finland?

Or maybe you’re experience is holy – so what?

1, 2, 3

Tell me more about how free you are

4, 5, 6 living in Finland is a risk.

* Salt

The Stockholm riots reveal in the raw our prejudices and loathing for cultural diversity

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Apart from being a wake-up call to ever-growing social exclusion, discrimination and outright intolerance that is alive and kicking in Sweden, the riots in the northern suburb of Stockholm have revealed in Finland our prejudices and loathing for cultural diversity.

The Local writes: “Stockholm is not on fire. Let’s get that clear immediately.” Read full story here.

The riots in Husby even encouraged anti-immigration commentators on Migrant Tales to radicalize and step up their attacks on those who defend the good name of this blog.

Since riots are a desperate call for attention, reaction to such turmoil can reveal our deepest fears, prejudices and shameless doses of political opportunism as we have seen by Perussuomalaiset party politicians.

For me, the riots in Sweden are a sad reminder that a part of our society is still incapable of coming to terms with cultural diversity. Their response is defensive instead of proactive.

What does all of this reveal to us? That the lives of certain immigrant groups in this country are going to get far worse in the future.

By ”far worse” I mean greater social exclusion, prejudice and discrimination. Instead of finding proactive solutions, our prejudices will continue to cripple and impair our good judgement.

Another unsettling fact emerges from the Stockholm riots: Finland has serious issues of its own in accepting its ever-growing cultural diversity.

What will all of this lead to? The answer is simple: Similar riots in Finland in the future as in Sweden.

If the riots in Husby show that that a model Nordic welfare state like Sweden has issues concerning cultural diversity, it suggests that matters in Finland are in far worse shape.

It’s not too late, however. A lot can be done to avoid the mistakes of Sweden on the integration of immigrants front.

The most important of these is to live up to the spirit of our laws, which promotion of acceptance, opportunities and social equality for all.

City of Helsinki shouldn’t contract companies exploiting foreign workers

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng

Foreign workers in the cleaning services sector in Finland face exploitation and abuse from employers and sometimes from customers. The authorities, including city councils that award cleaning contracts to companies that violate employment rules and collective agreements share the blame.

Image: The Copenhagen Post

According to a Yle report, work safety inspections conducted in about 20 cleaning companies that employ foreign workers revealed problems at every company inspected, and the City of Helsinki is considering contracting the services of one of the companies.

Violations uncovered by inspections carried out this year include irregularities in registering work hours, payment irregularities and employment of workers without work permits.

As a foreign national with experience and connections in Finland’s cleaning sector, I am not surprised by news that inspections turned up problems in every cleaning company inspected. What is surprising to me is that the City of Helsinki is considering contracting a company that violates employment standards.

In my view, companies that do not register work hours exploit workers – intentionally or unintentionally – by not remunerating all work hours since some hours “slip through the cracks”. Payment irregularities could mean workers are not paid as per their work contracts and collective agreements. For instance, some foreign employees work without a fixed payment date, hence they can’t plan payment of bills, rents and other living expenses because they don’t know when they’ll be paid.

Workers employed without work permits, in my opinion are vulnerable and subject to exploitation and abuse since they mostly work in hiding and cannot take legal action against exploitation and abuse. Employers take advantage of undocumented workers.

Background checks

The City of Helsinki and all other authorities in Finland, including private sector businesses requesting bids should ensure that bidding companies respect labor laws and collective agreements before contracting their services. This can be done by working closely with labor inspectors and trade unions.

Service suppliers should be subjected to background checks before bid contracts are accepted.

In 2009 I wrote a complaint to the City of Espoo about the exploitation of workers (mostly Africans and Chinese) by a cleaning company operating in Espoo. In reply to my complaint a lawyer at the City of Espoo said, that before contracting companies the city ensures that the companies comply with labor laws and collective agreements. It was hard to believe the lawyer because the company in question, in my assessment, violated many labor standards and collective agreements in the cleaning services sector, including the obligation to register hours spent on the job by all employees. (Read my story, in Finnish, on PAM-lehti).

Exploitative companies that disregard labor regulations, collective agreements and workers’ rights should not be given contracts. Contracting such companies sends a wrong message that exploitation of foreign workers is acceptable in Finland.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Fighting racism in Finland the Ricky Ghansah way

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Ricky Ghansah is a young African who was being harassed by a “super racist”at a Helsinki bus stop. On entering the bus, Ghansah noticed that the man had forgotten at home his wallet and bus pass. He went to the bus driver and paid the man’s ticket.

Read Facebook thread here.

The man, who had called Ghansah racist names, came up to him and thanked him for buying the ticket. He told the man that his show of gratitude doesn’t mean much to him but if he apologized that would.

The man then apologized for his behavior. Ghansah asked if he could apologize a little louder so the whole bus could hear him. He did and the bus passengers clapped their hands in approval at what had happened.

It was a very effective way to handle such a horrible situation. A woman passenger who sat next to Ghansah said that he had handled the situation very well.

Possibly the man who insulted Ghansah is a racist manner will think twice the next time he opens his mouth.

Assaulted Helsinki, Finland, black bus driver: Immigrants are treated unfairly by the police and law

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Ali Dahir, the black bus driver who was assaulted Tuesday in Helsinki by a white Finn, claims that the police and the law treat foreigners differently from Finns. The bus driver, who is a Finnish citizen and a native of Somalia, was attacked while at work and suffered concussions.

While the police and government officials may disagree with Dahir, his statement by him reveals a wider known problem: There is little credibility of the police and our laws by some immigrants. It is a serious problem that should be addressed.

“The police and the law treat foreigners [or people who aren’t white Finns] unfairly,” he told Migrant Tales. “If I would have attacked a white bus driver, you can be certain I’d be arrested and jailed.”

Dahir asked the policemen why they didn’t arrest and lock up the attacker after he was apprehended.

“All they said was that they understood why I was angry [by what happened],” he said.

Dahir, who has lived 17 years in Finland, believes that the police and law continue to treat people who aren’t white Finns unfairly.

“I am certain that if this would have happened in the UK or Sweden, they’d have locked up the attacker,” he said.

Migrant Tales Literary: Boycott ?????

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Dana

By Dana

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Land of walls: Finland Finland or prejudice

Prejudice, maybe banter Banter, wow, a hunter

A hunter of humanity Humanity screams out in this land

Land of doubts, a sick land of doubts Thoughts that doubt, a land of colossal hurt

Land of hurt or Finland Finland, yes, a land of sin

Land of sin or ding dong land Ding dong land or land of hate

Land of hate or land of fakes Land of fakes and land that shakes

Scam scam scammers I give you fair waning: scam is a shark

Walls oh walls look at those walls Here, there and everywhere

They play games behind the walls Behind the walls that are inhabited by the darkness.