Islamophobia Archives - Page 14 of 72

Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: PS’ Riikka Purra “praises” Ykkösaamu. Complacency devours facts.

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

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.

**PS Chairperson Riikka Purra. Source: Twitter.**

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.

Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: An interview with Riikka Purra that reveals why the media is part of the “r”problem

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Migrant Tales

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.

Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: Yle continues to shamefully label racialized youths as dangers to society

Posted on November 9, 2022December 31, 2025 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish mainstream media has a poor reputation in the eyes of racialized Finns for spreading and labeling them. Yle did it again on its 8:30 pm news, where it led with a picture of a white youth giving the finger, followed by no sources except for “the police believes” that street gang criminal activity has taken a turn for the worst.

Then the reporter gives her verdict, sourcing her opinions to the police without mentioning statistical information, never mind an official’s name.

“Shootings in public places, bragging about criminals and showing it on social media indicate that street gang criminal activity has grown in Finland, according to the police.”

The Yle reporter states that the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) said four years ago that there were no youth street gangs in Finland. Today there are about ten gangs, mainly in Turku and Helsinki and surroundings, with about 200 members, according to the police.

Who are these youth gang members anyway?

Surprise, surprise: “Youth gangs are different from motorcycle gangs,” the reporter states, “since they listen to rap music, they are mainly men of foreign background and exert influence in the neighborhoods they live.”

Kanta-Häme court that dropped charges in hijab case against the police will be appealed, according to prosecutor

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Migrant Tales

A Kanta-Häme district court that dropped charges against seven police officials and security guards for forcibly removing in 2017 two Muslim women’s hijabs will not be treated by the court in what remains of the year but in 2023, according to prosecutor Heidi Savurinne.

Two asylum seekers saw their hijabs removed forcibly in 2017 by the police and security guards because they refused to take them off for a photo.

The case is significant from the view of religious freedom and equality before the law. Why are asylum seekers forced to remove their hijabs for police photos if those with residence permits don’t have to? As long as a woman’s face isn’t covered, EU law allows women to use the hijab for a passport picture.

Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: An example of Yle zzz journalism

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Journalism is a tough job that forces one to stay on its toes. On Thursday on A-Talk we heard the opinions of four MPs of the Left Alliance, Social Democrats, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* if Finland was heading towards a debt crisis and spending cutbacks.

There was nothing new from PS MP VIlle Tavio, who suggested the usual cuts in development aid, which is pictured as “money thrown down the drain,” and billions of euros from “migration,” which he labeled as a security threat.

No pushback, never mind an utter from the host Sakari Sirkkinen. The following comment by Tavio was a sad example of zzz or snooze journalism. Yle is supposed to represent migrants and minorities living in Finland, not permit their demonization.

Said Tavio: “Social welfare based on nationality would revolutionize the [existing] and make the system more dynamic and advantageous for us.”

**Vill**e Tavio has expressed support for France’s Marine Le Pen and other autocrats like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Source: *Yle*

Again, an eerie silence came from the host, and none of the guests uttered a word.

With parliamentary elections in April, PS Chairperson Riikka Purra reiterated Thursday that social welfare benefits should hinge on nationality.

Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: An Helsingin Sanomat editorial that boosts xenophobia

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Migrant Tales

There is a lot of talk and unfortunate examples of how the media helps to spread populist parties’ hateful messages about migrants and minorities. An editorial published by Helsingin Sanomat Thursday is a good example of how the media does this.

The good showing of the Sweden Democrats in September’s parliamentary election is due to the country’s youth gangs, which received a lot of attention.

In the same way as the Sweden Democrats, the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) is trying to use the same campaign theme in Finland. Even if the editorial does not mention that it is racist for parties like the PS to label whole groups as a menace to society, it correctly points out that Finland’s so-called youth gang problem is different from Sweden’s.

Finland’s political atmosphere has been poisoned so much by xenophobia that such social ills have become normal. Especially parties like the PS and the National Coalition Party are directly responsible.

**Read the full story (in Finnish) here.**

The PS’ and Kokoomus’ “concern” about Finland’s minority youth gangs is dishonest and a political stunt

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Watching weekly Thursday’s question-and-answer session between the opposition and government can cause nausea. With parliamentary elections six months in April, expect opposition parties like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) to increase their attacks against ALL migrants.

The truth about the PS and Kokoomus, the biggest and second-biggest opposition party, respectively, is that they have declared hostile and open warfare against migrants and minorities in Finland.

Making up fear scenarios and copying the success of the Sweden Democrats in September’s elections in Sweden is what the PS and Kokoomus want to convey to their prospective voters.

**The debate about youth gangs in Finland shows the social inequality that migrants and minority youths suffer in Finland. Read the full story here.**

Mark my words, after the April parliamentary election, those xenophobic cries will simmer down. The ever-hostile rhetoric of the opposition has nothing to do with solving migration or gang violence. They are deceitful and an election stunt to lure voters.

Kokoomus must look a bit worried about the elections in Sweden. The open support of their sister party, the Moderates, enabled the Sweden Democrats to become the biggest right-wing party.

The lesson we learn repeatedly is that right-wing parties that support far-right ones lose support. Why would you vote for a party that is a lighter version of the real xenophobic thing?

Finland is a country swept once again off its feet by xenophobia

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Watching the parliamentary question-and-answer session between the opposition and government revealed two matters: the opposition’s xenophobic politicking and the government’s sometimes infirm responses.

The debate between the opposition and the government occasionally appears like a shouting match, where the government caves into the opposition.

In a historic government decision on the same day, Finland closed its border to Russian tourists.

If one was to state, in a nutshell, the hostile diatribes of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and Christian Democrat MPs Thursday, it was to tar and feather Russians, asylum seekers from outside the EU, and undocumented migrants.

PS MP Jari Ronkainen parrots his party’s fear-mongering: “Fleeing military service is not grounds for asylum. If it were, up to 20 million Russians would theoretically be entitled to asylum. Despite this, the minister of interior [Kirsta Mikkonen] said yesterday that they are preparing at the border for an influx of asylum seekers and setting up processing centers. For potentially millions?”

The PS, which wants Finland to implement a zero asylum seeker policy, sees the passage of the national border act as an instrument toward such a goal.

“A visa on humanitarian grounds allows a person from Russia or any other country to apply in practice for asylum without even coming to the border of the country,” said PS chairperson Riikka Purra, “and this raises the same security concerns as the right to apply for asylum at the moment.”

Purra favors shutting the Finnish border to Russians even if there is no threat.

NO HATE FINLAND STATEMENT: The parliamentary election has begun for the Finns Party”

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The Finns Party (PS) is actively campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary election in April. The party published Monday its so-called “Finnishness program,” Suomalaisuuden ohjelma 2022.

The program attacks two groups: migrants and Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority.

The hostility and simplistic arguments against these two groups resemble an angry and spiteful person willing to lie and cheat to get his or her way.

The PS’ main argument in the program is to also play the usual victim. One of the arguments is that Swedish speakers, never mind migrants, “do not strengthen the linguistic cohesion and identity of Finnish speakers.”

In the PS xenophobic bubble. there is a surrealistic hope that Finland will return to a time that never existed, a time when everyone was white and spoke Finnish as their main language.

I’m not surprised the host on A-studio Tuesday, Marja Sannikka, did not ask the PS leader, Riikka Purra, to elaborate on her dog-whistle tweets of closing the border to all Russians.

Fortunately, Sannikka rebuffed Purra’s claim in a later tweet, where the PS leader claimed on her show that Russian asylum seekers would be treated on a one-by-one basis.

A later tweet below demanded that the border should be shut to all Russians.

RIikka Puura tweets: “Russia blows up gas pipelines and incorporates areas to itself, kills, rapes, destroys without remorse. I was asked many times at the studio how many Russians we should take and help. Close the border [to all Russians]. National security proceeds everything.

**You did not say it that way on air, but those Russian asylum seekers would be treated individual**ly and receive asylum if they meet the requirements. Thus you are not shutting the border [to Russian asylum seekers].”

Purra’s tweets expose lies and deception. Say one thing and then another.

European far-right parties are part of a conspiracy to replace our democracies

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Migrant Tales

A paradox: “Liberal” Nordic countries like Finland have large far-right parties that feed off racism.

If I were to use the racist rhetoric of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to solve social problems, I’d be lost. Solutions, like tougher laws, more restrictions, enforcing marginalization, and strengthening institutional racism, would leave me in a bind.

Fearmongering and stirring up the us-and-them message is the bread and butter of parties like the PS. They have nothing to offer except to feed your prejudices and embolden your hatred.

Politicians like PS chairperson Riikka Purra and Jussi Halla-aho are fortune tellers. All they can do is tell us the horrible things migrants will do if we let them in Finland.

The latest prank by the PS is to end Russian tourists from coming to the country. They claim that these people are a security threat. What about if some of these Russians are fleeing Putin’s terror? OK, I get it: the plan is to restrict asylum seekers from coming to Finland.

The ad by the youth chapter of the PS received a lot of criticism on **social media. It reads: “Russians vacationing in Finland…genocide in Ukraine. Close the border.”**

As the sign in Helsinki shows, it is time to close our easter border with Russia because there is “genocide in Ukraine.”