Islamophobia Archives - Page 55 of 72

Donald Trump and the post-election European horror story

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Migrant Tales

We don’t mean to scare you with this tweet below. But it’s interesting to note how the Donald Trump’s rise to the US presidency is bringing out the absolute worst in Europe.

While 2016 was a year that ushered in a new era of uncertainty thanks to Brexit and Trump, we must not despair and permit the flagrant opportunism of far-right politicians to dictate what Europe is.

The Guardian published a story Saturday where the region’s far-right leaders saw 2017 as the year when Europe “wakes up.”

One could fairly ask wake up to what? More discrimination? More attacks against our culturally and ethnically diverse roots as Europeans? More white privilege? More police surveillance and abuse?

From left to right some pretty scary far-right European politicians from left to right: Harald Vilimsky of the Austrian FPÖ, Matteo Salvini of the Italian Lega Nord, Gert Wilders of the PVV of Holland, Marine Le Pen of Front Nationale, and Germany’s Frauke Petry of AfD.

Folks, these politicians don’t have a clue about how to make Europe function as a region that respects and makes diversity work. They will fail and fall flat on their faces if they get power.

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Who’s responsible for the spike in hate crimes in Finland?

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Migrant Tales

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen states that there is an upsurge in hate crimes in Finland, according to YLE News. He states that those hate crimes that are reported to the police service are only the tip of the iceberg. Is Kolehmainen being disingenuous? Why doesn’t mention he state clearly that politicians and political parties are polarizing society and emboldening racists?

The national police commissioner states that one of the problems is that victims are reluctant to file a complaint to the police service. And why would they? It takes months, if not a near-eternity, for the police to get in touch with you.

Migrant Tales reported in May a case when a white Finnish woman insulted in a racist manner and threw a bucket of water on a Kenyan woman who lives in Helsinki. Still today the police and the non-discrimination ombudsman have not been in touch with the victim.

The latest sentences for hate speech – all present or former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politicians – of MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, Tampere city councilor Terhi Kiemunki, Olli Sademies, Sebastian Tynkkynen and many others are an example of where part of the problem originates.

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Will Halla-aho be the PS’ savior or the party’s political grave?

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Migrant Tales

A while back I asked a friend what would happen if the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* implode as we’ve seen in the polls. What will emerge from the ruin of that xenophobic party? Will we see another party that is more sinister and more dangerous to cultural diversity?

With PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho’s decision to challenge Timo Soini and run for chairman of the party could well mean the birth of an ever-radical anti-immigration party in the same league as the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party.

Will Halla-aho be the lifesaver of the PS’ problems and succeed at bolstering the embattled party’s poll standings? If we read PS politicians like MP Laura Huhtasaari, the Islamophobe with the white kindergarten teacher smile, the answer is a confident yes.

According to her, “Finland needs Perussuomalaiset values, Jussi is a pioneer, a nationalist who defends our rights. He doesn’t vacillate. He’s not afraid of being labeled because he believes in what he says.”

When watching the news about Halla-aho and how the media reports about this MEP, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, it’s amazing to note how much fascination and interest there is in a politician who has built his political career on insulting minorities and spreading racism.

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Is Christmas a time of joy and hatred towards Muslims?

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Migrant Tales

An asylum seeker in Finland sent Migrnat Tales this picture at a bus stop in Mikkeli, located about 230km north of Helsinki. Finland is gearing up for the Christmas spirit as some racists post posters full of hatred towards Muslims. We apologize to our Muslim friends for posting such a horrible poster.

The question about this poster is pretty simple: How come a person can easily place such a poster at a bus stop? Why didn’t they stop such a person? Why didn’t they tear down such a poster?

The people who posted this poster below are the same ones who will tell you with a poker smile that there’s no racism in Finland. They justify their hatred by believing in ethnic fairy tales.

Just taking down these types of posters in silence isn’t enough. Politicians, as well as other civil leaders and the general public, should go public and condemn such racist and Islamophobic diatribe.

Perussuomalaiset speaker of parliament Maria Lohela is a disingenuous Islamophobe

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Migrant Tales

I couldn’t believe what Perussuomalaiset (PS)* speaker of parliament, Maria Lohela, said in a speech today at a flag-raising ceremony in Helsinki commemorating independence day. Apart from being an MP, Lohela is an Islamophobe with a proven track record against gay and migrant rights.

She is one of the thirteen persons that signed the Nuiva manifesto in 2010. Some of the signatories of the manifesto include three PS politicians (MEP Jussi Halla-aho, former MP James Hirvisaari and Kotka city councilman Freddy van Wonterghem) who were sentenced for ethnic agitation as well as others who have made their political careers by attacking migrants. Some of these are MP Juho Eerola, MP Olli Immonen, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, PS party secretary, and seven others.

Finland suffers from amnesia, especially the Finnish Broadcast Company (YLE), and Lohela of two-faced dishonesty.

Maria Lohela is not my speaker of parliament.

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Will Donald Trump breathe new life into a doomed party called the Perussuomalaiset?

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Donald Trump’s election victory this week has emboldened our own group of populists, racists, and bigots in Finland who pray what happened in the United States will breathe new life into a political disaster called the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. There are many reasons why copying and pasting populist rhetoric in the United States won’t work in Finland.

One important reason is that Finland is not the United States and visible migrants and minorities aren’t posing a threat to white privilege.

We are not a country made up of recent immigrants but of emigrants.

Those visible minorities targeted by parties like the PS account for about 10% of all migrants in Finland, which is small. The number of foreigners living in Finland is about 4%.

The article in the New York Times raises an important point. Read the full article here.

The whole debate, therefore, about visible migrants and minorities being a threat in Finland is in many respects a storm in a teacup fabricated by parties like the PS.

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Do ethnic agitation charges against Teuvo Hakkarainen give us a whiff of the rot spreading in government and our society?

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who is facing ethnic agitation charges, and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party are deplorable examples of how low our society has stooped in the dubious racism and bigotry league.

The PS isn’t just any party but a member of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government comprised of the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

The silence of the PS in the face of Hakkarainen’s racist and bigoted statements in the PS’ Suomen Uutiset publication not only speak volumes about how racism is encouraged and spread in Finland at the highest levels of government and parliament.

We will translate most of Hakkarainen’s comments in Suomen Uutiset so that politicians and institutions around Europe can get a glimpse of the social illness inflicting Finland today.

According to Suomen Uutiset and Teuvo Hakkarainen, racism and bigotry are fine as long as it’s done by white Finns. Funding for the publication comes from tax-payers. Read full interview (in Finnish) here.

The asylum refugee center in Saarijärvi, a central Finnish town of 10,000 inhabitants that Hakkarainen represents, will close at the end of April.

Continue reading “Do ethnic agitation charges against Teuvo Hakkarainen give us a whiff of the rot spreading in government and our society?”

Finnish PS MP Hakkarainen is charged (alas) for ethnic agitation

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomlaiset (PS)* MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who has made numerous racist and bigoted statements against Muslims, Somalis and gays, finally got charged for ethnic agitation by the state deputy prosecutor. Hakkarainen isn’t the only PS politician being charged for ethnic agitation. On that shameful list are Mertsu Merivireta, Terhi Kieumunki and Olli Sademies.

The deputy state prosecutor was considering charging Hakkarainen with ethnic agitation shortly after he was elected in 2011 after he appeared in a Helsingin Sanomat interview, where he stated that “the country’s borders were awash with “n-words” and went on to mock an Islamic call to prayer.

Hakkarainen recently said that being charged for ethnic agitation was like getting a speeding ticket.

“Bring it on if I get sentenced [for hate speech]. I’ll take care of this in my own way,” he was quoted as saying. “Of course [one should follow the law]. But this [possible sentence for hate speech] is like a speeding ticket. Everything is today seen as hate speech.”

The video below shows the MP’s first day in parliament in 2011. It is a good example of the politician’s acting skills.

Hakkarainen denies any wrongdoing and claims, after insulting near-constantly Muslims, migrants, and minorities such as gays that “everyone is innocent before proven guilty.”

Ironically, if the PS MP would have followed that advice, he wouldn’t be in legal hot water now.

Ethnic agitation charges against Hakkarainen and other PS politicians isn’t a light matter. The PS is a government party and rules Finland together with the Center Party and National Coalition Party.

While it is a good matter that the state reacts and takes action against hate speech, one matter that surprises us is that it took so long?

This is the comment by Hakkarainen that got him in trouble when he wrote on his Facebook wall in mid-July after the Nice killings:

“We’ve got to stop pussyfooting. Muslims out of this country! Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. We shouldn’t accept Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to our country.”

Read the full story here.

Two PS politicians, who have made a dubious name for themselves for their Islamophobic and xenophobic statements, came to Hakkarainen’s defense.

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Being FUCKING INSANE in today’s Europe

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Following the high court decision in France that ruled to suspend the anti-burkini decree in southern France, it looks like the row will not die down, according to The Guardian. Imagine how “offended” people like former president Nicolas Sarkozy and others are demanding a nationwide prohibition of the burkini in France.

As the burkinigate scandal rages in France because their white French privilege and pride suffered a dent, in Finland we’re going through the same motions with invisible white minorities like the Swedish speakers.

A University of Stockholm study, which was cited in a tabloid Ilta-Sanomat story, showed that of the 412 Swedish-speaking Finns interviewed close to 300 saw themselves threatened in Finland because of their background.

As our xenophobia, racism and bigotry get the best of us and overwhelm our sound judgment, we’ll continue making FUCKING INSANE (see tweet below) proposals and act like total d**ks.

We’ll vote for parties like the Perussuomalaiset*, and mainstream ones that are no different from them, that make these FUCKING INSANE proposals and blame migrants and minorities for their utter failures.

Source: Twitter.

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If we are against racism, bigotry and homophobia why do we continue to be Facebook friends?

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Some may rightly ask why it took over a year to charge former PS substitute councilman Olli Sademies for stating that African men should be sterilized, Here’s another question: Why are there so few light-slap-on-the-hand sentences for hate speech in Finland? In 2009-14 there were only 27 people who were sentenced for ethnic agitation, according to MTV, which cites Statistics Finland.

All of this points to one thing that we are near-constantly denying: Racism, bigotry and discrimination have deep roots in Finland and such social ills are perpetrated by white Finnish privilege.

Former Perussuomalaiset party member and retired policeman Olli Sademies is being charged for ethnic agitation. His comments are so full of racism that he’s on the same level as former PS MP hothead James Hirvisaari. He’s an example of not only the racism and ignorance of Finnish society but their deep roots in the police and politics. Would you be Sademies’ Facebook friend?

Institutions like the police service are so deeply immersed in their own denial of racism and bigotry that they actually believe that they don’t ethnically profile anyone.

Continue reading “If we are against racism, bigotry and homophobia why do we continue to be Facebook friends?”

Tag: Islamophobia