In the May 1981 issue, the Foreign Student continued to mirror the activism of some of the Foreign Students Club’s members against Finland’s arbitrary and unjust treatment of foreigners. The newsletter reported on the Mayday petition, which received over 500 signatures demanding basic human rights for foreigners. “If unity creates strength, don’t whisper anymore,” wrote…
Tag: migrant rights
Foreign Student: Our last issue after our reporting of a deportation case in 1982
The Foreign Student experienced life across 11 editions, spanning from January 1981 to January 1982. The newsletter, which was put out by the Foreign Student Club ry of Helsinki, was outspoken on immigrant rights issues. The last issue of the newsletter below, got itself in trouble with the newly elected president of the club, Fadi…
Bring in the labor immigrants and climbing out of the xenophobic pit
Center Party chairperson and minister for culture, Annika Saarikko, is the type of leadership Finland needs today unless it wants to climb out of its deep xenophobic pit spearheaded by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. Considering that her party is being targeted by the PS, which bases its support on spreading suspicion and anti-immigration sentiment, Saarikko’s…
Police disband and detain Iraqi demonstrators in front of the Finnish Immigration Service building
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED The demonstration by Iraqi asylum seekers that began on Thursday in front of the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) building ended at about 1 am Sunday, according to Outi Popp, a Right to Live (Oikeus elää) activist who brings awareness to deportations to unsafe countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a…
Finnish Immigration Service: “Your wife’s unborn child can grow up without you; is the child going to be raised a Muslim?”
Apparently, there is no guarantee in Finland that marriage or having a child with a Finnish citizen will guarantee asylum and a residence permit. It is the case of Abdul,* who spoke on condition of anonymity, an Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in 2015. Contrary to many like him, Abdul is married to a Finnish woman who is expecting their child in September.
M. Blanc: Why immigrants are afraid to speak out in Finland
I wrote an piece about my experiences and stated the reasons why I have decided to leave Finland and how foreigners are treated by great number of Finns. I kept close track of how people reacted to what I wrote on Facebook and all of a sudden hundreds of foreigners were encouraged and agreed with my points and thanking me for speaking out. Of course there were those who started saying that I am the problem and I am lying to manipulate others. Some guy even compared me with Hitler!
Finland President Niinistö’s “information-gathering exercise” about dual citizenship should worry us a lot
President Sauli Niinistö has asked Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, an anti-gay an anti-immigration politician, to look into the possibility of tightening Finland’s dual citizenship laws or ending the practice altogether, according to YLE in English. Prime Minister Alexander Stubb was, however, quoted as saying on YLE in English that plans to end dual citizenship are not…
Helsingin Sanomat poll reinforces why unfair hiring practices are probably widespread in Finland
A survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat reveals what we’ve known all along about the causes of unfair hiring practices, high migrant unemployment and discrimination. The survey revealed that six out of 10 people polled would hire a Finn over a migrant if jobs were scarce. Is scarcity the real factor? Even during good economic times, migrant…
Blood strawberries from Nea Manolada, Greece
As Europe’s far right raises its head, the more violent things become. Some 30 migrant workers were injured in a shooting on a strawberry farm in Nea Manolada, Greece, after requesting salaries that had not been paid. Thanks to @ritorikaxalikia for the heads-up and the poster below. Writes the BBC: “The Council of Europe – the main…