Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. The question is neither far-fetched nor provocative: The xenophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has used and exploited in the past three elections of 2011, 2015, and 2019 the migrant crime theme. Understanding the success that the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, and the Moderate Party in…
Tag: migrants
European Network on Religion & Belief: Babah Tarawally and the importance of hope and your narrative
I had the opportunity to attend on 6 October the European Network on Religion & Belief’s (ENORB)* General Assembly, when writer and columnist Babah Tarawally gave an inspirational talk on hope and Ubuntu, an African philosophy that draws strength communally. As many migrants and minorities readily learn, hope is the fuel that keeps one from…
Dr. Gareth Rice: The Finnish happiness myth
When asked about racism towards foreigners in Finland, Finns answer in a culturally approved script: “We Finns are not racist”; “If there is racism in Finland it is not as bad as it is in other countries” and; “Racism is the fault of the foreigners who move to Finland with unrealistic expectations.” Such dismissals require willful ethnic blindness to racism,…
Migrant Tales 7 years ago…Osaatko suomea? Can you speak Finnish?
by Migrant Tales, under Muhamed Abdimajed Murshid This cartoon by Muhamed Abdimajed Murshid was published seven years ago (18.5.2013) in Otavan Sanomat, a magazine project by the students of Otava Folk High School. The cartoon shows what a lot of migrants face when studying and learning to speak Finnish. Picture one: Studying Finnish in the beginning. Picture…
The Perussuomalaiset picks on vulnerable single mothers and migrant men
“Since leaving the White House in 1981, Rosalynn and I have strived to advance human rights in countries around the world. In this quest, we have seen that silence can be as deadly as violence.” Jimmy Carter Some sectors of the media and other people like teachers believe that silence is the best response to…
What Yle leaves out when it tells us why labor discrimination exists in Finland
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED If there is one matter that shines brightly from the editorial standards of Yle, it is its whiteness and how little regard they have for our people to voice the concerns of our ever-growing culturally diverse community. OK, true, there was a lot written this week about job discrimination and how…
QUOTE OF THE DAY Khadidiatou Sylla: Success and hatred
Khadidiatou Sylla gave a talk at Turin’s Casarcobaleno this month together with Mor Ndaiye about life in Italy. There was a lot of intersectionality that came out in her talk: being black, being a woman, third culture, West African, Italian cultural and ethnic diversity, among others. Education and labor markets in Europe are highly racialized…
The PS is a far-right, populist party that hopes to strike election gold with the sexual assault cases of Oulu by migrants
Imagine a political party that jumps for joy when migrants are suspected of sexual assault like in the case of Oulu. Imagine a party that taps into voters’ Islamophobia, xenophobia and hatred to get votes. Imagine a party that aims at relegating migrants and minorities to second-class members of society with the help of lies and fake news. …
Warning: Islamophobic content – schools and daycare centers in Oulu to temporarily ban visiting rights by asylum seekers, refugees
Here is a story you would never expect to read in a country like Finland, which bases its values on social equality, human rights and mutual respect. The decision to ban asylum seekers and refugees from visiting schools and daycare centers in Oulu due to the suspected sexual abuse cases raises a lot of questions.
MP Ozan Yanar is right: President Sauli Niinistö’s New Year’s speech is problematic
Whenever President Sauli Niinistö comments about asylum seekers, migrants and minorities there is usually a problem (see links below). Those of us who are anti-racist activists, will never forget his two-extremes argument, which puts people who fight to defend human rights as one extreme with the other extreme consisting of Neo-Nazis and other far-right groups…