Tag: Perussuomalaiset

Day 25 of the Helsinki demonstration by asylum seekers: We are happy that you are a thorn in the government’s and Migri’s side

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Twenty-five cold days have elapsed since a group of asylum seekers decided to exercise their democratic rights and protest deportation and the government’s strict asylum policy.  The longer these demonstrators protest the deeper the thorn will penetrate the government’s and Finnish Immigration Service’s (Migri) side. 

The government’s and Migri’s tough stance against the demonstrators is and will turn against them. Why? Because they base their hardline strategy on their own prejudices and bigotry.

The asylum seekers must know that two mainstream parties, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), have given a near-free hand to the Islamophobic and anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to draft laws like that tightening of family reunification. They have also turned some of you  into undocumented migrants.

When I look at the actions of the government, my memory goes back to the early 1980s when Migri was run by Eila Kännö, a woman that some compared her management style to Benito Mussolini’s. The extremely strict immigration policy of Finland at the time was so much out of touch with public opinion that the then Aliens’ Office destroyed its credibility and eventually itself.

It became clear that the Aliens’ Office could no longer be run by a self-styled autocrat.

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The creation and death of the Perussuomalaiset and its #socialmediafrankensteins in Finland

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We once wrote about #socialmediafrankensteins and how Timo Soini and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party had created such demons to victimize, attack and label migrants and minorities in Finland. Soini, a “good-cop” PS party chairman, is in reality no different from people like Jussi Halla-aho and his band of bigoted followers. 

A #socialmediafrankenstein is anyone that social media has created. For example, Halla-aho and many others of his ilk are social media creations. They have made a political career for themselves by spreading hatred and racism against other groups.

Since Halla-aho and his gang are social media creations, they are also vulnerable. One big defeat like the demise of the the PS from major league Finnish politics would spell the end for them.

The only matter that differentiate Soini from Halla-aho is that both, opportunists to the maximum, is the image of “good” versus “bad” cops. Even so, we mustn’t forget that they are still members of a party that is hostile to migrants, minorities and cultural diversity.

A while back we published a story about the creation of Halla-ahos and James Hirvisaaris within the PS.

The story of the rise and fall of the PS is like the creation of Frankenstein in the horror movie. We have, in the first video clip below, the creation of the Frankenstein monster. That scene from the classic movie could be Soini as Dr. Frankenstein and Halla-aho as the monster.

This scene could be the historical election victory of April 2011, when the PS won 39 seats compared with 5 in the previous election.

There’s a lot of excitement and jubilation due to resurrecting a person from the dead. Just like the PS, Frankenstein reaps havoc and fear and finally destroys itself.

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How racism and suspicion have ruined Finland’s centenary celebrations of 2017

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If there is a party pooper in this year’s centenary celebrations it’ll be ourselves: the politicians, the urban tales, prejudices, racism and suspicion that has raised its head with ease in Finland as of late.

The names and the parties of these killjoys are well known to us: President Sauli Niinistö, the Jussi Halla-aho crowd of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, ministers like Paula Risikko, Center Party Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, white Social Democrats and socialists, Migri (Finnish Immigration Service), bigoted groups like Suomi Ensin, Suomen Sisu and a long list of others.

Like the United States under Donald Trump and post-Brexit Europe, Finland too has seen the rise of a hostile political force called populism. Like a cancer, it spreads scapegoating migrants and minorities. Populism always fails and ends in disaster because it offers simple unworkable solutions to complex problems. It’s like offering a terminally ill cancer patient aspirin to relieve the pain.

One of the official logos of Finland’s centenary celebrations.

What happens when a government and country starts to believe in its own prejudices? For one, it causes unneeded suffering on people.

Take for instance one of the government’s favorite justification for tightening immigration policy: pull factors like social welfare. But is that the real reason why asylum seekers come to Europe?

Studies have shown that it’s not the main cause. Many asylum seekers come from countries where there is no social welfare and therefore don’t have a clear idea what it is. If social welfare was the main pull factor, why do some migrants go to the United Kingdom, where there is lower social welfare than France which is more generous?

Want to know what real factors bring a fraction, yes a fraction, of asylum seekers to Europe. Check this video out by Migration Matters.

One of the most ignorant and populist claims parroted by some politicians is that asylum seekers should be taken care of in camps near their home countries. Interior Minister Risikko, who should know better, reinforced this misconception when she visited a Suomi Ensi gathering last week.

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Johan Bäckman and Jussi Halla-aho: Two public figures that are hated differently by the Finnish media

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Below are two public figures that are treated differently by the Finnish media. Both are way off in their views. The one on the left is Johan Bäckman, who gets scorned by the national media for his pro-Russian and pro-Putin stances, while Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MEP Jussi Halla-aho, gets a more benign reception despite the fact that he’s Finland’s number one public racist. 

Contrary to Bäckman, Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation in 2012, Helsingin Sanomat saw his racist diatribe before 2011 as a strange expression of “freedom of expression.”

There is nothing wrong with protecting freedom of expression but there is a problem when journalists cannot distinguish between an important human right and racism.

Halla-aho, who like other far-right European politicians are pro-Russia, gets a much better reception from the media despite his extremist views of immigration and Muslims.

You can listen to Johan Bäckman’s interview in RT here and read (in Finnish) Jussi Halla-aho’s story in MTV here.

Why is Bäckman shunned by the Finnish media while Halla-aho has some acceptance, even tacit understanding?

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Farrah and her three-year-old child: Don’t deport us back to Iraq from Finland!

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Farrah* is an Iraqi woman who came to Finland in September 2015 with her then one-year-old child. She left Turkey in the hope that she’d get a residence permit and would be able to bring her husband and two children in Turkey, aged 10 and 12.

“They [Finnish Immigration Service] didn’t renew my [one-year] residence permit which expired on January 17,” she said sounding as if out of breath on the phone. “I haven’t seen my family for [almost] two years.”

Since it is no longer possible to give residence permits to people like Farrah and her three-year-old child for humanitarian reasons, they face a bleak prospect: deportation from Finland.

A picture posted on Farrah’s Facebook page.

Farrah and her child are perfect examples of how Finland’s harsh immigration policy rubs salt on people’s lives. Before April, residence permits were granted for humanitarian reasons but that was scrapped in vote that MPs of the ruling parties [Perussuomalaiset (1), National Coalition Party and Center Party] and opposition Social Democrats and Christian Democrats approved.

Even if Farrah would have been able to get her residence permit renewed, there is no way she could bring her family in Turkey because of tighter family reunification guidelines.

“I came to Finland [almost] on foot from Greece believing that this was a humanitarian country that gives residence permits [asylum] to mothers and their children,” she continued, adding that she is today “very confused” and worried because she didn’t know what is going to happen to her.

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(Migrant Tales 12.2.2017) Dear Sweden, don’t play ball with the Sweden Democrats – Finland is the best example of the disaster that awaits you

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Dear Sweden, 

In all of the Nordic region we have seen far-right populist parties rise in this century with a hostile even vicious anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity agenda. Of all the Nordic countries, you are the only one in the Nordic region where populist anti-immigration parties have not formed directly or indirectly a part of government. 

A poll in November, however, showed a sharp rise of the far-right Sweden Democrats to 21.5% when compared with 12.9% it got in the 2014 parliamentary elections and not trailing too far behind the Social Democratic Party (25.7%) and Moderates (22%).

The Sweden Democrats are the third largest party today in the 349-seat Riksdagen (parliament) with 49 seats (12.9%) in 2014 compared with 20 seats (5.7%) they won in 2010.

In an analysis piece by Expo, an anti-racism and anti-fascism NGO in Sweden, they explained the rise of the Sweden Democrats in 2010 to the Riksdagen in the following words:

“The Sweden Democrats gain from presenting themselves as an alternative to the so-called establishment,” wrote Expo chairman Daniel Poohl. “The bloc politics that has marked the election campaign has turned the Sweden Democrats into a distinct third alternative, an underdog.”

Poohl continues to warn us in 2016 about the Sweden Democrats: “That’s where we come in. This is the white paper [stating that they aren’t a racist party and have no ties to fascism] that the Sweden Democrats would have to do, but will never be able to write. The racism found in the Sweden Democrats isn’t something that belongs to history but is a part of the party’s concept.”

Migrant Tales wrote the following letter to Sweden in june 2015 warning about the perils of playing ball with a populist party that loathes immigrants:

“Today, you, dear friend in Sweden, are the only country that can restore sanity to this part of Europe and effectively challenge this force that is undermining and threatening our Nordic values. We need you to hold out and show leadership, which has been shamefully lacking in the rest of our region.”

Read the full story here.

However, it looks like there is a tear in the cordon sanitaire that excluded the Sweden Democrats from Swedish mainstream politics. Anna Kingberg, the head of the Moderates, said that her right-wing conservative party would be ready to negotiate with the Sweden Democrats, according to Politico.

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Undermining and attacking dual citizenship rights is a hostile provocation against social equality and cultural diversity in Finland

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The ongoing debate about the perceived threat of dual nationals in Finland and the proximity of municipal elections should raise some serious questions. One of these is why are we having such a discussion now and who is fueling it?

The answer is more than obvious and highlights a segment of society that refuses to see multicultural Finns, migrants and minorities as equal members of society. These are none other than the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and other parties that are suspicious of cultural diversity in varying degrees, like the Center Party and National Coalition Party.

The proximity of the municipal elections on April 9 is crucial for the PS, which has seen its popularity in the polls plummet, to show to its government partners that it is still has political life in it.

Thursday’s A-studio talked about the threat that dual citizens pose. PS MP Simon Elo revealed with his comments that plans to discriminate against dual nationals and water down their rights is a general political strategy of his anti-immigration populist party to undermine cultural diversity in Finland. See full talk show here.

The debate on dual citizenship in Finland reveals how institutional racism works in this country and how some political parties will stop at nothing to undermine the civil rights of minorities.

YLE News published on January 31 a story where it claimed that the defense forces place restrictions on dual nationals of Finland and Russia.

“Finnish Defense Forces have not been waiting for legislative changes but have adopted their own rules and procedures for dealing with Russian-Finnish dual nationals,” YLE News reported.

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Finns have finally woken up to a lie and bully called the Perussuomalaiset party

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After bullying, labeling and scapegoating migrants and minorities for a number of years, the Perussuomalaiset party (PS)* appears to be returning to the minor one-digit political leagues, if a recent poll by Helsingin Sanomat is true. Those groups that the PS has attacked and spread lies about will have the last laugh. 

While there is still a long way to go before the parliamentary elections of 2019, the municipal elections are just around the corner on April 9.

A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat shows the Perussuomalaiset in the minor one-digit political leagues with 8.6% Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

Some analysts believe that if the PS does poorly in the municipal elections, which would mean below 10% of the votes, it may prompt the party to exit government. Depending which party replaces the PS or if new elections are called, it could even mean an about-turn in immigration policy.

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Susannah: Kaksien kärryjen politiikkaa taas.

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Olen ollut kiireinen, anteeksi, kiitos ja nyt tulee: Katsoin eilen ma 30.1.2017 A-studiota sieltä ykköseltä uutisten jälkeen.

Ritva Elomaa (Kike) selitti, miten maahanmuuttolinjaukset ovat ehtaa perussuomalaista osaamista. Ja siitä vastuussa on itse Jussi Halla-aho yhdessä hallituksen alkutaipaleen perussuomalaisten ministerien kanssa. Ja se näkyy.

Katso A-studio tästä.

Maita on julisteltu turvallisiksi vailla mitään faktalistapohjaa , ja Migrin pitää toteuttaa tätä järjettömyyttä, ilmeisen poliittisen ohjauksen takia. Hallinto-oikeus on usein ollut ihan toisella kannalla karkotuksista, koska sillä tuntuu olevan eri maatiedot tai ainakin se osaa soveltaa niitä oikean suuntaisesti.

Continue reading “Susannah: Kaksien kärryjen politiikkaa taas.”

Restrictions by the defense forces on dual nationals is discriminatory and should be forcefully rejected

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Should it surprise us that a member of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is suspicious of dual citizens? Add to the latter that the person who is suspicious is Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö, who is known for his far-right sympathies.

According to information obtained by YLE,  and if the story is true, the Finnish defense forces has begun to place restrictions on conscripts who are dual citizens of Finland and Russia. YLE said that no such guidelines existed before.

Finland has considered limiting the role of dual nationals in key public posts for years but has not asked if this is unconstitutional.

YLE reported that despite some circles wanting to limit the role of people with dual citizenship in the army, there is no legislation that permits such restrictions from taking place now. The finance ministry is, however, working on such legislative reforms.

Said Niinistö in YLE:

“I personally take the view that when we talk about professional military positions, there are weighty reasons excluding dual nationality. There will now be a review to clarify this. The required proposals will be prepared for legislation on the Defence Forces on how national security can be improved in filling professional military positions, and when an individual applies for training leading to a professional officer’s commission.”

Read the full story here.

One of the biggest unanswered questions of the YLE story concerning dual nationals is if it is discriminatory.

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