Racism Archives - Page 11 of 208

Finland’s pushback law will cause death, suffering, and loss of face

Posted on April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 by Migrant Tales

National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is drafting a new pushback law that permits Finland to subvert human rights, international law, and the rights enshrined in its constitution. Even if the law gets approval from parliament, it will not solve but worsen the problem at the Finnish-Russian border.

Considering that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen has a notorious record as an Islamophobe, expect the worst from Finland’s tightening of immigration and asylum policy. Why would you trust a person like Rantanen when it comes to migration unless you believe in fairy-tale solutions?

Even President Aleksander Stubb, who is supposed to speak for everyone in Finland, gave the thumbs up to sending back people at the Finnish-Russian border. Shameful exemplifying his moral fiber.

The actions of Stubb and the government tell us that during difficult times we will not respect our commitments. We’ll instead scapegoat the problem on Russia.

Apart from being a cowardly act, Internior Minister Rantanen and the government believes that passing a law in parliemant will magically cause the problem to go away. It will not solve any problems. On the contrary, the new law will bring death and terrible suffering as we have seen at a number of EU border crossings.

Apart from being legally liable, the suffering that we’ll see is that the Finnish border guards will have to live with themselves after sending people back. That was the case in Poland as shown eloquently in the Green Wall movie.

Just like many Polish citizens including doctors, lawyers, and activists who came to help the refugees and who were against a similar xenophobic Polish government at the time. The same may occur in Finland. This movie should be seen by everyone in Finland, especially those who are gun-ho about breaching international law.

Wtires the Hollywood Reporter about the Green Border that could be a prelude to what will happen at the Finnish-Russian border:

Finland’s spectacular fall from grace

Posted on March 29, 2024March 29, 2024 by Migrant Tales

In 2011, when the Islamophobic and anti-EU Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party won 39 seats versus 5 in the previous election, did anyone foresee that we’d end up here? Wreaking havoc are Prme Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition Party (NCP) and the PS with their two government coalition partners, the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats.

So what is the deal? There are paradigm changes made in how business is conducted in Finland. Labor laws and social welfare spending are being uprooted never mind migration policy, which will end up making Finland less attractive to foreigners.

In Finland, institutional racism is so embedded that you can be a racist and eat your cake. Orpo speaks about zero tolerance of racism (duh!) but his government continues to pass laws that will subvert human rights as seen with the proposed push-back law.

Imagine, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, who has a dubious record of spreading racism and conspiracy theories, is spearheading such the frightening of migration policy and the infamous pushback law. Would you call her competent if she claimed that Vladimir Putin could also get asylum in Finland?

One of the main enablers of Finland destroying its human rights record and the rule of law is Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who in the picture reveals his true self. Source: Facebook

Let the asylum seekers in and help us solve our demographic woes

Posted on March 17, 2024March 18, 2024 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

There is a strange logic that is counterproductive, like shooting oneself in the leg. Finland has a labor shortage that is going to get worse. According to some sources, Finland will need up to 50,000 migrants a year to plug the deficit.

I wonder why these types of estimates haven’t been published recently. I it because the government is doing everything possible to restrict labor migration, especially from outside the EU?

Since the government wants to tarnish Finland’s human rights record with a pushback law, I have an easier and less painful way to move forward: Instead of restricting these people from coming to Finland, welcome them with open arms.

With the present anti-immigration policy, Finland is showing its worst. We are no longer a beacon of hope to others who are less fortunate, but a beacon of greed.

Finland’s slippery slope

Posted on March 16, 2024March 16, 2024 by Migrant Tales

On Friday, the government revealed its plan to subvert our constitution, international agreements, and human rights by denying people escaping strife and poverty asylum.

Even if the government does not use the term push back, it is exactly that: a law that allows Finland to deny and push back people seeking asylum.

What is most incredible is how the government speculates and spreads fear, claiming that the law is necessary to ensure domestic security and protect the country’s sovereignty from Russian aggression.

A question: Didn’t the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled war and came to Finland threaten our security and sovereignty? What about the over 30,000 asylum seekers who came to Finland in 2015? Why are matters different? The answer: xenophobic government scoring brownie points with the voters.

If the new law is approved by parliament by a two-thirds majority, it shows how successful Vladimir Putin’s strategy has been to undermine the rule of law in Finland.

The other important question we should ask is what will be the government’s next step to undermine migrant and human rights?

Unfortunately, the sky is the limit here.

New Finnish naturalization laws will hit the country negatively

Posted on March 9, 2024March 10, 2024 by Migrant Tales

As Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen aims to tighten naturalization laws, the impact of such changes will knock Finland negatively.

Rantanen said last year that not only will residence time rise from 5 to 8 years, but also a citizenship test will be given and a tougher language test.

Europe is lost. It believes that short-term solutions like fences will save it from itself.

While the government, especially the PS and the National Coalition Party (NCP) see migrants as a threat, the question we should ask is why stricter naturalization laws are needed and, importantly, what kind of a slippery slope is it.

While the government complains that not enough is being done to encourage integration, tighter naturalization laws will do just that, making pathways to integration more difficult by marginalizing migrants and exposing the hostile environment.

If you don’t have Finnish citizenship you cannot vote, especially against those who are excluding you from being an equal part of society.

Continue reading “New Finnish naturalization laws will hit the country negatively”

Immigration is good, not as bad as the Finnish government claims

Posted on March 4, 2024March 4, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Since the 2011 parliamentary election, when the Perussuomalaiset(PS)* won 39 seats from five in the previous election, the PS has consolidated its power – with the help of other mainstream parties like the National Coalition Party (NCP) – by spreading fear and lies about migrants.

Any sensible person understands that migration is a very powerful force that can offer a lot of benefits to the host country. In Finland, it has been the opposite: migration is not good unless you are a “super migrant.”

The Foreign Student started to write about Finland’s unfair immigration policy in 1981-82. Back then, some saw the ideal foreigner as the front cover of a soap commercial.

Wrote Migrant Tales in 2012: “These [xenophobic] politicians sound like they are reading to you the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale when Prince Charming wakes the beautiful princess with a kiss from her deep sleep. Anti-immigration politicians and parties don’t speak of Sleeping Beauty per se, but about super immigrants.”

It is incredible how much harm the PS has done to Finland by spreading fake news about migrants. Probably the most incredulous thing is how little has been written about the PS lie.

The longest day of the Finnish government will come to an end

Posted on February 27, 2024February 27, 2024 by Migrant Tales

People had a saying in Argentina when de facto régimes called the shots by ousting democratically elected governments: No hay mal que dure cien años, the longest day must have its end. One matter that the new military rulers made you feel was weak and vulnerable.

The saying would apply well to National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government and Perussuomalaiset* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen’s xenophobic policies. Even if Orpo and Rantanen and her ilk believe they are invisible, their stay in power will have an end.

Finland’s xenophobic policies and legalizing pushbacks are the trademarks of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government. No matter how much the government attempts to sugarcoat its ant-migrant policies, the harder it will be to cover the stench.

Finland: Between xenophobia and a hard place

Posted on January 31, 2024January 31, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Apart from being the most right-wing government in a hundred years, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is doing everything possible to disenfranchise migrants and minorities. We can mention raising the citizenship requirements from five to eight years and excluding Russians from having dual citizenship as indicators of how xenophobia is driving Finnish politics.

One Russian dual national explained the situation in the following words:

“How can a presidential front-runner [like Alexander Stubb] even start to discuss the deprivation of basic human rights of a group of citizens [like the Russian-speaking community]? Stubb has no backbone. When Finland’s relations with Russia were good, he encouraged people to go there to make money, now he claims that Putin can use dual nationals and that we are a security threat, even though there is absolutely no evidence or justification for this: Totally irresponsible politics and a terrible person as a human being.”

The whole dual citizenship debate kicked off with President Sauli Niinistö in 2014. when he expressed the possibility of tightening dual citizenship laws.

One may ask what is the aim of such restrictions. One, I believe, is to exclude migrants and minorities from politics.

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Häkkänen is well known for ihi Islamophobic views. During 2011-2013, he was president of the Youth League of the National Coalition Party, which idolizes US capitalism and the Republican Party. His

Stubb, Halla-aho, Harkimo, Essayah, Haavisto, Aaltola, and Rehn are ready to throw the civil rights of Finland’s Russian community under the bus

Posted on January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Reading the news about how Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government plans to not comply with the right to seek asylum speaks volumes about Finland’s “R” problem. In many cases, the media, which acts more like a rubber stamp for the government on migration issues, is also part of the problem.

It is sad to see the treatment of the Russian community of Finland starting from President Sauli Niinistö, whose dislike of dual citizenship and asylum seekers is well documented.

Dual citizenship is a right guaranteed by Finnish law but it takes candidates, who should know better, to make incredulous nd demeaning statements that their dual citizenship should be revoked.

As a person who has lived in Finland for many decades, I am ashamed that we have politicians that want to score brownie points with xenophobia.

The war in Ukraine and the Russian-Finnish border crisis are showing Finland’s ugly side

Posted on January 20, 2024January 21, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Katja Marova, a member of the 37,813-strong community (2022) who holds dual Russian and Finnish citizenship, admitted that her stress level rose thanks to recent statements by presidential candidates concerning banning dual citizenship for Russians.

“This is scary and has raised a lot of conern among Russian speakers in Finland,” said Morova.

Katja Marova was attracted to Finland by its peaceful life. You need a lot of time to move about St. Petersburg. There is also a different type of freedom in Finland to do things. Souce: Mikko Savolainen/Yle

Apart from a clear example of shameful xenophobia by politicians who should know better, the dual citizenship debate has popped up in the media a number of times. it has been mentioned by politicians like President Sauli Niinistö since 2014.

The reason why the “dual citizenship” issue has not gone anywhere despite opposition to it is because of our constitution and EU laws. You cannot single out or discriminate against a group. If Finland wants to do away with dual citizenship, then it would have to abolish it for all nationalities.

National Coalition Party (NCP) candidate Aleksander Stubb, who did not mind labeling all Russians in Finland as a potential threat, openly supports scrapping dual citizenship rights of Russians. He argued that “a debate is needed on the matter” because Vladimir Putin will go to any lengths to defend its citizens abroad.

“Then we need to find some kind of system to prevent this security threat from materializing,” he added.

Sure Stubb, we’ll have a productive discussion on the topic after you label and demonize Russian speakers in Finland for your own political aims.

Of the nine presidential candidates, only two (Jutta Urpilainen and Li Andersson) were against scrapping dual citizenship rights of Russian speakers in Finland. Even the favorite in the polls, Pekka Haavisto, together with Olli Rehn and Mika Altola didn’t go as far as Stubb, Jussi Halla-aho and Sari Essayah, but were ready to stop granting dual citizenship to Russians in the future.

Positive change

Marova, who is a city of Lappeenranta Left Alliance deputy chairperson, has organized two demonstrations protesting the closure of the Russian-Finnish border in her home city. She is also the new treasurer of the newly founded Aleksranterinliiton association, which aims to be a watchdog on Russian rights in Finland and promote dialogue.

“One of the mattters that has changed since we spoke about two years, is that Russian speakers [in Finland] are more outspoken,” she said. “They undertand that if they do not speak out for their rights, nobody will.”

Marova said that a group has founded Aleksanderiliitto association, a new association that aims to look after the legal rights of Russian speakers in Finland.