Racism Archives - Page 134 of 208

Interior Minister Räsänen disagrees with findings of police report on the Romany minority

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales asked Monday what kinds of arguments will politicians now come up with to criminalize begging after a police report didn’t reveal any links between Romany beggars and human trafficking and organized crime.

The police report not only exposed shameful urban legends used to victimize poor Romanies from Romania and Bulgaria, who make 10-20 euros a day, but revealed the populism, racism and sheer contempt that some politicians have for this minority.

Conservartives like Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen for her homophobic, anti-abortion and anti-immigration views. Read full story here.

After over six years, this blog has taught me an important lesson: intolerance blinds. Those who are blinded by their prejudice and bigotry have learned to dress their arguments with suits and ties. One of these concerns the Romany minority.

The old stereotype about the Romanies in Finland was that all of them are criminals and therefore shouldn’t be trusted. An old prejudice that existed in Finland at the turn of the century was they were horse thieves.

Many of the politicians who want to criminalize begging, grew up at a time where the Romany minority were seen as criminals.

The most incredible fact about those politicians who want to criminalize begging is that they’d care less for the victims. If you look closer, they are shedding crocodile tears if that.

Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, a conservative who believes that homosexuality is an illness and claimed this summer that it’s ok to break the law (abortion) if it is against the Bible, is the first politician to comment on the police report.

“There are perceptions as well that [during 2005-09] there are links [to human trafficking and organized crime],” she was quoted as saying on YLE.

Why is Räsänen so keen on maintaining a view that these Romanies are victims of human trafficking or victims of criminal organizations? Because that’s what her argument has been all along in order to criminalize begging.

The same argument will be used by other MPs. These are National Coalition Party’s Arto Satonen and Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, both who are members of the extremist Suomen Sisu association.

YLE interviewed on Tuesday Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen, who said he would be in favor of criminalizing begging because it “isn’t something we’re used to” in the Nordic region.

We should ask Pajunen, who makes about 200,000 euros a year, more than the mayor of London, if it is in the Nordic spirit to make so much money and care so little about the needy.

Shame on Pajunen and all those that want to sweep the Romany problem under the rug.

Julian Abagond: What did race have to do with the George Zimmerman case?

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Julian Abagond

What did race have to do with the George Zimmerman case in America?George Zimmerman, a half-white, half-Latino man who gets a bloody nose and a few scratches on his head, shoots dead Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, 17-year-old black boy, calls it self-defence and is found “not guilty” of both murder and manslaughter by a nearly all-white court. How could that possibly be racist? I mean, it is not like Zimmerman used the N-word. It was a fair trial! Besides, the president is black!

Here are some ways:

Black life was assumed not to matter much. In effect, a bloody nose and a few scratches on the head of a man who is half-white mattered more than the life of a 17-year-old black boy. It was not just Zimmerman who thought that, so did the police, who did not think the killing was a big deal. So did the prosecution, who pretty much just went through the motions – they did not even properly prepare their witnesses.
The Black Brute stereotype – the idea that black men rape and kill for no reason, that they have “violent tendencies”, “criminal propensities”, as if huge numbers of them are savage psychopaths or something. It is why white women clutch their purses, why whites cross the street – because, apparently, black men only tug at purses gently, cannot cross the street and never go after those who show fear. This stereotype ran throughout the case:
- Zimmerman racially profiled Martin. As a neighbourhood watchman, Zimmerman only reported black males as “suspicious”. Martin was one of them, even though it was only seven at night and he was minding his own business walking back from 7-Eleven. It was not like Martin was breaking into a house or a car or beating up someone.
- The police assumed Martin was the bad guy. Instead of giving Zimmerman a drug test and holding him for 48 hours while they sorted out what took place, the police let him go to work the next day! They believed his story just on his say-so – in part because it fit the Black Brute stereotype perfectly: some black guy jumped out at him in the dark and tried to kill him. For no reason. Because, apparently, black men are like mad dogs.
- The prosecution lawyers never seriously questioned the main hole in Zimmerman’s story: Why in the world would Trayvon Martin want to kill George Zimmerman? Martin did not know Zimmerman. Zimmerman says he did not threaten him. Martin had no record of violence or insanity. The Black Brute stereotype is the spit holding this story together.
- The defence lawyers painted Martin as a dangerous thug, based not on a police record or record of violence, but on how he looked! How was that possible?
- The jury was packed with white women. We do not know what their thinking was. Maybe they were not racist at all. But the defence certainly assumed they were, playing on their purse-clutching fears of black men!

Read original story here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Why we must challenge anti-immigration parties across Europe

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

A political party that bases its popularity on anti-immigration and populist rhetoric is like playing a risky political game of Russian roulette. The game continues until the only bullet in the revolver goes off in your head. Higher bets are placed each time that the revolver doesn’t fire: more xenophobia, more hate speech, more racist rhetoric, more prejudice…

Read the major headlines of Europe’s main dailies, social media websites and Migrant Tales to understand that we are on a perilous path. Even if we wanted to change our xenophobic ways, some of us have passed the point of no return.

One story that struck me this week happened in Paris, France. A veiled woman was beaten in a bus and later arrested by the police. The victim could be a member of the Romany community in Eastern Europe, anti-Semitism in Denmark, a black minister in Italy, or a Somali refugee in Finland.

Here’s what happened:

“Ms Lamia is a professional caregiver…On June 30 2013, at 6 pm, Lamia takes the bus like any other night to go to work. When an elderly woman gets on the bus, Miss Lamia naturally gives away her seat, but the lady refuses and violently invectives Lamia about her headscarf. Follows a stormy debate: ‘Dirty Arab, go back to your country, you should read the Koran …’ screams the lady. As she is about to get off the bus to go to work, Ms Lamia faces once again the aggressiveness of the old lady. She thinks Lamia is following her, so she shoves Lamia who, this time, replies. At that moment, a tall man comes to Miss Lamia and violently slaps her. She clings to him to hold him while calling for help. It took the intervention of a few people to stop him. Requested by Lamia, the police arrives on the scene and, instead of arresting the aggressor, decides to put Miss Lamia in custody.”

The fact that this still happens in a country like France shows that we have learned very little after about 100 million died in two World Wars. It shows as well that the medicine to treat a serious illness like intolerance is insufficient. It’s like giving aspirin to a patient with terminal cancer.

Here’s another story about the rise in hate crimes against Muslims in France:

Hostility rises when Islam is in the news, for example last year when an Islamist killed seven people or when a politician accused Muslim children of stealing classmates’ snacks, the Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said. The CCIF welcomed a European Parliament decision on Tuesday to lift the legal immunity of far-right leader Marine Le Pen so she can be tried on racism charges for comparing Muslims praying in the streets here to the wartime Nazi occupation of France. The group said in its annual report (French) that anti-Muslim acts rose to 469 last year, after 298 in 2011 and 188 in 2010. The rise reflected trends cited by other recent reports that also noted increasing levels of anti-Semitism and racism in France.

Check out the weekly headlines by I CARE:

Kosovo Jails Macedonia Mass Murder Suspects
Macedonia: Spate of Anti-Gay Attacks
A Mosque in Reykjavík Threatens Icelandic Culture
Sweden: fall in number of hate crime reports
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on Finland
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on Portugal
Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission publishes new report on San Marino
Polish Jewish leader protests handling of anti-Semitism cases
Islamophobia in the Netherlands
Position of LGBT population in Serbia “improves”
Tipton mosque blast was ‘terrorist attack’, say police (UK)
Newcastle Division’s Lee Patrick wants to gas Muslims (UK)
Harpenden Town Council condemn ‘fake’ Gypsy site notice (UK)
Right-wing extremists launch bid to revive Fascist party (UK)
Disquiet over ‘shameful’ policing of racial violence in Brent (UK)
Veiled woman beaten in a bus in Paris, the police arrests the victim (France)
Anti-Muslim acts rising in France, rights group says
Marine Le Pen expected to face charges for incitement to racial hatred (France)
Islamophobia assaults in Argenteuil (France)
Need for the immediate investigation of homophobic, sexist and racist motives behind two attacks (Cyprus)

The fact that a particular political party, like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), Danish People’s Party, Sweden Democrats and others across Europe, base their political agenda on anti-immigration rhetoric tells you that they are playing with fire and are one of the main causes of the cancer spreading throughout Europe.

There’s still time to tackle the biggest threat to our societies today, which is right-wing anti-immigration populist ideology, and wake up those who pay homage to them with their silence.

What does the PS’ new party secretary mean by “tightening [Finnish] immigration policy?”

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Left Alliance MP Risto Kalliorinne asks Perussuomalaiset (PS) new party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo to elaborate what she means by ”tightening immigration policy?” Apart from labeling herself a chauvinist, Slunga-Poutsalo “demanded” that Finland should tighten immigration policy.

Read original story here.

While Left Alliance MP Kalliorinne poses an important question, we all know the answer that Slunga-Poutsalo would give if she elaborated on what she said.

The answer lies with the far right Danish People’s Party’s EuroMP Morten Messerschmidt, who was invited to speak at the PS’ annual congress in June. He said recently:

“I think we need three sets of rules of immigration. One for Europeans, who will be regulated by EU-law. One for people from the rest of the Western World, including parts of East Asia, South America, etc. And then a third set of rules for the third world, who in general do not really offer anything we can benefit from…”

The latter statement by Messerschmidt is in line with the Nuiva Manifesto and the thinking of many PS anti-immigration extremists like MP Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others.

The interesting question, however, is why the PS hasn’t yet revealed more aggressively its DPP colors on immigration policy. The answer probably hinges on how much the PS thinks it can profit from an anti-immigration political stance.

Slunga-Poutsalo believes that the party can, which explains why she is making anti-immigration statements in the first place.

The problem lies in the PS as well. Ever wondered why its chairman plays down its far right anti-immigration faction? It’s not because he’s a nice guy and likes immigrants, but because he sees this faction as a threat to his political base.

Soini has claimed in the past that PS’ anti-EU stance played a key role (80%) and anti-immigration a minor role (20%) in its historic election victory of 2011.

If you want to know where the PS’ anti-immigration policy is heading and how it will end, study the far right DPP.

ENAR press statement: Anti-Roma statements in France: a race to be the most outrageous?

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Migrant Tales

MT comment: Taking into account the xenophobia gripping Europe these days and how far right, populist and even mainstream parties are vying for the anti-immigration vote, the same is going on in Finland. The victims are the most vulnerable groups like Romany beggars. A story on YLE in English reports that the National Coalition Party is planning – once again – to prohibit begging. The anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) are strongly in favor as are the Christian Democrats.

What a shameful stance by these parties. Nothing will be resolved not matter how many anti-begging laws you pass except for exacerbating the problem.

___________

Brussels, 10 July 2013 – On 7 July, Christian Estrosi, French Member of Parliament and Mayor of the city of Nice, made public racist statements targeting the Roma and Traveller population and threatened, among others, to install surveillance cameras in Roma and Traveller camps. A few days before, Jean-Marie Le Pen had made similar anti-Roma statements. The European Network Against
Racism (ENAR) strongly condemns this stigmatising competition using hate speech to gain electoral support and calls on politicians in France and across Europe to instead start proposing constructive solutions to ensure Roma inclusion – for the benefit of all.

Read original statement here.

ENAR Chair Sarah Isal said: “These anti-Roma statements are disgraceful, all the more so coming from Christian Estrosi, an elected representative of the mainstream UMP political party. Comments fuelling hatred and stigmatisation against any group on the basis of their ethnic or national origin have a particularly damaging impact when they come from public figures and politicians.”

Instead of proposing populist and ineffective repressive measures, French local politicians such as Estrosi should start by implementing the law requiring that towns with populations exceeding 5,000 provide suitable camping grounds for Traveller communities. This law has so far not been respected in Nice.

“Politicians should live up to their responsibilities as elected representatives to provide for all their citizens on an equal basis and not indulge in such dangerous and divisive statements. Together in Europe, we can achieve great things. Let’s just do it”, said Isal.

Read ENAR statement here.

European Court of Human Rights will not review PS MP Hirvisaari’s conviction for ethnic agitation

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The European Court of Human Rights has turned down a request by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari to review a conviction for ethnic agitation in December 2011 by the Kouvola Court of Appeals, which was upheld last year by the Finnish Supreme Court.

There was no doubt that far right PS MP Hirvisaari stood a chance of having his conviction reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights after it was upheld by a Supreme Court decision earlier.

Migrant Tales applauds the decision.

Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat wrote about the European Court of Human Rights’ decision. Hirvisaari has declared war on the daily by boycotting it.

In his usual style, Hirvisaari lashes out against the decision not to review his conviction as ”bowing to Mecca.” On a Facebook thread he slams the president of the Kouvola Court of Appeals, Pertti Nieminen, as the ”Great Satan.”

Hirvisaari, who would never have stood a chance of being elected to parliament without the help of Timo Soini, who commonly plays down racism in the party, has been embroiled in numerous scandals during his two years as MP. Some of these include complaining about skid marks on the toilet bowls of parliament to blaming Anders Breivik’s murderous rampage in Norway on immigration policy.

Some of his most infamous remarks aren’t his homophobic views and plans to control what the Finnish media writes, but hiring Helena Eronen as his aide.

Eronen, who is a member of the far right anti-immigration Muutos2011 party, resigned in August after she wrote a scandalous blog entry that foreigners could help the police in ethnic profiling by wearing sleeve badges.

The reaction of the Finnish and even international media to her blog entry was a clear sign how far out of touch Eronen’s “sarcasm” was with common decency and respect for immigrants and visible minorities.

The last time ethnic groups like the Jews were required to wear identifying badges was during the Nazi regime in Germany.

Finnish Defence League strikes Mikkeli, Finland

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

I was quite surprised to find this rude sticker of the far right Finnish Defence League (FDL) near my home today. That follows another one placed on a lamppost in front of my house in March 2012 by the neo-Nazi Kansallinen vastarintaliike (SVL).

The good news is that the FDL stickers, which erroneously claim the group supports human rights, are a cinch to peel off but you need a sharp object like a key.

The stickers used by the neo-Nazi SVL are a bit tougher to peel off. They will, however, come off with the help of a coin or key.

Both the FDL and SVL are pernicious and violent organizations that believe the only way to live with other cultures is to be openly hostility to them.

A study recently linked hate crime to far right groups like the English Defence League.

The far right Finnish Defense League strikes Mikkeli.

The neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta claims that “multiculturalism is hazardous for your children and grandchildren.”

Council of Europe concerned about ethnic profiling by police in Finland

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Is it a surprise that the Council of Europe’s anti-racism body expressed concern in a report that Finnish police ask people’s ID based on ethnic appearance? No need to get an official answer to find out because ethnic profiling doesn’t happen in Finland. Why not ask immigrants and visible minorities instead if you went a candid answer?

The Council of Europe anti-racism body, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), published its fourth report Tuesday where it expressed concern over ethnic profiling by the police in Finland, reports YLE in English.

The ECRI report said that the police in Finland have the right to question foreign-looking people in places where they are believed to be causing problems.

“There is one [regulation] which increases the risk of racial profiling by the police, so this is the police singling out people based simply on the basis of their visible appearance,” Council of Europe communications officer Andrew Cutting told Yle. “Another issue [the report] raises is that foreigners can be detained whilst their identity can be ascertained in certain situations, and that this too is discriminatory.”

Ethnic profiling is part of the the wider problem of institutional racism in this country.

The fact that the police and Christian Democrat interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, deny any wrongdoing concerning ethnic profiling is highly revealing in itself. Such denials suggest that the contrary does take place and that it is a much wider problem than the authorities want to admit.

The police and the interior minister are, however, adamant: No ethnic profiling goes on in Finland by the police.

But is this the case?

The Ombudsman for Minorities has been in negotiations with the police to have in force this year new anti-ethnic profiling guidelines.

Rainer Hiltunen, the Minority Ombudsman’s head of office, told Migrant Tales last year that he receives calls from foreigners who say they have been repeatedly questioned in the street by police. Some of those stopped are naturalized Finns and visible minorities.

Even if the police and Räsänen claim that foreign-looking people aren’t stopped by the police, Migrant Tales understands that the problem is far more common than officials want to admit.

It is, however, a good matter that European organizations like the ECRI are looking into the matter.

Read full ECRI report here.

Former SMP leader links Immonen’s writing to Nazis

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The former chairman (1979-89) of the Rural Party (SMP), Pekka Vennamo, linked Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen’s recent column to Nazis, according to tabloid Iltalehti. The far right PS MP wrote in his most recent blog entry about how nationalism should play a central role in Finnish politics.

Vennamo, who is the son of Veikko Vennamo, the late founder and legendary political figure of the SMP from which the PS emerged in the mid-1990s, doesn’t spare Immonen much sympathy. ”[Using the term] nationalism always brings Nazis first to mind,” he said.

Immonen, who is chairman of the extremist anti-immigration Suomen Sisu association that aims to keep Finland white, didn’t take the former SMP leader’s views lightly. “Pekka Vennamo is a turncoat and an old nut,” he said.

The former party chairman said that SMP was never against immigrants and even less against the EU. “We were warmly in favor of the country joining the EU and being in the euro,” he said.

Despite assurances by PS’ chairman Timo Soini that his party isn’t racist or that it harbors racists, its anti-immigration wing has found a permanent home in the PS.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has called Soini’s relationship with the PS’ far right as a pack with the devil.

He writes: “The spirit that Soini opportunistically freed from the bottle by accepting extremist [candidates] of the Suomen Sisu [association] to run for office will soon permanently tarnish the ability of the party to cooperate with other ones and may even soon threaten Soini’s position as party leader.”

PS party secretary shoots herself in the leg on immigration and chauvinism

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Migrant Tales

It’s pretty clear from an interview that new party secretary of the Perussuomalaiset (PS), Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, gave to newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti that she has shot herself so badly in the foot that she’ll never recover. Not only does her murky far right anti-immigration opinions follow her as a shadow, but affirmations like ”I’m a chauvinist” as well.

Admitting that she is a chauvinist was not a slip of the tongue when she spoke to the media right after she was elected as the PS’ new party secretary. Apart from being strongly anti-immigration and chauvinist, she admits that there are no gray areas on how she see things. “Things are usually simple and I’m generally for or against [something],” she said. “One must have opinions in politics.”

On today’s Helsingin Sanomat, columnist Minna Lindgren writes about Slunga-Poutsalo: “Soini assumes that all of us are deep down inside [Finns are] chauvinists, racists and [see everything] black and white – the issue hinges on on being honest [with oneself].”

She concludes: “I have another picture of the Finn. He isn’t a power-hungry person who runs away from responsibility, not a black-and-white chauvinist or even a racist.”

Chauvinism in a Finnish context is this country’s brand of machoism. When you are a machoist, or chauvinist, you loathe anything that promotes cultural diversity. That is why Finnish machoists, men and women alike, see immigrants, blacks, gays, feminists, Muslims, left-wingers, environmentalists and others as a threat.

It’s no surprise that Slunga-Poutsalo will call few if any major shots in the PS since the anti-immigration and anti-EU party is effectively a one-man show run by its chairman and creator, Timo Soini.

The Suomen Kuvalehti journalist, Katri Merikallio, asks Slunga-Poutsalo if she’s in favor of Finland becoming a multicultural or culturally diverse society.

”If I have to decide, I’m against it,” she said telling us something we already knew.

Her response is typical of that of an anti-immigration party. There is strong opposition to immigration and cultural diversity but no workable solutions that take into account immigrants and other minorities.

Why? The answer is simple: There aren’t any. Holding back cultural diversity is like prohibiting people from being gay.

But don’t let her general opposition to cultural diversity fool you. If she had her way, she’d implement the far right Danish People’s Party (DPP) immigration policy to fuel xenophobia and near-halt migration from outside of the European Union.

As everyone knows, the DPP were successful for about 10 years in spearheading the most restrictive immigration policy in the EU.

Slunga-Poutsalo, like all of the anti-immigration extremists in the PS, are not only a direct threat to immigrants but to Finland.

Their political views are openly hostile to immigrants and minorities and should be openly challenged.

Tag: Racism