Racism Archives - Page 39 of 208

Another reason that reinforces Denmark as one of the most Islamophobic countries in the EU

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Who could forget the former minister of immigration and integration, Inger Stojberg? Apart from her Islamophobic rhetoric, she is also remembered with a cake celebrating in 2017 the 50th tightening of Danish immigration laws.

There seems to be no shortages of Islamophobic politicians in Denmark.

The former minister is in a lot of hot water today for misleading parliament on the illegal order of separating certain married couples at asylum reception centers, reports The Local.

Writes The Local: “A further conclusion of the report is that the former minister, during the parliamentary hearings, ‘gave a different impression of the directive as it was communicated to the (immigration) service than was the case (in reality).’”

Bashy Quraishy, an anti-racism activist, wrote on Facebook: “Shouldn’t Inger Stjoberg be disqualified from her political position, and the law should punish her as Erik Ninn Hansen was after the Tamil Case?”

When he was minister of justice, Hansen tried to hinder Tamil refugees’ family reunification despite their legal rights as stipulated in Danish law.

The scandal led to the resignation of Poul Schlüter’s government in 1993.

Cartoon (left): Former minister of immigration and integration, Inger Stojberg tells the little girl if she does not have arms, she cannot have any cake.

Rosa Emilia Clay finally gets recognition when Tampere names a square after her

Posted on December 9, 2020May 8, 2025 by Migrant Tales

THIS POST WAS UPDATED

Much of Finland’s history is whitewashed. One of its victims was Rosa Emilia Clay (1875-1959), Finland’s first African-born Finn who received Finnish citizenship in 1899. The naming of Rosa Emilia Clay square in Tampere is a watershed: Finland is slowly but surely awakening to its rich cultural and ethnic background.

Even if Rosa Emilia Clay was born in Namibia, then German Southwest Africa, she represents all non-white Finns in the country. She is a reminder that such people not only have history but a right to it.

Considering that Rosa Emilia Clay’s name could not be found anywhere on the Finnish municipal map, such a distinction was granted and long overdue after 145 years after her birth and 61 years after her death.

Better late than never.

Rosa Emilia Clay Square was officially approved by a Tampere City Council committee on August 27, 2020. The square will be located near the Ceder school where she taught when she lived in Tampere during 1901-03 before emigrating to the United States.

As with others, I have also lobbied for a street named after Rosa Emilia Clay. In 2019, I contacted academic researcher Anna Rastas, who is an expert on Rosa Emilia Clay.

Australian rugby captain Michael Hooper and his “Argie” remark

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Migrant Tales

After watching a nailbiter between Argentina and Australia in the Tri-Nations Rugby Championships, the 15-15 draw turned into a sour taste in my mouth when Australian rugby captain Michael Hooper said after the game that “the Argies are a tough cookie to crack.”

Was this racist term intentional or unintentional? Is Hooper a sore loser or just plain ignorant?

How many English cricket players would state after a match against Pakistan that “the Pakis are a tough cookie to crack?”

Let’s make one thing crystal clear: The term “Argie” is a slur created during the Falklands-Malvinas war. It’s meaning is to demean in a racist manner.

All Argentineans should protest forcefully for Hooper using this racist term.

**Australian rugby captain Michael Hooper. Source: Reuters.**

Radical-right populism is Finland’s kiss of death

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Watching the assault on democratic institutions in the United States, Hungary, Poland, and other countries, one wonders what Finnish voters see in its own Trump- and Orbán-spirited Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

In Yle’s latest opinion poll published Thursday, the PS took first place by a hair from the Social Democrats (SDP), leading since May.

So what are we supposed to make out of the latest opinion poll?

The National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) strategy to flirt with the PS has turned out a failure. Kokoomus retreated by 0.7% to 15.9% and is now far behind the PS and SDP.

This has been proven repeatedly: Don’t try to imitate the PS’ Islamophobic message. Why would voters choose a lighter version of the PS if they can vote for the real thing?

**Read the full story (in Finnish) here.**

SAD BUT TRUE: AROUND 18% OF FINNISH VOTERS BACK A TRUMP-SPIRITED PARTY IN FINLAND DESPITE ITS COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, GOOD EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND HIGH SCORES IN THE PRESS FREEDOM INDEX.

The good news?

If the PS win the next parliamentary election in 2023, they will have to compromise and work with other parties to govern.

This isn’t a consolation but a warning that our democratic system may also be in peril.

The PS and its obsession with migrants

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Migrant Tales

If you had the opportunity to listen inside the brain of a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politician, you’d probably hear the following word: migrants, maahanmuuttajat, migrants, maahanmuuttajat…

The head of the PS parliamentary group, Ville Tavio, regurgetates that obsessive word in countless tweets and statements.

Tavio tweets: “Finnish human rights are threatened as a result of massive asylum-seeker policies. Such migration should be kept in check, so it isn’t a threat to the country’s economy, security, and national culture.”

Tavio, who has before mentioned his admiration of France’s National Rally far-right head Marine Le Pen, claims that some conspiracy permits “massive” asylum seekers to enter Finland.

I understand that Tavio does not wake up in the morning and looks in the mirror, whispering to himself that I am such a racist.

Or does an Islamophobic mindset make people delusional? They attract voters with their exaggerations and lies and get hooked to power like junkies.

According to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), there were 4,550 asylum seekers in 2019, of which 2,467 were granted residence permits. Where is the massive amount of asylum seekers you speak of Tavio?

The PS believe that they can get away by lambasting migrants, especially Muslims and people of color, without any consequences.

A party like the PS that bases 90% of its politics on Islamophobia and Afrophobia cannot tap from the well of hatred and discord forever. One day that well will dry out.

No matter how much politicians like Tavio and his band of Islamophobes kick and bitch, we are here to stay.

From Belle Selene Xia to Helena Puustinen and Joy Aalto and the Perussuomalaiset mindset

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Migrant Tales

We read about Joy Aalto, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party member, who gave us 1 + 1 = 2 advice on becoming a Finn. If such a simplistic recipe for integration – learn Finnish and get a job – worked for her, that is fine, although I have my doubts.

Before reading on, this post is not against women from the Far East but wants to raise a question: Why does the PS believe that such women – not men – are acceptable foreigners?

Why don’t we see the PS empowering Somali and Muslim women?

**Joh Aalto states that she became a Finn by learning the langauge and getting a job.**

Let’s hope that Joy Aalto will not turn into a Helena Puustinen or house the opinions of former Helsinki deputy councilperson Belle Sene Xia, who wished death to members of the Falun Dafa religious sect.

So what did Helena Puustinen post?

Puustinen said that she would like to lock up Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government in Auschwitz and devise “a better plan than Hitler” to, I suspect, exterminate the ministers of her cabinet.

Puustinen’s hostile rant did not spare asylum seekers. Dropping atomic bombs on them would do the job.

Puustinen in a picture with a Waffen SS of Holland ad asking people to join in the fight against Bolshevism.

And who could forget Belle Selene Xia, who got sacked from the Helsinki PS for wishing that they kill members of the Falun Dafa religious sect?

Before getting the boot, Helsinki PS municipal candidate Belle Selene Xia didn’t consider her former party racist or against migrants.

“They’re only people’s stereotypes against the Perussuomalaiset,” she said. “The Perussuomalaiset are strongly against racism. Moreover, the PS is in favor of labor immigration.”

Surprisingly, she changed her opinion after getting sacked from the Helsinki chapter of the party.

She then said that her foreign background played a role in her sacking.

Language is key to changing the way we debate cultural diversity. It is a powerful weapon that xenophobes fear.

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Language and how people are labeled are some of the reasons why racism and anti-immigration politicians have exerted power on the national debate on our ever-growing cultural diversity. If we did away with these toxic terms, which label people as eternal outsiders, matters would change radically.

First and foremost in the debate, we should dispense with words that label and group people as outsiders. By labeling people as outsiders, like the term person with a foreign or migrant background,”

For this reason, we need a bold and innovative approach to how we perceive ourselves as a society and what Finnish identity is. That discussion must happen now.

With all the hate and hidden messages that portray and frame Others in our society, the debate would clean up pretty fast since we would change from referring to people as Finns or as one of us.

If our society is open and encourages equity, the langauge we use to label Others should reflect it.

**Debate about youth crime by so-called “people of migrant background” is a good example why we need to use more inclusive language that respects difference.**

So, what terms could we use when referring to non-white Finns? The labels they want us to use like AfroFinn, brown Finn, Somali Finn, etc. White Finns should stop placing unilateral ethnic categories on people of different backgrounds.

One way of changing the way we debate difference and cultural diversity is by not using terms that group people as outsiders.

Two PS Youth members convicted of ethnic agitation

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth deputy chairperson Toni Jalonen and Johannes Sipola, the former chairperson Johannes Sipola were sentenced by a Pirkanmaa District Court fines for ethnic agitation, according to YLE News.

Jalonen, who announced in February that he is “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and a fascist,” was slapped with a 50-day fine (300 euros) for ethnic agitation. Likewise, Sipola, who blamed the Christchurch, New Zealand killings of Muslims in March 2019 on multiculturalism, was given a 40-day fine (240 euros) for ethnic agitation.

The convictions came after images were published on social media. One of them had a picture of a black couple looking at their baby lovingly, with the text: “Vote for the Perussuomalaiset so that Finland’s future won’t look like this.”

The other racist ad was a picture of two women wearing niqabs with a warning: “Do you want our country to look like this? Don’t stay sleeping. Vote.”

The tweet and Facebook postings cost the PS Youth dearly. They first lost 115,000 euros of funding from the ministry of education and then saw their association dissolved.

Toni Jalonen living in his fascist alternate reality world.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #75: Obsession with race, ethnicity, and us versus them

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

If we want to give a massive blow to racism in Finland and parties that promote this social ill, we need to change the language we use when speaking of all those that live here. One label that I have always disliked is “person with migrant or foreign background.”

What does it mean and why is it used?

In many respects, it is a hostile term whose main purpose is to exclude and distinguish people who are so-called “real” Finns and those who are not. How can a person with a foreign background, even if he or she was born here, compete if you are from nowhere?

It’s encouraging that Green League politicians like Maria Ohisalo, the minister of the interior, brought this up in a session of parliament. In an interview, she reiterated her message: “Many youths have asked me how long them must be a person of migrant origin before they can be Finnish citizens.”

Placing people in such categories offers racist amunition. Racist and Islamophobic politicians from parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have a narrative to protect.

Fortunately, there are people who are challenging these racist categories. AfroFinns, brown Finns and any other types of Finns come to mind.

FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #75

If we want to give racism a blow, we need to change the language we use when speaking of Other cultural and ethnic groups in Finland.

The labels and langauge we use must inspire inclusion, not exclusion.

Even if Finland is a highly racialized country with some circles obsessed by its whiteness, I am confident that this will change in time and that classifictions used by Statistics Finland will become history.

Statistics Finland has some doozies for ethnic classification like (a) person of Finnish origin born in Finland; (b) person of Finnis origin born abroad; (c) person of foreign background born abroad; (d) person of foreign background born in Finland; (e) unknown.

The tragic deaths in France expose the disenfranchisement of Muslims

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Migrant Tales

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

James Baldwin (1924-87)

Ir, there is one matter that the killings in France have reinforced, it is the disenfranchisement of the Muslim community of France. How is it possible that two deranged persons that caused tragic deaths to end up with the Franch state placing a gun at the Muslim community’s head?

The short leash that Prime Minister Emanuel Macron wants to place on France’s 5.7-million-strong Muslim community speaks volumes about the racism in that country.

Not only is the French state aiming to educate its own Muslims under the new anti-separatist law, but it plans a crackdown on more than 50 Muslim organizations. One of these includes anti-racist organizations such as the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).

In these troubled times for Muslims, there is a good matter to remember:

On the right, an example of how white society sees itself and minorities when a crime is committed. On the left, the cartoon by Ville Ranta states that the first to appear after a terrorist attack are the racists and xenophobes.