Tag: Racism

Junes Lokka’s “racist” and “Nazi clown” case: Court sends clear message who has racist immunity in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When white people decide what is racism and what the boundaries are, they mess up and make matters worse for migrants, minorities and Others.

What are we supposed to make out of this? A well-known anti-immigration activist with ties to neo-Nazi and Islamophobic groups is called in a closed Facebook group by a journalist “a racist” and “Nazi clown.”

A district court of Oulu, where some sexual assault cases by migrants has turned the city on the fringe of hysteria, rules in favor of the Islamophobe and wins the case against the journalist for defamation. Is this another example of how people like Lokka have kidnapped common sense in Oulu?

Johanna Vehkoo’s lawyer Martina Kronström told Yle that “her client was stunned by the outcome and intended to appeal the verdict.”

And so are we at Migrant Tales.

Not only does the ruling show how much out of touch was the district court of Oulu about racism and hate speech, it sends a clear message who has racist immunity in Finland.

If you are a white male in the police service it is ok to make racist remarks. If you are a white woman calling somebody a racist and Nazi, then it is not ok even if that person was convicted for ethnic agitation.

Read the full story here.

Disagree?

Remember a closed Facebook group with 2,800 members who were police that openly insulted non-white Finns and asylum seekers? When Longplay exposed the Facebook page last year, where Vehkoo writes, no charges were eventually brought against the group because the prosecutor stated that the many racist messages were not intended to be publshed outside the group.

What about Johanna Vestola’s comment?

 

 

 

Yle poll: The PS becomes the second-biggest party. Thank mainstream parties like Kokoomus, the Center Party and the media.

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some were surprised to see in a poll published by Yle Thursday that the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* became the second-most popular part in Sunday’s parliamentary elections after the Social Democrats. If we are honest with ourselves, the poll result should not have come as a surprise.

The party that the PS knocked to third place from second is the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), which had tried – apparently unsuccessfully – to mimic that party’s Islamophobic and anti-immigration rhetoric.

If I were the head of the PS, I’d thank as well the Finnish media, especially Yle, for spreading the party’s anti-immigration rhetoric and making racism and fascism appear normal. If you want an answer to the latter question, take a look at Yle PS members on the board.

The greatest threat to Finland today? Terrorism? Yes, white Finnish supremacist parties like the PS. If Finland doesn’t watch out, it will turn into a Denmark, a country that is Islamophobic but on steroids.

The mainstream parties like the National Coalition Party, Center Party, Blue Reform, Christian Democrats should thank themselves as well for their efforts to make racism normal in Finland.

They have lacked the leadership to challenge racism in our society because they have issues with such a social ill among their ranks.

If I hated migrants and asylum seekers, I would vote for the real thing instead of an imitator.

Wouldn’t you?

Read the full story here.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

10-year-old girl beaten by adolescents in Vantaa, Finland, for not being white

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A new case of a 10-year-old girl being beaten allegedly because of her Muslim background reported today by the police and television station MTV. The last case, which also involved a 10-year-old Muslim girl, happened just before Christmas in the suburb of Espoo.

According to MTV, the mother of the victim said that a fifteen-year-old girl had asked her daughter if she were a Muslim. “[My] daughter did not answer her question when the 15-year-old had told my daughter that she would end up in hell where Satan would rape her,” the upset mother said.

Accoding to the police, the girl was attacked and beaten by four to five suspects.

While onlookers did nohing to stop the fight, a woman came to the rescue and took the girl to her car where she called the police and an ambulance.

The girl did no sustain any serious injuries but was clearly traumatized by the incident, accoring to MTV.

What is interesting to watch now is what the police will say and if they decide this should be treated as a hate crime.

 

Read the original statement (in Finnish) here.

Continue reading “10-year-old girl beaten by adolescents in Vantaa, Finland, for not being white”

S-worldview: The Islamophobic snake vampire of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Islamophobic snake vampire. Can you spot the Islamophobes? Timo Soini, Jussi Halla-aho, Sampo Terho, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Junes Lokka, Tiina Wiik, Laura Huhtasaari, Wille Rydman, Atte Kaleva, Ville Tavio, Simon Elo, Juho Eerola, and Olli Immonen. Should we be surprised that most of them represent the Perussuomalaiset* and Blue Reform parties? 

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

 

The sooner we admit that the Perussuomalaiset is a far-right extremist party the better for our democracy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Why is it so difficult for the national media in Finland to acknowledge that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is a far-right political fringe group? This was further confirmed on Monday when Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini announced a political alliance to challenge the EU.

Right, you guessed correctly. The PS, together with other far-right groups like the Danish People’s Party (DPP), Germany’s AfD and Lega Nord of Italy, announced that they’d form a political alliance in the EU.

Even if this is news, it is actually old news. The PS has forged throughout the years strong ties with a number of far-right parties like the DPP. where they get their most extremist ideas about migration policy.

Remember PS MP Ville Tavio, who suggested a while back that the PS should form an alliance with France’s far-right Front National?

The PS’ connections and ideological compatibility with the European far right, even neo-Nazi groups, is not news. It is a fact that has been around for a long time but which the media and other political groups have had a hard time admitting.

If we admit it, what does it say about our country, political system and ourselves as a nation? Some correctly call it denial with the help of Finnish exceptionalism.

Oulu Silvennoinen is a researcher on Finland’s far right. He does not vacillate when it comes to calling the PS for what it is: a party with fraternal ties with far-right parties. Silennoinen tweets below: “The PS in its present form [and] is a far-right party agenda which acts and whose modus operandi functions in accordance with the models of the international far right.”

Continue reading “The sooner we admit that the Perussuomalaiset is a far-right extremist party the better for our democracy”

MTV Finland: Framing women with niqabs with Islamophobia and dislike

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A court of appeal slapped on Tuesday the manager of the Euro Super store of Helsinki with a 1,995-euro fine for discrimination after he asked a woman to remove her niqab so her face would be exposed. The incident took place in spring 2016, according to MTV.

The owner of the store asked the woman to take off her niqab if she wanted to buy something. The women did not comply with the request and called the police after leaving the premises.

The owner denied that he had discriminated against the woman due to her religion and stated that he asked to see her face for security reasons.

The court did not buy the manager’s defense argument and ruled that the woman did not pose a threat to the store and there was as aresult no reason for her to remove her niqab.

Even if this is an open-and-shut case, one wonders why MTV frames the woman in the story as black and from Denmark. This type of framing is, in our opinion, not only poor journalism but Islamophobic.

The caption reads: A woman wearing a similar niqab at a demonstration in Denmark. The woman in the picture is not related to the court of appeal case.

Facebook Léo Custódio: Racist party in Finland and the world’s happiest country

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Remember when Finland was named the happiest country in the world by the the global  happiness index? I am certain that factors like income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity may contribute to people’s well-being. Even so, Léo Custódio, a researcher, asks an important question in light of the latest opinion polls: A party that openly victimizes and socially excludes migrants from being equal members of society is today the third-biggest in the “world’s happiest country.” 

 

Finland should put aside its racism, prejudices, hypocrisy and challenge seriously social ills like pedophilia and sexaual abuse

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The lifesaver that was supposed to propel the Perussuomalaiset* (PS) to new heights in the polls, suffered another setback Wednesday when the National Bureau of Investigations arrested five white Finnish suspects implicated in violent child sexual abuse. The other blows that stole the PS of its Islamophobic thunder were the elderly care scadal and the Christchurch atrocity where 50 Muslims were killed. 

Writes Yle News: “A special feature [of the case] has been violence and child harm, which has played a central role [in the material]. Although we are investigating sexual offences, this is a case of violence, its glorification and receiving sexual gratification from it,” said lead investigator Sanna Springare.

In light of the hysteria that the Oulu sexual abuse cases have caused, do you agree with the following tweet below?

When we lose sight of the ball because we are too busy labelling and victimizing certain migrant groups, we lose sight of how to effectively challenge a social disease like pedophilia and sexual abuse.

Yle’s coverage of the Oulu sexual assault cases could be at its best described as overkill, even unethical. It is like using a bazooka to kill an ant. There is little balance never mind fairness in Yle’s reporting of the topic.

During November 27 to February 13, Yle published a whopping 77 stories on the sexual abuse cases of Oulu. This is not counting all the other stories that the tabloids and other print media published during that period. On January 14 alone, Yle published 13 stories about the topic!

The police do not receive high marks either by racializing the sexual abuse cases. Considering that a poll showed that 25.1% and 24.4% of the police surveyed in 2016 voted for the National Coalition Party and Islamophobic PS, respectively, it is a valid question to ask if the police framed the crimes to suit their prejudices and benefit as a result those two parties in the upcoming elections.

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Atte Kaleva is a populist who spreads and dwells in Islamophobic soundbites

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Politicians who spread fear and suspicion of migrants are those that will never give power and a voice to migrants. Some good examples of groups that are Islamophobic are parties like the Perussuomalaiset* and leading Islamophobes like Jussi Halla-aho and Atte Kaleva. 

National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP candidate Atte Kaleva, who has overtaken Wille Rydman as the Halla-aho of his party, held a talk on March 15 in East Helsinki on “why multiculturalism doesn’t work.”

The timing of the talk was not the most appropriate since on the same day we learned about the atrocities in New Zealand when a far-right Australian extremist killed in cold blood 50 Muslims and wounded others in two mosques of Christchurch.

For anyone familiar with the topic of multiculturalism, Kaleva’s topic choice exposes who he is: a populist giving soundbites to the media and followers at the cost of minorities and groups like Muslims.

Some of Kaleva’s acquaintances include Jussi Halla-aho, convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. Kaleva appears proud of this picture. I think it is shameful. Thank you Christin Bergström for helping me find this Instagram posting with Kaleva and Halla-aho.

When the National Coalition Party candidate claims that multiculturalism does not work, we have no idea what he actually means.

Is he implying that cultural diversity is not possible because it always fails? Does he mean that white Finnish society is “perfect” while culturally diverse societies are flawed? Is he saying that countries like Canada, Australia, Argentina, the United States, and others are good examples where multiculturalism has failed?

Is he denying European history, which is and was historically always culturally and ethnically diverse?

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