Tag: Racism

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

Posted on by Migrant Tales

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.

Continue reading “The creation and death of the Perussuomalaiset and its #socialmediafrankensteins in Finland”

Migrants are “scum” and should be erased from the map say Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and other far-right politicians

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some are asking with manifest unease if this will be the year of the far-right populists like Dutch Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen of France and Frauke Petry of the German  Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The first test will  be in Holland on March 15 followed by another nail-biter in France on April 23 and May 7.

Wilders doesn’t hide his hatred for Moroccans by calling them in the video below “scum.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3AkiWhvCYs

Emboldened by US President Donald Trump, the far-right in Europe believes that it’s now or never as far as elections are concerned.

But there is a problem: What about if Trump’s chaotic and volatile style of leadership scares voters away in Europe from voting for people like Wilders, Le Pen never mind AfD and possibly in 2018 for Italy’s Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement?

One may rightly ask how is it possible that an Islamophobic politician like Wilders is the favorite to win in March after being sentenced in December for hate speech? How can he be accused of calling Moroccan migrants “scum” and still be popular with the voters?

Continue reading “Migrants are “scum” and should be erased from the map say Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and other far-right politicians”

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

Posted on by Migrant Tales

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?

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

(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

Posted on by Migrant Tales

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.

Continue reading “(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”

Inspired by Donald Trump’s racism in USAmerica, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri stokes the fires of xenophobia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Argentina has a reputation among some Latin Americans of being the most racist country in the region. The election of President Donald Trump has emboldened politicians like Argentinean President Mauricio Macri to parrot his USAmerican counterpart’s racist worldview. 

Argentina, like Canada, Australia and the United States, is a nation built on immigration. When we speak of immigration, however, we have to stress that we mean white European immigration.

Between 1881 and 1914, over 4.2 million immigrants moved to Argentina from Europe.[1] By 1914, 30.3% (2.358 million) of the country’s total population was foreign born with as many as 49.4% of the inhabitants of the capital Buenos Aires being born elsewhere. [2]

When you ask Argentineans about what happened to the Amerindians, which were wiped out of their lands in the nineteenth century, some of their answers justify genocide. “There were so few of them,” is one response you may hear, which means that they were near-non-existent and therefore it was acceptable to commit genocide.

Few Argentineans know that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Argentina was a Spanish colony until 1816, that 38% of the population of about 400,000 people were whites with 32% being blacks and of mixed black ethnicity. [3]

European immigration during the second half of the nineteenth century and in the following century effectively whitewashed Argentina of other visible ethnicities such as blacks and Amerindians.

While Argentineans proudly claim that they are a tolerant and understanding country because they took in so many immigrants, we must ask to which immigrants and groups were accepted.

Read the full story here.

Racist comments by some white Argentineans reinforce how racism and bigotry are still alive and kicking in the country. “White” in Argentina means anyone who has a European background. Those of mixed mestizo ethnicity, Europeans mixed with Amerindians, are called disrespectfully cabecita negra, or little black head.

Continue reading “Inspired by Donald Trump’s racism in USAmerica, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri stokes the fires of xenophobia”

If YLE has exposed discrimination against dual nationals in the defense forces why don’t they call it institutional racism?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Why isn’t the national media or any other NGO in Finland calling out YLE’s scoop about how the defense forces and ministry of defense could be in violation of our constitution and an example of institutional racism?

Why doesn’t the media or anyone else for a fact state clearly that statements by President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, who want to find a way to get around Section 6 or our Constitution by discriminating against dual nationals, isn’t seen as labeling and victimizing whole groups?

Why doesn’t anyone say clearly that much of the debate on dual citizenship is embedded in denial about a social ill like racism in Finland?

It is incredible that during our centenary celebrations of 2017 as an independent country that President Niinistö doesn’t see how his remarks and apparent disdain for dual citizens labels and harms a whole group.

With respect to Sipilä, how many trust him considering that he broke his promise to house asylum seekers in his home in September 2015?

Those attacking and labeling dual nationals in Finland represent power and Finnish exceptionalism. They would care less about minorities like Finnish Russians, even if what they say reinforces discrimination and harms minorities.

Continue reading “If YLE has exposed discrimination against dual nationals in the defense forces why don’t they call it institutional racism?”

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

Posted on by Migrant Tales

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.

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

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.

Continue reading “Finns have finally woken up to a lie and bully called the Perussuomalaiset party”

Donald Trump and the post-election European horror story

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We don’t mean to scare you with this tweet below. But it’s interesting to note how the Donald Trump’s rise to the US presidency is bringing out the absolute worst in Europe. 

While 2016 was a year that ushered in a new era of uncertainty thanks to Brexit and Trump, we must not despair and permit the flagrant opportunism of far-right politicians to dictate what Europe is.

The Guardian published a story Saturday where the region’s far-right leaders saw 2017 as the year when Europe “wakes up.”

One could fairly ask wake up to what? More discrimination? More attacks against our culturally and ethnically diverse roots as Europeans? More white privilege? More police surveillance and abuse?

From left to right some pretty scary far-right European politicians from left to right: Harald Vilimsky of the Austrian FPÖ, Matteo Salvini of the Italian Lega Nord, Gert Wilders of the PVV of Holland, Marine Le Pen of Front Nationale, and Germany’s Frauke Petry of AfD.

Folks, these politicians don’t have a clue about how to make Europe function as a region that respects and makes diversity work. They will fail and fall flat on their faces if they get power.

Continue reading “Donald Trump and the post-election European horror story”

Che’s corner: Don’t turn into a racist!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is a fine line that separates patriotism from racism. Patriotism is love and devotion to one’s country. A sense of patriotism is any affiliation to the homeland and to work for its best interests of its people. Every person cares for his home and does everything possible to live and enjoy a decent life with his family.

The home is like a miniature nation where its inhabitants share with other people of his community and nation the same interests and suffering, crises that impact the whole country.

The sense of belonging to a group, to its geographic location, caring for its people and its interests ensure a better life for all of its inhabitants. We run into problems when some of these “patriots” put their personal and political interests before the interests of its people and deny others fleeing war from having a home in a secure country. At this moment, these “patriots” hide their racism and their extremist political views behind the mask of nationalism. Some go as far as to proclaim themselves as God’s chosen people.

These people, who are nothing more than “chosen” racists, endanger the lives and interests of all of their countrymen. In 2015, we saw a refugee crisis that worried and concerned all of us. We, along with other patriots, seriously seek credible solutions to the challenge before us. In doing so we can never forget our humanity for others.

The violence and wars that these displaced refugees face outside our borders affect all humanity as a whole. It is wrong to deny them shelter in our country. There are better solutions to resolving this challenge than turning into a racist.