Racism Archives - Page 82 of 208

Marianne Kiukkunen is no “Amazon” but a sad example of how low the police service has lowered the bar

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Finland’s fascination with hardline nationalists and bigots continues unabated. Police official Marianne Kiukkunen was interviewed on the Enbuske, Veitola and Salminen (EVS-ohjelma) talk show and introduced by the host as an “Amazon” superwoman, the very embodiment of white privilege. Her appearance on the show and her comments are examples of how low the police has lowered the bar.

Instead of introducing her as “an Amazon hero of white Finns,” I would introduce her as a sad example of the nationalism and bigotry that is found in the police service. Her views and persona are the same ones that are opening the door to xenophobia and fascism in Finland today.

The EVS-ohjelma is a talk show for white Finns, about white Finns and their privileged views of Others.

One of the many revealing matters about the short interview is that she is a member of the racist MV-lehti online publication’s closed Facebook page. According to her, the closed group has some 3,000 members, many of them police officials.

At present, the editor of MV-lehti, Ilja Janitskin is at large. His online publication commonly steals stories from other publications like Migrant Tales and spins them to fit with their own far-right worldview.

The online publication is facing a number of charges like ethnic agitation and defamation of character.

MV-lehti is a favorite of many Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politicians like MP Teuvo Hakkarianen and councilwoman Terhi Kiemunki.

Both are facing charges of ethnic agitation.

See the full story here.

When asked on the whow what she’s doing in such a Facebook closed group, Kiukkonen plays down and speaks fondly of the MV-lehti editor.

“Ilja certainly has such a style that he says things pretty harshly but maybe more in the language of the people,” she said, adding that the issue at hand is that “there should be freedom of expression in Finland.”

One of the hosts sitting and listening to the interview commented that freedom of expression doesn’t mean spreading false information.

“Not everything [published in MV-lehti] is false information I can vouch for that…” she responded.

Continue reading “Marianne Kiukkunen is no “Amazon” but a sad example of how low the police service has lowered the bar”

PS’ Terhi Kiemunki is charged with ethnic agitation – how many more will be charged of the Perussuomalaiset party?

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset* chairman of Tampere, Terhi Kiemunki, will be charged for ethnic agitation, according to Tampere-based daily Aamulehti. Kiemunki achieved national notoriety this year when she published on Facebook that it was unfortunate that she didn’t have any condoms to give Muslim children trick-or-treating in April.

Kiemunki has other dubious merits. Anders Breivik emailed her before murdering 77 people on July 22, 2011.

Her son is a member of the Soldiers of Odin vigilante group.

She has organized bus trips to Tornio las autumn to demand the government close the borders to asylum seekers.

Kiemunki only got a light tap on the hand for her Facebook comment.

Even if Kiemunki was forced to resign as first vice president of the PS’ Pirkanmaa regional board, she was able to keep her job as PS MP Lea Mäkipää’s aide. On Saturday, the PS of Tampere gave her support as chairman.

PS MP Mäkipää said she will make a decision whether to sack Kiemunki in a few days after reviewing the latest case.

One of Terhi Kiemenki’s fans is PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation. In the comment by Halla-aho on her Facebook page reads: “So asylum seekers rape, harass and mistreat people…”

Continue reading “PS’ Terhi Kiemunki is charged with ethnic agitation – how many more will be charged of the Perussuomalaiset party?”

Two stories, two versions about an incident involving asylum seekers in Finland

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Two stories, two versions. One by Migrant Tales where asylum seekers allege that a white Finnish driver in a GMC SUV tried to hit them and another one in Mikkeli-based Länsi Savo where the police suspect a traffic dispute that led to an argument where one asylum seeker got hit in the head.

Here’s what was published in Migrant Tales: Three asylum seekers were returning to the reception center near Mikkeli, located 230km north of Helsinki, on Sunday at 2-2:30am after going fishing. An SUV on the road came so close to hitting them that two had to jump off their bikes. The people in the SUV went after the asylum seekers with an axe and shovel.

Länsi-Savo quotes police officer Johanna Parviainen stating the following: “Apparently, due to the darkness, the driver didn’t notice the bike riders on the road. That turned into a situation where one of the bike riders fell off his bike even if the driver attempted to dodge them.”

The police claim the situation led to a dispute but didn’t allegedly interview the asylum seekers with an interpreter. The police promised to question the asylum seekers on a later date.

Here’s a simple question: What was the SUV doing near the asylum reception center at 2-2:30am and why did they have an axe and shovel in their possession?

There are other questions that the Länsi-Savo story raises. Why did it only take for granted the word of the police? Did the police give the benefit of the doubt to to the driver and passenger(s)? Why wasn’t there anything mentioned in the story about the axe and shovel used to attack the asylum seekers? Why didn’t the police mention this to the reporter who wrote the story?

Traffic violation or hate crime?

Could Länsi-Savo’s version of the story be an example of how the police and the media brush possible hate crimes under the rug?

We don’t know and the police investigation is still pending but its important that we get to the bottom of what happened.

Two stories and two versions about an incident involving asylum seekers and white Finns. The story on the left was first published by Migrant Tales and the one on the right after we tipped off Länsi-Savo.

Continue reading “Two stories, two versions about an incident involving asylum seekers in Finland”

The government of Juha Sipilä has failed with flying colors on its strategy to contain the rise of racism in Finland

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

There has been an interesting debate on hate crime in Finland. If we’d believe the government, hate crime and racism in Finland are a far-right phenomenon and of a few racist hotheads.

Wrong.

The government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is so much in dark and in denial about a social ill like racism that it actually believes that having a nationalist populist anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which bases its popularity on spreading ethnic hatred, in government, its lame stance on racism and tightening immigration laws have no consequences on rising hate crime in the country.

Wrong again.

We can conclude that the present strategy and stance on racism and cultural diversity of the government is an utter failure that promotes violence against migrants and minorities.

When the government’s anti-racism rhetoric is only air and when they tighten immigration policy they send the following message to Finns: These people aren’t worthy of dignity and are a threat to our country.

Måns Enqvist of the Finnish police service states in the YLE News story what we all know but don’t want to admit:

“Yes, it’s [hate crime] clearly on the rise,” Enqvist said. “And there are many reasons. Of course one reason is that the climate for discussion in Finland has changed. We are more likely to say anything at all. And that creates a foundation for moving from speech to action.”

A good example of the hypocrisy of the government concerning racism in Finland was the participation of Finance Minister and NCP Chairman Petteri Orpo and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s participation at September 24 Stop this game! demonstration against racism and fascism in Finland.

The following Monday it was business as usual. The government was accused of lowering social welfare to migrants by 10% when compared with Finnish citizens.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading “The government of Juha Sipilä has failed with flying colors on its strategy to contain the rise of racism in Finland”

PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen may face prosecution for ethnic agitation

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Migrant Tales

There’s a strong chance that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Teuvo Hakkarainen may face prosecution for ethnic agitation, according to YLE. The matter will be decided by the general prosecutor’s office after a police investigation.

Hakkarainen wrote on his Facebook wall in mid-July after the Nice killings: “We’ve got to stop pussyfooting. Muslims out of this country! Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. We shouldn’t accept Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to our country.”

Pretty hostile language against Muslims coming from an MP that belongs to a party that sits in government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party.

Hakkarainen, who has made a dubious name for himself for his racist outbursts like deporting all homosexuals, lesbians, and Somalis, to the Åland Islands, will be the third PS MP to be sentenced if charges are brought against him for ethnic agitation.

Read the full story here.

Two other PS MPs that were sentenced for ethnic agitation were MEP Jussi Halla-aho and former James Hirvisaari.

Continue reading “PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen may face prosecution for ethnic agitation”

Where should we go after Saturday’s Stop this Game! demonstration?

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Migrant Tales

I really would have wanted to join you in the Stop this Game! demonstration Saturday but I was attending a European Network Against Racism (ENAR) board meeting in Brussels that looked at the very challenges that were raised at yesterday’s event.

It is a very positive matter that there is some sanity left in Finland in the face of post-Brexit Britain, Denmark, Hungary, Poland and the EU, which appears crippled politically to challenge the rise of xenophobia, far right and right-wing populist anti-immigration sentiment across the continent.

Saturday’s demonstration attracted between 15,000 and 20,000 people. Photo by Christian Thibault.

While it is a good matter that government ministers like National Coalition Party (NCP) Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo and Center Party Prime Minister Juha Sipilä took part in Saturday’s demonstrations in Helsinki and Kuopio, respectively, the important thing to remember is that what happened to Jimi Joonas Karttunen isn’t only a Neo-Nazi issue but one expression of the ever-growing racism and bigotry in our society.

Continue reading “Where should we go after Saturday’s Stop this Game! demonstration?”

Finnish Neo-Nazi thugs suspected of assaulting a man in broad daylight

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Migrant Tales

How is it possible that a man is beaten up in broad daylight next to the Helsinki Railway Station next to a gathering of Neo-Nazis? How is it possible that this far-right group, which calls itself Kansallinen vastarintaliike (SVL), allegedly beat up the person, who is sent unconscious to the hospital to die six days later from cerebral hemorrhages?

How is it possible that a group like the SVL posts a video below and boasts about what on that day?

The victim lying on the street unconscious in a video posted by neo-Nazis.

What kind of a message does the death of Jimi Joonas Karttunen send to migrants, minorities and other people who are against SVL’s hateful ideology?

Will Karttunen’s death encourage the usual wishy-washy near-silence of the government and even of the police service towards far-right violence?

Continue reading “Finnish Neo-Nazi thugs suspected of assaulting a man in broad daylight”

Contrary to 2014, it’s a good matter that Pekka ja Pätkä’s n-word movies caused outrage

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Migrant Tales

If there is anything positive to write about the Pekka ja Pätkä movies shown this month that use of blackface characters, the n-word and depict blacks and Amerindians as happy-go-lucky buffoons, it’s the outrage that at least one caused.

In 2014, when YLE aired Pekka ja Pätkä n-word and Ketjukolari, two of the comedians most racist movies, there was no reaction except for the odd social media comment. When I protested the showing of these movies two years ago, YLE didn’t even bother to respond.

When I sent a new email this week to YLE protesting the showing of these movies, I did get a response. It’s the same one that program manager of TV1, Pentti Väliahdet, released to the media.

I wonder if YLE will dare to show these two racist movies again two years from today?

We’ll see but it’s clear that they’ll have to think twice if they do.

Pekka ja Pätkä n-word movie with blackface actors raises questions and outrage in Finland

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Contrary to 2014, when YLE aired Pekka ja Pätkä n-word (1960), the new showing of the movie Wednesday with blackface actors raised quite a storm on social media and was even reported by MTV, tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, and HBL.

Apart from showing a racist movie that insults black people, showing it during a time when anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia is another question that it raises.

Reaction to the movie was so strong on social media that the program manager of TV1, Pentti Väliahdet, released a statement below.

The statement doesn’t do any justice to some of the 31,000-strong African and Afrofinn community in Finland and doesn’t even offer an apology.

YLE appears defiant showing its white privilege and power.

Väliahdet justifies the airing of the movie by stating that one of YLE’s responsibilitiies is to air black-and-white Finnish movies from 1940-60. Older viewers watch these movies, according to him.

Continue reading “Pekka ja Pätkä n-word movie with blackface actors raises questions and outrage in Finland”

YLE airs in September two of the most racist movies by Finnish commedians Pekka ja Pätkä

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Migrant Tales

I read with surprise from Anna Pöysä’s Mafalala blog that YLE will air on Wednesday Pekka ja Pätkä nekereinä (1960), which is a racist movie with blackface actors. That was one big surprise but the biggest one of them all happened on September 6 when Pekka ja Pätkä acted in their most racist movie ever, Ketjukolari (1957).

Ketjukolari was taken down by YouTube apparently because of its racist content. Even if the movie is in Finnish, the stereotypical images of human-eating Africans, which look like characters taken straight from a 1950s racist Tarzan cartoon, leave no doubt about the movie’s content.

Amerindians in the movie are also pictured in a racist and demeaning manner.

Most Finns have learned that the use of the n-word neekeri is racist. Why, then, will YLE air tomorrow a racist movie that uses blackfaces and the n-word in its title?

Are these two movies and example of how YLE serves our ever-growing culturally diverse community?

In June, a parliamentary working group that looked at the future role of the broadcaster decided to do away with the term “multicultural” and replaced it with “cultural diversity.” The phrase that was eliminated was YLE “support[s] tolerance and multiculturalism.”

One matter that the member of that parliamentary working group didn’t appear to understand is that a good synonym for multiculturalism is cultural diversity.

Two of the most racist movies by Finnish comedians Pekka ja Pätkä are aired on YLE.

Continue reading “YLE airs in September two of the most racist movies by Finnish commedians Pekka ja Pätkä”