Tag: Racism

Case Downtown Helsinki: How the police ethnically profile people

Posted on by Migrant Tales

During the weekend, the police service together with the Finnish Border Guard wilfully targetted foreigners for spot identity checks in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa. Migrant Tales heard of a case in Kamppi where four young men were walking. The police allegedly stopped two young Finns, one who was black- and brown-skinned. 

The police did not stop their two friends, who were white Finns.

Both the black and brown-skinned young men showed their passports and told the police they are Finns. One at the officers turned his attention to the brown-skinned man and suggested that the passport didn’t make him a Finn.

 

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Read full story here.

“What’s your mother tongue?” the police asked.

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Terhi Kiemunki and the PS of Finland are laughing all the way to the bank

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politician Terhi Kiemunki not only is an example of the illness of racism that inflicts Finland but that of a party and a society that offers fertile ground for bigotry towards and social inequality of migrants and minorities.

Setting aside her racist and Islamophobic views, it’s the PS’ reaction and the passivity and silence of other political parties to Kiemunki that is especially worrying.

Racism and bigotry have become so public and “normal” in Finland lately that we can find excuses to justify such anti-social behavior. We can soften the blows of such a social ill by placing white gloves to cover enraged fists.

The whole debate in the media, and the silence and empty promises of the PS’ partners in government and the opposition, show the extent of the problem.

Kiemunki and the PS are laughing out loud all the way to the bank. They are cashing in on political points for the municipal and parliamentary elections of 2017 and 2019, respectively. As they do this they rub salt on our collective amnesia.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

While I’d be the last person in Finland to be invited to a closed-door meeting with the PS and Kiemunki, who is pleading not to be sacked from the anti-immigration party, her argument would be a simple one.

“Haven’t I given the party positive publicity by affirming to our voters that we hate Muslims?”

Silence and nods of approval would follow.

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Finnish PS speaker of parliament blames migrants for high unemployment

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Anti-immigration party Perussuomalaiset (PS)* speaker of parliament, Maria Lohela, states in an interview in Helsingin Sanomat that the jobless rate among some migrant groups is many times higher than the national average. True. But the question the reporter should ask Lohela is “why” and “what she’s doing to change the situation” instead of parroting her views. 

The claim that there is no work for migrants is a way for parties like the PS to continue to spread their bigotry and suspicion of migrants. It’s an excuse by Lohela to do nothing and a hostile narrative that Helsingin Sanomat likes to rubber-stamp it.

Possibly one reason some of us don’t care too much to ask “why” or “how to resolve high unemployment” is because we’re not interested, or, at least, Lohela and the PS aren’t.

The whole idea that a person is to blame for being unemployed is a socially conservative notion. Doesn’t society play a role? What kinds of obstacles do prejudice and discrimination play?

A shadow report on Afrophobia in Europe by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) made the following recommendations on how to tackle high unemployment among migrants in Finland:

  • Establish an equality body responsible for dealing with discrimination cases within employment.
  • A plan needs to be developed and implemented to increase the ethnic diversity of the workforce in the public sector in particular within the non-discrimination Ombudsman’s office and the police service.
  • Government agencies and NGOs must improve their monitoring of discrimination in all areas and especially in employment.

It is incredible, to say the least that not one non-white Finn works for the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman’s office never mind the tiny number of those for the police service.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Another factor that helps keep high unemployment rates among migrants and minorities is people like Lohela. Her anti-immigration and Islamophobic narrative encourage instead of challenge high unemployment rates.

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We are all responsible in Finland for feeding the ogre of racism and hate speech

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Those groups that are responsible for the rise of populism, racism and hate speech in Finland aren’t those that promote it but by those who stand by with their silence. They are the ones Martin Luther King Jr referred to as “the good people,” or “the silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people.” 

Not only is the silence of the so-called good people a factor but their expectation and hope that racism and hate speech can be kept on short leashes.

Parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who openly promote racism and want to make permanently migrants and minorities second- and third-class citizens, could never become such big parties without the tacit support of the “good people.”

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Scores of asylum reception centers were targets of arson attacks. While we don’t know the motives of Saturday’s arson attack against a church in Ylivieska, mixed statements, silence and indifference have played a role in promoting such acts. Source: Ilta-Sanomat.

Violence and hostility towards people who aren’t white Finns have become more public in recent years. The so-called “good people” have let out this monster from the cage in the form of vigilante street gangs, fear-mongering and by encouraging, directly and indirectly, racism and hate speech.

Some “good people” I could mention are the Finnish police service, President Sauli Niinistö’s disingenuous and mixed statements about our ever-growing cultural diversity, and politicians who make careers by being racist and promoting hate speech. Others include the national media interested in its power and ethnic narrative, and an education system that still doesn’t promote enough cultural diversity at schools to reflect better the diversity of Finland in the 21st century.

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A formal complaint by five asylum seeker at Luona’s reception center sheds light on alleged “gross abuses”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Abuses at the asylum reception centers run by Luona have come to light from the occupants who consider their alleged treatment by the staff of the private company as “gross abuses” and a breach of their “human dignity” and “rights.” 

The disturbing revelations in the complaint below show that Finland and especially Luona has failed these people miserably. The fact that we have an anti-immigration party in government and two other ones that turn a blind eye to such abuses and rising xenophobia in Finland is shameful.

Let’s hope that the Finnish Immigration Service and others resolve these injustices.

The complaint below is dated February 14, 2016:

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(The names of the asylum seekers have been omitted).

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More problems and issues at the Villa Meri asylum reception center of Rauma, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales reported Tuesday about problems at the Villa Meri asylum reception center in Rauma. We have now got a hold of the complaint made by the asylum seeker on hunger strike to the parliamentary ombudsman. 

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Read full story here.

One of the many complaints that the asylum seekers have at Villa Meri is that the milk and bread served at the reception center have past their sell-by date.

 

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Our response to racism, bigotry and hate speech in Finland should be first and foremost a reaction

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We’ve been overwhelmed as of late by Valtteri Saarinen’s story about how is harassed in a racist manner at school for such a long time that he doesn’t care to react any longer. There was as well Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairperson for Tampere, Terhi Kiemunki, who wrote on Facebook that it was unfortunate that she didn’t have any condoms to give Muslim children trick-or-treating. 

Shame on the teachers at Valtteri’s school! How could they not notice what’s been going on right under their noses?

While it is a positive matter that the boy’s story got noticed by President Sauli Niinistö, is it disingenuous of him to state that he “was shocked” by it?

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Valtteri Saarinen told us something we know about racism but which we deny as a society. See the interview here.

Racism has been present in Finnish society for a long time. It’s denial, and how we play down this social ill, enables it to grow and see another day. I disagree with President Niinistö. We should “be shocked” by our denial of racism in this country.

In light of the mixed statements he has given in the past about racism, I disagree with what President Niinistö’s said. We should “be shocked” by our denial of racism in this country.

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An asylum seeker at Villa Meri reception center is on hunger strike protesting poor treatment by the staff

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One refugee at the Villa Meri asylum reception center in the western city of Rauma is on hunger strike denouncing the poor treatment by the staff. Hoivapalvelu Metsätähti, a subsidiary owned by Helsinki-based Mehiläinen, a private health care company, operates the reception center

Luona, another private company that runs eight reception centers in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Hyvinkää, has been under media scrutiny for the poor treatment of its occupants. The case has raised questions about the role of such companies in the asylum reception “business.”

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The Villa Meri asylum reception center is located in Rauma, located 94km north of Turku. Source: Google.

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A brave boy that reminds us in Finland to not take our eye off the racist ball

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After Valtteri Saarinen went on Finnish national television Monday and said that racist harassment at school was something “normal” even President Sauli Niinstö was shocked. Valtteri said that he’s been named the “n-word,” and called “feces” and “a feces-colored” person for such a long time that he doesn’t react to such racism any longer. 

President Niinistö, who has given mixed statements about racism and asylum seekers in Finland, tweeted:

This type of injustice shouldn’t happen in Finland.

Sometimes you’re shocked first thing in the morning. That’s what happened today when an 11-year-old boy told about his experiences on television. He’s discriminated and called names because of his skin color. Even bus drivers don’t pick him up. This type of injustice cannot happen in Finland. Valtteri gave a brave example to the [European] Week Against Racism.

Even if it’s a good matter that President Nninstö speaks out against racism in Finnish society, I am, however, a bit surprised that he’s surprised by what happened.

Racism in Finland is played down and some of the culprits for this are politicians and the media.

Finland does need to do much more to challenge racism and hate speech.

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See full video clip here. One of the surprising matters about what the boy said was the TV commentator, who didn’t call Valtteri Saarinen a Finn but stated that “migrants and adopted children” face racism. Finns face racism too!

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