Tag: Racism

Riikka Purra’s dilemma: “Am I Riikka or ‘riikka?'”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The far-right terrorism and riots in the UK are raising a lot of questions about how the government would react in a similar situation. Some, likePerussuomalaiset (PS)* Finance Minister Riikka Purra, expose schizophrenic behavior. Sometimes she is the heartless finance minister slashing the budget and bringing misery to the most vulnerable segments of the population, and other times she goes in her racist rants.

“riikka” Tweets: “…the development of double standards, the collapse of borders, mass immigration, migrant crime and the over-representation of specific groups of migrants in virtually everything negative.”

“On top of it, the white population pays for the whole self-destructive joke with their taxes.”

To top it off, riikka wants us to read a racist piece published in the PS party’s Suomen Uutiset by one of its MPs.

Continue reading “Riikka Purra’s dilemma: “Am I Riikka or ‘riikka?’””

Karolina Budzisz: Tales of our own

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Throughout the years, Migrant Tales has received a lot of recognition. The latest one is from Karolina Budzisz, who wrote her thesis on anti-racism voices in Finland. During the past seventeen years, we have kept true to our goal: It aims to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians, and the public. Migrant Tales has published 5,293 posts from over three hundred contributors to date. We stopped taking comments a few years ago, but there are 32,172 of them. We are proudly one of the anti-racism voices in Finland fighting against social ills like the Perussuomalaiset, racism, and discrimination.

Recognition of our work is the greatest reward we can get.

Abstract

Immigration remains among the most salient topics in the socio-political debate in a dynamically transforming Europe, which is reflected in the scholarly interest in the theme. However, as this thesis argues, the attention paid to anti-immigration and pro-immigration poles of the debate is not equal and the agency of immigrants in providing knowledge on the issue pertaining to them directly is relatively neglected in academia.

Read the full thesis here.

“Tales of Our Own” strives to explore the characteristics of pro-immigration and immigrant-made discourses and investigate their relationships with the dominant hostile narratives around immigration emerging in the context of the current populist upsurge. The thesis conceptualizes populism as an antagonizing mode of articulation that provides a stylistic framework for arguments inciting the process of othering. Immigrants in these circumstances constitute perfect ‘Others’, excluded through many novel narratives guising straightforward xenophobia under the mask of neoliberal values. Exploring an underdeveloped discursive frontier with regard for its authorship contributes to the study of the immigrant response and substantial argumentation in the debate. Moreover, it follows the objective of reclaiming immigration as it recuperates the voices of the very actors of it – those ‘on the move’.

Continue reading “Karolina Budzisz: Tales of our own”

Human Rights in Finland should be our struggle’s clarion call

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

Nelson Mandela

The passage on Friday of the pushback law with the support of the Social Democrats, demonstrates that we have entered uncharted waters. We should not be naive to think that the shelving of human rights, undermining our constitution, and turning our backs on international agreements will be a one-off matter.

Even if Human Rights form part of our Constitution, one may ask why so little regard for such rights. One reason is that Finland saw Human Rights as subversive during the Cold War since it undermined relations with the former Soviet Union.

In Argentina, my country of birth, we used human rights as an ever-growing rallying cry against one of the most sanguinary military regimes in our history. The matter was sounded by groups like the Mother of Plaza de Mayo whose loved ones had disappeared.

At first, they were called the “Crazy” Mothers of Plaza de Mayo because no one dared to stand up against the military régime.

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo still demonstrate on Thursdays at the Plaza de Mayo right in front of the presidential palace. Their first march took place in April 1977, the month I started my conscription in the army. The Mother of Plaza de Mayo was one factor why the military regime could not murder with impunity. People like me are eternally grateful for their bravery and example.

The fact that Human Rights took a big blow in Finland thanks to the pushback law, it’s clear that we cannot rely on the government or the Social Democrats to defend these rights. We therefore need a social movement that raises awareness of Human Rights.

In Argentina, Human Rights violations were one factor that brought the military regime down. We must do the same to vote out this terrible government that wipes its rear end with Human Rights.

Some may ask why do I make such a fuss about Human Rights.

The answer is simple: I lived in a country where Human Rights were shelved that was followed by Illegal detentions, torture, and death.

MEP Henna Virkkunen: A future EU commissioner of Finland who would care less for the fate of those crossing into the EU

Posted on by Migrant Tales

National Coalition Party MEP Henna Virkkunen is hoping to become an EU commissioner. However, there is a question: Is a person qualified if he or she would care less or very little if people die when coming to Europe?

In the 2019 MEP election, she responded in the Alma Meter election compass in the affirmative to the question 13*: “The EU must save all those migrants who are at risk of drowning attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.”

Virkkunen “disagreed” that the EU must save those migrants crossing the Mediterranean from drowning.

In the 2024 election compass, Virkkunen still showed little regard for people crossing into the EU. Question 11 of Yle’s election compass asked a yes or no answer: “A person trying to reach Europe can be turned back at the border, even if it would put their life in danger.”

Virkkunen responded in the affirmative, yes, it was ok to push back the person even if his or her life were in danger.

Her response and possible naming as EU commissioner shows how low we have stooped in Europe.

Continue reading “MEP Henna Virkkunen: A future EU commissioner of Finland who would care less for the fate of those crossing into the EU”

Riikka Purra and the PS are desperate for “news”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has published many stories exposing how parties like the Perussuomlaiset (PS)* use migrant crime to attract support and votes. Finance Minister and PS Chairperson Riikka Purra jumped the gun Thursday by blaming a terrible stabbing in Oulu on “youth gangs.”

“Youth gangs” is code for black and brown youths.

Masters at making storms in tea cups, especially when it involves migrants and asylum seekers, Purra wishes in the first tweet a speedy recovery to the victim. In the second tweet, where she is forced to eat her words, Purra does not even wish a recovery apparently because the victim is a so-called “person with a migrant background.”

On Thursday, Purra tweeted (formerly Twitter):

“In broad daylight, in the middle of a shopping center, a young man is stabbed. I hope the victim survives. With street crime, gangs, etc., we are unfortunately following the same trend as in other [European] countries. The government is working, but it’s horrible, what have we arrived to in this country!”

On Friday, Purra was forced to eat her words.

Note that in the first tweet she blames “youth gangs” at the top but mentioned the suspect’s far-right ties at the end of the second tweet.

“Extremism, drugs, robberies, gangs – the problems are growing. We must take the deterioration in security seriously, increase penalties, and stop shying away from all kinds of violence. The victim in Oulu is 12 years old, the perpetrator has a background in the far-right movement, according to the police.”

These two tweets demonstrate how desperate the PS is after its stinging election defeat on Sunday.

Anachoma: A documentary on pushbacks will be shown in Mikkeli, Finland on 27 June

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I wonder what is going to happen to the shameful pushback law? There are more humane ways to deal with asylum seekers. You don’t have to trash human rights and the rule of law to make your hostile point.

Mitenköhän käy häpeällisen rajalain kanssa? On inhimillisempiäkin tapoja käsitellä turvapaikanhakijoita. Ei tarvitse heittää roskiin ihmisoikeuksia ja oikeusvaltiota saadakseen aikaan vihamielistä pointtia.

COME AND JOIN US ON 27.6 at ROUHILANKATU 37, MIKKELI 17-21 FOR AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION.

Tule mukaan 27.6. klo ROUHILANKATU 37, MIKKELI 17-21 mielenkiintoiseen keskusteluun.

Left Alliance MEP candidate Paco Diop strives to be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales does not usually publish candidates, but we do make exceptions. MEP candidate Paco Diop of the Left Alliance is that exception.

Diop, who hails from Turku and is a preschool teacher, states on YLE’s election compass three core values as an MEP candidate: “Human rights, respect for nature, and animal rights.” The rise of the far right in the upcoming European Election is his greatest source of concern, which threatens social cohesion, diversity, and inclusion, according to him.

Diop’s political awakening happened after the tragic death of his daughter. “I joined the Left Alliance in 2019 and it turned out to be the perfect home for me.”

Diop, who admires social fighters like Malcolm X, said that his aim as a politician is to be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed. “This is my lifetime goal,” he added.

Left Alliance MEP candidate Pacp Diop.

Diop, who has lived in Finland for 18 years, considers his second homeland a country full of contradictions.

“On the one hand we are supposed to be the happiest country in the world and then there are studies that show us to be the most racist country in Europe,” he said. “We have to ask for whom Finland is the happiest country.”

According to him, one of the biggest challenges of Finland’s growing culturally and ethnically diverse communities is for us to be aware of the toxicity of white supremacy and how it turns people of color, black people, and minorities like the Roma into victims. He said that society must take steps to challenge and address Finland’s racism problem.

Continue reading “Left Alliance MEP candidate Paco Diop strives to be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed”

Will refugees at the Finnish-Russian border suffer the same fate as those on Greece’s Evros River and other EU borders?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“…the job of the politician is to guarantee the safety of its own citizens and to guard its borders, and that’s what Finns expect.”

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari, A-studio (3.6.2024)

The answer given by PS MP Huhtasaari to justify pushbacks and deaths is a raw example of the inhumanity used during Nazi Germany to justify the wholesale slaughter of Jews, minorities and other enemies of the régime.

The question answered by Huhtasaari is on the Yle election compass and a poll, which asks: “A person trying to reach Europe can be turned back at the external border, even if it would put their lives in danger.”

What else can we expect from politicians who justify the deaths of people after pushbacks? What kind of treacherous slippery slope are we on in Finland?

The above MEP candidates in the 2019 MEP election didn’t mind if people drowned in the Mediterranean. All of them, except Eija-Riitta Korhola, have moderated their radical stances. Henna Virkkunen, Sebastian Tykkynen, Mauri Peltokangas, and Pirkko Ruoho-Lerner would care less for a person’s safety and life if he or she were a victim of pushbacks at the border. Source: Yle   

If we want and to shed light on what may happen at the Finnis-Russian border, we can look at the inhumane treatment suffered by asylum seekers in other EU borders.

Of these, there is the Greek-Turkish Evros River border, where pushbacks and human rights violations are the order of the day. Migrant Tales was a small part of this important documentary.

Pushback Law

The Finnish government introduced last month a new Draft Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, or the so-called pushback law Researcher Milka Sormunen called it in her essay “legalizing illegality.”

One of the questions not addressed by the media, never mind politicians, is what will spare the Finnish-Russian border from becoming another shameful EU example of violent pushbacks and Human Rights violations?

Continue reading “Will refugees at the Finnish-Russian border suffer the same fate as those on Greece’s Evros River and other EU borders?”

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, the facilitator of Finland’s hard right who concocts political mirages and lies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that has amazed me about National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is his alternative truth about non-existent the threat of the hard right in Finland. Despite the racism and far right scandals that have eaten away at his government’s credibility, Orpo actually believes that parties will change if you go to bed with them.

“In my opinion, [the Perussuomalaiset PS*] are not a far-right party anymore,” Orpo was quoted as saying in March in Politico.

That statement was made after he repeatedly said that there are no far-right parties in government.

Prime Minister Petter Orpo revealing his true colors. Source: Facebook

Source: Politico

When the issue of far-right parties in government was brought up at a session of parliament by Green MP Maria Ohisalo, Orpo was evidently irritated by the question.

“There is no hard right or extreme right in Finland,” he snapped. “Those are pretty strong accusations If you give the impression that some people are Putinists or pro-Russian, or that some party in Finland is destroying the rule of law! I hope this is not about campaigning in the European elections.”

Continue reading “Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, the facilitator of Finland’s hard right who concocts political mirages and lies”

EU election – Perussuomalaiset Mari Rntanen article inciting ethnic hatred in 1930s fascist progaganda

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen and her far-right follower of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* like to copy and paste. Apart from inciting memories of the 1930s, when fascism and anti-Semitism were the order of the day, the PS continues to spread its Islamophobia and fascism.

The analogy that the PS makes in their EU election brochure should be condemned for being disgusting, racist, and inciting hatred.

An official complaint would be in place that the picture incites ethnic agitation.

How similar are the two pictures? The one on the left could not be found online. Nigel Farage scaring people before the Brexit vote. Source: Independent