Tag: Racism

How “safe and reliable” is the Finnish police towards asylum seekers?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

How are asylum seekers treated in Finland by the police? One would hope that it would be in a humane and respectful manner. Migrant Tales has published two stories about asylum seekers being handcuffed and locked up in a police cell for many hours for what we’d consider minor offenses. 

The first case is of an Iraqi asylum seeker who was locked up for 15 hours for complaining about the very late payment of the small 92-euro allowance to those refugees in the reception center.

The second case is of another asylum seeker who protested against being moved to another room.

The third one below, which Migrant Tales had the opportunity to publish the complaint, reinforces the poor treatment some asylum seekers appear to get from the police.

If these cases are true, why isn’t any Finnish newspaper investigating never mind asking the police service if this is true?

A video published by the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) assures asylum seekers that public officials like the police are “safe and reliable.”

Is this true?

All three asylum seekers above are staying at one of Luona’s asylum reception centers.

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Our image of Finland to asylum seekers is too rosy and full of myths that expose ethnocentrism and hypocrisy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

As a sociologist, it’s interesting to note how Finland portrays itself to outsiders. One of these presentations is a three-part Beginners guide to Finland published by the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS).  Just like the populist catchphrase maassa maan tavalla, in Rome do as the Romans do, asylum seekers and migrants are being fed myths about ourselves. 

All of the claims made in the FIS presentation can be contested.

The first claim by FIS is that equality is important. I, for one, hope so but is this true? Are asylum seekers treated with equality and respect?

Another claim that FIS makes is that public officials like the police are “safe and reliable.”

The problem with that statement, which shows a medic and lawyer as well, is that asylum seekers have limited access to such public services. An asylum seeker can see a medic only in acute circumstances and lawyers only give limited advice.

We are hearing near-constantly troubling stories not only about the mistreatment of asylum seekers inside and outside reception centers but how easily the police locks them up in cells for many hours without telling them why never mind explaining their rights.

One of these cases was of an Iraqi who was locked up for 15 hours in a police cell for apparently protesting the very late payment of his monthly 92-euro allowance.

 

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The Finnish Immigration Service published for asylum seekers a beginner’s guide to Finland. See the whole guide here.

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Asylum seekers have exposed Europe’s schizophrenia and bigotry

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Nothing could depict better Europe’s schizophrenia and hypocrisy concerning asylum seekers than what happened recently in eastern Germany, where a building that was going to house them was ablaze and cheered by some onlookers, according to the BBC.

Writes the BBC:

The fire in the town of Bautzen [eastern Germany] in the early hours of Sunday morning destroyed the roof of a former hotel, which was being converted into a migrant shelter. Police said some of the crowd tried to prevent firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, which destroyed the roof.

Stanislaw Tillich, the premier of Saxony, described those that impeded firefighters and the police from doing their work as “criminals.”

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If that wasn’t enough to make you wonder, in Clasnitz we saw a frightened refugee boy crying as the passengers in the bus are jeered by neo-nazis.

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Racism Review: Debunking white supremacy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Tim McGettigan*

(image source)

The United States has always been a white supremacy that masquerades as a democracy. For white racists those are fighting words. How dare anyone cast aspersions on the motives of America’s founding fathers? For shame.

Describing the US as a white supremacy isn’t an ad hominem attack. It is simply a statement of fact. The only people in the room when the founders mapped out the contours of American democracy were greedy white guys. Is it any wonder that the only people who have enjoyed unrestricted access to American democracy throughout its history are greedy white guys?

(image source)

Women and people of color have always been on the outside looking in. The costs of being an outsider have been astronomical. America’s greedy white guys paved the way for continent-wide genocide and property theft — and every other person of color as persona non grata. Should anyone dispute America’s favoritism for white guys, I refer you to the Naturalization Act of 1790.

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Luona claims that it has zero tolerance for racism but can you teach a racist dog new tricks?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

General manager Milja Saksi of Luona, a private company that operates eight asylum reception centers in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Hyvinkää, claims to have taken necessary steps to address the racist treatment of  its asylum seekers, according to YLE.  

“We don’t permit racist or inappropriate behavior [from our staff] towards asylum seekers,” said Saksi. “We have made personnel changes if people aren’t suitable to work at our reception centers.”

Certainly the million-euro unconfirmed question is what has Luona done to turn in a new leaf?

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Read full story here.

Member of the Louna board, National Coalition Party MP Sanna Lauslahti, gives us the same assurances as Saksi, who assures us that the company has “zero tolerance for racism.”

“Ethical standards are very important for our board, for example, we don’t budge an inch on human rights” she was quoted as saying in Iltalehti. ”

Luona, which houses 3,000 asylum seekers, has been under media scrutiny in February for the humiliating and racist treatment of its asylum seekers.

The abusive treatment that some asylum seekers endure at Luona’s reception centers is so abusive that some claim the first word they learned in Finnish is vittu , or f**k.

The cuss word vittu is commonly used by employees and security guards at Luona when addressing asylum seekers. They are addressed as vittu pakolaisia, or f**king refugees.

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Never underestimate – even in Finland – the power of the word and fearless investigative journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The power of the word and fearless investigative journalism does pay off even in countries like Finland. Today YLE published a big story about the abuses and poor treatment that asylum seekers get at the reception centers run by Luona, a private company.

Many of the claims made in the story below were published by Migrant Tales last month and got wide attention.

Some of the ordeals that asylum seekers face at some reception center in Finland, and particularly in those run by Luona, are unqualified staff, profit-hungry owners, racism, poor food, crowded quarters, insufficient medical treatment, among others.

Why aren’t other newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat interested in the plight of asylum seekers?

Even if the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) said it will start to put under greater scrutiny how asylum centers are run in Finland, the question is why hasn’t it done this before?

Part of the answer to that question is a semi-dormant media, politicians and public that is more interested in finding ways to deport these people than to treat them with dignity while they are in Finland.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Recent stories by Migrant Tales on Luona:

Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu” (14.2)

How the Finnish Immigration Service’s fast-track scheme will deport thousands of asylum seekers from Finland in 2006 (13.2)

Why are so many Iraqi asylum seekers abandoning Finland? (13.2)

Does Luona treat asylum seekers with dignity or as livestock? (29.1)

BOX STORY: Mohammed Saleh Muhsin (29.1)

Was the death of an Afghani asylum seeker due to negligence? (28.1)

Does Finland treat asylum seekers with dignity or as livestock? (22.1)

 

 

Iraqi asylum seeker: The first Finnish word I learned was “vittu”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s a Sunday and we’re at a fast-food Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of Helsinki. I have an appointment with a twenty-six-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in September via Tornio and who is staying at one of Luona’s asylum reception centers. Like many who have the misfortune of staying at a reception center run by Luona, he too isn’t happy about the poor and humiliating treatment he’s getting.

Apart from traumas left by the violence in his country and the long journey to Finland, which hinges on a residence permit, the treatment he gets at Luona’s reception center only exacerbates his ordeal.

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“I made a big mistake coming to Finland and I’m disappointed and feel mentally sick by the situation,” said the Iraqi asylum seeker. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

Mostafa* speaks:

“We are treated in a racist manner and like animals by Luona. In the first reception center I stayed at (managed by Luona) we were 10-12 asylum seekers in each room. We slept on the floor. People were forced to wear dirty clothes because there was only one washing machine for the whole center. The food that is served is horrible. It isn’t eatable and we don’t trust it. Even if the employees ensure us there’s no pork we can’t trust what they say. [Luona has accidentally served pork twice to asylum seekers].

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How the Finnish Immigration Service’s fast-track scheme will deport thousands of asylum seekers from Finland in 2016

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What would a country like Finland, which prefers to be an island in Europe and where too many still see cultural diversity with suspicion, do if a record number of asylum seekers from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia came here in 2015?

Add to that question a government that has a party that is openly hostile to cultural diversity and asylum seekers and two right-wing mainstream parties that need the latter’s support to downsize the welfare state, and a clear picture emerges.BashyQ-5

Asylum seekers are not only victims of the violence in their home countries but the hostility and poor treatment they have face in Finland. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

In other words, this is what probably happened in the fall behind government closed doors. The anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* turned to their partners in government, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), and asked them for help after their popularity plummeted in the polls.

“Our standings in the polls have gone into a tailspin ever since we joined the government,” a PS minister like Timo Soini would probably say with Juha Sipilä or Alexander Stubb interjecting: “Let’s make a deal. We’ll help you regain your popularity in the polls by supporting your plans to tighten immigration policy and you support our plans to downsize the welfare state.”

It’s a simple and clear-cut deal between the ruling partners.  You scratch my back and we’ll scratch yours.

The Center Party and NCP allow the PS to have a free hand at promoting its xenophobic policies in government and in return the PS supports the Center Party’s and NCP’s plans to downsize the welfare state.

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The face of fascism in Finland: Before and after

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is a fascinating book published by Olli Silvennoinen, Marko Tikka and Aapo Romelius titled Suomalaiset fasistit (Finnish fascists).  One of the authors, Silvennoinen, states in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that the same arguments used in the 1920s to feed fascism are used today. 

The argument is a simple one: Before, in the 1920s, the threat was communism. Today that threat is migration and Islam, according to Silvennoinen.

If there is a party that has given a political forum to fascism in Finland that party is without any doubt the Perussuomalasiet (PS)* with politicians like MEP Jussi Halla-aho, Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö, MPs Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, Laura Huhtasaari and others.

Just like fascism in the 1920s and 1930s was a violent and hostile force, the PS’ anti-immigration and Islamophobic rhetoric have the ability to match the violence and hostility we saw in the 1920s by fascist groups like the Lapua Movement.

Before…

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Source: Helsingin Sanomat.

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Scaremongering by the PS of Finland is always at full swing

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* defense minister, Jussi Niinistö, believes that up to one million “illegal” immigrants could come to Finland from Russia, according to YLE News. Niinistö, a historian who has played down the role of fascist associations like the Lapua Movement (1929-32), fearmongers to shore up support for his ailing party. 

Moreover, it’s interesting to note that Niinistö calls asylum seekers “illegal” immigrants. He doesn’t call them asylum seekers never mind undocumented migrants but “illegal” immigrants.

The use of such labels is nothing strange coming from Niinistö, who said recently that that integrating all Muslims into Finnish society is a difficult challenge.

“In practice the potential is limitless,” he was quoted as saying in YLE News. “From hundreds of thousands to a million people, who are ready to move out of Russia. In that sense the situation is worrying. Not just for Finland but for other European countries.”

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Read full story here.

Can we believe Niinistö scaremongering in light of his far-right credentials and populist party’s nosedive in the polls?

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