Racism Archives - Page 91 of 208

When racism in Finland becomes “normal”

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: As the politicians and media in Finland turn their backs on the ever-increasing racism in this country, there are a few brave people who don’t remain silent. A brave young woman in Lahti preferred not to remain silent at a bar as two black men were being harassed at a bar in a racist manner Saturday.

If we reflect on what happened, one question rises above the rest: What kind of a country are we living in if a total stranger can insult and harass two black men in public in a racist manner? Is it a country that is living deep in denial and where racism has become so widespread that people can react in such a manner because it is the most normal thing?

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“I went to a bar in Lahti on Saturday and just as I was leaving a Finnish who was accompined by two others started insulting two black men. He told them to leave Finland because noboy had asked them to come here.

The argument got more tempered and that’s when I decided to act and went in between them. I asked the Finnish man why he was yelling at the black men.

Lahti advertises on its web site that it is “an ideal place for businesses.”

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The Finnish man then told me ‘go fuck myself!’

He then continued: ‘Have you lived in some cave?! Don’t you read the news?! Don’t you know that these people come here to rape our women and children?!’

The Finnish man said he had a two-month-old baby and said he was worried she might be raped by the men. He also blamed them for paying more taxes so they could get social welfare.

‘I hope that your future child gets raped by them,’ he told me.

Then my friends came to my side and a fight erupted between them and the three Finnish men. Out of nowhere a total stranger came and punched one of my firends in the jaw.

The police came but the person that punched my friend got away.

I cried a lot that night. I couldn’t believe that people were so cruel.”

President Sauli Niinistö claims that asylum seekers threaten Finland and Europe

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Speaking to MPs at the opening of parliament’s spring term, President Sauli Niinistö didn’t surprise a lot of people by stating that the amount of asylum seekers coming to Europe are putting under threat our values, reports YLE News. He even went as far as to suggest that if the Geneva Conventions were written today they’d be stricter.

If the government, politicians and President Niinistö have been blamed in the past for giving mixed statements about asylum seekers and immigrants, the latest speech by Finland’s head of state left nobody guessing.

“Migration is a serious problem,” he said. “Europe, Finland, the western way of thinking and our values have all been challenged by it. This is a stark transformation; just a few years ago we were exporting our values and regarded them as unquestionable, now we are having to consider whether even we ourselves can preserve them.”

Read full story here.

President Niinistö not only revealed his anti-immigration views clearer than ever before but the source of Finland’s xenophobia: Migration should be seen as a threat and not as an asset.

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Nobody in Finland seems too concerned about the ever-xenophobic and hostile climate against asylum seekers, migrants and minorities

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä of Finland when he announced in September that he would offer his home to asylum seekers but has now put on hold such plans due to security reasons, reports the BBC. What is surprising is that nobody seems to care too much why it’s no longer safe to house asylum seekers in the prime minister’s home in Kempele.

What this news reveals, and the reaction of the Finnish media to it is that xenophobia and anti-immigration nationalism aren’t considered threats.

Disagree?

Why doesn’t any editorial in Finland ask if the mixed statements by the police and the government concerning vigilante street gangs in Finland weren’t due to poorly planned statements but that there are bigots in the police and government who see immigration and immigrants as a threat.

Read full story here.

Continue reading “Nobody in Finland seems too concerned about the ever-xenophobic and hostile climate against asylum seekers, migrants and minorities”

Call the Loldiers of Odin if you see anti-immigrant vigilantes patrolling the street!

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Thanks to the mixed statements by the police, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government and President Sauli Niinistö concerning asylum seekers, we have today as well vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin and neo-Nazi Kansalinen Vastarinta patrolling our streets. Many of the members of these vigilante groups have criminal and far-right backgrounds.

The hesitancy of the police, the government and the president to condemn what is and what isn’t racist and far-right behavior is at the heart of the problem. Their mixed statements have not only fed xenophobia and far-right groups in this country but are tarnishing our international image.

Aren’t we supposed to be a beacon of hope to those fleeing war and poverty? Aren’t we supposed to have one of the best educational systems in the world? Haven’t we built a successful Nordic welfare society based on social equality? Why are we then acting like a bunch of scared people who have never seen foreigners before?

My experience, and I’m certain that of many others like me, with the police has eroded trust in this public service. One only has to read a few lines of former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* councilman Olli Sademies’ Facebook page or hear MP Tom Packalén’s bigoted views about migrants and minorities understand that there is a deep suspicion of anything that isn’t white and Finnish.

Does the police treat me fairly or is my background a factor? Honestly, I don’t know. The police have done little to ensure me of the contrary.

How many black policemen are there in Finland?

Probably one.

Continue reading “Call the Loldiers of Odin if you see anti-immigrant vigilantes patrolling the street!”

Finland’s wishful thinking of populism and racism

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Compared with four or six years ago, the level of xenophobia and anti-immigration sentiment has reached fever pitch in Finland. There is so much news and labeling against asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse community that it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with all that’s being written.

Moreover, perceptions like rising crime and rape cases caused by asylum seekers are being constantly reinforced by one party in the government – the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* – with the blessings of the two other partners, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

Like the Center Party and NCP, the police drags as well its feet and plays down the rise of racism and the threat of far-right groups in Finland with their silence and tacit ideological support of anti-immigration groups.

Looking at Finland today and its eroding international image due to xenophobia the government and institutions like the police service have fueled the growth of racism and far-right groups in Finland with their silence and mixed statements.

Read full story here.

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Migrants and minorities of the Nordic region: It’s time to organize and face the rude music

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Europe is in a moral quandary these days. It’s ironic that the more it attempts to instill a sense of security by building ever-higher outside boundaries and treat those who flee war, strife and poverty with disdain, the more it feeds our sense of insecurity.

Denmark’s plans to confiscate asylum seekers’ valuables and delay for three years family reunification is one shameful example of how some countries in Europe are destroying their values in return for a false sense of security. For Norway, one of the most affluent countries in the world, to return asylum seekers to Russia is another example of the moral demise we are suffering today.

In Finland too the police and the government are unable to agree if neo-Nazi street patrol gangs or clowns that mock at them a threat to our society and values.

What do Denmark, Norway and Finland have in common? They are all Nordic countries and have populist anti-immigration parties in government. In Norway, we have the Progress Party (FrP), in Finland the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, and the Danish People’s Party (DPP).

But blaming these three anti-immigration parties for the rise of xenophobia in the Nordic region would be missing the point. All three parties are in government and have got more power in their respective countries thanks to the support and near-silence of the mainstream parties.

Without the help and support of these mainstream parties the FrP, PS and DPP would never have grown to have so much power.

The Finnish police arresting clowns who mock neo-Nazi street patrols.

Continue reading “Migrants and minorities of the Nordic region: It’s time to organize and face the rude music”

Swimming hall in Finland bans all asylum seekers until the end of January

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Migrant Tales

A good example of how some Finns label Others and how the media fuels the “us” and “them” mentality is when a teenage asylum seeker on Thursday was caught watching naked women taking showers at a local swimming hall in the Finnish town of Haukipudas, located 640km north of Helsinki.

Apart from the incident being reported in Oulu-based daily Kaleva, it has received national attention in tabloids such as Iltalehti.

When the teenager was caught the swimming pool officials forced all of the asylum seekers to leave the premises and banned them from entering the hall for the whole month of January.

While it is a good matter that the non-discrimination ombudsman came out publically stating that barring all asylum seekers could be – and is – against the law, what is surprising is the reaction of the swimming hall officials.

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Roble Bashir: Why does the Perussuomalaiset party of Finland back vigilante gangs?

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

What’s in it for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party when they back these notorious vigilante gangs? The whole concept of vigilante gangs emerged due to fear of immigrants by some Finns. These gangs have spread instead fear among immigrants.

Some of my Somali and African friends asked me how is this possible that there are now vigilante gangs in Finland.

It may be a politicized issue but when we see how some ministers came out with wishy-washy statements about the whole affair some of us started to worry.

What’s in it for the PS and why do they support this notorious idea? Is it because they need desperately an issue to raise their poll standings, which have plummeted recently?

These vigilante gangs are the stuff of lawless states and weak governments that exist in insecure and violent countries but not of modern and peaceful ones like Finland.

The PS is the only party that mostly support anti-immigrant issues. In the last elections, the PS promised their followers that they will run a tight ship when it comes to immigration. Even so, refugees have flooded Finland during their watch in government.

Continue reading “Roble Bashir: Why does the Perussuomalaiset party of Finland back vigilante gangs?”

Finland must get off its whining horse and seek proactive solutions to the asylum seeker situation

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Like many anti-immigration politicians, even former National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero believes that there is some magic number that we shouldn’t cross concerning the number of asylum seekers that arrive to our country. In 2015, a record 32,000 asylum seekers came to Finland. How many arrive this year is an open question.

“I don’t believe that Finland could take in as many [asylum seekers] as last year,” Paatero was quoted as saying in Uusi Suomi. “I’m worried if this year 30,000 asylum seekers [arrive in Finland] and [even if] half of them get residence permits.”

Everyone will agree that Finland is a more affluent and developed country today than it was in 1944 when some 420,000 Karelian refugees were resettled after the war in Finland. Why didn’t such a large number of refugees destroy Finland back then?

The answer to the question is simple: If there is a will there is a way. Today there is no will for asylum seekers and, therefore, no way or solution except for near-continuous whining.

The impact of the Winter War (1939-40), Continuation War (1941-44) and Lapland War (1944-45), tens of thousands of Finnish deaths and the deep traumas left by war weren’t insurmountable obstacles in finding a solution to hundreds of thousands of Karelian refugees. Why are we then whining about a 32,000 asylum seekers today?

The question exposes the problem: We are an island in Europe where myths and fears like “the Russians are coming” have fed our mistaken nationalism for decades. Too many politicians and Finns don’t see it but our negative attitude towards everything that isn’t “Finnish” is hurting us as a society. We are paying a steep price for our xenophobia in the way of economic, social and political development.

We don’t need to look too far to understand the latter. Since 2011 we have seen the rise of a populist anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* whose only attribute is whining about migration and scapegoating such people. Considering that we are an island in Europe, should we be surprised that such a party has caught our imagination and attention?

Considering that we are an island in Europe, should we be surprised that such a party has caught our imagination and attention?

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Finnish police service claims that sexual harassment is new in Finland’s sexual crime history

Posted on January 11, 2016October 12, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Finnish deputy chief of police of Helsinki, Ilkka Koskimäki, is the latest representative of the police service whose statements have left people scratching their heads. He’s quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph: “This phenomenon [sexual harassment] is new in Finnish sexual crime history. We have never before had this kind of sexual harassment happening at New Year’s Eve.”

Really? Finnish women have never before been harassed sexually by Finnish men?

If Koskimäki is in the dark about the long and ugly history of sexual harassment of women in Finland, he should go out and interview some of the victims. And there are many of them.

Sexual harassment became illegal in 2014 but it doesn’t mean, like Koskimäki claims, that it is a “new” phenomenon even if the law is. What he said is misleading and serves to label all asylum seekers in a negative manner in Finland.

Koskimäki isn’t the only police service representative that has left people awed. Earilier this month we read about East Uusimaa Detective Chief Inspector Markku Tuominen’s advice that Finns should leave rapidly if a foreigner wants to make contact with them.

That’s not all. There’s been some statements by National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and Justice Minister Jari Lindström who are in favor of street patrol gangs while Interior Minister Petteri Orpo has said that they are not necessary because they fuel insecurity.

Read full story here.

The recent statement by Koskimäki shows that the Finnish police service has a lot to learn about policing and serving a culturally diverse society.

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