As Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen aims to tighten naturalization laws, the impact of such changes will knock Finland negatively. Rantanen said last year that not only will residence time rise from 5 to 8 years, but also a citizenship test will be given and a tougher language test. Europe…
Tag: social exclusion
Media Monitoring Group of Finland [1]: How big is the PS’ crocodile tears?
They are pretty big if you look at the latest tweets by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra and former party secretary Simo Grönroos. MTV broke a news story Saturday about human trafficking in Finland. . A sensible politician would look at the story, side with the victims, and ask how this could happen in Finland….
Kokoomus and Perussuomalaiset: Two different views on labor immigration
On Monday, we saw the stances of the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party’s (Kokoomus) views on the role of labor immigration outside the EU. On MTV, PS’ Sakari Puisto faced off with Pia Kauma of Kokoomus, while on A-studio, Leena Meri of the PS debated with Elina Valtonen. It is depressing to watch…
The PS’ and Kokoomus’ “concern” about Finland’s minority youth gangs is dishonest and a political stunt
Watching weekly Thursday’s question-and-answer session between the opposition and government can cause nausea. With parliamentary elections six months in April, expect opposition parties like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) to increase their attacks against ALL migrants. The truth about the PS and Kokoomus, the biggest and second-biggest opposition party, respectively, is…
Third culture: Misconceptions like “traveling opens your mind.” Answer: Not always.
Third culture children are those who grow up in a country other than their parents’. I have traveled since I was a year and a half between continents and boarded airplanes throughout my life like buses and heard many times a given assumption that traveling is supposed to open your mind. True or false? FACT…
How the Finnish media Others racialized pupils
One of the casualties of the war in Ukraine will be social rights and the recognition of racialized people in Finland. Are we witnessing more aggressive reporting as a result? Helsingin Sanomat published Wednesday a whole spread about how “over half of the students at several schools in Espoo don’t speak Finnish as their mother…
How will we treat Ukrainian refugees in Finland?
The interior ministry estimates “tens of thousands” Ukrainians moving to Finland as a result of the war in that country, according to Yle News. There are about 7,000 Ukrainians in Finland, but Anna Rundgren, a ministry of interior senior specialist, believes that the actual figure is several times higher. In 2015, the country saw a record…
A-Studio: Riikka Purra wants to tighten Finnish citizenship law, do away with pull factors
Riikka Purra, the favorite to win the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* leadership at the party’s annual meeting over the weekend, said Wednesday at Yle’s A-Studio was one of the many steps she took wants to tighten citizenship laws. This summer, the first vice president of the PS said that the party would not join any government that would not tighten “significantly” immigration…
Biden inauguration: Words of unity and inclusion that reverberate in Finland
After four years of chaos and division, an illness that even inflicted the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and politicians in other parties that sow division heard long-overdue healing words. Without losing sight of the wars, CIA-inspired coups, and the human destruction brought on by the United States, it took a despot-inspired president like Donald Trump to give…
Kotoutuminen #10: Misleading expectations that will keep you (dis)integrated
Many, if not most migrants who have moved to Finland, have heard the following claim: Learn the language, and presto you are integrated. While learning the language of your new homeland helps, it is only one of many things that will help you adapt to society. Erna Bödström’s dissertation, “Welcome to Fantasy Finland,” points out…