Migrant Tales insight: The story below was one that was published in February 2012 about “Black February,” when three Muslims died and a Finn committed suicide after killing one Muslim and wounding another. As with the Pakistani who was viciously attacked in February 2018, there were a lot of question marks about how the police…
Tag: Somalis in Finland
When a Finnish-language teacher loses respect for her foreign students
What do you do if you are an asylum seeker that got a residence permit to stay in Finland and went to a Finnish-language course for a whole year? Everything is fine until you meet your first Finnish-language teacher who has no respect, never mind cultural sensitivity, for the your background and needs?
The story behind “Finland is a racist country” is in the comments
There were quite strong reactions among some Finns and immigrants to Maryan Abdulkarim’s interview on Helsingin Sanomat. Those who strongly objected to the article, appear to want to deny Abdulkarim’s right to express herself on a touchy subject like racism. It’s ironic, but those who want to deny Abdulkarim her right to speak out are…
Meet the Somalis – the illustrated stories of Somalis in seven cities in Europe
The Open Society Foundations have recently published a fascinating set of seven illustrated stories, called ‘meet the Somalis‘, covering the experiences of Somalis living in cities across Europe. On November 21, this will coincide with the publishing of the Foundations’ research report “Somalis in Helsinki”. To quote the Foundation’s website: “The Somali community in Europe…
Zuzeeko’s blog: Finland – Discrimination accounts for high Somali unemployment
Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng Somalis are among the largest groups of immigrants in Finland. They are also among the largest unemployed group of immigrants in the country. Many people [mistakenly] think that the high rate of unemployment among Somalis is because they are not willing to work. This, in my view, is not the case. Read…
Migrant Tales February 1, 2012: Why write about a Somali immigrant who died in Oulu, Finland?
One of the matters that has surprised me after Migrant Tales scooped more information about the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu on February 1 is the lack of empathy for the victim. Finland and the Nordic region have not been the same after the April election and when Anders Breivik went on the rampage…
Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulah: Returning to Finland’s Black February
Remember Dark February? In about three weeks we read about the deaths of three Muslims , a suicide and a Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman who offered to decorate a white Finn for killing in cold blood one of these victims? Migrant Tales had the opportunity to meet Monday the father and a family friend of one of the victims, Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulahi.
Older woman assaulted at Myllypuro metro station in Helsinki
An older woman was attacked and sent to the hospital at Helsinki’s Myllypuro metro station, according to Metro’s April 26th edition. While the story does not state the ethnic background of the woman, Migrant Tales understands that the victim could be a Somali.
Somali resident of Finland suspected of supporting terrorism is released from custody
A Somali male held in police custody since September for allegedly supporting terrorism abroad was released today by a Helsinki court, according to YLE. The police said that the man, who was deprived of his liberty for seven months, cannot leave the country because investigations are still ongoing.
Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from November 16, 1995
Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.