xenophobia Archives - Page 33 of 92

Finland’s blind spot of racism and the incitement of violence against migrants and minorities

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Migrant Tales

July was a busy month for hate speech with the usual bunch of politicians from a particular party hurling insults at migrants and minorities. If we look at the pyramid of hate below, we can see politicians like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Teuvo Hakkarainen and PS youth leader Sebastian Tynkkynen venturing with their comments to the bias-motivated-violence phase, which openly incites violence against migrants and minorities.

“We’ve got to stop pussyfooting,” Hakkarainen wrote on his Facebook wall in mid-July after the Nice killings. “Muslims out of this country! Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. We shouldn’t accept Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to our country.”

Even if fearmongering, demagoguery, xenophobia, pandering and raw hatred are the norm in today’s Finland against migrants, it is a a slippery slope were already on. The faster we slide down that slope the more hateful our attacks become.

Source: Newspaper Rock

A recent example of an anti-immigration rally in East Helsinki during the weekend, a French-speaking person threatens on a YouTube video that Muslims “should be banned from any civilized society.”

Continue reading “Finland’s blind spot of racism and the incitement of violence against migrants and minorities”

Finland’s shameful asylum policy should be changed

Posted on July 31, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Some Finnish politicians from parties like the Swedish People’s Party, Greens and Left Alliance have expressed concern about the government’s ever-tightening asylum policy and a recent decision by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) to deny an Iraqi asylum.

Writes YLE News: “According to the decision, first made public when it was posted on social media Wednesday, the [Iraqi] man was able to successfully prove to the Finnish Immigration Service that his home in Mosul had been bombed, the army had tortured him and that ISIS was persecuting him.”

Even if some may seem surprised by the latter, it’s “business as usual” considering that the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party are calling the immigration policy shots in government.

The PS shares power in government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP). In exchange for its support for the Center Party’s and NCP’s austerity policies, the PS has been given a virtual free hand to tighten immigration policy as it sees fit. As long as the PS remains in government the plight of migrants and minorities in Finland will worsen.

Tighter family reunification laws is one sad example of the latter never mind the party’s near-constant racist comments that continue to poison the atmosphere for migrants and minorities in this country.

One question that tighter immigration policy raises is if they are constitutional. According to Section 6 of the Finnish Constitution guarantees that “everyone is equal before the law.” Moreover, the EU Convention of Human Rights (Article 8) and Article 16 of the UN Declaration of Human rights guarantees that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

Professor of Public International Law Martin Scheinin also criticized the decision, saying that he has reason to believe that Finland’s tougher asylum policy may be in conflict with the country’s constitution.

Read full story here.

Even if some Finns correctly point out that we were the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1906, we were the last country in Europe together with Romania to grant Jews political rights in 1917.

Continue reading “Finland’s shameful asylum policy should be changed”

The PS claws to racism and bigotry because it has lost its vain hope to keep Finland white

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is fuming attempting to get the maximum political mileage from its recent racist and bigoted outbursts by playing down such social ills and by propping up its poor standings in the polls.

Vice-president of the PS parliamentary group, MP Kike Elomaa, stated that we shouldn’t get so touchy about racism, while MP Laura Huhtasaari said that criticism of the party’s racist comments by others should stop and equated them to “childish sandbox games.”

On July 25, National Coalition Party (NCP) MP Ben Zyscowickz reacted to a suggestion by PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen that Muslims should be kicked out of Finland.

“The question is for how long the Perussuomalaiset party, which is a member of the government and has agreed to oppose racism [while in government], continuously offers the opportunity to political figures who incite people’s views against Islam and who are guilty of outright racism,” he said.

That was followed by the chairman of the Center Party parliamentary group, MP Antti Kaikkonen, who echoed Zyzkowickz’ concern.

The PS shares power in government with the Center Party and NCP.

As far as I can tell, the racist outbursts of the PS are a clear sign that the party is irreversibly dying. It is also the best indication yet that the anti-immigration party has lost, like Don Quixote chasing windmills, to do away with its demons and keep Finland white.

This painting by Pablo Picasso shows Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The PS’ lost attempt to keep Finland white is as futile as when Don Quixote attacked windmills. Source: Google.

Continue reading “The PS claws to racism and bigotry because it has lost its vain hope to keep Finland white”

PS MP Kike Elomaa’s response to the party’s racist statements is disingenuous and insulting to Finland

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Migrant Tales

It’s not only disingenuous but insulting to Finland, migrants, and minorities that an MP and vice chairperson of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party parliamentary group, which has been on the racist rampage in July, states publicly that we shouldn’t be so touchy about comments that don’t intend to be “really racist.”

From July 15-21, a number of PS politicians like MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, Matias Turkkila and Sebastian Tynkkynen have gone out of their way to target migrants, especially Muslims. Hakkarainen and Tynkkynen have suggested, among other things, that Muslims should be kicked out of Finland.

The PS share power in government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP).

On Monday, NCP MP Ben Zyskowickz reacted in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat to what Tynkkynen said.

Antti Kaikkonen, chairman of the Center Party parliamentary group, echoed Zyskowickz’ concern in Helsingin Sanomat.

“Racist writings must once and for all end,” he said. “It’s high time that we must put a stop to hate speech.”

Elomaa’s response to Kaikkonen’s remarks is quite incredible: “One shouldn’t be so touchy,” she said. “Each of us must stand certain things. It was certainly nobody’s aim to be really racist.”

________________________________________________________________________________

PS MP Kike Elomaa tells Center Party MP Antti Kaikkonen that he shouldn’t be so touchy because it wasn’t anyone’s aim to be “really racist.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

PS MP Elomaa’s respons shows again how parties like the PS play down racism and why such a social ill has grown instead of retreated in Finland.

It shows as well that the debate on racism in Finland is very much a discourse between white Finns and where’s there little to no room for migrants and minorities.

Read full story here.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”

White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news

Posted on July 23, 2016 by Migrant Tales

On the fifth anniversary of when Anders Breivik went on the rampage in Oslo on 22/7 by killing 77 victims, we saw another gunman in Munich follow his footsteps. We now know with pretty much certainty that there is a connection between what the shooter did in Munich and what happened in Norway exactly five years ago.

Reports the BBC: “Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said there was an ‘obvious’ link between the new attack and Friday’s fifth anniversary of Breivik’s attacks in Norway, when he murdered 77 people.”

Apart from the fact that nine people died and 27 were injured at the hands of a person who appears to like mass shootings and terrorists like Breivik, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth chairman Sebastian Tynkkynen said in a statement a day before that punishable offenses like ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion should be stricken off the penal code.

Considering the role that hate speech had in the killing of victims in 22/7 and yesterday, Tynkkynen’s and the PS Youth’s suggestion to scrap hate speech from the penal code sounds reckless and dangerous.

Definition #30

Gavan Titley exposes with three sentences how the media interpreted what happened in Munich Friday. He writes on his Facebook wall:

Continue reading “White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news”

The Perussuomalaiset is an extremist party that is unfit to rule Finland

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Migrant Tales

There’s overwhelming evidence that the populist anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is an extremist party especially when it comes to its views on immigration and cultural diversity. But here’s a question to the Finnish media: If the PS is an extremist party why aren’t they called that?

Why does the foreign media call the PS a far-right party but in Finland we don’t?

In 2014, for example, the Huffington Post listed the PS as one of the nine scariest parties to be elected to the European parliament and in the “good” company of xenophobic and neo-Nazi parties like the National Front of France and Golden Dawn of Greece, respectively.

Read full posting here. Matias Turkkila uses opportunistically, like PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, xenophobia to prop up support for the party, which has plummeted in the polls.

Continue reading “The Perussuomalaiset is an extremist party that is unfit to rule Finland”

Are bigotry and racism something “funny” and “eccentric” PS chairman Timo Soini?

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson and foreign minister, Timo Soini, brushed aside recent xenophobic and homophobic statements by MPs like Leena Meri, Laura Huhtasaari and Mika Raatikainen.

Referring to the three MPs above, Soini states in a video clip below that politicians should be careful about what they publish on Facebook and Tweet since they are 100% proof that you made such a statement. Even so, he brushed off such comments by Meri, Raatikainen, and Huhtasaari as something that shouldn’t concern anyone.

“…so if a PS MP or other party official says something funny and eccentric then they [journalists] hash over it for weeks…”

Playing down the bigotry and racism that is rife in the PS by Soini is nothing new.

PS chairman and foreign minister, Timo Soini, playing down the PS’ bigotry and racism problem.

So what did MPs Meri, Raatikainen and Huhtasaari say?

Musician James Nikander, aka Musta Barbaari, filed charges against the police for the “rude manner” and humiliation that his mother and sister suffered at the hands of plainclothes police service officials a week ago.

Musta Barbaari writes: “The plainclothes police didn’t answer [my sister’s question] but proceeded to handcuff both of them rudely and forced my mother to lie on the ground. My sister asked once again why they were being treated in such a way and what they had done but didn’t get an answer from police. My mother feared for her life and thought she was going to be beaten since the behavior of the police was very rude!”

MP Meri stated on her Facebook wall that if the singer doesn’t like living in Finland he’s welcome to go back to where he came from.

One of the problems with Meri’s bigotted response is that the singer is a native Finn from the city of Turku.

In one statement, Meri exposed issues like ethnic profiling, white Finnish privilege, and the denial of racism by the police service.

But that’s not all and there’s more.

MP Raatikainen, who like Meri was a police official before he got elected to parliament, Tweets:

Now that all homosexuals and others like them want (as always) to use the same toilets, washrooms etc.like heteros a question arises about the rights of heteros at swimming halls, locker rooms, in the army etc. Would it be, perhaps, fair for those that don’t want to be a victim of snooping homosexuals in one’s own locker room and they could go and wash and snoop freely snowehrere else?

Continue reading “Are bigotry and racism something “funny” and “eccentric” PS chairman Timo Soini?”

Post-Brexit Europe: There is a connection between scapegoating and hate crime

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Is there a connection between scapegoating migrants, minorities as well as Others and hate crime? If you look at what has happened after the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom it’s clear that there is a connection.

Victimizing and promoting suspicion of migrant and minority groups is one matter but the most worrisome issue that should concern us is indifference.

How low can you stoop? Too many politicians and the media blame migrants, minorities and the EU for the problems they have caused and inflicted.

The late Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner who passed away Saturday, pinpoints the problem in the quote: below:

“Action is the only remedy to indifference: the most insidious danger of all.”

Just like with the alarming rise of xenophobia in the United Kingdom after the Brexit vote, the same is happening in other European countries like Finland that have anti-immigration parties that provoke open conflict with migrants and minorities.

Right after the 2011 parliamentary elections, some Finns saw the victory of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party as a green light to attack migrants, minorities, and our ever-growing culturally diverse society. Membres of the Somali community, one of the favorite scapegoats of the PS, were targetted.

Below is a comment Migrant Tales got from a visitor who believed that we’d be out of business because we would stop getting funding [1] from Kepa, an organisation that represents Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) that work in development cooperation.

Migrant Tales has received its fair share of attacks by people who want to keep Finland white.

Continue reading “Post-Brexit Europe: There is a connection between scapegoating and hate crime”

Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse community must rise up and challenge hostile parties like the Perussuomalaiset

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Some ask me where do I get the energy and strength to write. My answer is simple: When I read and hear comments by politicians and people who hate and want to socially exclude me my blood begins to boil. The only remedy that calms me is writing and organizing my thoughts.

But we must do much more. It’s wishful thinking to believe that parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, with the near-silent approval of most other parties, have declared war on us and our ever-growing culturally diverse community.

Read and listen carefully what parties like the PS have in store for us: They aim to relegate us to second- and third-class citizens, separate our families and continue to whitewash our history and our right to live in Finland.

We have a lot of support from white Finns but the spark that will challenge this threat to us and Finland is in our hands. We must rise up and challenge this cancer spreading throughout Finland and Europe.

I’m confident that we can send back this ogre to where it came from.

Brexit proves (again) that Europe’s biggest threat was and still is nationalism and xenophobia

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Migrant Tales

We speak of external threats like globalization and others like asylum seekers as threats challenging this great Post-World War 2 experiment called the European Project. While the achievements of the European Union are formidable taking into account that we’re not going after each other’s throats after 1945, there is one threat that is the greatest of them all and one we should pay more attention to – nationalism and xenophobia.

Xenophobia is expensive business for a society. Socially excluding people and creating discord don’t create jobs and economic wellbeing but cost the taxpayer an arm and leg.

Ruffle your nationalistic feathers with generous doses of bravado and you’ll end up like the United Kingdom today: A country that will see its political and economic clout diminished in the European Union thanks to Brexit.

Read full story here.

Continue reading “Brexit proves (again) that Europe’s biggest threat was and still is nationalism and xenophobia”