xenophobia Archives - Page 7 of 92

Like a toxic addiction, Finland’s Interior Minister Rantanen cannot kick the habit of her conspiracy theories

Posted on April 27, 2024April 27, 2024 by Migrant Tales

The “great replacement” theory, in simple terms, states that welcoming immigration policies —
particularly those impacting non-white immigrants — are part of a plot designed to undermine or
“replace” the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.

National Immigration Forum

One long-range plan of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had is to keep out all asylum seekers from coming to Finland. PS Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho has spoken about such a goal for eons and only on Wednesday in A-studio, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen revealed that she’s still a staunch believer of the great replacement theory.

Mnister Mari Rantanen and Maria Ohisalo. Source: Yle

Debating with former Green League Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo (2019-2021), Rantanen explained why Europe must copy Britain’s Rwanda Plan. The PS and the government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo back such a solution.

A-studio host Rosa Kettumäki was not up to par. She labelled asylum seekers “illegal migrants.” Whenever journalists refer to asylum seekers in such a lowly manner, they become a rubber stamp of the xenophobes. Photo: Yle.

Rantanen showed her dark colors on A-studio on why we must keep Muslims and other non-whites out:

“…it also impacts European culture, lifestyle, security, and so many other things,” said Rantanen. “I think the winds are changing in Europe, and we are now looking for other things than just opportunities to push as many as people as possible from foreign countries into Europe.”

Ohisalo, a former interior minister, reminded Rantanen that her comment was based on the great replacement theory. Rantnan was notably upset by Ohisalo’s observation.

Minister Wille Rydman and the Finnish government laugh at the vulnerable

Posted on April 20, 2024April 20, 2024 by Migrant Tales

If there is one matter that describes PM Petteri Orpo’s government to the tee, it is it cruelty to the most vulnerable sectors of society and migrants. The personification of antipathy and hostility is none other than Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman, a former member of the National Coalition Party who became after a scandal a member of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

I chatted briefly with Rydman about his letter to the editor in 2010, which he said was an “article (sic),” and claimed that migrants should throw away their culture and just concentrate on learning the Finnish language.

Reading and following Rydman during these past fourteen years, I can only come to one conclusion: An opportunist that is racially challenged who despises, in the far-right fashion, the media.

A recent quote in A-studio suffices to demonstrate his hatred of Muslims and other visible minorities. The following two statements by him below prove what he is, and the government are made of.

He rejoices in the suffering of others

“This government is cutting development aid by a total of 1.2 billion euros. This is the kind of decision that no other government [of Finland] has ever done but the Perussuomalaiset* has been able to do.”

“The reception allowance will be reduced, residence permits for refugees will be shortened and tightened, asylum applications will be processed at the border, access to citizenship will be made more difficult, and circumvention of entry rules will be prevented.

Finland’s oppressive immigration policy is like shooting oneself in the leg

Posted on April 18, 2024April 19, 2024 by Migrant Tales

Perusuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen held a press conference today and outlined how the present government is going to tighten migration policy. There was nothing new in what Rantanen said. We know about plans to tighten the citizenship law, family reunification, speed up deportations, and making it harder to get a residence permit. All of these measures begged for a question: Why?

Finland is already suffering from an unprecedented demographic crisis that has hit its economy hard. So many people are retiring that the country cannot plug such a shortage. An article in Helsingin Sanomat, predicted that the drop in people of Finnish origin would plummet to just above one million in 90 years from 5.6 million now.

In bravado fashion, the PS states: “If you don’t have a residence permit, the starting point is that you will return to your country or will be forced to return.” A statement like this is like a shot in the leg. Thank you Rantanen and the whole PS and National Coalition Party gang in government for bringing Finns closer to extinction and further economic decline.

As our migration policy speeds up the process of becoming extinct or a country with a tiny population, the PS and the National Coalition Party can rejoice that at least those that are being extinct are white Finns.

Why doesn’t the media and politicians say it out loud: The reason for our economy tanking is the lack of foreign labor.

Statements by the government and xenophobes like Rantanen are the real culprits for our demographic and economic problems and demise.

The tailspin of the Finnish economy – it’s the immigration, stupid!

Posted on April 13, 2024April 13, 2024 by Migrant Tales

The growth of Finland’s economy in the past fifteen years has been disappointing with our indebtedness growing at an alarming rate totaling today about 75% of GDP, according to Yle. If we were to point to the elephant in the Finnish room, it’s clear that our rapidly aging population and too few immigrants are the culprits.

To top it off, when Finland’s debt-to-GDP ratio started to rise worryingly in the early 2010s, Finland was hit politically by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which made it to the major political league in the 2011 election, when its numbers rose to 39 MPs from 5 MPs previously.

During the past decade, Finland needed to attract labor immigrants in a big way but chose instead to spread populist xenophobia. Today the PS together with the National Coalition Party (NCP), and its minor partners, the Swedish People’s Party and Christian Democrats, are planning to significantly tighten immigration policy.

You don’t need to be a sociologist to understand that the whole concept of immigration and how it is supposed to work is tainted by racism and discrimination thanks to the PS and its obeient partners, the NCP. The government is doing everyting possible to keep Finland white and non-Muslim.

Read the full story in Finnish here.

Finland’s pushback law will cause death, suffering, and loss of face

Posted on April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 by Migrant Tales

National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is drafting a new pushback law that permits Finland to subvert human rights, international law, and the rights enshrined in its constitution. Even if the law gets approval from parliament, it will not solve but worsen the problem at the Finnish-Russian border.

Considering that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen has a notorious record as an Islamophobe, expect the worst from Finland’s tightening of immigration and asylum policy. Why would you trust a person like Rantanen when it comes to migration unless you believe in fairy-tale solutions?

Even President Aleksander Stubb, who is supposed to speak for everyone in Finland, gave the thumbs up to sending back people at the Finnish-Russian border. Shameful exemplifying his moral fiber.

The actions of Stubb and the government tell us that during difficult times we will not respect our commitments. We’ll instead scapegoat the problem on Russia.

Apart from being a cowardly act, Internior Minister Rantanen and the government believes that passing a law in parliemant will magically cause the problem to go away. It will not solve any problems. On the contrary, the new law will bring death and terrible suffering as we have seen at a number of EU border crossings.

Apart from being legally liable, the suffering that we’ll see is that the Finnish border guards will have to live with themselves after sending people back. That was the case in Poland as shown eloquently in the Green Wall movie.

Just like many Polish citizens including doctors, lawyers, and activists who came to help the refugees and who were against a similar xenophobic Polish government at the time. The same may occur in Finland. This movie should be seen by everyone in Finland, especially those who are gun-ho about breaching international law.

Wtires the Hollywood Reporter about the Green Border that could be a prelude to what will happen at the Finnish-Russian border:

Being a Russian minority in an ever-hostile Finland

Posted on April 3, 2024April 4, 2024 by Migrant Tales

The Eastern Finnish cities of Joensuu, Imatra and Lappeenranta are aiming to shut down Russian-language schools which has led to an intense debate about the future of such institutions. While some argue about economic factors and lack of demand for the closure of such schools, others point the finger at anti-Russian and anti-foreign sentiment.

Katja Marova, a local politician of Lappeenranta for the Left Alliance who has lived in Finland for 14 years, is concerned by the rising anti-Russian atmosphere in Finland.

Katja Marova speaking at a recent Aleksanteriliitto event.

“Of course, I am concerned about the [xenophobia] situation [in Finland],” she said. “What will our situation be [in the future] as a minority in Finland?”

Russian speakers, who number about 72,000, are by far the biggest language group in Finland after Finnish- and Swedish-speakers.

The war in Ukraine and the Finnish-Russian border crisis have not only fueled discrimination of Russians but have led to calls to question dual Finnish citizenship rights. President Aleksander Stubb, who recently visited Eatern Finland, did not mention once about the rising hostility against Finland’s Russian community.

President Stubb did, however, give his support for the so-called pushback law that would allow Finland to breach the human rights of asylum seekers.

A recent article published by Yle is a case in point on how some of the media writes about the Russian minority. For one, not one member of the Russian-speaking community is interviewed in the story. Marova said that there were mistakes in the reporting that Yle corrected.

“If the parents had not asked for the corrections, nothing would have happened,” she said. “The article gives the impression that Russian-language schools are not needed and are a waste of money, especially during these difficult economic times.”

Finland sleepwalking into fascism

Posted on March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 by Migrant Tales

The new “pushback” law made public on Friday by the government shows the perilous human rights path of Finland. While the new law may pass in parliament, the question is what will the government do next to undermine Finland’s commitment to human rights.

If the law is passed by a two-thirds majority, it is the best indication of how Finland’s commitment to human rights weaning. When times are good, we can speak out for human rights, but when we are in a rut we will be the first to throw such right under the bus.

Add to the mix our hatred of Muslims and other minorities like the Russians and the situation is clear.

The pushback law is an indication of how Finland is pushing back its liberal reforms after it became an EU member in 1995.

We are mentioning one law without pointing out the radical changes in social policy, labor laws and migration polic.

Finland is sleepwalking into fasism.

Finland’s slippery slope

Posted on March 16, 2024March 16, 2024 by Migrant Tales

On Friday, the government revealed its plan to subvert our constitution, international agreements, and human rights by denying people escaping strife and poverty asylum.

Even if the government does not use the term push back, it is exactly that: a law that allows Finland to deny and push back people seeking asylum.

What is most incredible is how the government speculates and spreads fear, claiming that the law is necessary to ensure domestic security and protect the country’s sovereignty from Russian aggression.

A question: Didn’t the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled war and came to Finland threaten our security and sovereignty? What about the over 30,000 asylum seekers who came to Finland in 2015? Why are matters different? The answer: xenophobic government scoring brownie points with the voters.

If the new law is approved by parliament by a two-thirds majority, it shows how successful Vladimir Putin’s strategy has been to undermine the rule of law in Finland.

The other important question we should ask is what will be the government’s next step to undermine migrant and human rights?

Unfortunately, the sky is the limit here.

Finland’s PM problematic recipe for moderating the far right

Posted on March 10, 2024March 10, 2024 by Migrant Tales

The story was updated

If an interview of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Politico, he said the best way to moderate the far right is to invite them to rule and be a part of the government. What is significant by the interviews is that it is the first time that Orpo admits that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* was a far-right party.

Orpo’s recipe to moderate the far right reflects political cowardice and opportunism. The National Coalition Party (NCP) and the PS can form government because they have similar goals: The NCP and PS support each other’s plans for paradigm changes in the labor market and migration policy.

In the face of racism scandals hitting the Perussuomalaiset and Opro’s government last summer, Orpo admitted “things are going well” and that he’s “moderated” the PS by giving them ministerial posts. “In my opinion, [the PS] is not a far-right party anymore,” he said.

Read the full story here.

By paradigm changes in the labor market , spearheaded by the NCP and migration policy by the PS, the parties aim to radically change the face of these sectors.

New Finnish naturalization laws will hit the country negatively

Posted on March 9, 2024March 10, 2024 by Migrant Tales

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 is lost. It believes that short-term solutions like fences will save it from itself.

While the government, especially the PS and the National Coalition Party (NCP) see migrants as a threat, the question we should ask is why stricter naturalization laws are needed and, importantly, what kind of a slippery slope is it.

While the government complains that not enough is being done to encourage integration, tighter naturalization laws will do just that, making pathways to integration more difficult by marginalizing migrants and exposing the hostile environment.

If you don’t have Finnish citizenship you cannot vote, especially against those who are excluding you from being an equal part of society.

Continue reading “New Finnish naturalization laws will hit the country negatively”