Comment: This is an ongoing story that has no end. Most of the time when the politicians and city authorities attempt to find a solution to the problem of how to deal with a few Roma that have set up camp in Helsinki, the more lost they become. This should not surprise us, however, because it is has been the way that the Finnish authorities and public have treated the Romany question in Finland for centuries.
Some of the most incredible measures that politicians tried to impose on this group of Romany was to prohibit begging in public. Even if they made a few euros a day begging in the streets of Helsinki, some had the nerve to claim that they were working for organized crime.
The handling by the police and authorities of the foreign Roma in Helsinki is unfortunate and reveals a wider problem in Europe on how we deal with minority issues and poverty.
The treatment of these people should inspire others, like especially the Finnish Romany, to stand up and begin asking for their long-overdue acceptance by Finnish society.
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About 40 police officers descended on the Kalasatama area in Helsinki to evict a camp of itinerant foreign Roma. The operation came at the request of the Helsinki City Public Works Department. In the evening, dozens of Roma who had been forced to leave Kalasatama, and a number of local supporters assembled at Senate Square in the centre of the city.
Enrique, what is your solution for Romany problem then? If I would go to any other EU-country, I would have to pay my staying in there. I couldn’t just camp somewhere in the city and live there.
Niko, to be fair with you I would never suggest a solution except a very general one, which was an awakening. The whole problem with the immigrant debate in Finland is that NON-IMMIGRANTS are telling their opinions over the matter. I would organize a seminar and invite the most prominent Roma and listen to what they say. That would be the right way of doing it.
Even if they made a few euros a day begging in the streets of Helsinki, some had the nerve to claim that they were working for organized crime.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/NBI+says+beggar+phenomenon+linked+with+human+trafficking/1135266577766
One of theses is wrong but which is it ? reality or denial
One of the reasons PS are against begging is because of the human trafficking issue and they talk openly about. You have deiced that there is no connection between begging human trafficking and any hard evidence to show your view is wrong you reject it.
Other parties are taking a more anti immigration view because PS anti immigration views have changed politics in Finland, and no one wants to be seen to be outdated because that will not win you votes.So how can you claim to be relevant or well supported or think you can stop a political party when you are not willing to make the changes which you need to do to make you relevant to the eyes of the voters. Because you wont last long in a open public debate for example about begging, when your view that there is no connection with human trafficking can be cut down within seconds. If you admitted that most begging was connected with human trafficking then would people take you more seriously
–You have deiced that there is no connection between begging human trafficking and any hard evidence to show your view is wrong you reject it.
Please tell me how this works. Were is the economic benefit.
You have deiced that there is no connection between begging human trafficking and any hard evidence to show your view is wrong you reject it
Because the human trackers thought that Finland is a generous country with money where to so they human trafficked people to Finland to beg because they expected them to make between 30-40 euors a day which they did not.
As the article says some where forced to steal from shops and as we have seen over the last 2-3 years a large increase in crime committed by Romany form Eastern European which shows that most if not all are now forced by the money lenders they own money to, to commit crimes like this to pay off their debts.
One of the reasons Finns have taken a more negative view against the EU is the increase in crime which has come from the EU expansion in 2004. Denmark has now returned to border check and it will only be a matter of time before with the political power which the PS now have to be used force Finland to follow their lead.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Police+find+stolen+copper+at+Kalasatama+Roma+camp/1135269022188
These are hard facts which you can reject on this blog but you will not be able to a open public debate. So is this blog really here because you want to stop PS or is more to strengthen the view which you have created to see the world.
Its no secret we share different views and this is not a personal attack but I am really struggling to understand where you hope to go with this blog. Because it has no value in the political arena and if you know this then what is your agenda
@Mika
Border checks only bother non-EU citizens like students, business people, and tourists traveling around the EU. Roma from Romania and other countries like the British Roma we had evicted over the summer, all have EU passports and will have to be allowed into the country.
Border checks when entering the EU are tight enough already. Now we want to go against people’s right to free movement within the union which the EU guarantees.
Why do you PS people and your leaders use blanket terms like “immigrants”? There are several different types of immigrants. Humanitarian refugees is just a tiny portion of our immigrants here. Over 90% of “immigrant” crime done nationally is done by Russian, Estonians, Bulgarians, Romanians and other EU citizens yet people like Hakkarainen and Halla-aho push the “blame Islam and black people” angle to win votes. Don’t you see a problem here?
Might I add here also that stats show that throughout the developed world,most of the shoplifting is done by middle-aged white women! Fact!
Some time last week I had to set a shop security guard straight here in Helsinki, when it became very apparent that he was following me around the store. Asked him why he is following me around the damn store when all the while he is following me, some white Finnish woman is stealing stuff off the shelves. Told him I am the least likely to steal in any store, as I know before entering the store that all eyes are scrutinizing me as a potential shoplifter. Told him also that the typical white Finnish woman is more prone to shoplifting, since she knows that no one is watching her. After telling him this, his face turned crimson in embarrassment ,and he left me to shop in peace.
Finns steal a whole lot more in shops than any Roma or immigrant ever can! Not all immigrants are thieves.
Hi Foreigner and welcom to Migrant Tales. Did you complain to the store manager about racial profiling? I would. At least it will look bad on his record.
Foreigner’s story reminds something what I have experiences as well. When I was a teenager, at least a few times security guards were following me in the stores. I had baggy jeans, black spiky hair and a hoodie. Is this also racial profiling? I just didn’t care much about it… I mean, of course I didn’t like it, but I knew that they were just trying to do their job.
Niko
Niko
Good question – let’s think about it. Are you still a teenager? Do you still dress like that and have the same hairstyle? No? Does that mean you have changed your race?
My point was just that same things happens to white, native Finns as well. Let me make an example of two cases:
1) A white, native Finns goes to a bar in Helsinki. Some white drunk asshole comes to him and wants to fight. The asshole hits him on his face.
2) An African immigrant goes to a bar in Helsinki. Some white drunk asshole comes to him and wants to fight. The asshole hits him on his face.
Why it is always that something bad happens to immigrants/foreigners, it is because of his/her race, but if something bad happens to native, white Finns it is just bad luck? I don’t say there isn’t racism in Finland (because there is), but everything misfortune in your life is not racism!
Niko
The difference between your cases is in the motive for the action. Defendants who have sobered up and taken legal advice will not normally own up to racist motives, so it is up to the court to draw conclusions based on the available evidence, including the credibility of any motive that the defendant alleges. Courts draw conclusions about the motives for civil and criminal misconduct all the time.
A defendant who argues that an act of violence was entirely random and unmotivated ought to be referred for psychiatric examination and securely sectioned if necessary.