Today we read about a bus driver of Russian origin, and a candidate of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party ethnically profile Somalis, insulted, videotaped and published on YouTube got sacked today. The bus driver was so sure of himself that he even gave the numbers of his company’s managers to complain.
The bus driver, Gleb Simanov, got fired for “inappropriate and racist” behavior.
Migrant Tales spoke to one of the managers at Nobina, the bus company where he works.
“Let me state that it’s not acceptable that a bus driver [of our firm] videotapes clients in our buses,” said Mårten Winqvist of Nobina. “Moreover, it was wrong for the bus driver to ask a woman to leave the bus even after she offered to pay the fare.”
Winqvist said that the actions of the bus driver were in conflict with company policy.
Gleb Simanov posts the following on his Facebook wall: “Nobina Finland has fired me because of inappropriate and racist behavior. “I’m now unemployed and Kela’s [The Social Service Institution] new customer,” he writes. His firing will take effect on September 14.
We won’t publish the videos because we don’t want to bring more suffering to the victims.
Even if Paavo Tajukangas, a far-right white supremacist, and a member of Suomen Sisu, has published Simanov’s videos, nobody will come to his rescue.
* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.
A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
How dare you slander a man for doing his job correctly, preventing fare dodgers from boarding, and doing a public service by identifying them. Thank goodness this man has received employment with a new bussing company, one that respects workers with integrity and honesty.
This entire blog is absolutely vile.
Dear Troll, I like your pick of words like “slander” and “how dare you.” I doubt that many would agree that Gleb Simanov is an example of “integrity and honesty.” In English he’d be called an Uncle Tom and in Finland a Mamu setä. Thank you for the compliment: “This entire blog is absolutely vile.”
I mean I would like to agree with you but he said nothing inherently racist as well as you seem to have only reported the bits that convey your point and distorted those points as well. This is why nobody likes the left or the right. You both nit pick what you report and insist on trying to distort reality to match your point of view. You completely miss-represent this man by not reporting that so called “victims” did lie about having a ticket and also lied about their phone dying as they went and used it as soon as they were kicked off of the bus. While right wing articles spin this story the other way with inaccuracies it does not help your case to do the same. I would suggest you write stories as they happen and let people decide for themselves if something is wrong as trying to force your altered opinion on other will only make them push back against it even if they would have agreed in the first place if it was up to them to come up with their own opinion.
As for my own opinion, I think he was totally justified to kick them off of the bus, where I live I see kids try to get on busses for free all the time and no one ever complains if they get kicked off. The only reason I see to fire him was because he filmed was against company policy, which may be a stupid policy however should have been a policy he should have been aware of. Not to mention most bus companies policy is to protect drivers over customers as well as almost all bus companies making it the drivers responsibility to make sure the customers pay.
Hi AviiNuo, thank you for your comment. The issue is that the bus driver chose to film people of Somali origin and published the videos on social media. I disagree: What the bus driver, who is a well-known for his anti-immigration and anti-Muslim views, did was wrong and he was rightly fired. Was he worried about singling out a certain ethnic group? Was his aim o get more social media notoriety and “fame” among some Islamophobic circles?
Enrique, have you considered that the the group he filmed, may be overrepresented in persons who try break the law by going to buses without paying ticket? There is nothing wrong showing the reality of cri me and some groups are clearly overrepresented in some cri mes.