Human rights ranked low in Finland during the Cold War (1944-1991). Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, a well-known xenophobe, is drafting legislation that would take Finlnad back to the Cold War, when Russians and other migrants were denied the right to asylum. In criticizing government plans to pushback asylum seekers at the Finnish-Russian border,…
Tag: Finland
The Russian community of Finland fears for its civil rights
Very rarely does the Finnish media approach a member of the Russian community to ask their views about news that impacts them. A good example is during the presidential debates when asked if the candidates would be ready to take away Finnish citizenship from Russians retroactively. Katja Marova is a dual citizen of Russia and…
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen: Are you paranoid?
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen not only loathes Muslims and other minorities, but her suspicion of migrants and minorities have made her paranoid. The panacea of all of Finland’s problems are groups like Muslims, according to her. Without giving a shred of evidence of social security fraud, Rantanen wants to create Kela (The…
Finland: Between xenophobia and a hard place
Apart from being the most right-wing government in a hundred years, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is doing everything possible to disenfranchise migrants and minorities. We can mention raising the citizenship requirements from five to eight years and excluding Russians from having dual citizenship as indicators of how xenophobia is driving Finnish politics. One Russian…
How Yle spreads and reinforces xenophobia with the help of stenography journalism
It is surprising that Finland’s national broadcaster, Yle, spreads xenophobia and suspicion of asylum seekers via its news reporting. Yle, never calls people attempting to enter Finland via the Finnish-Russian border asylum seekers but people who are attempting to enter the country illegally. The narrative spread by Yle reporters is a toothless stenographic copy of…
Iraqi family awaiting possible deportation
. At the end of December, an Iraqi family received news from the police that they’d be deported to Iraq in about two weeks. After many rejections for asylum by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) after living in Finland for eight years, it was the first time they had been hit with a deportation order….
Stubb, Halla-aho, Harkimo, Essayah, Haavisto, Aaltola, and Rehn are ready to throw the civil rights of Finland’s Russian community under the bus
Reading the news about how Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government plans to not comply with the right to seek asylum speaks volumes about Finland’s “R” problem. In many cases, the media, which acts more like a rubber stamp for the government on migration issues, is also part of the problem. It is sad to see…
The war in Ukraine and the Russian-Finnish border crisis are showing Finland’s ugly side
Katja Marova, a member of the 37,813-strong community (2022) who holds dual Russian and Finnish citizenship, admitted that her stress level rose thanks to recent statements by presidential candidates concerning banning dual citizenship for Russians. “This is scary and has raised a lot of conern among Russian speakers in Finland,” said Morova. Katja Marova was…
New World Finn (2013):* Too little diversity
Finland is still far from regaining its former political composure afterthe April 2011 elections, which saw the right-wing populist Finns Partywin a historic election victory by becoming the country’s third-largestpolitical force in parliament after the National Coalition Party and the SocialDemocrats. Compared to the elections before 2011, the number of Finns PartyMPs rose from five…
Finland’s government dilemma: To pushback or not at the Finnish-Russian border?
As the xenophobic government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo aims to open some border crossings on the Finnish-Russian border on 14 January, the big question will the government revert to illegal pushbacks? Why is there concern? Orpo has gone as far as to suggest earlier that asylum seekers should be sent directly back to Russia…