Interior Minister Kai Mykkänen and the government are using the same tactics as the Nazis in World War 2 but in a different context. The government is not rounding up people and killing them in cold blood but punishing them severely for the crimes others did.
Imagine the migrant community of Finland, especially Muslims and non-EU citizens, sentenced by social media kangaroo courts encouraging social media lynchings while politicians reinforce such anti-social behavior with their hostile statements and silence.
Social media lynchings are common in Finland these days. Source: Westword.
Such irresponsible behavior will cost society dearly in the way of social exclusion and increased racism.
Due to what a handful of sexual assault suspects did in Oulu, the government now vows to get tough and deport up to 8,000 asylum seekers. The government is also studying how it can revoke Finnish citizenship from dual citizens as well as terminate permanent residence permits if a person is convicted of a serious crime.
The lowliest of their plans is to find loopholes to circumvent human rights and refugee agreements at the cost of the rights of embattled asylum seekers.
The government’s and opposition’s willingness to tighten even further already strict immigration laws, and thereby fuel Finland’s hostile environment against migrants and minorities, reveals how clueless they are.
Disagree?
How are they going to speed up and bolster the integration of newcomers if our government is excluding people with their walls of suspicion?
White Finnish privilege #59
One of the favorite arguments used by politicians who are parroting far-right populist rhetoric from parties like the Perussuomalaiset*, is “the percentage of sexual assaults caused by migrants is higher than those committed by Finns.”
The whole debate surrounding Oulu and abhorrent sexual assault crimes forgets three important matters:
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We are speaking about suspected crimes;
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A basic human right and foundation of the spirit of our laws is that a person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of his or her peers;
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In a highly racialized society like Finland where the police has issues with racism, we should ask why certain migrant and minority groups commit certain crimes?
One of the reasons for racial or ethnic disparity in US prisons hinge on problems of policy, implicit biases and structural disadvantages. Great disparities in who gets incarcerated in the United States is “skewed by race and wealth,” according to former President Barak Obama.
What role do such matters play in Finland when speaking about crimes committed by migrants?
The chart above shows that suspected sexual assault cases of minors by Finns totalled 82% in 2017 versus 18% by foreigners. As we can see, the number of overall suspected sexual assault cases in the chart has retreated while rising slightly among foreigners. Source: Statistics Finland.
Even if we don’t know how many of these cases above will become convicted sexual assault cases, politicians are spreading and fuelling Islamophobic and xenophobic sentiment and this leads to a lot of problems. For one, it tuns Finland into a dangerous place for migrants and minorities.
All of this tells me one thing: Finland oppresses people who are different from them with the aim of entrenching their white power and privilege.
See also:
- Defining white Finnish privilege #1: I have it and you don’t
- Defining white Finnish privilege #2: Third culture children versus “pupil with immigrant background”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #3 No history, no doctrine, no heroes and no martyrs
- Defining white Finnish privilege #4 Holding the short end of the stick
- Defining white Finnish privilege #5 It’s ok to be a racist
- Defining white Finnish privilege #6 Not having a voice and the media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #7 A definitive guide
- Defining white Finnish privilege #8 Underrated and less intelligent
- Defining white Finnish privilege #9 Mohammad Ali’s insight
- Defining white Finnish privilege #10 I can victimize and make up any story I like about migrants because I’m white
- Defining white Finnish privilege #11: Case Teuvo Hakkarainen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #12: Case Tom Packalén
- Defining white Finnish privilege #13: Case Matti Putkonen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #14: Losing sight of the real issue
- Defining white Finnish privilege #15: Case Halla-ago on the PS
- Defining white Finnish privilege #16: Rosa Emilia Clay and my history versus yours
- Defining white Finnish privilege #17: The Perussuomalaiset and our civil rights
- Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudice
- Defining white Finnish privilege #19: My rape statistics about your group
- Defining white Finnish privilege #20: Labeling Others to strengthen “us” and “them.”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #22: From racist, fascist to a politician without memory
- Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities
- Defining white Finnish privilege #24: Becoming a heartless accomplice in wars and people’s suffering
- Defining white Finnish privilege #25: This land is my land, this isn’t your land
- Defining white Finnish privilege #26: Are you an ethnic Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #27: White versus Other media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #28: Are you an ethnic Finn (Part 2)?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #29: Your family is worth less than mine
- White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news
- White Finnish privilege #31: The Soldiers of Odin and the Finnish media
- White Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police and “them”
- White Finnish privilege #33: Appropriating our narrative to maintain the status quo, amass more power and privilege
- White Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
- White Finnish privilege #35: Case Sampo Terho and the ministry of (dis)culture
- White Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship
- White Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything
- Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #44: Defending Nazis’ rights to march is ok as long we agree on the common enemy
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #45: Do blondes have more fun?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #46: Teuvo Hakkarainen = white racism and sexism
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #47: President Sauli Niinistö’s “culture inside four walls”
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #48: Allow me to smear your religion so mine can shine
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #50: Caving in to white narratives
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #51: The police are the defenders of white power and privilege
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #52: Having no privilege is dangerous
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #53: Plan Finland’s unplanned pregnancy campaign #ProtectBlackGirlsToo #Whatofme
- Exposing white FInnish privilege #54: Disguising your racism, bigotry, and prejudices effectively
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #55: It’s that time of the year – Christmas!
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #57: Finland’s “hostile environment” against migrants
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #58: How the police, media and politicians fuel Finland’s hostile environment against Muslims and migrants
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017 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 never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.
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.
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