Red lights should start flashing whenever a person teaching integration 101 to newly arrived migrants states: “These students are my children.”
It is important to note, however, that there are many good and inspiring teachers who do wonders for their students and make them feel welcome.
Schools can be violent places for non-white people as this poster alleges. A THL study showed that first-generation migrants face at school bullying, physical and sexual harassment. Shouldn’t integration courses should also teach newcomers how to challenge such violence, prejudices, and discrimination that are too commonplace?
But for those who see their students as “children,” even if their students are grown-up adults, exposes their cultural arrogance, and racism.
If it were up to these types of teachers to “integrate” and turn these migrants into active members of society, the result is preparing them to become second- and third-class members of society.
Another serious problem is that there are few if any bodies that directly actively evaluate the teacher and his or her prejudices. Usually, white people are doing this type of evaluation if any.
I believe that a teacher aims to offer the best education possible to the students. If I were giving a talk to such teachers, the first thing I’d tell them is to stop underestimating and treating them like children.
I would turn to bodies like the European Network Against Racism to offer anti-racism and cultural diversity courses.
In the meantime, let’s stop infantilizing migrants!
Pihlajalinna, a private company that offers social and healthcare services in Finland for the public sector, was in the news earlier this year concerning the negligent care of its clients in elderly homes. The company also runs an asylum reception center in Jämsä, which has a bed bug (lude in Finnish) problem.
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are insects that feed on human blood. Their bites can cause several health problems like skin rashes.
According to an asylum seeker at the reception center, 30-40 people are suffering from bed bugs. The problem started before November 2018.
“The company that is supposed to fumigate the bed bugs has been here over 20 times, and we still have the problem,” said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is an asylum seeker. “It’s always the same story: they fumigate, but the problem persists.”
The asylum seeker alleges that Pihlajalinna tries to save money to maximize profit, and this explains why the bed bug problem persists at the reception center.
Some 30-40 asylum seekers suffer from bed bugs at the reception center. More bed bugs. ..Bed bugs cause skin rashes like with this asylum seeker at the reception center. The Jämsä asylum reception center, run by Pihlajalinna, is a private company that offers social and healthcare services for the public sector.
After Migrant Tales broke the story of Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) asked a divorced Moroccan to leave Finland with a heart condition. Youssef Hemdani’s case has received a lot of support from Morocco and Finland.
“Thank you for your support,” said his brother, Laghdof Hemdari.
Apart from getting a lot of attention on social media, Hemdani has received visits and concern from the Moroccan ambassador to Finland, Mohamed Achgalou, and from Social Democrat MP Hussein al-Taee as well as from Left Alliance Helsinki city councilor, Suldaan Said Ahmed.
There are plans as well to appeal to the district cout Migri’s decision.
Youssef Hamdani has been hospitalized for three months.
Hemdani’s heart condition is serious. The 32-year-old suffers from an enlarged heart and cardiac insufficiency, according to a medical report.
Youssef Hemdani is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and cardiac insufficiency.
Laghdof Hemdari said that so far, there is no pledge from the hospital that his brother will be operated as promised before Migri decided to revoke his residence permit.
“There is no treatment for my brother’s condition in Morocco,” he said. “He isn’t well. Some days he’s better and other days are worse. Sometimes he cannot eat because he feels the food chokes him.”
Finland will wake up too late when incompetent populist parties, their politicians and policies lead us to the doorsteps of hell just like what happened in Germany after 1933.
Even if Finland ranks second in the World Press Freedom Index after Norway, how high does it score when it writes about populism, radical-right nationalism, policies that fuel social exclusion, and racism?
The fact that Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, has not written an editorial denouncing racism and how damaging populism is to the country, tell us of the extent of our denial.
Why have no dailies investigated how Finland’s geopolitical isolation during the Cold War helps the country to fall prey to populist and racist parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*?
Since almost everyone, especially most of the Finnish mainstream media, is fascinated with opinion polls these days, it’s clear that dailies like Helsingin Sanomat will give parties like the PS space and the benefit of the doubt.
A media that turns a blind eye to a threat like the PS is leaving our future to chance. Fortunately, Finland does have – even if only a few – solid columnists like Yrjö Rautio, who offers well-rounded analyses of the PS in his columns.
A recent interview Saturday in Helsingin Sanomat of PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho is a good example of uncritical journalism. Halla-aho built his political career by inciting hatred on groups like Muslims with Islamophobia, homophobia, and racism to name only a few.
In 2012, he was convicted of ethnic agitation and for breaching the sanctity of religion.
You can read some of his most racist quotes in English here.
This list is the DNA of the Perussuomalaiset party but is rarely asked about them.
It is unfortunate for our democracy that the Finnish media doesn’t do more to hold parties like the PS accountable for what they say and do.
A tweet by @TuomoKondie gives us a ten-point list of some questions that Helsingin Sanomat and other media could ask Halla-aho:
Racism spread by the PS;
Links with neo-Nazi groups;
Pipedream [and neo-liberal] economic policies;
Why they sympathize with Russian leader Vladimir Putin?
Scapegoating migrants for all of Finland’s problems;
Systematic lying;
Why PS politicians have the most criminal convictions than of any other party?
Harassing those that oppose the PS;
Climate change denial and naivety;
Unqualified politicians.
Here is something that every journalist in Finland should take into account when writing about the PS:
The Perussuomalaiset is not a normal party. It isn’t normal because it built its base on racism, far-right extremism, and neo-liberal economic and social models. It has an utter disrespect for our Nordic values. One of these is Section 6 of the Constitution that states: “No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.”
Below are more examples and disappointments of how uncritically the Finnish media writes about the PS.
Too few of them put the PS in the hot seat and why they spread and support social discrimination, exclusion, racism, and scapegoat near-constantly migrants for all of the country’s problems.
The postal strike is over but not the foul Perussuomaaiset (PS)* stench that lingers from the usual scapegoating and liesabout migrants.
When the postal strike started, MP Riikka Purra and the PS had nothing better to do but to blame migrants for the labor dispute.
Migrant Taleswrote about Purra’s and her party’s victimization of migrants and how they cooked the facts to serve their argument.
This video is in Finnish.
Her first claim was that even if migrants make up about 20% of Posti’s total workforce, this was apparently a bad matter since foreigners worked and paid taxes.
Posti, the postal company, shot down Purra’s claim.
The PS MP was adamant and went even further to scapegoat foreigners by exaggerating a bogus claim: 98% of employees that carry your post in the early morning are so-called “people of foreign origin.”
She cited as her “source” the management of the Finnish Post and Logistics Union’s (PAU).
Migrant Tales got in touch with PAU, but they did not answer my calls and never confirmed Purra’s claim. The only one that confirmed her claim was herself.
On top of this, Purra’s little trolls and PS helpers came to her rescue.
One of these trolls is Tiina Wiik, who claims that Purra is right and Posti wrong about the amount of foreign postal workers. I asked her partner, Moroccan-born Junnes Lokka, if he considers himself to be a Finn or a person of foreign origin. He never answered my tweet.
As with the previous statement, Posti rejected Purra’s second claim by stating that about 30% of early morning postal workers are Finns. There is a big difference between Purra’s 98% claim and Posti’s 70%.
But this leads us to the most salient question of all: Who gives a flying f**k if there are non-white people working for Posti? Aren’t they offering a service and paying taxes?
In light of the latter, we should ask why is this such a big issue for the PS?
Youssef Hemdani, a 32-year-old Moroccan national, received a visit on Friday from the police at the hospital where he’s been interned for about three months due to a heart condition. The police told him that he has 30 days to leave the country.
According to a hospital diagnosis, Hemdani suffers from an enlarged heart (dilatoiva kardiomyopetia) and cardiac insufficiency.
Hemdani’s diagnosis and condition, according to his medical report.He suffers from an enlarged heart and cardiac insufficiency.
The decision to not renew Hemdani’s residence permit, after living four years in Finland, was apparently made after he divorced his wife a year go.
They have no children.
The police gave him the following reason why he had to leave Finland: “The Finnish Immigration Service cancels the residence permit, because the grounds on which your residence permit was granted no longer exist
In protest, Hemdani decided to go on a hunger strike from Wednesday evening but his brother Laghdof Hemdari talked him out it on Thursday.
“Before the cancellation of the residence permit, the hospital said that they would operate,” said his brother, who lives in Spain. “This is what we want to find out [why they now changed their minds about the operation]. This is not humanity. This is not Finland.”
Hamdani has been interned in the hospital for about three months due to a heart condition.The official document from the police states: “The Finnish Immigration Service cancels the residence permit, because the grounds on which your residence permit was granted no longer exist.
Migrant Tales will follow Hemdani’s case and write updates.
Migrant Tales will not remain silent concerning those shameful let-them-drown politicians from Finland and the EU, which are an example of the very worse in us.
In May, four let-them-drown MEPs from Finland were elected: Teuvo Hakkarainen, Laura Huhtasaari, Petri Sarvamaa, and Henna Virkkunen.
This dramatic footage shows the immediate aftermath of a shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa (on November 24) as migrants struggle to stay above water in freezing conditions as rescuers try to save them. pic.twitter.com/Rs1px3ha4x
I encourage MEPs and politicians to watch this video to get a taste of what it is like to rescue survivors in the Mediterranean.
So far this year, over 1,000 lives have been lost while crossing the Mediterranean. Since 1993, UNITED for Intercultural Action has documented “more than 36,570” deaths of people who died in an attempt to enter Fortress Europe.
Mgrant Talesin kommentti: Julkaisemme kolmas kirja epätoivoista suomalaisista äidistä. Hänen miehelle ei myönnetty oleskelulupaa.
Onko toivoa jäljellä enää siitä, että voisimme joskus elää normaalia perhe-elämää? Niitä onnellisiakin hetkiä on aina varjostanut alitajuisesti se fakta, ettei miehelleni ole edelleenkään myönnetty oleskelulupaa. Lohdutan itseäni sillä tiedolla, että lapsemme ovat niin pieniä, etteivät ymmärrä tästä tilanteesta mitään. He eivät tiedä sitä, että heidän äitinsä joutuu jatkuvasti pelkäämään, että heidän isänsä viedään taas pois. Kuinka paljon ihmisen täytyy taistella siitä, että saa elää rakastamansa henkilön kanssa? Eikö lapsien oikeus elää isänsä kanssa merkitse enää mitään?
Tällä hetkellä sanaton kuvastaa hyvin tunnetta, joka hallinto-oikeuden päätös aiheuttaa.
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