The police give you permission to pry into a person’s background even if these are inappropriate and offensive

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Remember Husein Hamiid when he asked in summer a real estate agent about renting a hotel and restaurant? The real estate agent, who was a Perussuomnalaiset (PS)* municipal candidate for the city of Espoo, started to pry into Hamiid’s life: “What kind of family and relatives do you have? What is your religion? Could you send me a picture of your family? What year did you come to Finland?”

Hamiid, a Finnish citizen who has lived many years in Finland, would not stand for this type of discriminatory behavior. He filed charges against the real estate agent.

To his surprise, the police absolved the real estate agent of any wrongdoing. It argued that there was no discrimination.

I’m surprised that [they did not bring any charges against the real estate agent] when everything is written clearly and in black and white and is a clear-cut case,” said Hamiid. “[The real estate agent] has over 20 years experience as a real estate agent even in Spain and should know better:”

Hamiid added that it was surprising that the police gave the real estate agent the benefit of the doubt and sided with him.

Certainly, a real estate agent has the right to ask about a potential client’s background and rental brokierage agreements. Still, they must abide by non-discrimination legislation, according to the Federation of Real Estate Agency. Does the police ruling of Hamiid’s case mean that we can ask people their religion, pictures of their family? Yes, the police are giving the nod to such inappropriate behavior.

So what are the police’s arguments concerning Hamiid’s charges?

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Finland’s pyramid of hate: Let’s do away with the Human Rights of asylum seekers

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Even if opposition politicians from parties like the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), it’s sobering that the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin is holding the line against their onslaughts.

It is surprising that how naive the PS and Kokoomus are. No border, no law, will bring a sense of security unless you deal with the root of the problem. Walls do not keep a country safe and at the end of the day they come down like in Berlin 1989.

Walls do not keep people out. Ask the millions of Latin Americans who crossed the US border.

If we gave a free hand to these two parties, the inalienable rights of asylum seekers, like seeking asylum, would be shelved indefinitely. The hateful rhetoric that would emerge from such a move would make every non-white person a target. First asylum seekers, who’s the next group?

By dehumanizing people, we risk going up the pyramid of hate. We saw this in Nazi Germany as well as in many other countries.

Let’s hold the line against the irresponsible onslaught that undermines our Nordic welfare state values enshrined in Human Rights and social justice.

At times like this, I am ashamed of Finland and the EU

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The so-called migrant crisis with Belarus offers Lukashenko and Putin an opportunity and EU politicians tools to fearmonger and score brownie points with voters.

Isn’t it odd how one-sided the news is about the refugee crisis at the Belarus border? Most of the opposition politicians, especially from the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), believe that harsh words, threats against vulnerable people and children, suggestions of building a 1,340 km fence on the Russian border will help us continue burying our heads in the sands comfortably. 

The anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are in an extremist league of their own. Even so, Kokoomus MPs sound like bullies out for a fight against vulnerable women, men and children. 

Media coverage of the crisis is pitiful. I’m surprised that our media calls these desperate people “immigrants” when in fact, most, if not all, are fleeing war, political instability, poor economic prospects.

Thanks to Jussi Jalonen, an article in Al-Monitor gives us an in-depth view of the people trying to enter the EU via Poland and Lithuania.

Writes Al-Monitor: “Many of those at the border are from Iraqi’s Yazidi community, an ethnoreligious group long persecuted for its religious beliefs. ‘I haven’t eaten in three days,’ he said on Nov. 11 and claimed that two children died that day.'”

Read the full story here.
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Police University College: Suspected hate crime cases retreat in 2020 by 5.22% to 852 from the previous year

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Suspected hate crimes reported to the police in Finland during2020 totaled 852 cases, which is a 5.22% fall from 899 hate crimes in the previous year, according to the Police University College.

As in previous years, the lion’s share (88.5%) of all hate crimes were motivated by national-ethnic origin (649/75.8% of all cases) and religion (108/12.7%). That was followed by sexual orientation (68/5.4%) and disability (30/3.5%).

During the year under review, the Roma minority saw a rise of 34% to 79 suspected cases.

One explanation for the rise is that the Roma in Finland has started to report discrimination cases to the authorities. A good example is to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.

A depressing documentary on Denmark’s Islamophobia

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The scariest matter that Thursday’s documentary revealed about one of Europe’s most Islamophobic countrie was how far racist discourse promoted by politicians could lead a country. In a standard pyramid of hate (see below), where genocide is the final outcome, the apex of Denmark’s pyramid of hate is deportation, and physical elimination of whole groups like Muslims.

Watching the documentary and the comments by an Islamophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP)* MP Marier Krarup and Matias Tesfaye, minister of immigration and integration, showed the source of the country’s “racism is both cultural and legal,” according to Jonas Eika.

Tesfaye went on to say that Denmark was right in taking a more uncompromising stand against Muslims or people from the Middle East and North Africa. This statement was made by the son of an Ethiopian refugee who supports cooperation with the Islamophobic DPP.

According to Politico, the Social Democrats of Denmark supported confiscating the jewelry of refugees to pay for their asylum, forcing the children of immigrants to attend compulsory child care, and banning the niqab.

Michelle Pace, professor in global studies at Roskilde University, expresses dismay at how the ruling Social Democrats are drafting laws and using harsher Islamophobic discourse than the DPP.

“I can’t believe that I am saying this,” she continued, “[but] it is a reality, and that is because they [Social Democrats] want to please their voters. They want to be reelected in the next election.”

See the full program (Danish and Finnish) here.

The message that come through loud and clear from Tesfaye and Krarup in the documentary is, apart from their Islamophobia, there is no room for diversity, especially Muslims, in Denmark.

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Tasa-arvosta ja yhdenvertaisuudesta

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Kaikki, erityisesti poliitikot ja valtion virkailijat pitäisi tietää, että sana “tasa-arvo”* tarkoittaa miesten ja naisten yhdenvertaisuus. Mutta mitä poliitikko saattaa viestittää kun käyttää sana tasa-arvo yhdenvertaisuuden sijasta?

Yksi asia hän viestittä on että kiinnosta on vain naisten ja miesten yhdenvertaisuutta. Hänelle ei ole tärkeä yhdenvertaisia oikeuksista kun puhutaan mm. uskonnosta, etninen taustasta, kansalaisuudesta tai kielestä.

Poliisin nettisivu on hyvä esimerkki siitä kuinka “tasa-arvo” käytetään yhdenvertaisuuden sijasta. Valkoisia poliisi naisia ovat nettisivulla näkyviä mutta miksei heti näky “yhdenvertaisia” esimerkkejä mm. ei-valkoisi poliiseja?

Lähde: Poliisi

Tasa-arvon ja yhdenvertaisuuden sekava käyttö Suomessa heijasta laajempi yhteiskunnallinen ongelma ja osoittaa miksi syrjinnän ja rasismin taistelu on sekava.

Koko yhdenvertaisuuden (myös tasa-arvon) edistäminen on pahasti sirpaloitu Suomessa  ja salli kahden tärkeän sanan väärinkäyttö.

*Suomalaisessa lainsäädännössä ‘tasa-arvo’ tarkoittaa miesten ja naisten välistä tasa-arvoa. Sitä koskee laki naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta. Suomen perustuslaissa määriteltyä periaatetta, jonka mukaan ketään ei saa ilman hyväksyttävää perustetta kutsutaan puolestaan yhdenvertaisuudeksi. Siitä säädetään erikseen yhdenvertaisuuslaissa (Wikipedia).

QUOTE OF THE DAY: What must be done to speed up adaption?

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There are many things that one can do to retard or facilitate adaption of newcomers to Finland. One of the worst is constant suspicion by politicians who have no qualifications or understanding of migration. Good examples are National Coalition Party MP Pia Kauma who does not have the faintest idea about migrants but is still strolling with her baby carriage; members of the Perussuomalaiset* party who call certain migrants “harmful.”

The worst way to help adaption of newcomers to Finland is by treating them as unequal members of society and by using labels such as “person of migrant origin.”

If you want to speed up the process of adaption of newcomers to Finland and make them a part of our society, we must then really wish that and take down those structures that permit institutional racism to see another day. But how serious are we about turning newcomers into active members of society and how much ignorance and racism guide our attitudes? Unless we don’t understand this, all integration programs are doomed to failure.