Finnish Families Flee Immigrant-Dominated Areas Over School Safety Concerns

The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti published an article about a Helsinki family’s experiences with immigration. According to the article, the parents decided to move away from Helsinki because their son refused to start lower secondary school at a comprehensive school in eastern Helsinki. The reason for this was the sense of insecurity caused by immigrant children, predominantly Muslims and children of African background.

The school in question has a large immigrant population and has also been in the news recently for other reasons, as Helsinki decision-makers have changed school admission catchment areas in order to bring not only immigrant children but also native Finnish children into the school. This has sparked opposition among families affected by the decision.

* * *

In the newspaper article, the mother gave her own account of the students at the school who bullied her son. According to her, some children of foreign background would gang up on others, pick fights, and behave violently. She also described an incident in which a group of bullies had been waiting outside the family’s home with sticks so that they could beat up the boy.

The group of bullies had also mocked the boy’s name while his mother was investigating an altercation that had taken place in the residential courtyard. In other words, they showed no respect even towards adults – or at least not towards ethnic Finns.

* * *

Finland’s Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Wille Rydman (Finns Party), commented on the matter on social media. He asked what “open-borders immigration policy,” “tolerance,” and “anti-racism” mean in practice.

He answered that they mean children becoming victims of systematic violence and learning nothing at school, while ethnic Finns are forced to become refugees in their own country. He further stated that “in many cases, immigration also means that your daughter, or in some cases your grandmother, or even you yourself, will be raped.”

* * *

It is clear that this statement by the minister will either be silenced completely or, alternatively, prominently highlighted alongside accusations of racism. For ethnic Finnish families living in eastern Helsinki, however, this is not a matter of political debate but of their children’s future. And that is why those who have the means and understanding to do so are leaving eastern Helsinki altogether.

It therefore remains to be seen how the school involved in the above-mentioned case and its surrounding areas will change in the coming years. It also remains to be seen whether Wille Rydman is right or wrong when he claims that “mass immigration builds nothing. It is a sweeping destructive force that civilizations always succumb to – history demonstrates this unequivocally. For our enemies, migration is a key instrument for weakening us. For the defenders of our civilization, opposing mass immigration and promoting return migration is therefore a fundamental moral duty. European society and civilization will either survive or fall with it.”

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Two Recent Life-Threatening Crimes in Finland
Attitudes Toward Immigrants Are a Problem in Schools
Swedish School Shooting with Automatic Weapon Highlights Nation in Crisis

Marxist far-right and bullies

Belgium is known for various things, such as its bilingual population and good beers. One more recent source of notoriety for the small country situated between Denmark and the Netherlands is the violent (example and another) neo-Belgian population.

Therefore, it was interesting to read a newspaper article with the headline, "Belgium votes in parliamentary elections – far-right separatists expected to succeed, making government formation painful."

According to the article, two parties are expected to succeed in the elections. One of them is the national-conservative Vlaams Belang party, which advocates for the independence of the Flanders region and opposes Belgium's immigration policies. This party is expected to achieve a significant electoral victory and become the largest Flemish party.

The second expected success is the nationwide Marxist PTB-PVDA party. So, extreme communists.

According to the article, these two parties would get almost a third of the parliamentary seats, but other parties would refuse to include them in the government. Thus, making its formation more difficult.

* * *

After reading the article, I was left wondering about two things. The first of these was, by what logic is a Marxist, i.e., a communist or far-left party, considered part of the far-right? I had thought that this term used by political journalists referred to national-conservative parties whose agendas include aspects that strengthen the market economy. To my understanding, Marxist-communist parties do not have such aspects.

The second thing that left me wondering – even more so – was that if some parties refuse to cooperate with others, the blame lies with the latter. Analogously: if a group of bullying kids excludes one child from their games, the fault lies with the latter, not with those who made the decision to exclude.

Therefore, it must be asked whether the author of the article in question, and perhaps all other journalists, should reassess their perception of reality. The article left the impression that those responsible and those not responsible for the difficulties in forming a government were declared based on the author's own – obviously delusional – worldview.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Orwellian Big Brother monitors journalists of Finland's Public Broadcasting Company Yle
Will the multinational force led by Kenyans help?
Finnish journalist called for British Prime Minister´s head to be placed on London bridge to dry

A young woman skiing in a swimsuit caused a controversy among women

Ida Hulkko is a 24-year-old Finnish general's daughter, a relative of Andy McCoy of Hanoi Rocks and competitive swimmer who has won silver at the European Championships. She is also active on social media and recently posted a video of herself skiing in her competition outfit, which happens to be a swimsuit. The video caused a storm of controversy, which Hulkko can best explain herself.

"It's amazing how much negative emotion one video that I found funny can stir up in people who don't even know me... Some people understood the humor, but others focused on the objectification and slut-shaming aspects. If I wanted attention, I could start an OnlyFans or do something else. And even if I did want attention, what's wrong with that?"

So is this about misogyny directed towards a young woman by men? Or even contempt for the entire female gender? The reader can ponder this in light of the swimmer's own comments.

"I receive hateful messages every day. Unfortunately, most of the hate speech comes from women. It's really sad. Nowadays, society talks a lot about feminism, but still some women are bullied on social media."

Furthermore, "I've been told, for example, that I disrespect female athletes and women's sports. I've also been slut-shamed, and I've even been accused of promoting a rape culture." 

I think this is pretty harsh talk for a young woman who is living best time of her life and excelling as an elite athlete, just because she humorously played around with Finnish seasons in an outfit that no one pays much attention to in the summer at the beach or even in the wintertime at the indoor swimming pool.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:

The Guardian misleads its readers
African female and Persian male ancestors
Did police have the right to strip women

Sexual harassment and bullying in working life

Bullying and sexual harassment have become major issues in working life including scientific realm. Therefore it was interesting to read fresh reports of recent developments on these issues.

In the first case archaeologist Nicole Boivin was removed from a director position in the famous Max Planck Institute. She was already removed from her position in October 2021 due to evidence of bullying and scientific misconduct, but a court reinstated her due to violated procedures. However, after a confidential report supporting the allegations justified her removal. She remains, however, a researcher at the institute. 

This case has drawn a lot of attention because recent demotions at Mat Planck Institute have disproportionately affected women. Also Boivin was accused of creating an abusive work environment that harmed young women scholars. Whatsoever, this case shows that - in working life - not only males are quilty of bullying, but also women may behave incorrectly.

In the second case it was reported that a high-profile biologist David Sabatini was forced out of the Whitehead Institute in 2021 after he had violated its sexual harassment policies. And now he has also resigned from his professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after three senior officials recommended revoking his tenure. Sabatini had violated intitute´s policy by having a consensual sexual relationship with a person, on whose career he could have been able to influence. 

The biologist commented that the situation is "out of all proportion to the actual, underlying facts. I look forward to setting the record straight and standing up for my integrity." 

A female emeritus professor of biology, however called his resignation "a milestone", because "a young woman had the courage to demand that the rules be enforced. And she was heard." 

Hopefully the decision was correct provided that - at least in my home country - women sometimes use untruthful accusations in cases where intimate relations have failed, and the former pair is fighting for sharing their property or child custody. Thus, I hope the recommendation on Sabatini was well based and the possibility of false accusations excluded. 

In the last case reported in Mexico, a government office dismissed allegations of sexual harassment against a plant geneticist Jean-Philippe Vielle Calzada. Four female scientists, three of them his students, had claimed accusations on him for touching without consent, pressing for a romantic relationship and professional retaliation after rejection.

The Internal Control Organ had previously noted "serious" misconduct by Caldeza, but later dismissed two of the complaints, one of them due to a procedural issue. That is in line with a previous Mexican practice highlighted by the fact that only 1% of the last 399 cases of sexual harassment reported in federal institutions have led to sanctions. Thus, although I am not in a position to evaluate the correctness of this very decision, it looks like a serious difficulty in punishing working life misbehavior continues in Mexico. 

Overall, these three cases highlight problems in creating and keeping decent working life culture even among the most highly educated humans, who also have - in addition to career-related ambitions - sexual and other emotions, that affect daily behavior. I have also seen such cases during my career, and can assure that there is often one word against another and the cases raise strong feelings even among outsiders, who eagerly choose their side. And therefore decision making is extremely difficult - and obviously prone to errors. 

Therefore I am afraid that two kinds of mistakes do happen. Either innocent people will be sanctioned or victims are left without justice. In both cases, the efficacy of the working community suffers considerably - including universities and research institutes. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A set of immigration-derived sexual crimes in a Finnish town