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The Democratic Society of Culture organizes a debate on Youth, immigration and gangs.Young people are often objects of disapproval just by their own existence in public places. Nowadays, especially young people with an immigration background get many labels in Finland and they are often talked about in the same sentence as gangs and disruptive behavior. Drugs are also often included in attitudinal demonization speeches.Contrary to what could be concluded from the news and mainstream discussions, however, gangs and youth gangs are nothing new. At the end of the last century, there were bloody wars between some motorcycle gangs in the Nordic countries, including Finland. There have been youth gangs in Helsinki since the 1990s. When talking about the drug trade, one must take into account their complex chains, hierarchies and links, which extend all the way to tax havens.Young people who have no part in society, are marginalized, left out of society, are often an easy target for criminal organizations. Discriminatory and head-kicking structures are often behind young people's problems. The policy of cutting social services that has been going on for decades is also reflected in young people, who are increasingly being deprived of their future perspectives.The reality behind the news headlinesWhat is happening in Sweden at the moment is more broadly related to the change in the structures of the drug trade in Europe. In the same way as in the 90s, the war between motorcycle gangs in the Nordic countries was part of a wider situation in Europe.In the discussion session, we will visit this top-level structure in organized crime and, above all, how it is reflected in the everyday life of all of us, for example through the youth.In the discussion event, young experts will also discuss the reality of youth in the current situation and how much it matches the news headlines.The speakers of the discussion session are Jenny Kasongo, the first vice-president of Leftist Youth and a representative of the SAMHA organization, and journalist Ari Sardar.

Youth, immigration and gangs

The event “Youth, immigration and gangs” has ended