As the political dust settles after the Euro elections last Sunday, can we claim like the media that the hard right made important gains? How did anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* of Finland fare compared with the previous elections in 2009? Apart from the UKIP and National Front of France’s impressive…
Month: May 2014
The PS of Finland is named again on a list with other far-right and neo-Nazi European parties
On Monday the Huffington Post listed the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* as one of the nine scariest parties to be elected to the European parliament in the “good” company of xenophobic and neo-Nazi parties like the National Front of France and Golden Dawn of Greece, respectively. On Tuesday, PolicyMic listed the PS as “one of the reasons we should…
Migrant Tales turns 7 years today
I’m very proud of the work that Migrant Tales has done to be a voice of those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public. We strongly believe that words can move mountains and taking into account the intolerance and xenophobia that has lifted its head in Finland…
Migrants’ Rights Network: UKIP’s strong showing challenges supporters of migrants’ rights to do better
By Don Flynn* There’s no point hiding the fact that the right wing party made effective use of public anxieties about immigration to build its position. But all the evidence on how the argument is running shows that it can still be turned round. But we’ll need a new upsurge of activism in support…
Simon Wiesenthal Center will monitor the PS as one of ten parties for spreading xenophobia and anti-Semitism
After being named one of the nine scariest parties to be elected to the European parliament by Huffington Post, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the global Jewish human rights organization that challenges anti-Semitism, issued a statement where it names the Perussuomalaiset (PS) as one of ten parties it will monitor closely for spreading xenophobia, nativist nationalism, anti-immigration rhetoric and anti-Semitism….
Financial Times: MEP Jussi Halla-aho racist track record leaves PS out in the cold
Success comes with a high political price especially if you base that success on spreading racism and prejudice. That is exactly the case of the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* who are hoping to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in Brussels but have been rejected by them because they see PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho as too racist,…
Zuzeeko’s blog: Racist vandalism is costly for Helsinki city
Perpetrators of racism (racists) give all sorts of reasons in an attempt to justify or explain their twisted perception or treatment of fellow human beings who happen to look different. Sometimes economic reasons are evoked. Some in Finland argue, for instance, that migrants from Africa and elsewhere are “welfare shoppers” who move to the country…
Disingenuous Finnish PS MEP-elect Jussi Halla-aho fears image would suffer with parties like far-right National Front
In an interview on YLE, Perussuomalaiset (PS) newly elected MEP Jussi Halla-aho said that it was doubtful that the anti-immigration party would form part of a parliamentary group with far-right parties like the National Front of France “because the party’s image would suffer.” What a disingenuous statement by a politician who has based his career…
Huffington Post: The PS of Finland is one of the nine scariest parties elected to the European parliament
Is it surprising that The Huffington Post named the “True Finns,” or Perussuomalaiset (PS), in the same far-right league as the National Front of France, Danish People’s Party, Lega Nord, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom and neo-Nazi Golden Dawn? Nigel Farage’s UKIP is not on the dubious list. Unfair? Not really if we look at PS…
The EU elections are a call for migrants and minorities to raise their voices and take charge of their future in an ever-hostile Europe
What does the election victory of anti-EU and anti-immigration parties reveal for the future of the EU, immigrants and minorities in Europe? The bad news is that matters will get worse before they improve, even if these parties didn’t get a clear mandate in the EU elections. Writes the Guardian:”But not by as much as…