The Finnish police have at the most 10 Internet police officers who monitor hate speech, reports Yle, citing police inspector Måns Enqvist of the National Board of Police of Finland.
The news was published after the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party claimed that too many police resources are being wasted to monitor the Internet for hate speech.
At most, ten officers working on monitoring the Internet is too little, and Finland should allocate more police resources.
Moreover, we should not forget that crimes like ethnic agitation and hae speech and hate crime exist because they protect vulnerable groups like migrants and minorities. Scrapping such laws, like the PS is demanding, is to leave migrants and minorities open to hostility and aggression.
Despite the small number of police officers monitoring the Internet, one of the problems in tackling hate speech in Finland is that too few are charged and brought to justice.
Is this because there are too few police resources?
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Abrirahim Husu Hussein tweeted that 27 members of the far-right Perusuomalaiset (PS)* party filed charges against the Helsinki city councilperson for tweeting in July that all the PS, its voters, and supporters are racists.
Abdirahim Husu Hussein states the 27 Perussuomalaise members charged the Helsinki city councilperson of defamation. The police decided no to press charges against Hussein.
Of all the Finnish political parties, the PS is the most racist. Under Jussi Halla-aho’s leadership, the party has steered to the far right.
The PS is also disingenuous. Halla-aho and the leadership of the PS want to do away with legislation on ethnic agitation. The PS leader believes that police resources are poorly allocated when they monitor the Internet for hate speech.
Halla-aho claims that people in Finland should be able to speak openly about immigration without the fear of being charged for hate speech and ethnic agitation.
Even if this is what Halla-aho and his ilk do all the time, they sure didn’t give Hussein the chance to speak openly in the same way that the PS speaks of Muslims.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Tiina Wiik is the wife or girlfriend of Junes Lokka, a Moroccan native and Oulu city councilperson who has been convicted of ethnic agitation among other things. She claims in the tweet below that the death threat sent to Abdirahim Husu Hussein could not be written by a native Finn but by a Somali due to the grammatical errors.
So? Migrants can have racist prejudices in the same way as white Finns. She should know.
It doesn’t matter if the person who wrote the death threat is a white Finns or not. What matters is our reaction to such hate.
Helsinki city councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein received a letter Wednesday with a death threat and a piece of rope tied as a noose. While it is clear why this happens, we should ask why it continues to happen and with such impunity.
Having lived in Finland for many years, one matter I learned at an early stage is that there is a strong racist undercurrent in Finnish society. This ever-toxic murmur of that undercurrent has turned today into a mix of blind rage and a sense of impunity.
Another death threat was sent to Helsinki city councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussen Wednesday. The note reads: ““N-word. Don’t mix in what Finnish politicians do. You heard of Martin Luther King. He was an n-word and look what happened to him. Greetings from the Ku Klux Klan.” Source: Facebook.
Do you need more hard proof? The sources of such hatred are more than clear since words have consequences.
The challenge is if we want to open ou eyes to such threats and actually do something about them.
One Finnish party that bases 90% of its political message on catering to the anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam vote bursted into the political scene with a vengeance in the 2011 parliamentary election. In a matter of four years, it saw the number of MPs rise from 5 to 39.
While there are many factors fo the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in 2011 and during this decade, one matter is for certain: its anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam message has struck voter gold.
Too many of us, not Migrant Tales, played down the PS victory of 2011 and what it meant for the country. “The Perussuomalaiset* will implode soon,” was a common excuse you heard for not doing anything.
Even if it is clear that there is a connection between the rise of the PS and hostility towards migrants and minorities, the police, politicians, the media, and policy-makers share equal responsibility.
Finland has some of the best laws that promote social equality and ensure that everyone, irrespective of his or her background, is equal before the law. The problem, however, is that such laws are not enforced as they should.
If we are all equal before the law, why is it that in 2019 white Finnish women make 0.80 euros compared with a white Finnish male’s euro? Why do migrants make on average 0.50 euros, according to researcher Pekka Myrskylä?
The answer to that question is clear: The police, like society, don’t consider racism and discrimination a high priority. Moreover, convictions for racism and hate speech are too lenient, even a joke in some cases. A perpetrator can be slapped with symbolic fines totalling 60 euros.
Such fines, as PS MP Ano Tutiainen said earlier this year, are “a feather in one’s cap.”
Hussein’s death threat is just another example of how ineffective our society is in combating racism and hatred. If Finland does not wake up to the social ill, matters may speed out of control like they have in the United States and recently in neighboring Norway.
Racism and hate are like a rabid dog that some politicians walk to impress and lure their voters. They forget, however, that that dog knows no master and can bite back hard, very hard.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Olemme sinun kanssa Husu. Ei miään voi meitä voittaa.
“N-sana. Älä puutu suomalaisten politiikojen tekemisin. Tiedätte Martin Luther Kingin. Hän oli n-sana ja mitä tapahtui. t. Ku Klux Klan (loppu teksti ei saa selvää).
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Mauri Peltokangas is on a roll Tuesday. First, he demands the Swedish-Finnish border should be closed, and now he tweets and insults history researcher Oula Silvennoinen.
Folks, this hothead Islamophobe represents the second-biggest party in parliament. Imagine, is people like him would call the shots in Finland?
PS MP Mauri Peltokangas giving the thumbs up. Source: Facebook.
I wonder where MP Peltokangas got educated and what his parents taught him at home.
The PS MP tweets to Silvennoinen: “Thank you for your replay Oula. When I watched your last program, where you appeared as an expert, I could not tell whether you spoke from the head or the ass.”
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Mauri Pelokangas is a hothead Peurussuomalaiset (PS)* MP who has gained notoriety for his Islamophobic statements. He demanded the police to release the identities of two men at large believed by him and the PS to be foreign terrorists.
Those two “foreign terrorists” turned out to be Swedish nationals who speak Finnish.
Since Peltokangas’ conspiracy theory was trashed and he was made to look like a horse’s ass, the PS MP is now demanding that the Swedish-Finnish border be closed:
“Since Swedish national have come to Finland to shoot at the police, wouldn’t it be time to shut the Swedish and Finnish border? Border checks should be implemented.”
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
After the Oulu sexual assault cases came to light at the end of November and rapidly spiralled out of control in the media, is one sad example of Finland’s Islamophobia problem. Not only are politicians from parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* trying to reap the political benefits, but the media, and police, too.
All of those groups that participated in the social media lynch mob got something out of it like the PS, which almost won the parliamentary elections of April,
With the Oulu sexual assault cases behind us and with eight people of color sentenced to prison, a question arises: What role did the media, politicians, and Oulu police have in fueling the hysteria?
Yle alone reported 77 stories on the topic, 13 on one day, about the sexual assault cases during November 27-February 13. During that period under review, the Oulu police published 13 statements on the topic.
Writes Päivi Happonen of Yle who took the unprecedented step of questioning in a blog the Oulu police’s over-enthusiastic communications policy of the sexual assault cases.
She writes: “So what bad did [Oulu police’s communication] inflict? A lot. Many have the impression that Oulu became the crime capital of Finland, where asylum seekers rape all the children they can.”
Happonen, whom the Oulu police attacked in a tweet for her brave words was proven right by her employer despite police objections.
One may rightfully ask if all the hysteria was worth it considering that out of an estimated 20 suspects eight ended up with prison terms. Is this how the Finnish media and public reacts when white Finns sexually abuse children?
Apparently not. A story about a pedophile ring accused of sexually abusing 6-15-year-old boys lasted only a week in the news with seven stories published by Yle.
One important rule that journalists learn is that words are a powerful weapon. Since that is the case, it means that we have to be fair in our reporting. No need to kill an ant with a bazooka.
Imagine as well the harm that the Oulu police, the media and especially politicians of the PS and National Coalition Party inflicted on Finland’s migrant and especially the Muslim community.
According to Imam Abdul Mannan of Oulu, Muslims in that city did not feel safe and tried to avoid going to the city center due to the hostile environment.
When I asked a reporter of the Oulu-based Kaleva if unbalanced reporting was an issue, he shrugged off my comment by stating that this is what always happens.
Always happens? Did the reporter read Happonen’s column? Was he too scared to question the lynch-mob mode of many of his colleagues and the media they worked for?
Tabloids like Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat, have a long history of publishing racist stories that label and question other people’s right to be treated fairly and with dignity. A recent example of this type of reporting is Mika Koskinen, who not only editorializes his stories but shows his Islamophobic worldview and hatred of asylum seekers.
Koskinen was one of the most enthusiastic journalists in January to label wholesale all Muslims and asylum seekers as a danger to society.
In a video interview, he claimed in mid-January that Finland was naive in allowing over 30,000 asylum seekers in 2015 because there is evidence that suggests that such people are prone to commit rape crimes.
Iltalehti’s Mika Koskinen giving offering Islamophobic and unsubstantiated facts about asylum seekers in Finland. Koskinen is a poor example of opinionated and racist journalism. See the video interview here.
Despite Koskinen’s claim, he never cited any reliable evidence that backed his claims.
In the latest tirade against Muslims and people of color in Finland, Koskinen took on board the PS conspiracy theories about the two suspects involved this weekend two suspects that shot at police and which led to their arrest on Monday.
In the first story, Koskinen misleads readers by putting words in Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo’s mouth and then interviews Islamophobe PS MP Riikka Purra, who attacks Ohisalo’s refugee policy as “ultra-liberal” and “detached from reality.”
The only problem with Koskinen’s two stories is that Ohisalo’s words were his personal interpretation of what the minister said . The only thing that Ohisalo said was that it is a human right to seek asylum backed by international agreements signed by Finland.
Koskinen’s wanted to show in the stories as well that Ohisalo was not up to the job to guarantee people’s safety in the face of the two suspects who were then on the run and speculated by PS conspiracy theorists to be Muslims or asylum seekers.
Both of the suspects were Swedish nationals who spoke Finnish.
Saku Timonen writes (in Finnish) about Koskinen’s opinionated reporting in this column.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Just like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party exploited to their benefit the Oulu sexual assault cases earlier this year, the same was happening after two gunmen shot two police officers in Porvoo over the weekend.
Rumors about a conspiracy theory by the police were rife and being spread by PS politicians, who believed that the suspects were Middle Easterners or asylum seekers.
Most of these politicians looked like a horse’s ass today when the police revealed today that suspects were Swedish nationals who spoke Finnish.
If there is a lesson to be learned from this most recent case, it is how the PS and its xenophobic message has spooked Finland. The fact that so much emphasis is placed on the nationality of the suspects is a perfect example of this country’s obsession with ethnicity.
It is clear that such obsession and a party like the PS ready to orchestrate and capitalize on such fear means that they will continue to do well in parliamentary elections as happened in April.
Finland has stooped to new low depths this decade thanks to the PS, which win elections by spreading fear of non-white people by grossly exaggerating stories of foreign crime.
Perussuomalaiset Chrperson Jussi Halla-aho tweets that “if the aim of the [police] press conference is to ‘rectify speculation,’ why don’t they say anything about [the ethnic/national backgrounds] of the suspects? In the same way, we helped an honor killer escape from the country.”
Below is a perfect cartoon by Ville Ranta that reveals the crocodile tears of xenophobes like Halla-aho and his party.
“After the attack: The first group to be present is the anti-immigrant pundit.”
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Migrant Tales will start publishing news about how the far-right, specifically the radical right, is dupping half a million Finns. I consider the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* as the biggest menace to Finland’s democracy, our Nordic way of life, and vibrant cultural diversity.
Former PS party secretary and MP, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, disagrees. She said on A-studio (31.8) that the PS is “middle of the road” and would not define her party neither as far-right nor radical right.
History researcher Oula Silvennoinen, who was also a guest on the program, stated that there are two types of far-right parties: radical right (see below for definition) like the PS, and extremist groups like the neo-Nazi PVL.
Slunga-Poutsalo was, however, adamant: “We are a conservative party but not far-right.”
Even if the PS likes to play own its ties to far-right extremist groups like Kansallismilisten Liittouma, the neo-Nazi PVL, and other likeminded groups like the Soldiers of Odin and Suomen Sisu, these relationships always pop up in the strangest of places.
At a summer camp in mid-July arranged by Kansallismielisten Liittouma, participants took potshots with bow and arrows and air-rifles at ministers like Prime Minister Antti Rinne, Minister of Education Li Anderson, and Minister of Employment Timo Harakka, all left-wing politicians.
One prominent PS official at the summer camp was Hannele Al-Hamzawi, a member of the far-right association, a Holocaust denier, and, surprise, surprise, chairperson of the Southwest Finland region PS women’s chapter.
Some hardcore member of this association are members or have close ties with the neo-Nazi PVL, Suomen Sisu and the PS. Hannele Al-Hamzawi is next to last person standing on the right.In this tweet, Al-Hamzawi, who used to be married to an Iraqi man, questions and isn’t sure whether the Holocaust took place. Dmitry Gurbanov states that Al-Hamzawi is a member of the far-right Kansallismielisten Liittouman and chairperson of the PS’ Southwest Finland women’s chapter.
If you Google the association’s chairperson, Tero Ala-Tuuhonen, you will find a picture of him wearing a uniform with a rank patch of an SS stumhauptführer. White terrorist Anders Breivik emailed Terhi Kiemunki, a former PS member and vice-chairperson of the association before he went on a rampage and killed 77 people in Norway on 22/7.
Just like the members of the Kansallismielisten Liitouma board, which have ties to or are members of neo-Nazi, Nazi-spirited groups like the Soldiers of Odin and Suomen Sisu.
Al-Hamzawi views on immigration were so radical that she was removed as a municipal candidate for the Christian Democratic party in 2017.
Radical Right 101
Thanks to the vital work of researcher Silvennoinen and others, Finns have learned more about the far-right and radical right and what are their political goals.
What are some of the political aims of a radical right party like the PS? How would they rule Finland if they got power?
Radical right parties are anti-establishment, anti-EU, anti-elitist, anti-globalization, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam;
They lobby for stiffer immigration and naturalization laws;
Favor authoritarian and hierarchical leadership like Jussi Halla-aho of the PS, whom his followers call “the meister;”
Have close relations and cooperate with far-right extremist groups;
Overdosed on xenophobia and Islamophobia, ethnic replacement conspiracy theories abound and are a common theme of radical right parties like the PS;
They favor a two-tier society where only citizens enjoy access to social welfare, unemployment benefits, and civil rights in general;
The radical right wants to establish an ethnocracy instead of a democracy;
They believe in the romantic myth of the homogeneous nation;
In the face of their ethnic replacement conspiracy theories and romanticism for a white ethnocracy, are they planning to deport on a mass scale those they consider undesirable or send them to concentration camps?
Sexual identity is as strict as ethnic background.: man, woman, and heterosexuality;
It aims to gain power through the democratic system it wants to destroy Finland’s liberal democracy and copy what Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán has done in Hungary.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
