Watching the parliamentary question-and-answer session between the opposition and government revealed two matters: the opposition’s xenophobic politicking and the government’s sometimes infirm responses. The debate between the opposition and the government occasionally appears like a shouting match, where the government caves into the opposition. In a historic government decision on the same day, Finland closed its…
Month: September 2022
NO HATE FINLAND STATEMENT: The parliamentary election has begun for the Finns Party”
The Finns Party (PS) is actively campaigning for the upcoming parliamentary election in April. The party published Monday its so-called “Finnishness program,” Suomalaisuuden ohjelma 2022. The program attacks two groups: migrants and Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority. The hostility and simplistic arguments against these two groups resemble an angry and spiteful person willing to lie and cheat to get…
How the PS and other European far-right leaders celebrate Brothers of Italy victory
Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy election victory received applause from several far-right European leaders and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. While the PS chairperson Riikka Purra and the former leader of the party, Jussi Halla-aho, allowed MEP Laura Huhtasaari and Olli Immonen to do the talking. As we saw in Sweden on September 11, Sunday’s election…
European far-right parties are part of a conspiracy to replace our democracies
A paradox: “Liberal” Nordic countries like Finland have large far-right parties that feed off racism. If I were to use the racist rhetoric of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to solve social problems, I’d be lost. Solutions, like tougher laws, more restrictions, enforcing marginalization, and strengthening institutional racism, would leave me in a bind. Fearmongering and…
How Finland plays down hate crime and miscarriages of justice
If there is something to reinforce from the Southern Ostrobothnia district court ruling of the Fares Al-Abaidi case, it is the following: In some cases, the police and the courts play down racist crime. The sentence was a miscarriage of justice. Al-Abaidi has appealed the ruling. Why is the ruling a travesty? Because racism is…
European Islamophobia Report 2021: Finland
The recent parliamentary election in Sweden is only one of the worrying signs that Islamophobia is not receding in the EU but gaining strength. Muslims, like other minorities, must work together to challenge Europe’s ever-growing anti-Muslim racism. We must do this not only for ourselves but for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The editors of the…
Sweden’s election spells trouble for Muslims, migrants, and minorities
The election in Sweden was of special interest to me since I live next door to the country in Finland. Will the good showing of the far-right Sweden Democrats boost our far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party in the April parliamentary election? While it is fair to predict that the election result in Sweden should not hurt…
The Nordic region’s slippery Islamophobic slope
The Nordic saw a predictable political earthquake on September 11, when the right-wing bloc led by the far-right Sweden Democrats nudged the right-wing bloc to victory. The election brought Sweden in line with its other Nordic neighbors: all four now have or had large far-right anti-immigration parties. Of the four countries, the entrenchment of the…
Fan or hate mail to Migrant Tales
Whenever I get fan or hate mail, I wonder why they never sign them with their names. I normally don’t publish hate mail but this will be an exception. The one below is by KKK Molly, at least it is what’s on her email address. I wonder what “KKK” stand for? Ku Klux Klan, maybe?…
Tariq: Is there justice in Finland? (Part 2)
This is Part 2 of Tariq’s* ordeal in Finland. Go here to read Part 1. “This is my case: I have been living in Finland for eleven years. I moved here to be with my wife, and upon arriving, I started to work and study at the same time. After three years in the country,…