Wille Rydman is a National Coalition Party (NCP) MP who has built his career on xenophobia and racist soundbites. For some in the NCP, he is known as the Halla-aho of the party.
Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairperson Jussi Halla-aho is largely responsible for steering the party further to the far-right. He was convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012.
Contrary to Halla-aho, Rydman likes to regurgitate what some of the PS’ most racist and hateful messages, like the Islamization of Europe, among other hogwash.
He wrote earlier this month that the ethnic composition of Europe is changing due to low birth rates and that such ethnic diversity is negative for the region.
He claimed in the blog entry that migratory pressure on Europe in recent decades is so drastic that what happened to Rome, when non-Roman tribes invaded it, is small change compared to what is happening today.
PS first vice-president Riikka Purra has spread such myths about how white Finns will be a minority due to migration from outside of Europe.
Certainly, the bullshit that Rydman spreads is xenophobic and racist. Somebody, maybe his party although I’m not holding my breath, should condemn what he said and tell the NCP MP that Europeans are not only white.
Europe is a continent that is historically culturally and ethnically diverse. Talk of whites becoming a minority is extolling white supremacy, which Rydman does.
Apart from a long list of racist soundbites earmarked for public consumption, I had an opportunity to chat with Rydman in 2010. Back then, he wrote in a letter to the editor of Helsingin Sanomat that the state should neither support nor fund multiculturalism because it would hinder the adaption of immigrants into our society.
When I corrected him that his opinions were a letter to the editor, he insisted that it was “an article” published by Helsingin Sanomat.
Some of Finland’s most hot-headed Islamophobes were allegedly bullied in school. That is the case of Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, and others. Were Rydman’s name and ethnic background a source of bullying?
That now leads us to the Stockholm syndrome: A condition where a victim may start to identify with or form a close connection to the people who have taken him or her hostage. In the latter cases of Halla-aho and Hirvisaari, the oppressor is the bully and the victim, the bullied.
That then leads us to Uncle Tom, Tuomo-setä, but that is another story.
The xenophobic stand of politicians like Rydman of the NCP, show how right-wing conservative parties like in the UK have succumbed to populist anti-immigration rhetoric while threatened from far-right parties like the UKIP. It is unfortunate that the NCP is heading towards the same ruinous path as the Tories of the UK.
There is no UKIP in Finland but we have the PS.
I’d like to dedicate the following quote to Rydman by Toni Morrison:
“But when you take it away, take your race away, you are all strung out,” she said. “All you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself?”
*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.