There are many similarities between Hitler’s rise to power and far-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* Even if the context is different from the 1920s and 1930s, the same nationalist and racial hatred and fuel are present today.
The most recent example of funding policies for the social and healthcare sector by social welfare and health, Wille Rydman, could not highlight this threat more clearly.
Like his party, Rydman is tainted by hubris and racism. Just like Nazis were given legitimacy during Hitler’s reign in power, Rydman has found a similar home in the PS and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government.
Rydman is no stranger to Migrant Tales. In 2022, Helsingin Sanomat published an investigative story where several young women, some of whom were minors, claimed he had harassed them.
Rydman has called asylum seekers who came in 2015 “desert monkeys” and used other racist words for blacks, Muslims, and Jews. He wrote that a certain flower, the lily of the valley, spreads and multiplies like Somalis. Rydman said he’d be ready to forbid the person wearing the hijab instead of the veil.
And let’s not forget the selfie with Meghan Markle, who distanced herself after finding out Rydman’s troubled history with minors and racism. The fact that he wanted the selfie reveals Rydman’s conflated ego.
Rydman has taken in the funding policy crisis and outraged critics, his recent decision to slash social work research in half to 4 million euros,
It’s clear that when you go to bed with a party like the PS that is determined to undermine the rights of migrants and minorities, nothing good can come out of it.
Prime Minister Orpo looks toothless to solve the crisis with Rydman and the PS.
Welcome to modern Finland, where racism and bigotry are normalized.
