By Enrique Tessieri
The latest scandal caused by none other than Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Teuvo Hakkarainen has caused agan a number of red faces in Timo Soini’s party. Hakkarainen was in such a drunken state, according to Nelonen, that he ended up at the premises of the Bandidos Motorbike Club and gave a prostitute 100 euros out of pity.
The woman whom Hakkarainen had offered money has a different account of what happened, according to tabloid Iltalehti. She claimed that the PS MP wanted to have sex with her and another woman.
“I don’t know how I ended up there,” he was quoted as saying. “We were at a bar [didn’t remember the name of the establishment] and a bit too drunk and then there were these people with whom I went with. And I went there and then I noticed and asked [myself] who were these people wearing [motorbike gang leather] vests. I stayed there a little while and left.”
The Helsinki Distric Court sentenced in 2005 two Bandidos MC members for taking part in a shooting, Helsingin Sanomat reported. The Bandidos Motorbike Club is an organized crime syndicate with membership worldwide.
Hakkarainen flatly denied that he is a member of the motorbike club.
He said that the latest scandal would not hurt him politically.
When PS parliamentary leader Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner was asked to comment on what happened, she gave to the media the party’s standard response. According to her, she had not heard about the incident until Helsingin Sanomat approached her. Ruohonen-Lerner did not want to comment and said Hakkarainen could explain what happened.
The PS appears to have given up patching up Hakkarinen’s scandals as we have seen on other occasions.
Is the PS the party that aims to lead us out of the euro morass and into the twenty-first century? Imagine the suffering and ignorance we’d see thrown at Finland’s and immigrants’ faces if Soini ever became prime minister.
That would be a very unfortunate day for Finland.
Sadly, he’s probably right about that. It might even boost his popularity.
There is at least one very important question that has not been addressed so far in this latest Hakkarainen case: did all of this happen on a school night?
In other words, was Teetotaller Tepi supposed to be working in Parliament the next day?
He certainly has bad judgement of things always ending up in situations like this…
Well Hakkarainen isnt all that bad you make him to be though
http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2012022815261350_uu.shtml
Yossie
And this just about sums up the denial in Finland about racism!
Yossie
This story from Honduras well illustrates a point I made a little while ago (you may recall that it led to a death threat):
Here you have an example of pane neekeriukot heti metsään palkatta työskentelemään Hakkarainen actually engaging in real contact with real foreigners, and the tone has changed completely. Such is the power of racist stereotyping.
I have a relative that lives in Honduras and the stories he tells me are quite harrowing. Rich people in SUVs who get impatient and start firing shots in the air with their guns… Honduras is a violent country, weak democratic institutions, social inequality and probably a good model for Hakkarainen on how to develop Finland this century.
Migrant Tales
Talk about living in denial, what you are saying is not making any sense at all.
Hakkarainen did international commerce by selling saw technology and after that a “kymmenkunta” trips to instruct and educate workers to use and maintenance of the machines.
To me that seems like a very meaningful contribution to progress _in_ Honduras, not taking some mafia model you nicely stereotype and bringing it to Finland.
I think you can also go there Enrique, the restaurant was open for everybody some years ago.
it was in 2007, does anybody know whether it’s still open for the public or not?
Hi Marian.
He -Hakkarainen- has not learned a bit from his foreign experiences as it seems from his current behavorial “flops”. You seem to support these ones. I have a strong feeling that his educational attitude towards the people he trained -right word here- has been more of an “full metal jacket” approach. Have a look at this movie than you will understand my assessment of Mr. Hakkarainen’s way of education.
Your ignorance is maybe due to your unconditional “me-too” attitude. Hardly a surprise for arrogant people with low levels of self-esteem.
Start “meowing” somewhere else. Maybe you find some friend somewhere in the forest.
eyeopener
Yeah, because “Full metal jacket” style training is obviously described with words “Paikalliset ihastuivat Hakkaraisen kansanomaiseen tyyliin ja huippuluokan ammattitaitoon.”
What is your major malfunction? You have added in about your every reply to me some “funny” remarks without any basis for them.
Note also that I didn’t ask you anything, I replied to Migrant Tales. And frankly don’t expect anything other than drivel from you.
the restaurant seems big. They can accomodate at least 300 persons at time.
Supposedly one of the safest party places where full body search is carried out and one is not allowed to have a cell phone in the restaurant
Eyeopener: “Your ignorance is maybe due to your unconditional “me-too” attitude. Hardly a surprise for arrogant people with low levels of self-esteem. Start “meowing” somewhere else.”
Hi Eyeopener, what’s up with your attitude to Marian? I understand you may disagree with her comments, but surely they were put forward neutrally enough.
Your comments to her seem unprovoked. Are you attacking her because based on her name she is a woman?
Enrique, is this the kind of discussion you want to see in your blog?
Marian
I think that Hakkarainen is happy to hang out with other loggers and forestry people and happy to train them and to be seen as doing something useful. He has something to identify with and in that sense, he shows his best side. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of discrimination, especially if it’s with groups of people that he doesn’t identify with and where the gap in knowledge is filled rather with prejudice. This is not a wholly surprising contradiction. The only surprise is that people imagine that racism is an ‘either/or’ scenario, that either you like foreigners or you don’t. That’s an overly simplified understanding of what racism is.
Mark
I agree with you totally, I believe Justicedemon was also making this point. But I don’t think his prejudices elsewhere should take away from his merits on this matter.
Migrant Tales (Is it Enrique who uses this account to comment?) is doing exactly this, ignoring this bit of Hakkarainen and filling the gap with his negative stereotype of Honduras.
Eyeopener went further with his weird Full metal jacket fantasy.
Marian, I am Migrant Tales (Enrique). What am I ignoring? Negative stereotype of Honduras? Come on, get off of it. Teuvo Hakkarainen is a joke, a buffoon. Maybe you should ask PS MP Tom Packalén what he thinks of Hakkarainen.
Hakkarainen is that type of a person that probably feels at home in countries like Honduras, where there is great social inequality and poverty. Doesn’t that concern you, Miriam?
Marian
Nor do your prejudices falsify your true opinions.
You may still need an umbrella, even if a fool forecasts rain.
You go first…
M.T: Marian, I am Migrant Tales (Enrique). What am I ignoring? Negative stereotype of Honduras? Come on, get off of it. Teuvo Hakkarainen is a joke, a buffoon. Maybe you should ask PS MP Tom Packalén what he thinks of Hakkarainen.
Hakkarainen is that type of a person that probably feels at home in countries like Honduras, where there is great social inequality and poverty. Doesn’t that concern you, Miriam?
Well said.
Joku: Eyeopener: “Your ignorance is maybe due to your unconditional “me-too” attitude. Hardly a surprise for arrogant people with low levels of self-esteem. Start “meowing” somewhere else.”
Hi Eyeopener, what’s up with your attitude to Marian? I understand you may disagree with her comments, but surely they were put forward neutrally enough.
Your comments to her seem unprovoked. Are you attacking her because based on her name she is a woman?
Enrique, is this the kind of discussion you want to see in your blog?
It’s natural for you to defend Marian, because you feel the urge to. I believe the reason why eyeopener is on to maria is, Marian seem to be abit of ignorant type of person. She comes here belittling the things we take pretty seriouse,like for instance racism, or racist politicians like Jussi or hakaraien or james, and you dont see nothing wrong in the behaviour of Marian, bt your too quick to see faults in eyeopener. It’s strange that, you dot see any arrogancy in the behaviour or Marian, scroll up for her previouse writings. I know sometime eyeopener gets carried away, but im sure, she doesnt mean any harm to anyone.
Joku, Hakarainen, James,Jussis. These guys have said and write to this day, some bad and nasty stuff about immigrants and basically dark colored people. And Marian seem to defend these guys, as done by many Fins who visit this blog, So i understand eyeopeners attitude to Marian.
Mark: I think that Hakkarainen is happy to hang out with other loggers and forestry people and happy to train them and to be seen as doing something useful. He has something to identify with and in that sense, he shows his best side. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of discrimination, especially if it’s with groups of people that he doesn’t identify with and where the gap in knowledge is filled rather with prejudice. This is not a wholly surprising contradiction. The only surprise is that people imagine that racism is an ‘either/or’ scenario, that either you like foreigners or you don’t. That’s an overly simplified understanding of what racism is.
It’s funny how media is trying to twist things up. Just cause a racist goes to a country where colored people reside, to them means automatically he isn’t racist anymore. I disagree. There’re racist politician in the P.S party, who were married to africans, but that didn’t stop them being a racist. Alot of hardcore racist, travel around the world, enjoy life, and at the sametime be bias and hateful against dark colored peope. So this hakkarainen show off doesnt mean anything. His actions tells alot of who he really are.
D4R: “I know sometime eyeopener gets carried away, but im sure, she doesnt mean any harm to anyone.”
Yes, but I don’t think we should accept that kind of behaviour here! Aren’t we trying to discuss difficult things here in a way that creates understanding?
In the same way you could say that that for example some racist redneck PS man “just gets carried away, doesn’t mean any harm”
IT’S NOT OK! Racism is not ok, macho attacking of women with opinions is not ok either!!
I wonder why Enrique does not care to comment on my question I posed earlier? Does he think it’s ok to bully women as long as they are not immigrants??
joku
There is no gender on the net. Marian is a user name like any other, perhaps that of a patient at a hospital in central Helsinki.
Joku
Activism quite naturally falls into two camps, that of liberals and radicals, with the terms used quite loosely and not necessarily politically.
Liberals tend to promote education and negotiation, while radicals challenge the power relations and provoke engagement with the issue. Liberals appeal to your sense of reason while radicals attack your sense of complacency, i.e. they provoke shame.
The role of radicals is important in breaking through complacency (problem, what problem, I don’t see a problem!?`) and they are generally good at getting the topic discussed, though not always for the right reasons.
Liberals like to focus on the need for change, on the importance of understanding that the ‘right’ way to do it is also the one that is most beneficial to the majority. LIberals want to make the case for change, while radicals often go after the status quo.
An interesting distinction to make is that radicals generally consider the social system to be broken and in need of complete replacement, whereas liberals tend to view it as merely in need of renewal.
Sometimes radicals can give a very false impression simply through their use of subversion.
I’ve seen these ‘camps’ operating in gender politics and its interesting to see them also working to an extent in ethnic issues too. I guess anti-immigrationists likewise fall into liberal and radical camps, though I haven’t given that too much thought.
Migrant Tales
Keep filling the gaps. To me Hakkarainen seems like a person who feels like home at Viitasaari with his logging and drinking buddies.
I find it hilarious you can deny to the end anything worth acknowledgement in Hakkarainen’s business in Honduras. Iltalehti also mentioned Nicaragua, another prospering country that surely does not benefit from new technology or skills. I have a feeling Hakkarainen went there to study new governance model for Finland in case he 20 years later unexpectedly is chosen as a representative for a populist party that unexpectedly rises to fame.
What is your stance on development aid in general? Surely you know that corruption is very hard to avoid in development projects? How do you rate Hakkarainen’s project with 10 subsequent training trips compared to an average development project?
D4R
Hi D4R, could you show me these messages where I belittle racism or advocate Halla-aho, Hirvisaari or Hakkarainen and racism? Oh? No you can’t, because I haven’t written these messages.
If Joku looks at your past writings, Joku will find generalisations, contradictions and lack of logic.
justicedemon
Nice.
justicedemon: ”
There is no gender on the net. Marian is a user name like any other, perhaps that of a patient at a hospital in central Helsinki.”
JD, well, I was maybe just rashly reacting to what I _assumed_ might be a reason for those strange, catty “meaow” comments. I have no idea whether the people in this discussion are in hospital or not…
I just find it illogical to complain here that others are being unfair, threatening and discriminating if they themselves are not arguing fairly or deliberating every word choice either.
I wonder how many people here are honestly trying to learn from others and find common ground? Is this just a place to wage a war with words and incite others as well?
I certainly want to live in a country where everyone can exist in peace.
Why the hostility towards Marian? Did I miss something? Here point about Hakkarainen being a ‘mixed bag’ is good sense. People are rarely if ever ‘completely evil’, folks.
Mark,
Thanks, interesting comments. Never thought of it like that.
Joku: In the same way you could say that that for example some racist redneck PS man “just gets carried away, doesn’t mean any harm”
IT’S NOT OK! Racism is not ok, macho attacking of women with opinions is not ok either!!
No, i can’t say the same about racist redneck, who hates me of who i am. Eyeopener on the other hand never used racist profanitys against different races. So this question of yours doesnt make anysense to me.
Marian: Hi D4R, could you show me these messages where I belittle racism or advocate Halla-aho, Hirvisaari or Hakkarainen and racism? Oh? No you can’t, because I haven’t written these messages.
If Joku looks at your past writings, Joku will find generalisations, contradictions and lack of logic.
You didn’t belittle directly, but by attacking immigrants in this blog, or defending racism against immigrants, that, it’s not a big deal.
I wonder what is your point of attacking us? we’re only discussing about issues that face us immigrants daily. Some of us do face racism and prejudice in this country. You don’t come here to listen what we have to say about issues that face us, but you come here to deny the massege we’re here to proclaim.
D4R
I don’t feel I have attacked anyone. I have openly said that in my opinion you are lacking in your reasoning. You seem to not see it, and twist you own and others’ words to your own liking at will. I keep waiting for you to point out where and when I have attacked immigrants or defended racism.
Eyeopener I probably ticked off with my comment about party organisation, which I apologize for. I think it was a bit arrogant and not necessary. I still do think there was nothing constructive in the comments I referred to (and certainly not in his continuous insults thereafter), but I do understand the need for humour. And I see how regulars of this blog can be frustrated with Seppo Lehto and whatnot visiting apparently frequently.
As for the whole blog, I applaude the effort to give a voice to minorities in Finland. Enrique I feel is a bit sensationalist, and certainly as the editor of the blog is open to criticism. Therefore I don’t think challenging him or the thought process behind a posting or a comment should be viewed as any kind of attack.
Miriam, thank you for the kudos and by all means you are free to criticize me and this blog as much as you wish. We are on Migrant Tales proud of the fact that we have a variety of opinions on different topics. We are, however, pretty critical about things like racism and urban tales.
So, feel free to comment.
Further to my question about whether this latest Hakkarainen silliness happened on a school night, a new report from MTV3 suggests that it did.
This is particularly interesting, given the point that Hakkarainen claimed to be a teetotaller during the election campaign. Various subsequent incidents and reports have shown that this claim was untrue, and not in the trivial sense that he may have the occasional sneaky drink when he thinks that nobody is looking. In this latest incident he left his briefcase and working papers in the Bandidos bar and retrieved them on the way to work only a few hours later.
Teuvo Hakkarainen is a member of the Economy Committee of Parliament, which considers a range of topics including trade, industry, energy, commerce, competition, consumer protection, banking and financial institutions, private insurance operations, the financial and securities markets, and business related to the Bank of Finland. It’s a safe bet that this committee deals with a great deal of restricted or sensitive information.
JusticeDemon, this story gets more exciting by the day as bits and pieces are put together. Imagine if Hakkarainen were carrying (and who is to say not) state secrets in that briefcase. Talk about lowering the bar for MPs and an institution like the Eduskunta! The PS have done a lot of harm to Finland’s image internally and externally.
Ricky
For those who prefer the seamier side of these stories, there is always Seiska
Lol
Ricky
For those who prefer the seamier side of these stories, there is always Seiska.
Lol