Abdirahim Husu Hussein surprised everyone this week when he announced his resignation from the Center Party. In his words, he resigned from the party he joined 13 years ago because “he no longer believes in the party’s policies,” according to Suomenmaa.
While Husu’s decision was applauded by some, it leaves a sour taste about the state of politics and the role of some leaders of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society in national politics.
While Husu has taken a leadership role in promoting cultural diversity and good relations among different groups in Finland, he feels that he didn’t have enough support from his former party.
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
The latter shouldn’t come to any surprise considering that the Center Party, which shares power with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (NCP), comprise one of the country’s most ant-immigration governments in a long time.
Apart from measures that aim to demote migrants to second-class status, a particularly difficult matter for Husu has been the government’s plans to tighten family reunification laws that would impact especially hard the Somali community.
“The worst issue today is the negative atmosphere in Finland,” he said. “It’s divide and rule [between low-income Finns and migrants].”
Husu believes that the situation is going to get worse in Finland, and that the rift between different minorities and white Finns will widen.
He said that the terrible atmosphere isn’t only the fault of parties like the anti-immigration PS but that his former party and the NCP are equally responsible for the situation. The atmosphere is so bad in Finland that some believe it could even spark a civil war.
It’s been a trying spring and early summer for Husu. Not only has he resigned from the Center Party, but his last talk show with Ali Jahangiri aired on Thursday. The talk show, Ali ja Husu, aired for the first time on January 10, 2013.
Husu said that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll continue in politics but will now take a month off and go on holiday.
“I’m interested in international commerce and business with regions like Africa,” he said. “We’ll see what the future brings.”
We at Migrant Tales wish Husu the best of luck in his new endeavors. We hope that he won’t give up his struggle for a Finland that is faithful to Section 6 of the Constitution, which guarantees that all people are treated equally before the law.
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”