A local pizzeria’s delivery car was vandalized a week ago in a small town in Eastern Finland located near Kuopio. Is it a coincidence that the owner of the pizzeria isn’t a white Finn.
Just like Donald Trump’s racism has consequences for innocent victims in the most recent white supremacist attack in El Paso over the weekend, parties like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are polarizing our society and emboldening racists.
The vandalized car. Source: Facebook.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
It’s been a tough bubble-bursting July and August for Finland’s second-biggest party in parliament, the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* Helsinki city Councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein tweeted that the party and supporters were racists, while history researcher Oula Silvenoinen reminded and called the PS a far-right party on television.
Let’s not forget as well the PS’ membership in pro-Putin and far-right Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament led by pundits like Matteo Salvini of the Lega Nord party.
After the PS’ historic election victory in 2011, Migrant Tales has warned about the party’s far-right and xenophobic roots. “Far-right populism is an illness inflicting Europe at present and it now has a beachhead in Finland,” I wrote in April 2011.
Ties with neo-Nazi groups like the outlawed PVL and Soldiers of Odin are too many to be coincidences no matter what Slunga-Poutsalo says.
Two hairstyles of Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo. On the left when she was PS party secretary and on the right as an MP on A-studio. Even so, she’s the same person who called asylum seekers “welfare shoppers” and who signed in 2010 the anti-immigration Nuiva manifesto. Before the manifesto could be accessed on www.nuiva.fi but it no longer exists. No matter how you cut it, she is an Islamophobe trying to appear like a normal politician. Source: Lehtikuva and Yle.
So why doesn’t the Finnish media call the PS a far-right party?
Calling it a far-right and xenophobic party would be admitting that maybe we aren’t that exceptional as we thought. Considering that over a half a million Finns vote for the PS, newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat are dependent on subscribers and ads.
Without even trying to prove that the PS and its supporters have severe issues with racism, the party has given Hussein the smoking gun.
PS Nurmijärvi Councilperson Maiju Tapiolinna showed us that Finland also suffers from white fragility In a Facebook post she stated: “Somalis should leave the country if they don’t integrate.”
The PS politician made the same comment on a Ylen aamu-tv program.
It’s great that Finland has people like Hussein and Silvenoinen who fearlessly express their views about difficult topics that we should be paying much closer attention like racism and far-right populism.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
Setting aside the racist attacks and harassment that Social Democratic (SDP) Helsinki city Councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein received due to a tweet, why are members of his party and other politicians near-silent offering token support if any to defend a politician of color?
We could ask what is worse, the racist attacks Hussein has endured or the indifference of Finland’s political class?
Hussein tweeted last month that all members of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, their voters and supporters are racist. The tweet raised a storm during Finland’s vacation month of July.
On July 19, Hussein tweets from India: “Was yesterday’s tweet update too much for you.Let me be more concrete. All of the Perussuomalaiset and their voters/supporters are racists. Yes i said it. Do you need proof? Look at your history and how you were elected as Finland’s second-biggest party [in parliament].”
While Hussein denies that his tweet aimed at provoking the PS and its followers, it’s clear that Finland does need a long-overdue debate about its racism issues and why politicians and political parties have failed at containing and challenging the rise far-right populism.
How low has Finland stooped? Why is the country’s political class near-silent in the face of a black city councilperson who is being attacked in a racist and hostile manner? In my opinion, it reveals a scared and racist nation unwilling to take leadership and do what is right.
Hussein published on Facebook Thursday an especially vicious attack against him from a person who claims to be a PS supporter:
Racist: “Hi n-word. You will soon be HISTORY N-WORD!!! If I am a racist then you are an n-word: Do you understand???? N-word. N-word.If I support the persut (Peususualaiset party) then you are an n-word. Go back to where you came from.”
So why aren’t the leaders of other parties saying anything substantial to defend and support Hussein who had the guts to speak out? Where is Prime Minister Antti Rinne, who is a member of the same party as Hussein? Where is Pekka Haavisto of the Greens, Left Alliance, Swedish People’s Party, and Center Party leaders? What about the National Coalition Party?
The indifference and near-silence of these parties and their leaders is deafening and reveals why populism has entered Finnish politics big time during this decade. It also shows us that our mainstream parties and society as a whole are at a loss in dealing with such a threat.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into
two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue
Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off
the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament
plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Former Blue Reform MP and Perussuomalaiset* social and health minister, Hanna Mäntylä, was fired in June as special advisor to the European Council on challenging youth radicalization and marginalization, according to Demokraatti which cites HBL.
We mentioned back in 2017 when Mäntylä was named as a special advisor that she was unqualified to do the job. How can spreading anti-immigration rhetoric and polarizing Finnish society make you an expert on how to stop youth radicalization?
Two Hanna Mäntylä’s: black and blonde. Source: Yle and Seiska.
Migrant Taleswrote: “If we look at Mäntylä’s past record as minister (2015-2016) and her former statements on cultural diversity, it’s clear that they fuel inequality and radicalization and don’t lessen them.”
Mäntylä as social and health minister attempted to spearhead laws where migrants would get less social welfare than Finns. Such laws did not – fortunately – see the light of day since they were unconstitutional. Plans to give less social welfare was part of former Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s 80-point government pogram to tighten immigration laws.
According to HBL, many wondered about Mäntylä’s appointment since she was unqualified. “It has been unclear to all those who worked with her what her [work] experience was,” HBL said, citing diplomatic sources.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017,
into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform.
In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off
the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament
plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
After near-constant hostile labeling of Muslims, Somalis and other people of color in Finland by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, it is a positive sign that people are speaking out.
One of these persons who has been in the news is Helsinki city councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein. Watching him deflect the usual rhetoric from people, who like servile migrants but who are up in arms if they speak their minds, was empowering to say the least. Hussein did not budge but kept true to his stand about the PS being a racist party.
The media is one crucial factor that has helped Hussein get national attention after he tweeted that the PS, its voters, and supporters are racist.
“The aim [of my tweet] was not to provoke on purpose,” he was quoted as saying on Ylen aamu-tv, “but to bring this debate that we need to happen. In my opinion, we hide from such a debate, and we don’t debate it except for one party and one group that [aims to] normalize the amount of hate speech and racism [in society].”
PS Nurmijärvi councilperson Maiju Tapiolinna offered in today’s TV interview as in her past tweets why racism is an issue in her party.
I have learned from years of experience as an anti-racism activist that the best people to point out their racism is usually themselves.
As in her tweet, Tapiolinna tells Hussein that he should leave the country if he thinks that Finland is such a racist country. In a previous tweet, she gave an ultimatum to Hussein: “Somalis should leave the country if they don’t integrate.”
Taipiolinna asked Hussein how can someone be racist if that person doesn’t know what the word means.
“I want to encourage migrants [and minorities] to speak out if they have gone through what I have [as a person of color],” he told Migrant Tales by phone, adding that Finland needs a long-overdue debate about the role of racism in this society.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017,
into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform.
In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off
the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament
plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
Author, teacher, editor, and human rights activist Enrique Tessieri
Here is the Finnish version of Indian novelist, human rights and environmental activist Arundhati Roy’s quote*:
“Instead of writing editorials about the threat of populism in Finland, the media prefers to spend a lot of time publishing polls that show the rise of populism or waiting for Halla-aho to be the country’s next prime minister. And the danger with that kind of obsession with a single party and a single person is that you don’t see the society that produced them.”
*People spend so much time mocking Trump of waiting for him to be impeached. And the danger with that kind of obsession with a single person is that you don’t see the system that produced him.
The far-right anti-immigration populist party, the Perussuomalaiset, is leading the polls. What does the success of an Islamophobic party reveal about Finnish society and how can we contain it?
From left to right: Rodolfo Walsh, Harriet Tubman, James Baldwin, and Mercedes Sosa.
One matter that surprises me about labor discrimination is how some employers believe it is ok to exclude people because of ethnic background. The most recent case involves the Nokkakiven amusement park near Jyväskylä that stated on its job openings page that “if your appearance is clearly from another culture, people who look clearly foreign” might have problems getting hired.
Apart from the employer claiming that gender equality (tasa-arvo) is important in Finland, but it is ok for the company to discriminate based on ethnic background, it is amazing that these types of stories continue to pop up.
One of the most incredible stories that Migrant Talespublished was in 2011, when an entrepreneur from Joensuu published on the Te-services employment page that people “with the wrong skin color” need not apply.
The entrepreneur was slapped with a 645-euro fine for publishing such a racist ad.
Another case happened in 2018, when a woman of color was told that she not of the right ethnicity for the job. The women from Rwanda said she was about the get hired until the employer found out that she was black.
In 2014 we reported that a Muslim woman who wore a headscarf to work on her first day was fired. The managers of the Guess clothing store deny that the woman was fired because she is a Muslim but were fined by a Helsinki District Court. The ruling was the first-ever based on religious attire.
In Scotland, Sweden, Minnesota and in other parts Muslim women are allowed to wear hijabs. In Finland, a Muslim woman in 2014 was not admitted to the police training school because she would not take off her headscarf during working hours. The woman was so disappointed with the rejection that she even contemplated leaving Finland.
Sikh bus driver Gill Sukhdarshan Singh’s long fight to wear a turban at work ended in a victory for him in 2014. Singh said that he went to work on that historic Friday (February 21) at 10am. Even so, he had been struggling with his employer for about a year to have the right to wear a turban at work.
Labor discrimination is not the only form of hostility that migrants and minorities face daily in Finland. Even Finnish fitness centers advertised in 2015 that migrants needn’t apply as members.
The list of discrimination cases in this story is only a microscopic tip of the iceberg. The question we should ask, if we are serious about challenging discrimination in Finland is if the authorities are doing enough.
Do they have sufficient resources to tackle such problems? Are they serious about challenging racism and discrimination?
Migrant Tales wrote back in January a moving story about a Turkmen Iraqi family of three who feared deportation. Their brave 13-year-old daughter, Ilayta S., who speaks five languages, got in touch with me this month. She gave me the good news: Her family was granted a residence permit to stay in Finland.
One of the matters I asked Ilayta to do, if she wanted, was to write a letter to Finland about this important moment in their lives.
For four years the family has lived in constant uncertainty and in the last stages with deportation hanging over their heads. After such an ordeal, it is revealing that Ilayta would write about the discrimination they’ve suffered and “don’t judge people based on their appearance because you can never know what they’ve gone through.”
“Voi olla hyvää jos noi ulkomaalaiset ei olisi täällä! Älä arvostele toisi niiten ulkonään perusteella, et voi ikinä tiedää ne on kokenut!” Translation: “It may be a good matter if those foreigners weren’t here. Don’ judge others based on their appearance since you can never know what they have gone through!
Finland needs people like Ilayta who can make Finland a better country for everyone irrespective of their background.
A racist is an individual, always an individual, who does not like people based on race – must be conscious – and who intentionally seems to be mean to them.
Robin DiAngelo, sociologist
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
Using DiAngelo’s definition, the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* their politicians, their voters, and followers are racists because through such a party they consciously and intentionally aim to harass and bully people they don’t like based on their ethnic and/or religious background.
Disagree?
Take a look at the near-endless attacks against asylum seekers, Muslims, and terms used by the PS’ leader Jussi Halla-aho who calls such migrants “harmful.”
The PS would not exist and get support without its hateful Islamophobic message and rhetoric. Under Halla-aho’s leadership, the PS has forged close ties with neo-Nazis and ethnonationalists.
Finland needs pushback to such ludicrous rhetoric unless we want the next prime minister of Finland to be from an Islamophobic and extremist party like the PS.
Helsinki City Councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein’s tweet was just the pushback and wake up call this country needs. It is a long-overdue and honest discussion required in Finland about racism.
The fact that racism, discrimination, hate speech, and hate crime have worsened in Finland is proof that the present debate, which is mostly carried out by white Finns, is ineffective and intended to maintain the present system and change matters very little for people of color and other minorities.
“Was yesterdays tweet too much for you? Let me be more concrete. All of the Perussuomalaiset and their voters/supporters are racists. Yes i said it. Do you need proof? Look at your history and how you were elected as Finland’s second-biggest party [in parliament].”“Finland is a racist country. This has to be said out loud and not look for excuses why matters are this way. Only this way we can find a solution. Let’s admit the problem and maybe then we can find solutions to some things.”
Mostly white Finns, who are the least affected by racism, debate and give their opinions about the social ill;
Contrary to what Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government claimed, Finland’s integration program is not a failure. What failed and made matters worse was the tightening of immigration policy and fueling the hostile environment against migrants and minorities;
Too many people who work with migrants are incompetent, even hostile to groups like Muslims and have racism issues. Since there is little follow up of their work by competent people, the same mistakes persist;
Our society speaks of two-way adaption but in reality, it is one way;
Such officials offer too often simplistic solutions to complex matters like integration. Their usual advice to migrants is: “learn the language” and/or get a job, which will solve your integration problems;
Such advice by the authorities is deceptive and do not help address labor discrimination and social exclusion in general;
To conclude: The aim of Finland’s integration program is to adapt people to a white Finnish society that has no idea or wish to share public spaces with other cultures.
So why make such a big deal about Hussein’s tweet and racism in general?
To save Finland from a lot of social problems and headaches today and in the future.
We need to wake up from our denial.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.
