The Trump administration is one of the best examples of the violent knee-jerk reaction of how white privilege reacts when threatened. As Nazi Germany proved, government’s will go to any lengths to defend their privileges, even if it is a fabricated threat.
No country is immune to such a situation. The rise of far-right parties in Europe is an example of the latter. All of them have one factor in common: outsiders are threatening to take away our privileges.
Fortunately, Finland is bucking the trend for now. The anti-immigration and far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which is in government, has seen its poll numbers nosedive, as a recent Helsingin Sanomat opinion poll showed.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, the last time the PS’ share of the vote was at the 10% level was in January 2019, when it was 9.7%. It is today a far cry from its peak of 22.8% in January 2020.
The PS’ lack of support is linked to white privilege, which the party is attacking through its austerity measures that target vulnerable groups like single mothers and the unemployed.
The worst enemy of the Perussuomalaiset is the Perussuomalaiset.
The recent opinion poll published by Yle is a source of hope that Finland is finally awakening from its 2011 general election nightmare, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* saw its MPs in parliament soar to 39 from five previously.
The latest poll shows that the PS’ support plummeted by four percentage points to 11.4% relegating the anti-immigration far-right party to fourth place after the Social Democrats (25.3%), National Coalition Party (20.2%), and Center Party (15.6%).
The PS saw its support dive in April’s municipal and county elections and this is a bad omen for the party in the 2027 general election.
Even if the PS leadership blames their poor election misfortunes on “a red wave” and “poor communication,” the party’s membership in government has exposed its far-right neoliberal policies and agenda.
Many, like myself who have followed the PS closely since the early 2010s, are hoping that the PS will return permanently to the single-digit political leagues characterized by internal fighting.
In the face of what is happening in the United States under President Donald Trump and the rise of far-right parties in Europe like the AfD of Germany, one may ask if we have crossed the point of no return. Finland’s municipal and county elections of April offer us a clear no to that question.
In the municipal and county elections, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* saw its results plummet raising speculation that it may be even a death blow to the party with parliamentary elections due in April 2027.
The worst enemy of far-right and autocratic parties and rulers is none other than themselves. Autocratic rulers and parties become success or speed blind until they smash against a wall.
In a watershed announcement by Germany’s domestic intelligence service it slammed AdF as a “right-wing extremist group.” This could allow the government to ban the far-right party. As guessed, the Trump administration has expressed its displeasure.
One of the lessons that I learned from my native Argentina, is that political turmoil caused by autocrats like military rulers have their days counted when they believe they are invincible. Today, we are witnessing it in the United States under the Trump regime.
As he promised, Trump is an autocrat from day one challenging the very institutional fabric of the country.
It would be naive and careless to believe that the US is now under attack from an autocrat. It has been under attack from within ever since it institutionalized slavery, injustice and runaway capitalism.
And what is even greater and offers a ray of hope, is that fact that you do not need an army to defeat the most well-equipped regime. All you need is a few good people at the right historical place and time.
An example of how the mainstream media spreads racism and frames migrants. MTV is supposed to be a “serious” source but last year it invited Interioir Minister Mari Rantanen to talk about the governments anti-immigration policy with a provocative picture on the right. You can read the lastest European Islamophobia Report 2023 here.
Opulence and inustice are a deadly mix that can destroy an autocrat like cyanide and it will end up killing and impoverishing it.
The recent municipal and county elections in Finland also are a cyaide pill for the xenophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, whch saw its election result plunge to by 6.8% to 7.6% and by 3.3% ti 7.8%, respectively.
Few are shedding a tear about the dismal result of the PS in the election after it has spread in Finland xenophobia and attacked migrants and minorities. It is a party that appeals and spreads racism that are masters at playing the victim. The PS is a constant threat to our democracy and the rule of law.
Parliamentary election in Finland take place in 2027 and we’ll see then whether the PS will be relegated to the minor political leagues and was a brief political nightmare.
Traveling is almost like talking with those of other centuries.
Rene Descartes (1506-1650)
The statement by the French philosopher and mathematician is true and may provide an answer on why some of us are restless travelers. When we move to a new city of country, do we subconsciously stay in contact with our former hoe, cherished relatives, friends and memories? Does our wish to remain spiritually connected to such matters reveal why – after many generations – some of us in faraway lands stubbornly refuse to severe ties with a country like Finland?
Possibly, some of us are nothing more than antique collectors of culture, which decorate the shelves of our soul. If you had a chance to see my soul, you’d notice shelves extending as far as the eyes can see with ornaments and heirlooms of Finnish and other cultures gathering soul dust.
A book publsihed in 2006 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Colonia Finlandesa, Argentina.
I still can’t place my finer on it, but there’s something bewitching that the streets of bygone times house. Is it a lost dream? A passionate desire? An eternal gut feeling that spiritual and material wealth are around the corner? Or will we find our former relatives on such streets and have the opportunity to ask them the immigrant question of all questions: What did you search so hard for?
What they searched for
Since Argentina has been on the front pages of the world’s major dailies, with your permission, we will momentarily travel to the streets of that country, where my Italian great grandparents migrated to in the end of 1890s.
Like the U.S., Canada and Australia, millions of Europeans moved to Argentina in the 19th and early 20th century. Most of these migrants were Italians and Spaniards. A tiny group of Finns founded in 1906 a colony in the subtropical jungles of north-eastern Argentina.
In the 1914 census, 30% of Argentina’s population comprised o foreigners and its capital city, Buenos Aires, the figure stood at 49%! Add to these percentages the children of these migrants and the foreign-to-native ratio becomes even more impressive.
If you visit a residential neighborhood of Buenos Aires like Flores, where my grandparents once lived, you’ll still find early-20th-century Parisian-style houses adorning sleepy oak-lined cobblestone streets.
Many of the older residents of Flores despise time because they say it distances them from those they love and who where from distant European lands. The residents of the neighborhood have ingenious methods of stopping time: They park vintage cars like Fords from the 1930s in front of their homes. Some have portraits of ancient heads of state like King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Spain’s Francisco Franco and Czar Nicholas II hanging on the walls of their homes.
The inhabitants understand that if time is allowed to wander freely, it turns into the worst ogre devouring everything in its path.
In a clear victory without visible consequences, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has asked that Finnish authorities to cite reasons for the closure of the Finnish-Russian border. The request is significant considering that the ECHR rejects about 90% of complaints seeking answers from state authroities.
In the face of the ECHR decision, Finland appears to be on a war footing with its Russian neighbor even if President Alexander Stubb said recently that Finns should prepapre for better political relations with Moscow.
Despite such a mesage, the government sends mixed messages by announcing that the country plans to quit a global convention banning anti-personnel landmines and boost defense spending to at least 3% of GDP by 2029, according to CNN.
One of the problems of the so-called pushback law, which allows Finnish border guards to deny their human right to seek asylum, is its credibility. In order to pitch the law to other MPs and the public, Interioir Minister Mari Rantanan of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, is the claim that “thousands” of asylum seekers are waiting to cross the border and claim asylum.
Without offering any proof, Rantanen has accused Russia on steering asylum seekers to the border to increase pressure on EU as we have seen at the Belarus-Lithuainian, – Latvian and -Polisih border.
The nine plantiffs cite in the compaint to the ECHR how their human rights have been breached. Some of them have families in Russia, whom they cannot visit, antother plantiff said that he cannot receive a Russian pension made more difficult by the sanction against Russian banks.
El 24 de marzo de 1976 marcó un día infame que es imposible de olvidar tanta violencia. Aunque esa pesadilla sigue viva, la esperanza no se deja de conquistar por el terror.
Atrás del dibujo por Anikó Szabó, hay un mensaje de una amiga que me mandó en 1978 en plena dictadura militar. Lo conservo todavía después de 47 años.
“Esta tarjeta es una realidad para que siempre te recuerdes de estos pagos tan lejanos, practicamente en el FIN del mndo pero que es tan querido por nosotros. Ya va a llegar un día en que el sol saldrá realmente para todos en estas latitudes, el asunto es seguir siendo como somos y formar a la gente, educarla para que comprenda y comience a espertar, a abrir sus ojos. Claudia”
Las Madres de Plaza de Maho son una constante fuente de lucha y esperanza.
The recent resignation of former Chief Nnspector Jari Taponen and others from the police reveals the extent to which populist politics has infiltrated the police. In 2023, and with funding from the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), the EU’s largest anti-racism NGO, we published a report showing how parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* use migrant crime to attract voters.
I have interviewed Taponen a few times about street gangs. What he writes in a column in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat confirms our conclusions that the issue has a strong political component.
It is sad how slowly, if not yet, the media has reacted to the populist politicking of parties like PS and the National Coalition Party.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the whole street gang news story is a ploy by parties like the PS to further polarize the country and label all racialised youth as potential criminals.
Shame on the PS and the Finnish media.
We wrote in the report: “Moreover, the “youth gang” story has exposed how the media, police, and politicians collaborate to spread a narrative about marginalized groups. Each of the three involved has a vested interest in exploiting stories about minorities: – The media gains viewers and advertising revenues. – The police can secure more funding for fighting crime. – Politicians appeal to voters.”
Media like MTV engage in a lot of shameless hypocrisy. Look at the pictures below and how they have labelled all racialised youth as potential criminals.
Has MTV changed its ways? Below is a picture of an interview with the PS Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen.
This ad was placed on MTV last year to mark an interview with Ivan Puopolo Rantanen. Puopolo is the face of MTV, who frequently interviews and spreads the anti-immigration message of the PS.
In his column, Taponen hits the nail on the head: “This is a worrying trend [in the police], because the functioning of the police and the upholding of security in socleity must be based on respect for inalienable and human rights and the fair and equal treatment of all groups of the population.”
Entinen ylikomisaario Jari Taposen ja muidenkin eroaminen poliisista paljastaa, miten paljon populistinen politiikka on tunkeutunut poliisiin. Vuonna 2023 ja EU:n suurimman rasisminvastaisen kansalaisjärjestön European Network Against Racism (ENAR) rahoituksella teimme raportin, jossa osoitimme, miten Perussuomalaisten kaltaiset puolueet käyttävät maahanmuuttajarikollisuutta äänestäjien houkuttelemiseen.
Olen haastatellut Taposta muutamaan otteeseen katujengeistä. Se, mitä hän kirjoittaa Helsingin Sanomien kolumnissa, osoittaa, että koko asia on myös poliittinen.
On surullista, miten hitaasti tiedotusvälineet reagoivat PS:n ja Kokoomuksen kaltaisten puolueiden populistinen politikointiin.
Ei tarvitse olla kovinkaan älykäs tajutakseen, että koko katujengi-uutisjuttu on juoni, jolla pyritään entisestään polarisoimaan maata ja leimaamaan kaikki rodullistetut nuoret potentiaalisiksi rikollisiksirikollisiksi poliittisen hyödyn tavoittelemiseksi.
Hävetkää suomalainen media.
Kirjoitimme raportissa: “Lisäksi ‘nuorisojengitapaus’ on paljastanut, miten media, poliisi ja poliitikot yhdessä levittävät tietynlaista tarinaa marginaaliryhmistä. Tässä on hyötyä: · Tiedotusvälineet saavat katsojia ja mainostuloja. · Poliisi voi saada lisää rahoitusta rikollisuuden torjuntaan. · Poliitikot vetoavat äänestäjiin.
MTV:n kaltaiset tiedotusvälineet harjoittavat paljon häpeilemätöntä tekopyhyyttä. Katsokaa alla olevia kuvia ja sitä, miten ne ovat leimanut kaikki rodullistetut nuoret potentiaalisiksi rikollisiksi.
Onko MTV muuttanut tapojaan? Alla on kuva, jolla he esittelivät perussuomalaisten sisäministeri Mari Rantasen haastattelun.
Tämä mainos laitettiin MTV:lle viime vuonna Ivan Puopolon Rantasen haastattelun merkiksi. Puopolo on MTV:n kasvo, joka useasti haastattelee ja levittää PS:n maahanmuuttovastaista sanomaa.
Taponen osuu kolumnissaan naulan kantaan: “Se on huolestuttava kehityssuunta, sillä poliisin toiminnan ja yhteiskunnan turvallisuuden ylläpitämisen tulee perustua perus- ja ihmisoikeuksien kunnioittamiseen sekä kaikkien väestöryhmien oikeudenmukaiseen ja yhdenvertaiseen kohteluun.”
The normalization of racism and government policy that reinforces the social illness are the sad examples that will get worse as long as National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petter Orpo leads the government with the Perussuomalaiset (PS).*
One way of putting some breaks on the adverse climate of polarization and xenophobia is by forcing the government to fall.
Normalization happens when even the opposition can cave into the pushback law that ended Finland’s respect for human rights and the rule of law.
The pushback law says it clearly: asylum seekers are animals who don’t deserve human rights.
Thanks to Petteri Orpo’s toothless anti-racism measures, white power is gaining strength in Finland and emboldens racists. Picture: Enrique Tessieri
The normalization of racism happens through the media as well by portraying migrants and asylum seekers as the guilty suspects when, in fact, they are the victims of our draconian migration policy and our lack of empathy.
The media, which is a big part of Finland’s racism problem, is toothless when it reports on ministers like Mari Rantanen, who is the biggest threat to migrant and minority rights.
If the government could shape your thinking, Rantanen and her cronies want you to believe that migrants and asylum seekers are lowlifes taking advantage of the social welfare system.
The next measure suggested by the likes of Rantanen is to offer social security only to Finns.
Here is the question: Why do foreigners pay taxes in that type of dark world where you are a mere visitor in Finland?
