Category: Enrique Tessieri

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, the facilitator of Finland’s hard right who concocts political mirages and lies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that has amazed me about National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is his alternative truth about non-existent the threat of the hard right in Finland. Despite the racism and far right scandals that have eaten away at his government’s credibility, Orpo actually believes that parties will change if you go to bed with them.

“In my opinion, [the Perussuomalaiset PS*] are not a far-right party anymore,” Orpo was quoted as saying in March in Politico.

That statement was made after he repeatedly said that there are no far-right parties in government.

Prime Minister Petter Orpo revealing his true colors. Source: Facebook

Source: Politico

When the issue of far-right parties in government was brought up at a session of parliament by Green MP Maria Ohisalo, Orpo was evidently irritated by the question.

“There is no hard right or extreme right in Finland,” he snapped. “Those are pretty strong accusations If you give the impression that some people are Putinists or pro-Russian, or that some party in Finland is destroying the rule of law! I hope this is not about campaigning in the European elections.”

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Finland’s Islamophobic network

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In writing the Finland chapter for the European Islamophobia Report 2023, I sometimes give a partial preview of the “Central Figures in the Islamophobic Network.” Last year’s pick could well be the same candidates for 2024.

An imam I spoke to a few years ago described well the difference of the racism of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and the National Coalition Party (NCP). “The Perussuomalaiset don’t hide their racism but the NCP does,” he said.

With the entry of the PS in government, I have noticed that the party has gone in the closet like the NCP with its hostile racist views. The PS, like the NCP, can claim with a poker face that the migration policy of the government isn’t racist because it is in line with other Nordic countries.

If this is the case, we could then conclude that all the Nordic countries’ migration policy is racist.

Despite the latter, the PS continues to be one of the most important facilitators for Finland’s Islamophobic, far-right network. It is Hungarian Trojan Horse making its presence felt in all circles. Like the NCP, it uses the cover of institutional racism to hide its vile racism.

The PS continues to have close ties with groups that are hostile to Muslim groups like Suomen Sisu, Soldiers of Odin, Hommaforum, Kansallismielisten liitouma (National Alliance), Sinimusta Liike (Black-and-Blue Movement), the banned neo-Nazi Pohjoismainen vastarintaliike, and others.

All the 39 MPs of the PS elected to parliament based their campaign on the party’s anti-immigration theme.

The main PS ministers of government, Minister of Finance Riikka Purra, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, Justice Minister Leena Meri, Minister for Development Cooperation Ville Tavio, present and former Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman and Vilhelm Junnla, Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho, maintain the hostile environment against migrants and minorities.

The European Islamophobia Report 2023 will come out in the summer.

EU election – Perussuomalaiset Mari Rntanen article inciting ethnic hatred in 1930s fascist progaganda

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Interior Minister Mari Rantanen and her far-right follower of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* like to copy and paste. Apart from inciting memories of the 1930s, when fascism and anti-Semitism were the order of the day, the PS continues to spread its Islamophobia and fascism.

The analogy that the PS makes in their EU election brochure should be condemned for being disgusting, racist, and inciting hatred.

An official complaint would be in place that the picture incites ethnic agitation.

How similar are the two pictures? The one on the left could not be found online. Nigel Farage scaring people before the Brexit vote. Source: Independent

Pushback law: A day that will live in infamy, a day when the government attempts to legalize illegality

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

The Finnish government announced Tuesday a day that will live in infamy when it introduced to parliament Tuesday the  Draft Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, or the so-called pushback law.

In a nutshell, researcher Milka Sormunen sums up in a good essay what the law is all about: legalizing illegality.

Moreover, would you trust a government and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen to spearhead such a law? Rantanen is an Islamophobe that sees Muslims even under her bed.

In an editorial, Helsingin Sanomat hit it right on the dot: “The stage is now being set for how easily another government in another situation could also violate the constitution and international treaties.”

Two questions arise from the draft pushback law:
– Will it be effective in stopping what the government calls the instrumentalization of migrants at the Finnish-Russian border?
– If Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is ready to go as far as to trash Human Rights, international agreements, and the rule of law, what will he do next? Which minorities will be targetted? Russian-Finnish dual citizens?

The dismantling of the rule of law, like what happened in countries like Hungary or Argentina during the 1970s, usually starts with convincing arguments and threat scenarios.

If the parliament approves the pushback law, it will put Finland on a slippery slope, where xenophobic and racist politicians will “Instrumentalize” migrants and minorities to dismantle the rule of law.

Prime Minister Orpo and his cronies in government speak of paradigm changes in migration, labor, and social welfare sectors. Such actions have a price and may create paradigm changes to our democracy.

Here we go again with the great replacement theory and the government’s zero tolerance of racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

With the Perussuomalaiset (PS) sinking in the polls, it’s clear that the Islamophobic party is pulling as many old tricks out of its racist hat. One of these is the great replacement theory, a white supremacist claim that Europe is white and not diverse

Tweets Purra: It is not a conspiracy theory to look at the statistics of what is happening to many countries in Europe at a rapid pace. You know it, I know it. Many people get upset when we talk about the change in population base as a result of mass immigration, but we just need to talk about it more. Source: Twitter

What’s the deal now, Purra? Polls not to friendly to your budget cuts and hateful hubris towards Finland’s most vulnerable? Oh I see, you are a “visionary” staring into the sunset breathing life to the same far-rght conspiracy theories that you denounced a while back. You are a fake and an opportunist..

Before being appointed interior minister in June 2023, Mari Rantanen, had posted and hashtagged far-right conspiracy theories like the great replacement. After removing such post on her socal media platforms, Rantanen wrote: “Let me be clear: I do not believe in conspiracies. Nor do I believe in the Great Replacement theory.”

MP Heikki Vestman and the government replace human rights and the rule of law with bravado and hubris

Posted on by Migrant Tales

National Coaaliton Party MP and chairperson of the constitutional committee, Heikki Vestman, has made a name for himself for his xenophobic statements and for flaunting human rights and the rule of law. His parliamentary committee has given the green light to the  Draft Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, or the so-called pushback law that will be introduced to parliament next week.

Vestman likes to spread macho bravado by portraying himself as a true “patriot” by throwing human rights and the rule of law under the bus, and bullying vulnerable groups like asylum seekers.

Rarely, if ever, will he and the media tell you what his behind the pushback law.

“As a Finnish Member of Parliament, I believe Finland and the Finns must be able to safeguard their security in every situation. It is a core task of the state.” said MP Vestman. What you are saying if we cut through your nationalistic bravado is: legalizing illegality.

Some ask why are the hundreds of people seeking asylum such a threat to national security if 32,360 asylum seekers came to Finland in 2015 and now tens of thousands fleeing war from Ukraine?

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Finnish government to move ahead with pushback law

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Prime Minister Orpo announced today that it will give next week to parliament the Draft Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, or the so-called pushback law. In our opinion, the new law will not solve the problem at the border but will worsen it.

Disagree? Just take a look at other EU borders, and you will come to a startling reality: suffering and death.

Milka Sormunen called in her comprehensive piece on the draft law appropriately “Legalizing illegality.”

Prime Minister Orpo and his National Coalition Party, who have given the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* a free hand on migration issues, did not mention a word about the four crucial factors undermining the draft law: breaching international agreements, the Constitution, Human Rights, and in general the rule of law.

Said Orpo: “I think that this law is drafted in such a way that it fulfills all the essentials [issues] simultaneously: First, the law works in such a way that we are not subject to instrumentalization [by Russia]. Secondly, it is written in such a way that it can be approved [by parliament].”

Source: Yle

Orpo said that the above two factors, which do not mention breaching Human Rights, the constitution, and international agreements, have a good chance of passing in parliament.

Some say that the PS’ policy of “zero asylum seekers” is one factor why the government, especially the PS, wants to close the Finnih-Russian border and deny asylum. Is it a coincidence that the majority of asylum seekers at the Finnish-Russian border come from Muslim-majority countries?

After this draft law gets approved, what other steps will the government take to undermine Human Rights and the rule of law?

The whole Fnnsh-Russian border conflict has a bitter taste of politics.

Suomen hallituksen uudella kansalaisuuslailla ei ole mitään tekemistä kotouttamisen kanssa

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Suunnitelmat kansalaisuuslain tiukentamiseksi paljastavat pääministeri Petteri Orpon hallituksen huomattavan historiallisen muistinmenetyksen. Tiesittekö, että Suomi kielsi naisilta, joiden ylpeästi väitetään saaneen ensimmäisenä Euroopassa äänioikeuden, oikeuden antaa kansalaisuus lapsilleen? Vain miehellä oli tällainen oikeus ja etuoikeus.

Vuonna 1984, noin 66 vuotta itsenäistymisen jälkeen, naiset saivat vihdoin oikeuden antaa kansalaisuuden lapsilleen jus sanguinis -periaatteen mukaisesti.

Lähde: Valtionuevosto

Lain muuttaminen kesti noin 66 vuotta, eikä vieläkään, 40 vuotta myöhemmin, ole pyydetty anteeksi sitä, että se mullisti monien ihmisten elämän. Sen sijaan hallitus haluaa vaikeuttaa kansalaisuutta.

Voit kysyä, miten vanha laki, joka ei sallinut naisten siirtää kansalaisuutta lapsilleen, muutti tällaisten ihmisten elämää. Suomen valtion pitäisi pyytää anteeksi tällaista epäoikeudenmukaista ja seksististä lakia.

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MP Heikki Vestman is one of the main anti-immigration ideologues of the National Coalition Party of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

National Coalition Party (NCP) MP and chairperson of the constitutional committee, Heikki Vestman, is making a name for himself by promoting xenophobia. In a previous post, Migrant Tales published how Vestman was using Islamophobia and bullying tactics to gain attention and power.

His rhetoric has turned him into one of the main anti-immigration ideologues of the NCP. He is in the same shameless league as his NCP partner, Atte Kaleva.

MP Heikki Vestman is one of the leading anti-immigration ideologues of the NCP. Read the full story here.

Vestman, who also chaired the immigration committee in the government’s program negotiations, washes his hand by stating that the tightening of immigration policy is to bring our laws in line with other Nordic countries.

That assertion is debatable. Migration Institute researcher Erna Bodström compares the changes to East Europe rather than other Nordic countries.

In his usual anti-immigration style, where Vestman sees himself as a savior of our Nordic way of life, he believes that the tightening of the citizenship act will help “integrate” people.

“The citizenship act encourages people to settle in Finland, learn the language, acquire basic knowledge of society measured by a citizenship test, follow the rules of the country, and work for their livelihood.”

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The pushback law of the Finnish government will fail and be a farce

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A question to Interior Minister Mari Rantanen and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo: Is the main motivation of the pushback law to strengthen the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* policy of zero asylum seekers? Why are asylum seekers coming from Russia such a threat to Finland’s internal security?

The fact that a total of 1,271 asylum seekers have come to the country via the eastern border from August 2023 to January 2024, raises some questions that the media skips. Knowing the PS’ and Ntional. Coalition Party’s negative attitude towards Muslims and other non-European asylum seekers, is the main reason to keep asylum seekers from Muslm-majority countries from coming here?

The last thing that the new law will do is solve Finland’s asylum issues at the Finnish-Russian border. Source: Yle

The grand majority (80.88%) of asylum seekers at the Finnish-Russian border come from Muslim-majority countries. During August 2023-January 29, 2024, of the total 1,271 asylum seekers, 1,028 (80.88%) were Syrian (491 people), Somalian (360), Yemeni (120), and Iraqi (57) nationals, according to Yle News.

Did over 32,000 asylum seekers in 2015, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, pose a threat to internal security? What about the tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have come to Finland?

Another factor that is a blow to Rantanen’s pushback law is her credibility and her long political career of posting racist comments about asylum seekers.

For the above reasons, the government’s pushback law is a farce that will do more harm than good.

Does Rantanen believe that a law will stop people from crossing the border?

That is wishful thinking and just another example of what such borders do in the EU: they bring suffering and death.