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Category: Enrique Tessieri

PS’ Timo Soini of Finland looks more like a wolf and less like a sheep as April elections near

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Migrant Tales

With the help of one term, “cultural marxist,” Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini gave us the clearest-yet image of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Soini lashed out on his blog at the same-sex marriage lobby and particularly at Nasima Razmyar as “cultural marxists” after she compared the PS leader and Christian Democrat Päivi Räsänen as “conservative Islamists” for opposing same-sex marriage.

Parliament is expected to vote in November on a same-sex marriage bill in Finland. The PS and Christian Democrats have opposed such a bill.

The use of an antijihadist term like “cultural marxist” shows once again the ever-louder anti-immigration shift and hostility of the PS towards migrants as the April elections near.

According to Urban Dictionary, “culture marxist” implies the gradual destruction of our traditions in order to build a failed communist-like paradise as we saw in the Soviet Union. The term is used by far-right counterjihadists to alarm Europe of a takeover of the region by Islam.

The term was used countless of times in Anders Breivik’s manifesto on the day he killed in cold blood 77 people to save the West from Islam.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-27 kello 10.05.42

 

Consensus has opened the door to the PS, a party with far right, anti-immigration, homophobic and nativist nationalistic roots.

 

Using a term like “cultural marxist” by Soini is further proof that the PS will continue to step up its attack on migrants and minorities in Finland as the April 19 elections near.

Contrary to the 2011 elections, which saw the PS become the country’s third-largest bloc in parliament, Soini is clearly worried about how to lure voters in 2015. In 2011 that was easy because of the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, a week before parliamentary elections.

If the EU and the euro zone are no longer issues as in 2011 that leaves only one that the PS  is shamelessly exploiting: immigration and Islam.

 

* 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.

 

When youth leaders of parties like the NCP of Finland are in the dark about cultural diversity

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Migrant Tales

It is sad, even unfortunate, that some of our future political leaders of the National Coalition Party (NCP) see Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity as a threat and the adaption of these newcomers and their children as an ethnocentric one-way affair. 

One of the first matters that these youth leaders would learn about the over 1.2 million Finns that emigrated from this country between 1860 and 1999 is that they were keen on maintaining in faraway lands their roots and ties with this country. They did this by establishing newspapers, printing presses, associations and even getting involved in labor movements in countries such as the United States.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-28 kello 16.07.54

Migrant Tales has written a lot about the Susanna Koski and the Youth League of the NCP. Read full story here.

If we look up to those Finnish immigrants for not forgetting their cultural and linguistic roots, why are NCP and Perussuomalaiset (PS)* youth leaders hostile to migrants in this country who want to do the same?

Migrant Tales spoke briefly on the phone with Susanna Koski, the head of the Youth League of the NCP, which listed as two of its political aims in 2014 to do away with ethnic agitation laws and the ombudsman for minorities office. The Youth League of the NCP will meet on November 7-9 to draft a new set of goals for 2015, according to Koski.

“No comment,” she said concerning her stand on the ethnic agitation law and whether it should be included in the 2015 program.

It is surprising that youth leaders of Finland’s largest and third-largest political bloc in parliament, the NCP and PS, respectively, see cultural diversity as a threat.

Both the youth leagues of the NCP and PS lobbied to demote Finland’s second-official language, Swedish, to elective status at schools.

Meanwhile, the ministry of education and culture announced that it will grant the youth leagues of the NCP and PS 650,000 and under 30,000 euros, respectively, in aid, according to YLE.

One of the reasons why the Youth League of the PS was granted such a small sum of money was because their values concerning multiculturalism, or cultural diversity, wasn’t in line with state policy. The same question could be asked of the Youth League of the NCP and if its position on multiculturalism are in conflict with our official values.

The Youth League of the PS will appeal the matter.

If there is a factor that threatens to retard Finland’s progress as a modern Nordic welfare state in this century, it’s the provincial and intolerant world view of youth leagues of the NCP and PS.

Not understanding the role of immigration, integration and the need to integrate and make our society more inclusive to newcomers is like shooting oneself in the leg big time.

* 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 source of the 1.5 billion-euro-claim for “the cost of migration” is none other than the PS

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini, party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo and Matti Putkonen gave a press conference Friday where they claimed that “the cost of migration” and development aid totaled up to 2.7 billion euros. 

Migrant Tales wrote that when these figures were drawn out of a PS hat, not one reporter at the press conference asked how they had arrived at such a figure after Slunga-Poutsalo claimed that migration costs the country annually 1-1.5 billion euros and development aid 1.2 billion euros.

Only one paper, however, tabloid Iltalehti, did some investigating and approached the PS with that all-important question: How? As expected, the source was Putkonen of the PS.

When approached by the Iltalehti reporter, Slunga-Poutsalo referred the reporter to a PS lobby group, Suomen Perusta, which said they weren’t the source of such claims.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-28 kello 6.38.47

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

Putkonen boasts being the source: “I claim that the figure [cost of migration] is 1-1.5 billion euros a year. I challenge the officials to tell me if I’m wrong or right.”

Putkonen added that the 1-1.5 billion euro figure comprised of matters such as travel expenses, housing, clothing, daily allowances or monthly welfare payments, interpreters, cost of civil servants, asylum centers and other expenses.

So the claim by the PS, which shouldn’t surprise us, is a bunch of malarkey.

In another story, Iltalehti cites official figures from the ministry of employment and the economy, which place costs at 203 million euros.

As can be seen, calculating cost is not a simple matter. How do you take into account those refugees that establish businesses in the future and create jobs?

Certainly if you are an anti-immigration party your goal is to inflate as much as possible costs, which is what the PS is doing.

One of the big problems in the claim by the PS is what it refers to as “the cost of migration.” Is Putkonen referring to the cost of refugees or the total cost of migration to Finland? How can “the cost of migration” be so high if the grand majority of migrants work, consume and pay taxes in this country?

A recent study by the OECD that revealed that migration had boosted growth in 2011 by 0.16% including pensions.

Let’s hope that national media challenges in its editorials the populist claim by the PS that aims to maintain a climate of suspicion against migrants in this country.

All it needs is a critical two-part question: How did you arrive at such a figure and what are your sources?

* 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.

An effective way of putting racism in context in Finland

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Migrant Tales

There are many ways to understand ethnic hatred and racism in Finland. One of these is by substituting the word ‘migrant’ for your ethnic group and/or ‘woman’ in a text that’s aimed at fueling ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Let’s take the recent claims of two politicians, MPs Tom Packalén and Pia Kauma, to see how passions are fueled or can be smothered. 

Original claim by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Packalén.

Before: Gangs made up only of young people with migrant backgrounds said their motives are racist because their aim is to hurt white Finns.

After: Gangs made up of only young white Finns said their motives are racist because their aim is to hurt migrants and minorities.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-26 kello 10.24.24

Before and after. Racism is like the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushroom. It looks beautiful when it fruits and may invite some to eat its hallucinogenic poison. Time, like racism, reveals the true face of this mushroom when it ages and dies.

 

As we all know, Packalén pulled a fast one on the media and public. The problem with the PS MP’s claim is that it just isn’t true and an inflated exaggeration. Even so, his claims have spread fear and labelled non-white Finns, encouraging even neo-Nazi groups like the Kansallinen Vastarinta and members of the PS to patrol the streets of Helsinki.

Here’s National Coalition Party MP Kauma’s claim.

Before: Migrant mothers buy new baby carriages with social aid.

After: White Finnish mothers buy new baby carriages with social aid.

Like with Packalén, Kauma’s claim is stuffed as well with lots of baloney.

Even if these two MPs made up these stories in light of the April parliamentary elections, is one point. But the other very important one is that they succeeded at getting a lot of media coverage, which was their original aim.

Check out the two postings below on how by just changing a few key words in a vengeful and racist text reveals the underhanded motives of the writer and brings the topic closer to home:

  • Let’s play fill in the blanks with far-right Finnish MP Teuvo Hakkarainen
  • Let’s play fill in the blanks with far-right Finnish MP James Hirvisaari

If you still are trying to grasp these two disgraceful examples, why not replace migrant or ethnic group with ‘woman.’

Remember how urban tales about women were and still may be rampant in Finland? Women can’t drive, they’re poor in math, all they know what to do is have babies and cook…This is the exact anatomy of racist discourse in Finland today. Migrants live off welfare, they’re lazy, sly and shouldn’t be trusted…

How many generations did such outright lies about women still continue to oppress them?

Ever figure out how it feels to be in a university math class and be the only women? Think about how much pressure there is on that woman and how much energy she must expend to prove that she’s just as good as her male classmates.

This exact feeling is what many migrants feel in society. They’re constantly trying to prove that they are just as good and worthy of being treated as equal members of society.

Thus there is nothing harmless when politicians reinforce prejudices about migrants. On the contrary – it is a violent act that aims through power to dominate others.

Add to the latter the near-silence of society and a bigger picture of the social ill emerges.

Racism is not only costly to society but especially to the victim.

 

* 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.

Finnish anti-immigration sound bites + near-silence of society = peril

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Some soap operas are so sweet and melodramatic that they form cavities in your brain. In the same way, the message of anti-immigration and xenophobic parties is so outrageous that they leave a whole in your head.

 

Timo Soini and the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* which became Finland’s third-largest parliamentary bloc in 2011, are appealing to voters on two crucial issues in next April’s elections: migration and development aid, which they claim are costing Finland 2.7 billion euros, according to the PS. 

While it’s not surprising that a party that promotes xenophobia and has its roots in far-right ideology is targeting migrants and development aid, what is a continuing mystery is how they arrived at such calculations.

The figures were given at a press conference on Friday where PS’ chairman Soini, party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo and Matti Putkonen were present.

While there were other topics discussed at the press conference by the PS members, it is surprising that not one journalist asked how they arrived at such costs (1.5 billion euros for migration and 1.2 billion euros for development aid). The latter figures were given as a solution on how to cut Finland’s budget deficit and spur economic growth.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-25 kello 9.52.24

Read full story here. Eastern European migrants in Britain added 5 billion pounds to the economy, according to another BBC story.

 

With such figures and with such a xenophobic message, the PS is back to its favorite political fix: scapegoating.

What remains unclear is how attacking and scapegoating migrants is going to actually help Finland raise itself from its present economic slump. Some economist claim that it would do just the opposite: deepen our economic woes.

Certainly it’s difficult for a party that still believes in Social Darwinism to see migration and cultural diversity in a positive light. If i would have been present at the press conference, I would have asked Soini or Slunga-Poutsalo to name one country where migration has failed and been costly.

Just like adding 1 + 1 = 2, it’s clear that migration fuels growth as this BBC article shows. There was also a recent study by the OECD that revealed that migration had boosted growth in 2011 by 0.16% including pensions.

So why is the PS saying that migration is a burden for Finland? While in a different historical context, their aim is no different to what the Nazis did in the 1920s. They saw great potential in capitalizing on racial anti-Semitism as a mass political force.

When the PS scapegoats migrants, development aid, the public sector, the Greens and environmental policy, it not only shows its anti-Keynes side, but its similarity to parties like the ultra-conservative Tea Party as well as Thatcherism and Reaganomics.

John Maynard Keynes, who was one of the most influential economists in the past and even the present century, believed that during economic slumps it was the government that should step in and restore confidence in markets even if it meant increasing  budget deficits.  Austerity would only worsen matters.

It’s clear that the PS proposal to lower the cost of migration and development aid is meant for populist public consumption but also to help maintain a climate of suspicion and mistrust of  migrants and minorities. Certainly sensible Finns, who are the majority in this country, don’t want to follow the PS’s xenophobic path.

Finns and especially migrants and minorities should not stand idle in the face of such xenophobic sound bytes by parties like the PS but openly challenge them.

Certainly if we want to go down a ruinous path that will cause extreme hardships on Finland, the PS may be the party you are seeking to vote for in the April 2015 elections.

* 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.

 

 

Finnish NCP youth league gives thumbs down to cultural diversity

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Remember the proposals that the Youth League of the National Coalition Party (NCP) made last year concerning the type of society they’d like Finland to be in the future? Some of the many proposals that raised eyebrows and created quite a media storm back then included plans to scrap the Ombudsman for Minorities as well as ethnic agitation laws.

If last year’s proposals got them in hot water, their latest “wish list” could be criticized for what has been omitted or doesn’t say. For example, there is no mention whatsoever about Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity but it does favor plans to undermine religious freedom. If the youth league had its way, it would drop religion classes for migrants and concentrate more on teaching Finnish at schools.

Isn’t that what happens today?

 

Näyttökuva 2014-10-24 kello 11.17.38

Read full NCP youth league program (in Finnish) here.

 

It is odd that those that drafted these proposals believe that by not teaching a non-Lutheran religion at school will automatically enhance these migrants’ and minorities’ chances of speaking Finnish.

There’s nothing new in this proposal. Youth Wing NCP former head, Wille Rydman, said the same thing when he suggested that multiculturalism should be substituted for Finnish-language courses.

Another proposal by the youth league is to deport those migrants who have been sentenced for a crime and that the government should do everything possible to invite skilled labor to Finland.

What the Youth Wing of the NCP means by inviting skilled labor to this country is that labor markets should give employers better opportunities to hire cheap labor.

It shouldn’t come to any surprise that the Youth Wing of the NCP has striking ideological similarities with the Perussuomalaiset.*

Both are in the business of coercion and domination of migrants by encouraging future Uncle Toms, or mamus.

 

* 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.

Finnish appeals court upholds earlier anti-Semitic court ruling

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Migrant Tales

An appeals court has upheld a Ylivieska-Raahe court ethnic agitation ruling Friday against Juha Kärkkäinen for publishing anti-Semitic opinion pieces on Magneettimedia, reports YLE. Kärkkäinen was fined last fall 45,000 euros for publishing anti-Semitic writings of Adrian Salbuch, Ted Pike, David Duke and others as well as cartoons that bear a striking resemblance to the former Nazi tabloid, Der Strümer (1923-45).

Apart from the anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi and xenophobic opinion pieces and articles published by Magneettimedia, one of the witnesses that Kärkkäinen brought to court to speak in his defense is the leader and website editor of the the neo-Nazi association, Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta, according to Oulu-based Kaleva.

Kärkkäinen is owner of a company that bares his name and which is based in Ylivieska. He owns shopping center in the cities of Lahti and Oulu.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-18 kello 12.38.07

Magneettimedia is rife with anti-Semitism, xenophobia and Nazi glorification.

 

The Kärkkäinen case raises a lot of disturbing questions about anti-Semitism in Finland. For one, it casts a strange light on Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and Muutos 2011, which claim to be on Israel’s side but have not raised a whisper about Kärkkäinen and Magneettimedia’s anti-Semitic writings.

Muutos 2011 MP James Hirvisaari, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation and sacked from the PS after he posted on social media a picture he took a friend making a Nazi salute in parliament, commonly speaks out against halal meat used by Muslims but never speaks of banning kosher meat used by Jews.

The appeals court ruling requires Magneettimedia to take down its anti-Semitic writings but the publication is defiant, pledging to continue the same editorial line without specifying what this means.

In September, the city of Ylivieska awarded Kärkkäinen the Pro Ylivieska distinction, which is given to a person or association that has distinguished himself or herself in the community and nationally.

In September an Ylivieska official who spoke to Migrant Tales said that the award had nothing to do with his opinions. “What he thinks [about Jews] is his personal opinion and we have nothing to do with that,” the official said.

A news story by the Finnish News Agency (STT) that appeared in Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo Saturday interviewed the chairman of the Ylivieska city council, Juha Pylväs, who didn’t see any problems with awarding Kärkkäinen the Pro Ylivieksa distinction.

When asked if the city has got feedback as a result of the award given to Kärkkäinen, Pylväs said that they had got a lot of positive feedback since it was given to a person who had helped develop the city.

Pylväs admits that there was “some criticism” but feedback has been mostly positive.

See also:

  • Take two of Magneettimedia’s anti-Semitic campaign in Finland
  • Magneettimedia editor and owner fined 45,000 euros by court for anti-Semitic writings
  • Magneettimedia of Finland will no longer publish anti-Semitic writings of David Duke, Ted Pike and others
  • Magneettimedia spreads anti-Semitism in Finland

* 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.

 

Missä luuraavat kansanedustajat Kauma ja Packalén?

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Olen kärsivällisesti odottanut kaksi vahvistusta: kansanedustajan Pia Kauman väite, että maahanmuuttaja naiset ostavat uusia lastenvaunuja sossun rahoilla ja kansanedustaja Tom Packalénin väite, että vain maahanmuuttaja jengit hyökkäävät kantasuomalaisia vastaan ja heidän motiivi on rasistinen, koska he haluavat vahingoittaa valkoisia suomalaisia.  

apujallu

Missä luraa vastaukset? Lahde: www.apu.fi

 

Molempien väite yhdistä vahvasti ”me” vastaan ”he”.

Miksi Kauma on niin hiljaa?

Miksi Packalén vaikene lähteistä?

Vastaus on selvää: molemmat ovat keksineet väitteet ja ”ongelmat?”

Miten tämä on mahdollista?

Poliitikot osaavat ratsastaa omien ja ihmisten ennakkoluulijalla ja rasismilla.

Näin on elämää ollut Suomessa valitettavasti pitkään.

The PS of Finland: When a morally bankrupt party crosses the line

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Migrant Tales

The Tom Packalén case is not only a reminder of what Finland can expect if the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* ever get into government, there is the real threat that we are in danger of forfeiting our successful Nordic welfare state for populism, nativist nationalism and xenophobia. In the face of this threat, it is the near-silence of our society in the face of this threat is a cause for serious concern. 

Where are the moral leaders of this country? The politicians? The Media? Why is President Sauli Niinistö so quiet? And what about the church, the artists and celebrities?

How many editorials have been written by Helsingin Sanomat or other dailies about the Packalén case, where he treats a social problem like youth gangs and marginalization as the “ripening fruits” of immigration policy? That his clarion call has encouraged street patrols by neo-Nazi groups and members of his party?

Why isn’t their outrage in the media about a statement by PS MP Olli Immonen, who warned that “if officials don’t have the will or resources to protect the security of its citizens,” Suomen Sisu will take matters into its hands?

The complacency of the politicians and the media must hinge on the general perception that populism and racism are given the benefit of doubt in this country.

Not taking a stand against a politician who labels whole vulnerable groups, in this case marginalized Finns and Finnish minority youths, is the crux of the problem. The same silence we are witnessing today by the complacent media is what permitted the PS to become the third-largest party in parliament in the 2011 elections.

It’s clear that when an MP from an anti-EU, anti-immigration and homophobic party like the PS mixes immigration policy and marginalized youth you are going to have an explosive brew. The exact purpose of Packalén’s blog was just that: to arouse and fuel suspicion of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-15 kello 9.12.58

Despite what PS MP Tom Packalén claimed, the police said that there aren’t street gangs in Helsinki and there aren’t street gangs that are causing a crime wave. Read full story in Finnish here.

The PS is today a morally bankrupt party that has nothing to offer to Finland except for a polarized society, anti-immigration, nativist nationalistic and xenophobic rhetoric. For some white Finns this may be difficult to comprehend, but for migrants and other minorities the message is clear: the PS is a hostile and dangerous party to them.

The irony of the ongoing one-sided debate on our ever-growing cultural diversity is that the “ripening fruits” of the PS and anti-immigration sentiment are creating the problems that such parties warn us of. Social exclusion is costly to taxpayers.

Considering that about 60% of migrants live in poverty in this country speaks volumes about how we are not dealing with the issue. We are not tackling these problems because it is in the interest of parties like the PS to turn them into worse problems. It’s the way they get votes and forms part of a general scheme to keep Finland white.

Building a Finland based on social inequality, social exclusion and prejudice will end up destroying the very successful society we built after World War 2.

It took Finland about 27 years of bitter strife and devastation in the form of civil war, the rise of fascism in the 1930s and three terrible wars (Winter War, Continuation War and the Lapland War against Nazi German) to finally get it right and build a society based on our Nordic welfare state values like social equality, education and equal opportunity.

The undeclared “war” against our culturally diversity by parties like the PS resembles that Finland before 1945.

The PS is a morally bankrupt party because they have nothing to offer to this country except a ruinous recipe for failure.

 

* 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.

PS MP of Finland ready to patrol streets and take law into his own hands

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Remember what people said when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won their historic election victory in 2011? ”Nothing is going to happen you’ll see…they’ll soon implode like the Rural Party did in the 1970s…” some said playing down the whole matter. After almost four years, the PS continues to polarize society by instilling fear and fueling racism but has now opened a new terrifying chapter in its strategy to gain power: mob rule. 

PS MP Tom Packalén, who falsely claimed on a blog entry that only migrant youth gangs in East Helsinki attack white Finns, has unleashed the darkest and most racist side of Finland.  Not only are MP Pakclaén’s claims false, they have been disproven by the police.

And let’s not forget the publication, Uusi Suomi, where MP Packalén’s blog entry and many others by the PS have been published. They are just as responsible as the PS for spreading racism in Finland.

In this latest bout of xenophobia in Finland, it’s the silence of the political parties and the media that doesn’t surprises us once again.

Making racist claims and victimizing migrants and minorities has become such a “normal” activity in this country that not even the PS leadership cares what some of their members say or will do.

Valkoinen valta-2_edited-1

The aim of parties like the PS and far-right associations like Suomen Sisu is to keep Finland white like the graffiti above that reads “white power.”

 

Suomen Sisu is a far-right association chaired by PS MP Olli Immonen whose aim is to keep Finland white. In a statement, Immonen warned that “if officials don’t have the will or resources to protect the security of its citizens,” Suomen Sisu will take matters into its hands.

Yes, no translation mistake since what you read is correct. A PS MP, a lawmaker, of a far-right association is ready to patrol Helsinki’s streets against real or imagined youth gangs.

While the PS has always shown its ugly and hostile side to migrants and minorities, the suggestion by one of its MPs to patrol streets with others like neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta and other PS members, which MP Packalén’s blog entry has encouraged, is totally unacceptable in a democracy such as Finland and should be condemned.

The blog entry by MP Packalén shows the desperate state of the party, which needs a big boost to come close to their 2011 election victory since the last three elections have been disappointing.

Finland needs the PS, the silence of other parties and a media that is blind because it is white like a hole in the head. The lack of leadership that we are witnessing today in the face of such racism and hostility is shameful.

Far-right and nationalistic parties in Finland, as is Europe, have become a grave threat to democracy and to the right of minorities to live in peace. It’s clear that matters will get worse as these parties, like the PS, get more power since the scapegoating won’t stop but get worse. Such intolerance has the danger of destroying our society.

We must do everything to stop the menace that is placing Finland in harm’s way and that danger is the PS and our shameful silence.

Leadership is needed more than ever now.

* 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.Thank you Pia Grochowski for the heads up! 

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