Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 28 of 245

Press freedom, the rule of law, and Finland’s radical-right xenophobic party

Posted on August 14, 2023August 14, 2023 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* congress over the weekend raised some questions and new perspectives about the PS’ alternate reality. The hostile attacks by PS chairperson Riikka Purra and speaker of parliament, Jussi Halla-aho, Matti Putkonen, and others as “spineless liars” are a warning of the perilous direction that the party wants to steer Finland.

Apart from the numerous scandals this summer due to the PS’ history with racism, attacks by the party on our media are equally concerning.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s leadership is another problem. Very few members of his party, the conservative National Coalition Party, have voiced concern about the siatuion and its hardright political direction.

Pertti Salolainen is a veteran former NCP MP and minister who is one of the few dissenting voices of the party. Another one is former NCP member and MP Kirsi Piha.

Tweets Salolainen: “The full-frontal attack on #journalism, journalists and #YLE is worrying. It must be rejected out of hand. We don’t need to be on the path of Hungary in Finland!”

Riikka Purra of the PS is a charlatan, a master at playing the victim

Posted on August 13, 2023August 13, 2023 by Migrant Tales

If I am honest with you, I tried to stay as far away as possible from the toxic speeches at the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Congress. In those speeches, like the one by the party’s leader Riikka Purra, you wondered in what alternate reality the radical-right party lives.

Those speeches by Purra, Matti Purkonen, who slammed the media as “spineless liars,” and others are tragic because for those of us who have lived many years in Finland, have seen a complete about-turn in politics and society. What was considered unthinkable before, like racism, is now normalized. It’s all about hate of difference with a huge “H.”

Contrary to what people wanted to believe, the threat does not come from abroad but is homegrown and sits and grows right under our noses.

Take for instance Purra’s speech Saturday, when she concentrated on attacking the media for doing their job and publishing her racist posts from 2008 and 2019.

Iltalehti published (in Finish) all of “riikka’s” 185 posts. In them, she threatens to shoot migrant youths on a commuter train, her posts are homophobic, Islamophobic, sexist, and outright racist.

Upper left: “The problem isn’t that WE speak like racists or that we are racists.“

Upper right: “The problem is that you call us racists.“

Lower left: “The problem ends when you stop [calling us racists].“

Lower right: “YOU are the culprits.” Source: X (formerly Twitter)

Imagine, she was a 31-year-old adult PhD student who, I imagine, should have known better.

Even if one of here defense arguments is that the posts were written before her political career began, how many of us would write such racist and violent posts?
Continue reading “Riikka Purra of the PS is a charlatan, a master at playing the victim”

Finnish racism, the PS, and the duck test: Nobody knew, but suddenly everyone now knows

Posted on August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 by Migrant Tales

One of the most startling comments heard from politicians like Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Anna-Maja Henriksson of the Swedish People’s Party (SPP) is that they were ignorant of the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS)* racist posts and comments on social media.

The claim by the head of the SPP left a lot of political analysts with open mouths.

“If the racist writings [by Ministers Riikka Purra and Wille Rydman] had been known, we would hardly have entered the government negotiations,” Henriksson was quoted by STT.

SPP Education Minister Anna-Maja Henriksson claims that her party would have never entered government negotiations if the racist writings of Riikka Purra and Wille Rydman would have been known. Source: STT.

Probably what Henriksson is saying is that if she’d known that the racist writings would have caused such a scandal, the SPP would not have entered into government negotiations.

But why didn’t the SPP, Orpo, the media and others take the duck test: If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

Denial of the PS’ racism problem and how it has spread in our society still runs deep. We know that it exists, but we do little to challenge it. Let’s just ignore it.

Even the daily of my hometown of Mikkel, had local PS politicians claimed that “racism has no place in the Perussuomalaiset party” and that the scandals are a media fabrication.

For too many years, the media has turned a semi-blind eye to many of the racist writings and comments by PS politicians. Like a cancer that spreads, they now acknowledge that something must be done. It’s as if Finland, not wanting to look at a dark side of itself, has now found the courage to face the mirror.

Everything isn’t lost and there are some encouraging signs. The fact that the media has exposed the racist writings of high-ranking politicians is not only welcome but vital if we are to live in a society where our Nordic values, enshrined in human rights, and the rule of law are respected.

Finland is a country that has lost its way and where democracy is now under threat

Posted on August 10, 2023August 10, 2023 by Migrant Tales

There are a number of worrying signs that Finland’s democracy and social welfare state are under threat. The threat does not come from abroad but from inside Finland thanks to the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).

Apart from disenfranchising migrants with strict laws that will make life harder for the country’s most vulnerable groups, Petteri Orpo’s government plans to weaken labor laws like the right to strike, and even the PS has been accused recently of trying to censor the media.

Lauri Nurmi wrote “The Unofficial Biography of Jussi Halla-aho in 2020. He claims in an Iltalehti editorial that the PS has made a dangerous move by trying to censor the media. Source: Iltalehti

Nurmi writes: “The [PS congress] invitation to the media ends with a special request: ‘We appeal to all the editors to please leave the archaeological political hacking in your offices coat racks and focus on the decisions made at our congress and political policies.’
The Perussuomalaiset [party] is trying to censor the media and limit what questions they can ask [at the congress]. The invitation from the PS could be seen as obstructive. The demand by it is unprecedented and dangerous in Finnish political journalism, but the reason for making [such a request] is obvious.”

It’s clear that the party is not happy with the scandals originating from racist and far-right posts by ministers like Riikka Purra, Wille Rydman and Vilhelm Junnila, who was forced to resign. Instead of blaming themselves, they place the blame on the media.

Moreover, the government plans to weaken worker rights and unions and take away basic health care from undocumented pregnant women and their children.

Inhumane would be a too weak word to describe the new government’s policies.

The government’s plan to help tackle racism will disappoint and most likely be a dud

Posted on August 8, 2023August 9, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Monday’s A-studio talk about racism confirmed that Prime Minister Petteri Ospo’s plan to tackle racism and discrimination will most likely end up dead on arrival. One of the guests on the talk show, National Coalition Party (NCP) third vice president, Mari-Leena Talvitie, could not name one concrete action that the government would take to address the social ill.

Taking into account that Prime Minister Opro was willing to go to bed with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, a party with a solid track record on racism, raises some questions about the government’s anti-racism plan, which it plans to give to parliament in September.

Can we trust it? Or is it a ploy to save the government from a no-confidence vote?

Talvitie could not list any concrete measures about such a plan.

“The concrete measure and goal is that everyone has the right to live in a safe society in Finland,” she said, but the host asked the MP to be more concrete.

“The [concrete] measure I see is that [racism] must be tackled, whether it happens at schools or hobbies or elsewhere,” she said. “You get that through discussion, through education, through the involvement of organizations, and through the clear involvement of our society.”

So, according to Talvitie, the government washes its hands and tells the public to speak out against racism if it occurs in places like bus stops and schools.

PS MP Joakim Vigelius had another take on Finland’s racism problem.

Source: Twitter

@Muksunen tweets above: “[Joakim] Vigelius used classic whataboutism and started talking about the disabled when the topic was RACISM.
Vigelius made a reference to the “old 15-year-old [racist] posts [by Riikka Purra]” but forgot to mention a video by the Perussuomalaiset Youth yesterday depicting and ridiculing Muslim women [wearing black plastic sacks]. It [the video] supposedly “defends women.”

Vigelius added that PS followers have a different view of what is racism. He said that the word has suffered inflation.

I wonder if victims of racism consider the social ill to have suffered “inflation.”

The response to Suddeutsche Zeitung’s Alex Rühle by Minister Wille Rydman’s office reveals contempt for the free media

Posted on August 4, 2023August 4, 2023 by Migrant Tales

The reply by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Minister Wille Rydman aide to Suddeutsche Zeitung’s Alex Rühle is a clear example of how the minister and his party hold the free media in contempt.

About thirty years ago as the Financial Times correspondent in Finland, a foreign ministry official suggested that I get in touch with him before publishing anything on Helsinki-Moscow relations. I considered it an infringement on my rights as a journalist. A scandal ensued.

It appears that Minister Rydman and his aide, Tuulia Alanko, have crossed a line by telling Rühle which sources he should not use in order to “report correctly” about the government.

I was not able to confirm through Rühle if the two messages published in Suomen Uutiset are authentic. However, Suomen Uutiset is the PS’ official newspaper.

A question emerges: Did Rühle give permission to Rydman’s office to make public these two messages?

In my opinion, the actions and responses to Rühle by Minister Wille Rydman and his office show clear contempt for the free media and frustration that the minister and the PS cannot control what the media writes and reports on.

Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Alex Rühle: “I was irritated by Wille Rydman’s repeated accusation of frivolous and false reporting”

Posted on August 3, 2023August 3, 2023 by Migrant Tales

An email published on Twitter has caused a stir since it implied that Minister Wille Rydman. I got in touch with Alex Rühle to confirm if what he wrote is true.

Alex Rühe is the Nordic correspondent of Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Below is the original email published Wednesday:

“Dear all,

The sentences quoted on Twitter come from a private, confidential email which I wrote to a source in Finnland. This email was not intended for publication. However, the source forwarded this email without my knowledge to the person, who calls herself on Twitter @PistolSolja and whom I don’t know.

She in turn published the sentences – again without my knowledge or consent.

I chose my words in this private mail because I was irritated by Wille Rydman’s repeated accusation of frivolous and false reporting.

In my mail I incorrectly gave the impression that Mr. Rydman had written me an email personally. In fact it had been written by his assistant in response to questions I had sent Rydman in preparation of my last text about the political situation in Finnland for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. I have never claimed that Rydman threatened me nor do I feel threatened or scared by Wille Rydman or his assistant.

Sincerely,

Alex Rühle

For further reading: The daily has covered (in German) numerous scandals of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government:

A “special kind of evil” to place pregnant women and children in harm’s way in Finland

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Migrant Tales

The government of Prime Minister Orop plans to tighten the already vulnerable situation of undocumented migrants in Finland, according to a statement by the ministry of social affairs and health. “Removing the right of illegal residents [undocumented migrants] to non-urgent health and social services and social security…”

In plain English, non-urgent health services include:

children’s health services,
pregnancy and childbirth services
health checks and vaccinations

There are an estimated 3,000 undocumented migrants in Finland, of which 300 are children.

Abdirisak Ahmed is a medic, and he is shocked by government plans.

Finland’s refugee policy returns to the Cold War

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Migrant Tales

I was surprised again to read a story in Yle about Russian army deserters crossing the Finnish border “without permission.” Without permission?! Understanding that the Russian deserters had crossed the border to ask for asylum in Finland, can we state that there is something “illegal” about this?

A ridiculous claim by a Finnish tabloid. How can a refugee be “illegal?” Source: Ilta-Sanomat

Moreover, another Cold War term used by Yle in the story is loikkari, or defector.

In the 1930s, Finns who moved to the Soviet Union were also called loikkari.

In the face of sensitive relations between Finland and the former Soviet Union, the Finnish authorities avoided back then calling during the Cold War a Soviet citizen an “asylum seeker.”

During the Cold War years, one or two Soviet citizens were granted asylum status in Finland. One of these, apparently, was asked to leave the country after getting asylum.

Migrant Tales had the opportunity to interview in 2012 one of these former Soviet citizens who was caught crossing the border and returned to the USSR despite having sought asylum.

Article 14 of the UN Human Rights Declaration, reads: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”

Petteri Orpo’s government of Finland loathes migrants: Is it an overestimation or underestimation?

Posted on July 30, 2023July 30, 2023 by Migrant Tales

By now, after numerous scandals, Prime Minister Petteri Opro may be thinking that getting into bed with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* was a huge mistake that will have far-reaching consequences for the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) and even end up costing him his job.

If Orpo and PS Finance Minister Riikka Purra had a crystal ball to look into the future, what would they have done differently? Quite a lot, I think.

Prime Minister Orpo got the first sour taste of scandals to hit his government with Vilhelm Junnila, who resigned almost s soon he was appointed as minister of foreign trade.

It could be summed up in two words: overestimate and underestimate.

It’s pretty clear that Orpo and Purra underestimated the Wilhelm Junnila debacle. Or maybe the correct term should be wishful thinking, believing that Junnila’s racist, far-right, and anti-Semitic writings would not raise any questions.

One matter that Purra and her party overestimated was the lure of racism and xenophobia. Like a magic button, the PS can turn to its magic racism button to get votes, and lots of them, and media complacency.

But has this now changed? Are we now seeing, as what PS Interior Minister Mari Rantanen called a paradigm shift migration policy, a change in our perception and acceptance of racism?

Time will tell if my comment was an overestimation or an underestimation of the situation.