Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 36 of 245

Kokoomus proves it again: racism coupled with nationalism is a good fix before a parliamentary election

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Perussouomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra wasn’t the only one overjoyed by the latest Helsingin Sanomat opinion poll, which showed the radical-right party overtaking the Social Democrats to second place after the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Behind Purra was Kokoomus chief Petteri Orpo, gleeing.

Finns will go to the polls on April 4 to elect 200 MPs.

While observers debate the reasons behind the good showing of the PS, we can cite three:

Fear-mongering about minority youths in gangs.
President Sauli Niinistö’s endorsement of that fear.
Kokoomus’ willingness to form a right-wing government with the PS.

**Then Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said that Finland will immigration removal centers to deport asylum seekers whose asylum application has been rejected. Source: *Yle*.**

Orpo and former Prime Minister Juho Sipilä rejected the PS in 2017 after the party split in two because the party was led by Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and for breaching the sanctity of religion.

Sipilä’s government didn’t need the PS since the newly formed faction, Blue Reform, was there to offer its support to keep the government intact.

I am worried about the amnesia of political parties like Kokoomus, the media, and many politicians who don’t see racism as a problem. One good example is Purra’s promotion of ethnonationalist ideology by suggesting that Finland should exclude foreigners from getting social welfare. Not one newspaper in Finland, never mind a single politician, denounced what she said.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #91: The right to generalize and victimize minorities

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Those who are worried about the blow to the credibility of the security guards due to several scandals that even led to the death of a woman in Espoo are quick to point out one should not jump to conclusions and label all security guards and the sector.

True, we should always be careful not to generalize.

There is, however, something wrong with that defense. The same people who are saying that we must not generalize are the ones who constantly generalize about migrants.

President Sauli Niinistö, who is no friend of Finland’s culturally diverse communities, added more feathers to tarred minority youths in the ongoing debate on youth crime. Source: *Yle*

Downplaying the problem is also an important part of the narrative about white crime versus crime committed by minorities.

Sanna Marin: Bravo for stating that the PS is a racist party! Better late than never.

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Politicians like Prime Minister Sanna Marin have offered long-overdue leadership when challenging racism in Finnish politics by stating what many know: The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is a racist party.

“Looking at the speeches of individual [PS] MPs, these speeches have been racist and genuinely hostile to certain minorities,” said Marin in a debate with Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). “There is no denying this; it is a fact. I don’t understand why we politicians should smile and pretend that these speeches are not real.”

Two PS MPs, Vilhelm Junnil and Veikko Vallin, showing off their MAGA caps by former President Urho Kekkonen’s bust. Does a “normal” party cack President Donald Trump after all the revelations of financial crimes and coup plotting? Source: Facebook

Finnish politicians need to be faster to react to the rise of the PS. In the 2011 parliamentary election, when it won 39 seats from 5 seats previously, Finnish political parties like the Social Democrats wanted to capitalize politically on anti-immigration sentiment.

Riikka Purra: I am a racist and proud of it!

Posted on January 13, 2023March 18, 2024 by Migrant Tales

After the leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Alliance announced that they would not form part of a future government with the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS),* Riikka Purra has lashed out against her party’s critics.

The latest racist talking points of the PS is excluding foreigners from getting social welfare and creating a modern Nordic apartheid state where foreigners would be legally second-class citizens.

The knee-jerk reaction by Purra is because the three parties don’t see the PS as “a normal party” and therefore do not wish to sit in the same government as her Islamophobic party.

Purra tweets: “There is nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide about our (party’s) values. We are a nationalist and patriotic party defending Finland and Finnishness. I am very proud of our concept of humanity and our values.”

**Do you see any visible minorities in the picture? Maybe one. Source: Twitter**

Finland’s security business sector must be placed under greater scrutiny

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

I always ask if the politician or public official will change anything or keep the status quo. The answer you may get offers rapid insight into the problem.

The security business scandal grew Thursday when a former Securitas manager is suspected of aggravated fraud in a fictitious case involving protection for a possible victim of an honor killing. The amount of money obtained fraudulently, together with a social worker of the Center for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres), was “about three million euros,” according to MTV.

The alleged crime happened between November 2021 and September 2022. The suspect was detained for a month by the police and freed in November, but he is still a suspect.

The different shortcomings, even fatal as happened in Iso Omena on Saturday, of security companies, reveal a wider problem that has come to the public light thanks to the little scrutiny of the business.

It is a good matter that Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen wants a full investigation of the sector. “It is safe to say that these are not isolated cases, as there have been several recently,” she was quoted as saying in Yle.

Good start Minister Mikkonen but why do you make such a statement now? Didn’t you suspect anything before?

If we follow the news, some matters reveal themselves: downplaying the problem by the heads of Securitas, Jarmo Mikkonen, and Avarn Security, Niklas Saklén; (2) downplaying the problem by politicians like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Mari Rantanen; (3) downplaying the problem by using the police and so-called “security experts” as sources by the media; (4) downplaying or not even citing ethnic profiling by security guards.

PS MP Rantanen, who heads the parliamentary administration committee, said in A-studio, that the scandal has surprised her and that we should not label all security workers.

The PS is “offended” because they are not treated as a “normal” party

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Bravo, Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin! Bravo, Green League Minister of the Environment Maria Ohisalo! Bravo, Left Alliance Minister of Education and Culture Li Anderson! Bravo for stating in plain Finnish that your parties would not form part of a new government with the radical right Perussuomalaiset (PS).*

When the PS took 39 seats in the 2011 parliamentary elections from 5 seats previously, the country has not been the same. But could you expect from a party that bases its support on racism, nationalism, and fascism.

Academic researchers like Oul Silvenoinen consider the PS a radical-right party with ties to openly hostile and violent groups like Suomen Sisu, Soldiers of Odin, Kansallismielisten liitouma (National Alliance), Sinimusta Liike (Black-and-Blue Movement), the banned neo-Nazi Pohjoismainen vastarintaliike, and others.

If you listen to the PS chairperson, Riikka Purra,
she wants to turn Finland into a Nordic apartheid state where white and naturalized Finns have all the rights. Her latest outburst is to exclude foreigners from getting social welfare.

It’s been 11 years since the 2011 election, and, certainly, the PS believes and wants you to believe it is “a normal” party, which explains why the party appears offended by the SDP, Green League, and Left Alliance not wanting to be in the same government as it.

A PS ad for the municipal elections. It reads: “National clean-up day. A woman with dyed blonde hair and wearing a national dress is throwing parties like the Left Alliance, Center Party, SDP, and Greens into the hazardous waste bin. UFFE, which aims to promote ecological, social, and economic sustainability, recycles Antifa, feminism, communism, globalism, and BLM. Source: Facebook

Media Monitoring Group of Finland*: HS can and should do a better job when reporting on Riikka Purra

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party chairperson, Riikka Purra, has actively promoted her racist talking points. Some of these are the far-right great replacement theory and, most recently, her party’s aim to exclude non-Finnish citizens from getting social welfare.

While such a suggestion may appear for now a political stunt to lure voters, Purra’s suggestion is outrageous, to say the least. Did the media see it in the same way?

Nope.

Did any newspaper write an editorial about Purra’s statement?

Nope.

Apart from demonizing foreigners and minorities, her plan has the same ring as the Nurenburg Race Laws, which effectively excluded Jews from German society.

Even if the Nurenburg Race Laws came into force in 1935, Purra’s suggestion could be a modern version of the latter. The idea is the same: label, victimize and exclude whole groups.

Helsingin Sanomat does some fine reporting, but sometimes it falls flat on its face.

The story about Purra’s suggestion to exclude foreigners from receiving social welfare is a good example of deficient or lazy reporting.

No comment, silence, not even a squeak from Kokoomus about plans to officially disenfranchise foreigners in Finland

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Being a minority in Finland is being nearly always suspicious of official intentions.

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Riikka Purra reiterated her party’s aim to exclude foreign residents from getting social welfare. According to her, the only ones who qualify for social welfare are Finnish citizens.

The radical-right politician added that such plans would not materialize in the next political term but was a long-range plan.

The fact that she can make such a statement reveals a lot about how racism has entered Finnish politics. Her party’s aim is synonymous with what is happening in Afghanistan today with women’s rights.

**This Facebook post was made in 2019. Today, the PS is the second-most popular party in a *YLE* poll.**

But the icing on the racist cake is the silence coming from parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) and others concerning Purra’s statement about disenfranchising foreign residents in Finland. After a second try, Kokoomus’ head of communication, Kirsi Holtta, said that the party not believe that social security should be based on nationality.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #90: A crime by “people of foreign background” offers more political mileage than one committed by white Finns

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Migrant Tales

We read about the tragic death of a woman at Espoo’s Iso Omena shopping center on Saturday. The woman died while being escorted by four Securitas security guards out of the shopping center. The altercation ended with the woman on the floor, handcuffed, and eventually lifeless.

The police announced Sunday that the security guards in the incident are suspected of manslaughter.

The woman’s death followed a police investigation of security guards at Avarn Security, who systematically beat and humiliated its victims.

Both incidents shed light on some uncomfortable but imperative matters: greater scrutiny of security guards by the companies and police, better training, and stricter psychological tests to determine if they qualify for such work.

A good editorial by Helsingin Sanomat today caused us to reflect on crime and punishment. As everyone knows, and with elections on April 4, radical-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset and the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) are spreading fear about youth gangs and how they are a threat to our society.

Media Monitoring Group of Finland*: The Avarn Security scandal reveals a lot about how the media frames minorities

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

After reading 77 stories published by Yle (9 stories), Helsingin Sanomat (19), Iltalehti (6), Ilta-Sanomat (30), and MTV (13) about the Avarn Security scandal, only one story alleges racism as a factor in the working culture of security guards. Another story by Ilta-Sanomat, which wrote about excessive force, only mentioned once a “person of foreign background” was apprehended by security guards.

Meanwhile, according to various media reports, a woman died on Saturday at Espoo’s Iso Omena shopping center. The woman was being escorted out of the shopping center by Securitas security guards. The police suspect that manslaughter is the cause of death.

**Avarn Security guards holding down a victim. Source: *Helsingin Sanomat*.**

While the youth gang stories hyped by the media have no problem labeling “persons of foreign background” as a source of the “problem,” there is no mention of ethnic profiling as a factor. Surprisingly, non of the 77 stories mention ethnic profiling at all.

Helsingin Sanomat asked in a story what the security guards’ motives were in using excessive violence and humiliating their victims. Another story by the daily alleged that excessive force is used against socially venerable and disadvantaged people.

What do they mean? The homeless? Drunks? Old people? People of color? Other minorities?