Sweden’s center-left bloc led by the Social Democratic party is set for a narrow victory over right-wing opponents in today’s parliamentary election, according to Yle. The biggest upset was the dismal showing of the conservative Moderate party, which slipped into third place after the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
In light of the boycott against the Sweden Democrats, the Moderate party changed its tune and was willing to form a government with the anti-immigration party with neo-Nazi roots.
The lesson? Don’t copy the rhetoric of xenophobic parties. Voters can vote for the real thing instead of a poor copy.
In Finland, the best example was when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* split into two parties in 2017. There was the old PS and a lighter version called Blue Reform.
The PS survived as a party, and Blue Reform disappeared from the political map.
Sweden will elect 349 MPs of the Riksdag (parliament) today, and the big question is how well the far-right Sweden Democrats will fare. According to various opinion polls, the Sweden Democrats are seen coming second after the Social Democrats. The biggest upset would be the Sweden Democrats doing better than the conservative Moderate party.
Just like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in 2011, the Sweden Democrats scored their best election victory in 2010 by almost doubling their support to 12.9% (+29 MPs to 49MPs) from 5.7% (20 MPs) in parliament.
Even if Sweden Democrat chairperson Jammie Akesson assures us that the party has moved away from its racist and neo-Nazi past, some are not convinced.
Up to now, all mainstream political parties in Sweden have blocked the party from forming part of a government.
Why all the commotion and support for the Sweden Democrats?
It’s the same story in all of the Nordic Countries: migration.
In Finland, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* plays the same toxic tune as in Denmark (Social Democrats today and formerly Danish People’s Party), and the Progressive Party (FrP) of Norway.
In Denmark, the Islamophobic narrative has taken hold of the country’s political environment, and the same is happening in Finland and Norway. A big victory for the Sweden Democrats today could shift matters in the country for a long time.
Two rulings in two important cases involving ethnic profiling and suspected hate crime are a further stain on the credibility of the Finnish police. One of these took over six years to get a just ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, and another one just slapped the hand of the suspect lightly.
Ethnic profiling, which the police have vehemently denied in Finland, saw its date in court after a long, winding, and painful process for the victims.
The legal path of singer Musta Barbari’s mother and sister to the Supreme Administrative Court:
They were stopped on July 9, 2016, by plainclothes policemen in the Helsinki city center on suspicion that they were prostitutes;
The mother and sister refused to give their ID and were found guilty in December 2017 by the police of disobedience;
An appeal was made to the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal, which found the police guilty of ethnic profiling and ordered them to pay a conditional fine of 10,000 euros to Musta Barbari’s mother and sister;
In April 2021, a Helsinki Administrative Court overturned the National Non-discrimination and Equality Tribunal’s decision;
On Thursday, the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland overturned the Helsinki Administrative Court’s ruling.
The ruling in favor of Musta Barbari´s mother and sister is another sad example of how Finland shuts its eyes and ears to the social ill of institutional racism. You can seek justice if you are very patient and willing to take a beating.
“I’m no longer engaging with white people on the topic of race. Not all white people, just the vast majority who refuse to accept the existence of structural racism and its symptoms. I can no longer engage with the gulf of an emotional disconnect that white people display when a person of colour articulates their experience. You can see their eyes shut down and harden. It’s like treacle is poured into their ears, blocking up their ear canals. It’s like they can no longer hear us.”
While, after much suffering and waiting, Musta Barbari´s mother and sister saw justice, the Fares Al-Obaidi case was just starting.
The Southern Ostrobothnia Administrative Court of Seinäjoki fined and sentenced only one person when a group attacked Al-Obaidi in June 2020.
Migrant Talesspoke with the prosecutor in July. According to him, there was no hate crime case because the attack against Al-Obaidi wasn’t due to his ethnicity.
Al-Obaidi disagrees. He said that they immediately called him derogatory, racist insults like mamu and the n-word when they started to argue. Moreover, only one person was convicted because the others remained quiet.
Two stories that expose injustice and denial in Finland became public this week: First, the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland ruled Thursday that the police ethnically profiled singer Musta Barbari’s mother and sister in July 2016. The other news is about an Iraqi youth who white Finns violently attacked in July 2020.
Both cases are not only concerning but revealing. Ethnic profiling and suspected hate crime cases drag their feet in Finland’s legal system. Musta Barbari’s mother and sister finally saw justice after six years, while Fares Al-Obaidi’s case was decided by a court two years and two months later.
US President Joe Biden warned in a recent speech that his country’s democracy is in peril. He pointed the finger at former President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again or Make Attorneys Get Attorneys) followers.
We asked in a recent posting if Biden labeled MAGA Republicans “semi-fascists,” why couldn’t we call the far-right Perussuonalaiset (PS)* the same?
Even if the PS’ and other radical-right followers have not yet stormed Parliament like on January 6 at the Capitol, the party’s far-right brand of rhetoric has caused a lot of harm to our democratic institutions. The hate speech they spread against migrants and minorities is one of many examples.
True, the PS wants to sanitize its hateful rhetoric because they want to form part of a next government after the April parliamentary election.
Source: Yle
Who is Mäenpää? He’s the PS MP who called asylum seekers “invasive species” and did not face an ethnic agitation charges since his parliamentary immunity was not lifted.
The incident of Finnish police brutality, where they physically forced Muslim asylum seekers to remove their hijabs, is not surprising in the least, taking into account the year (2017) and the Häme regionof Finland.
Seven months after the incident with the Muslim women, Migrant Talespublished a story about how the police gave tacit approval to the questionable role of far-right vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin.
At that time, Detective chief inspector of southern Finland, Markku Tuominen, surprised many people In January 2016 when he was quoted as saying that Finns should avoid contact with foreigners. In December, we even read that the police service of Häme welcomed street patrols in the town of Asikkala, according to Hämeen Kaiku.
Asiakkala is located between Hämeenlinna and Lahti.
Apart from supporting far-right vigilante gangs, several asylum reception centers attacked many arson (terrorist?) attacks in 2015. One of these was razed to the ground in Kankaanpää, where five white Finnish suspects were held last year for suspected far-right terrorist charges.
Adding another element to the country’s hostile environment towards asylum seekers and migrants, the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* were in government. Their presence spearheaded numerous laws that tightened Finland’s already restrictive immigration law.
A group of Muslim asylum seekers in May 2017 charged seven police and security guards with assault and misconduct in the line of duty when they forced the women to take off their hijabs, according to Yle.
Apart from the questionable action of the police, it is interesting to note that the court case is happening today, or over five years ago when the incident took place. Moreover, the incident occurred shortly after over 30,000 asylum seekers came to Finland in 2015.
Migrant Tales has documented numerous cases of the poor treatment of asylum seekers by the police and staffers at asylum reception centers.
Even if the women objected, citing their religion, the police forced them to take their hijabs off.
“According to the prosecutor, the women were shouting and screaming, and the accused, among other things, pushed them chest first against the wall,” writes Yle. “Finally, the defendants took off the women’s scarves and took the pictures without them.”
The actions of the police caused injuries to the women. These included headaches, scarring, and redness all over their bodies.
Source: Google
The defendants claim they are innocent of any wrongdoing.
Like many analysts, US President Joe Biden’s “semi-fascism” remark did not go far enough. He should have just dropped the word semi and called them fascists. Taking into account how much the US democracy is in peril, shouldn’t it be time to call out the enemies by their real names?
The MAGA Republicans, who have Perussuomalaiset (PS)* followers like MPs Jussi Halla-aho, Veikko Vallin, Vilhelm Junnilla, and many others in Finland, are made from the same toxic brew.
There is nothing semi about MAGA Republican fascism. It’s the real thing, fair and square.
“MAGA Republicans want to take America backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” President Biden said.
In the same light, the PS is threatening and marginalizing minorities and migrants who should have limited civil rights. It’s clear that after the party passes now-unconstitutional laws to ensure that minorities and migrants are second-class members of society, they will go after other minorities like the Roma, Saami, gays, and others.
I have often wondered why racism some people in Finland are not moved by racism. Racism is a traumatic experience that remains inside of you. Some don’t react or care because they have never been a victim of such a social ill.
When racism jabs or throws a violent punch and your colleague or friend doesn’t react, it is the worst insult. Even worse is if the person denies completely racism or claims that you are overreacting.
Racism is such a profitable disorder that politicians use it to gain power and attention. Even so, the worst racists are the ones who do nothing, remain silent, and keep the structures of institutional racism intact.
An excellent book worth reading.
Racism is a monster that you learn to live with but constantly plan on slaying it.
Institutional racism is a social ill that Finland has done too little to challenge. One of the areas where it happens mainly uncontested is in the labor market. IYou face many challenges ahead if you are lucky enough to get a job interview with your so-called foreign-sounding name.
Once you get through the door, the question is if you will be treated equally like the white Finnish employees.
Hamiid Hussein is a Finnish citizen who has lived in the country for a long time. He approached Migrant Tales as well as other representatives of the media about a far-right Perussuomalaiset* candidate running for office in the municipal elections who wanted a picture of his family.
