Is there a connection between what happened in July with Pekka Kataja and his attempted murder by the far right and the latest case involving at least one police officer and a group of far-right extremists to carry out a serious crime against the life or health of others?
Expo, the Swedish anti-racism NGO, states that such acts of violence may not be isolated events since raids against far-right groups were recently uncovered in Finland and Spain, and Austria.
If there is one matter that US President Donald Trump’s self-coup has evidenced, it is the fragility of our democracy. This is also the case in Finland with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, a pro-Trump radical right party that openly supports Trump.
Some factors unite Finland with the United States. Finns have – incorrectly – said in the past that they are the most USAmerican country in Europe.
Last Friday, we got a taste of how radical- and far-right populism have emboldened such groups to plan attacks against anti-racism activists.
Even if we don’t have Republicans in power, we do have the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which openly supports Trump and his divisive policies. We have a copy of the Proud Boys as well called the Soldiers of Odin, a far-right vigilante group with neo-Nazi ties that has threatened to use – and uses – violence to drive home its point.
The message coming out of PS leader Jussi Halla-aho and Trump are strikingly based on similar worldviews. Both politicians and parties are trying to claw on to their white privilege by disenfranchising other goups.
In the United States, they are black and brown USAmericans. In Finland, too, we have an ever-growing number of black and brown Finns.
I am sometimes amazed by the racism of both of our societies. The fastest way to gain power and attention is to spread racism and incredulous alternative truths.
Even if the grip of Halla-aho’s Finland and Trump’s USAmerica is loosening, they will do anything – even destroying our democracy – to retain power.
I have no doubt that, like Trump in the US now, the PS would be ready to water down our Nordic welfare state democracy and turn Finland into a Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Continue reading “A danger to democracy”Remember Fares Al-Obaidi, 19, who was chased and violently attacked on Saturday, June 6, by a gang of angry residents of Teuva, a town in Western Finland? Six months have passed since that terrible incident, and no charges have been brought yet against the alleged attackers.
“The fact that I know nothing about my case [and the charges],” said Al-Obaidi, “gives me the impression that what happened to me isn’t important to the police. Those who attacked me are walking freely with no consequences.”
Fares admits that his life changed by the events of early June.
“I no longer feel safe when going outside,” he continued. “I moved to another city [to Espoo from Kristiinankaupunki]. I have to take sleeping pills because I suffer from sleep disorders and have a tough time concentrating at school.”
Fares came to Finland in 2015 like tens of thousands of others fleeing war. He speaks Finnish fluently and attends high school. Even if he left is home country, a former home that is at war with itself for a long time, he never thought he’d experience what he did in Finland.
His ordeal began on a Saturday. Fares was first insulted by a group of residents from the town of Teuva and then chased by two cars on the road. Two other cars blocked the road ahead of him and had no choice but to drive the car into a ditch.
Fares tried to run away from his attackers, but it was to no avail. He was beaten so badly by them that he ended up being taken by an ambulance to a hospital in Seinäjoki.
“I don’t know what will happen to me in the future, but I am waiting for justice,” he concluded.
THIS POST WAS UPDATED
Much of Finland’s history is whitewashed. One of its victims was Rosa Emilia Clay (1875-1959), Finland’s first African-born Finn who received Finnish citizenship in 1899. The naming of Rosa Emilia Clay square in Tampere is a watershed: Finland is slowly but surely awakening to its rich cultural and ethnic background.
Even if Rosa Emilia Clay was born in Namibia, then German Southwest Africa, she represents all non-white Finns in the country. She is a reminder that such people not only have history but a right to it.
Considering that Rosa Emilia Clay’s name could not be found anywhere on the Finnish municipal map, such a distinction was granted and long overdue after 145 years after her birth and 61 years after her death.
Better late than never.
As with others, I have also lobbied for a street named after Rosa Emilia Clay. In 2019, I contacted academic researcher Anna Rastas, who is an expert on Rosa Emilia Clay.
Continue reading “Rosa Emilia Clay finally gets recognition when Tampere names a square after her”You would think that Finland, which claims to have one of the world’s best education systems, knows how to deal with racism and bullying. If we look at the last decade and the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, it appears that Finland has failed miserably in the task.
The PS is today the second biggest party in parliament and the biggest opposition party. One of their favorite political pastimes is to spread racist statements about migrants.
We can agree that racism is a viler form of bullying than found in school.
Certain ways to fail at tackling bullying at school is by ignoring it and allowing it to continue unchecked.
Racism spewed by PS and other politicians can shed its poisonous roots if we do not change the toxic soil (prejudice) from which racism feeds and grows.
Green League minister of the interior, Maria Ohisalo, showed us leadership on this front on how we can change that soil.
“Moreover, the Perussuomalaiset’s logic is racist,” she tweeted, “it is harmful to low-income migrants as to native Finns. To those people in a difficult [socio-economic] situation who need help the most.”
Finland needs more leadership examples against racism unless we do not want our country to turn into Hungary, Poland, or the Trump-led United States.
Perussuomalaiset toivottivat 6.12. kaikille “suomalaisille” hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää. Noin kaksi vuottaa sitten, Johannes Sipola perussuomalaisista toivosi kaikille “valkoisille iseille” hyvää isänpäivää.
Onko näissä kahdessa toivomuksissa eroa?
Ei ole, koska ne ovat tarkoitettu valkoiselle suomalaisille, ei vähemmistölle, eli vaikkapa ruskeille suomalaisille. Heidän viestinsä on selvää: itsenäisyysjuhla kuuluu vain valkoisille suomalaisille.
Jos kysyt perussuomalaisista, onko tämä rasistista, he varmasti kysyvät mitä on rasismia.
A neo-Nazi online publication called Partisaani is a good example of how far-right groups feed and fool readers. After close examination, the Partisaani publication’s layout has a striking similarity to Yle’s, the Finnish Broadcasting Company website.
Even the typeset and layout of the stories are a copy of Yle.
Check the two examples below. The only way you distinguish them is by the stories.
After watching a nailbiter between Argentina and Australia in the Tri-Nations Rugby Championships, the 15-15 draw turned into a sour taste in my mouth when Australian rugby captain Michael Hooper said after the game that “the Argies are a tough cookie to crack.”
Was this racist term intentional or unintentional? Is Hooper a sore loser or just plain ignorant?
How many English cricket players would state after a match against Pakistan that “the Pakis are a tough cookie to crack?”
Let’s make one thing crystal clear: The term “Argie” is a slur created during the Falklands-Malvinas war. It’s meaning is to demean in a racist manner.
All Argentineans should protest forcefully for Hooper using this racist term.
Watching the assault on democratic institutions in the United States, Hungary, Poland, and other countries, one wonders what Finnish voters see in its own Trump- and Orbán-spirited Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.
In Yle’s latest opinion poll published Thursday, the PS took first place by a hair from the Social Democrats (SDP), leading since May.
So what are we supposed to make out of the latest opinion poll?
The National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) strategy to flirt with the PS has turned out a failure. Kokoomus retreated by 0.7% to 15.9% and is now far behind the PS and SDP.
This has been proven repeatedly: Don’t try to imitate the PS’ Islamophobic message. Why would voters choose a lighter version of the PS if they can vote for the real thing?
SAD BUT TRUE: AROUND 18% OF FINNISH VOTERS BACK A TRUMP-SPIRITED PARTY IN FINLAND DESPITE ITS COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, GOOD EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND HIGH SCORES IN THE PRESS FREEDOM INDEX.
The good news?
If the PS win the next parliamentary election in 2023, they will have to compromise and work with other parties to govern.
This isn’t a consolation but a warning that our democratic system may also be in peril.
It isn’t difficult to conclude that many of the stories of how the media frames non-white Finns proves over and over again that they are part of Finland’s racism problem.
The Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) published Thursday its findings of a comprehensive study on native-born Finnish children with one or two foreign-born parents and how well they fared at school compared with white Finnish children.
Am I happy about the findings of the THL study?
THL researcher Lotta Haikkola said: “It’s important to note that the findings [of the study] are not directly related to the parents’ country of birth, but could be a consequence of a number of other factors. In light of the findings of the study, it is especially important to ask if children get enough support [at school] irrespective of their parents’ language and cultural background.”
Despite the findings, Yle labels those children with one of two foreign parents suffer from poor grades, have more mental problems and are more sustpible to child custody.
The study showed as well that if both of the parents are born abroad, the child is less prone to commit a crime.
The pictures used for the story, especiall the Finnish-langauge news, frames the problem as an issue facing Muslims, people of color and other visible minorities.
As the study points out, racism is another factor that impacted those interviewed in the study.