The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* parliamentary group unanimously expelled Thursday MP Ano Turtiainen [1] until the end of the year for posting a racist tweet about the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“The suspension is permanent,” PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio was quoted as saying in Yle. “We had a discussion that if he wanted, Turtiainen could apply for membership in the [parliamentary] group after the end of the year if he’s corrected his behavior for good.”
Turtainen’s Facebook page is strangely quiet and makes no mention about the suspension. Source: Facebook.
Why wasn’t Turtiainen sacked permanently from the party? Because he wasn’t, it is difficult to assess if the outrage of the PS is genuine or just a publicity stunt.
I suspect the PS parliamentary group to be disingenuous. No matter how racist your ideas are, you will always find a home in the PS even after you’ve been expelled.
Apart from placing George Floyd’s purple-colored face on the pavement before he was killed with the words “Pink Floyd,” it is the comment the former PS MP made that was equally disturbing.
In the racist tweet, which he took down Wednesday, claimed that as blacks get more rights, the more unruly they become and the more difficult it is to put them in their places.
Turtainen did not offer any apologies to George Floyd’s family, #BlackLivesMatter, Finnish people of color and people of African decent, but stated that he took down the tweet because it harmed the party.
[1] ”Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is the anus.
Migrants search for hope. Their searching offer us hope.
Fourteen-year-old Ilayta’s family history and her drawings offer a glimpse of what hope is. They were searching for five years for a new home in Greece, and four years in Finland finally paid off in July 2019, when they were given a residence permit in Finland.
Uncertainty and deportationalways fiollowed them during those years like a shadow.
A long and grueling nine-year journey for Ilayta and her family that came to a happy ending in July 2019. From left to right: Sabah, Donya, and Ilayta.
Migrant Tales wrote about Ilayta and her family in January 2019.
“Their daughter [then] 13 years old and she speaks at least five languages. Since she is the only one who can speak Finnish, she not only interprets language but the family’s anxiety and fear.”
Despite that difficult phase of their lives, Ilayta draws a picture of a bird below to symbolize their new beginning in Finland.
“I drew a bird because it expresses freedom,” she said. “As asylum seekers, we weren’t free because everyone told us what to do. Now we are free [to get on with our lives].”
“Lintu on vappa ja se lentää niin kin muutkin linnut taivassa.” Translation: “The bird is free and its flies like other birds in the sky.” Drawing by Ilayta S.
“I want to become a language teacher and teach you people,” she said.
Ilayta speaks Turkmen, Finnish,, Greek, English, Finnish, and a little Swedish which she has learned at school.
“Speaking a language is important,” she continued. “Speaking five languages is like being five persons. Problems can be solved more easily because each langague offers a different perspetive.”
“Voi olla hyvää jos noi ulkomaalaiset ei olisi täällä! Älä arvostele toisi niiten ulkonään perusteella, et voi ikinä tiedää ne on kokenut!” Translation: “It may be a good matter if those foreigners weren’t here. Don’ judge others based on their appearance since you can never know what they have gone through!
We wish Ilayta and her family the best and how to write more stories about their lives in Finland.
Poor timing by Ano Turtiainen? Today, people in Helsinki demonstrated in solidarity with George Floyd and #BlackLivesMatter, according to Yle News. At the same time, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Ano Turtianen mocks at the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Today’s demonstration to show support for George Floyd was a great show of solidarity by the people of Helsinki. What didn’t sit well now or ever a racist horse’s ass tweet by PS MP Turtainen denigrating George Floyd’s memory.
Demonstrators show their support for George Floyd and against police brutality at Helsinki’s Senate Square this afternoon. Source: Twitter
Turtiainen’s “joke?” It was apparently George Floyd’s wide-eyed face full of terror colored purple with the name of the 1960s rock band “Pink Floyd.”
Cruel, racist, and unbecoming of an MP but that’s not all he tweets. Turtainen stated that as black people get more rights, they become more unruly. He suggested that going back to Jim Crow and slavery would be an effective way of keeping blacks in line.
People should organize to do everything possible that MPs like Turtiainen don’t get reelected in 2023.
Meanwhile, PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio told Iltalehti that Turtiainen would face disciplinary action for the tweet.
Disciplinary action?! Why not sack him from the party?
Turtiainen’s latest tweet is really from the “ano,” or anus in Spanish. He tweeted a picture of George Floyd’s face on the ground as police officer Derek Chauvin kneels on his neck.
The tweet is not only a slap in the face of George Floyd and to all the suffering black people are experiencing, it is also a swipe at Finland black community.
The “joke?” George Floyd’s wide-eyed face full of terror colored purple with the name of the 1960s rock band “Pink Floyd.”
Cruel, racist, and unbecoming of an MP but that’s not all he tweets. Turtainen stated that as black people get more rights, they become more unruly. He suggested that slavery would be an effective way of keeping blacks in line.
George Floyd and Turtiainen’s racist humor. In the tweet, he states that as blacks get more rights the more difficult they become.
As a matter of policy, Migrant Tales no longer publishes racist pictures by racist politicians.
MP Turtiainen is a meber of Finland’s biggest opposition party.
Thank you Reija Härkönen for the heads-up!
[1] ”Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is the anus.
I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system.
Noam Chomsky
US President Donald Trump has threatened to employ the army to end nationwide riots that have engulfed his administration and the nation, The Guardianreports.
“Today, I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the national guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets,” Trump said. “Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming presence until the violence is quelled.
And adds: “If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
Trump’s promise to quell the riots with military might is the same law-and-order tactic that dictatorships use to justify their power.
The eroding of civil rights, social and economic inequality, which have been crudely exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the lynching of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, are just chickens coming home to roost in USAmerica.
The social and moral implosion we are witnessing in the US is not Trump’s fault since he is only one of its symptoms. Dr. Cornel West said, “We are witnessing America as a failed social experiment.”
In Latin America, as in other parts of the world, the United States was and is directly responsible for waging wars and installing dictatorships that would care less about the rule of law and human rights.
Wasn’t the United States the first country in the world to use nuclear weapons against humans? Let’s not forget the horrendous crimes committed against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945?
USAmerican exceptionalism is at fault and plays a prominent role. Waging war throughout the world and being directly responsible for the deaths of millions of people means that your hands will become drenched with blood.
The lies perpetrated by USAmerican exceptionalism may help us to become partially color blind and not see dripping red blood from our hands, but the injustices are there socially camouflaged. Like Trump’s battle cry, it is only a distraction; police brutality, social inequality, among many other issues, are still real and unresolved.
In Argentina, where the military restored “law and order” with the help of a dictatorship (1976-83), there was peace because everyone was terrified. There was silence too, but it was an eerie one, resembling that of a cemetery.
After the military coup of 1976, which overthrew a democratically elected government, walls were whitewashed and an eerie cemetery-like silence overtook Buenos Aires’s residential streets. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.
If USAmerica looked at itself in the mirror, it would see itself as a broken system combing its soul with the brush of self-deceit.
“We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us.” — Malcolm X
“I can’t breathe.”
— George Floyd
What is the Coronavirus Revolution?
Covid-19 + mass unemployment + balooning social inequality + racist self-serving US president = CORONAVIRUS REVOLUTION.
Social movements, like the one we are seeing in the United States today, are sparked by people like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breona Taylor, and others in the same way that Rosa Parks did on December 1, 1955, when she ignited the Civil Rights Movement.
Good analysis by Dr. Cornel West. “We are witnessing America as a failed social experiment,” he said.
The Amy Cooper incident in New York’s Central Park added more fuel to the fire when she falsely accused a black man of threatening her.
A revolution is always unexpected and one step ahead of those who want to crush it.
But the big question is where all these protests will take us. Will they be suppressed with violence or will it be the beginning of a more just and inclusive world?
The European Islamophobia Report (EIR) will publish in early June its findings. Should we be surprised that the party that is associated with Islamophobia in Finland is none other than the Perusuomalaiset (PS)*?
The forthcoming European Islamophobia Report 2019, which will be published in early June, lists the central figures in Finland’s Islamophobia network. In 2018 there were:
Read the full European Islamophobia Report 2018 here.
Racism and Islamophobia are such a problem in Finland that these two social ills have become a major political force in the last decade. Concerning the rise of anti-Islam racism, YouGov published one of these studies in 2015, which was reinforced by a PEW Research Center studyin 2018.
Both studies showed that Finland had the most negative attitudes of the EU countries surveyed against minorities. In YouGov’s findings, negative attitudes extended to the Romany minority, black people, gays, and Jews. In the PEW study, 62% of religiously unaffiliated and 67% of church-attending Christians considered Islam to be incompatible with Finnish culture and values.
Another disturbing fact that exposes Islamophobia in Finland is hate crime statistics, which showed in 2018 that of all national groups, the Iraqis faced the highest frequency of hate crime due to national and ethnic origin. As in previous years, the highest amount of hate crimes (86.8% in 2018) were due to ethnic and/or national origin.
Further proof of Finland’s anti-Muslim sentiment is the emergence of the PS as a significant political force.
In the 2011 parliamentary election, the number of seats won by the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party soared to 39 from 5 previously. That was followed by good showings in 2015 (38 seats), and in 2019 (38 seats).
Of all the parties during the past decade, only the PS have had the greatest success. A great part of this success is attributable to their racist anti-Islam message shrowded in suspicion.
The PS has tried to deliver to its campaign promises voters with its exclusive and racist policies but this has run into problems with the Finnish constitution.
If the PS had its way, it would ditch as well as international agreements like the 1951 Refugee Convention and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Below are the political trademark of the PS:
As seen in the previous government, many of its plans to tighten immigration laws were in conflict with the Constitution (Section §6) since migrants would not be equal before the law;
Perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Jussi Halla-aho on luonut poliittinen ura solvamalla helppoja maaleja kuten Muslimeja ja muita vähemmistöjä. Hän ei ole vielä sanoutunut irti vanhoista ja loukkaavista kirjoituksista, vaikka myönsi viime vuonna, että osa (emme tiedä mitkä) ovat “tyhmiä ja harkitsemattomia.”
Vaikka Halla-aho käyttää eri ilmaisuja tänään kun puhuu maahanmuutosta ja islamista, hänen kannanotot ja maailmankuva on yhtä rasistista kun ennen.
“Koska suurin osaa hänen vanhoista kirejoituksista ei enää löydy netistä, se paljastaa hänen pelkurimaisuuden. Tämä ei yllättää ja se on ymmärrettävä, koska Halla-aho on opportunisti.”
Halla-ahon kannanotot ovat täynnä salakoodeja. Yksi niistä on pyrkimys lopettaa kokonaan humanitäärinen maahanmuutto. Vaikka hän ei kertoo enempään, tämä oikeasti tarkoittaa, että Suomi vetäytyisi kokona kansainvälisistä pakolais- ja ihmisoikeus sopimuksista.
Seuraavat twiitit alhalla ovat esimerkkeja minkälainen politiik hän on. Ne puhuvat runkkaamisesta, paskan syomistä ja Trumpin diggamisesta.
Jussi Halla-ahon kauheimmat sitaatit 2003-2020:
AFROFOBIA
“Valkoiset maksavat kalliisti mustien rikollisuudesta ja työttömyydestä, niin menetetyn turvallisuuden, valtavien sosiaalisten tulonsiirtojen kuin kaikenlaisten suvaitsevaisuusohjelmien muodossa, joilla pyritään vakuuttamaan niin valkoiset kuin mustat siitä, että valkoiset ovat jollain mystisellä tavalla syyllisiä mustien ahdinkoon.”(8.4.2005 Scriptassa)
CHRISTCHURCHJA IHMISOIKEUDET
”Merkillepantavaa: lehtien mukaan on tapahtunut terrori-isku [maaliskuussa Christchurch Uudessa Seelannissa], joka ei ole yksittäistapaus eikä liity mielenterveyteen tai syrjäytymiseen. Myös yhteyksiä ja kytköksiä löytyy maailman toiselle puolelle asti.” (15.3.2019 Twitterissa)
“Aiemmin ihmisoikeuksilla on tarkoitettu ihmisen oikeutta toteuttaa itseään ja elää omalla tavallaan, ilman että siihen puututaan ilman perustavaa laatua olevia syitä. Sittemmin ihmisoikeuksilla on ruvettu lähinnä tarkoittamaan jonkun ihmisryhmän oikeutta jonkun toisen ihmisryhmän rahoihin.” (20.5.2011 Helsingin Sanomissa, jossa vuoden 2001 tekstiään hän kertoo vihaavansa ihmisoikeuksia).
ETNISTÄ PROFILOINTIA
Ennakoivat turvallisuustoimenpiteet terrorismin ehkäisyssä henkilö- ja ajoneuvotarkastusten, salakuuntelun, kotietsintöjen ja pidätysten muodossa olisikin näin syytä kohdistaa etenkin niihin ihmisiin, joiden etninen alkuperä on Lähi-Idässä, Pohjois-Afrikassa tai Keski-Aasiassa.(11.5.2016 Suomen Uutisissa)
HOLOKAUSTI
“Holokaustin takautuva vastustaminen on tietysti kivempaa ja helpompaa kuin mihinkään käynnissä olevaan puuttuminen. Saksalaisia on kiva syytellä, koska cosi fan tutti. Armenialaiset eivät kiinnosta ketään, koska armenialaiset eivät omista Hollywoodia ja Yhdysvaltain mediaa.” (28.1.2004 Scriptassa)
HOMOFOBIA
”Tehtaanpuiston homon kanssa mietin hetken, että jospa hakisin yläkerrasta pyssyn ja ampuisin päähän. Olisiko siitä seuraava hekuma niin suuri, että se ylittäisi vankilareissusta seuraavan harmituksen? Väkivalta on nykyään aliarvostettu ongelmanratkaisukeino.” (17.10.2003 Scriptassa katuhäirintää käsittelevässä kirjoituksessaan jouduttuaan itse seksuaalisen häirinnän uhriksi)
ISLAM
”Vastustan kaikkea sellaista maahanmuuttoa, jonka vaikutus vastaanottavalle yhteiskunnalle ja siinä asuville ihmisille on kielteinen. Islamilaista maahanmuuttoa vastustan erityisesti, koska islam, sellaisena kuin se todellisessa elämässä (ei siis Jaakko Hämeen-Anttilan teorioissa) eksistoi, on paitsi taantumuksellinen uskonto myös sotaisa poliittinen ideologia.” (23.10.2006 Scriptassa)
“Kaikki muslimit eivät ole terroristeja, mutta tämä ei ole Euroopan kannalta oleellista. Euroopan kannalta oleellista on, että kaikki terroristit ovat muslimeja.” (21.9.2006 Scriptassa)
“Olen toistuvasti tuonut esille, että mielestäni islam on tuhoisa, vaarallinen ja erityisesti primitiivinen uskonto ja kulttuurikompleksi.” (Scriptassa 19.5.2005)
MAAHANMUUTTO JA TURVANPAIKKAHAKIJAT
“Teen tätä vain, koska haluan olla mukana muuttamassa suomalaisen maahanmuuttopolitiikan ajattelu- ja toimintatapoja.” (13.4.2019 Iltalehdessä)
“Koko turvapaikkaprosessi pitäisi keskittää sellaiseen paikkaan, josta nämä ihmiset eivät pääse uhkaamaan suomalaisten turvallisuutta varsinkaan kielteisen päätöksen jälkeen.” (7.12.2018 MTV:ssa)
“Me haluamme lopettaa humanitäärisen maahanmuuton kokonaan.” (11.8.2018 Helsingin Sanomissa)
“Vaikkapa Suomelle kuuluvat saaret sopisivat hyvin tähän tarkoitukseen [palautuskeskus sijoitetaan saareen, ettei pääse pois].” (22.8.2017 Ylellä)
“Somalit ovat perineet suomalaisessa tajunnassa sen position, joka vuosisatojen ajan kuului romaneille. On vaikea nimetä röyhkeämpää, kiittämättömämpää, vaateliaampaa, aggressiivisempaa ja kaikkinaisesta itsekriittisyydestä vapaampaa vähemmistöä kuin somalit. Kaikista muista, haasteellisistakin, ryhmistä nousee niitä, jotka kehottavat omiaan lopettamaan rasismiruikutuksen ja katsomaan peiliin. Vaan ei somaleista.” (10.1.2007 Scriptassa)
“Todellinen vikapää ei ole afro, joka toteuttaa itseään juuri niin kauan ja paljon kuin koneisto antaa hänen toteuttaa. Todellinen syyllinen, ja legitiimi vihan kohde, on se utopiassa elävä poliittinen eliitti, jolle n-sana [poistettu oikea sana] on hoivattava reppana ja kiva halinalle ja joka vähät välittää yhteiskuntarauhasta.” (30.9.2005 Scriptassa)
NAISVIHA
”Kollektiivisessa närkästyksessäni huomaan välillä, että minun on vaikea tuntea aitoa sympatiaa näiden rikosten uhreja kohtaan. Tunnen houkutusta ajatella, että naiset saavat sitä, mitä pyytävät. Yritän kuitenkin olla ajattelematta näin. Koska kaikki naiset eivät ole sellaisia kuin Virtanen, Biaudet ja Filatov. Raiskaukset tulevat joka tapauksessa lisääntymään. Koska näin ollen yhä useampi nainen tulee joka tapauksessa raiskatuksi, toivon hartaasti, että uhrinsa sattumanvaraisesti valitsevien saalistajien kynsiin jäisivät oikeat naisihmiset. Vihervasemmistolaiset maailmanparantajat ja heidän äänestäjänsä. Mieluummin he kuin joku muu. Heihin ei tehoa mikään muu kuin se, että monikulttuuri osuu omaan nilkkaan.” (20.12.2006 Scriptassa).
SOSIAALITURVA
“Vertasin Rinteen puheita nigerialaiskirjeisiin. Kaikki tietävät, että sosiaalidemokraatit ei vaalien jälkeen nosta eläkkeitä.” (19.5.2018 Ylellä)
“Yhteiskunnalla on perustehtävät, kuten turvata kansalaistensa ulkoinen ja sisäinen turvallisuus. Sen lisäksi on luksustoimintoja, kuten työttömyysturva ja sosiaaliturva. Sitten on sellaisia tehtäviä, jotka minun mielestäni eivät lainkaan kuulu valtion ja veronmaksajien toimialueeseen, kuten esimerkiksi rahan siirto Etelä-Eurooppaan tai vielä kauemmaksi maailmaan.” (13.3.2017 Iltalehdessä)
UNKARI JA SOTILASJUNTTA
”…asiallisesti ottaen, mediasta saamieni tietojen perusteella, mitään vallankaappausta ei Unkarissa ole tapahtunut…Unkarin todellinen synti ei ole demokratiavaje, sananvapausvaje tai oikeusvaltiovaje vaan kansallismielisyys ja konservatiivisuus.” (1.4.2020 Kansan Uutisessa)
“Juuri nyt Kreikkaan tarvittaisiin sotilasjuntta, jonka ei tarvitsisi välittää suosiostaan, ja joka voisi panna lakkoilijat ja mellakoijat kuriin panssarivaunuilla.” (14.9.2011 Savon Sanomassa)
VIHAPUHEETTA
“Mielivaltisena sensuurina” Halla-aho pitää lakia kansanrynään vastaan kiihottamisesta. (7.11.2019 Ilta-Sanomissa)
“Täytyy ryhtyä tykittämään tuota [oikeusministeri Tuija] Braxin [vihr.] ennakkosensuurijuttua myös ulkomaisiin blogeihin ja tiedotusvälineisiin. Gates of Vienna on ehkä hyvä paikka aloittaa.” (2008 Uudessa Suomessa)
Migrant Tales insight:The story below was published by Migrant Tales in June 2018. It is about a Moroccan who married a Finn but deported to his native country. We received on April 23 from “Majid” the following message: “My wife died.”
We will update this story after they perform an autopsy on his late wife.
As we expressed then and now, our heartfelt condolences go to Majid.
A Moroccan called Majid* got in touch with Migrant Tales who was deported in October despite marriage to a Finnish woman. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) claims that the marriage was arranged, but he denies such a claim. He is presently awaiting a decision by the administrative court to overturn Migri’s decision.
Majid was deported from Finland in October and he can not return to the country and the Schengen area for two years. He knows another Moroccan who was married to a Finn and who was deported like him.
Asylum seekers have had a tough time in Finland as our laws have tightened. This protestor went on a hunger strike in front of the little parliament in 2016.
“Ours is not a fake marriage,” the man said by phone from Morocco. “I love my wife very much, and she is very sad about our separation. My wife visited me, and she stayed with me for three months. It is expensive to travel back and forth from Finland to Morocco.”
According to Majid, his short time in Finland went well and he was able to adapt and be a part of society.
“I was living a normal life,” he continued. “I am a tolerant person with goals and who wanted to achieve them. I wanted to learn Finnish. When they deported me I was studying the Finnish language at a school seven kilometers from home. I used to walk or bike to school.”
Majid came to Finland in February 2016 and asked for asylum. His request was later turned down by Migri.
“I went to Migri in March [2017] to tell them about my marriage, which happened in the previous month,” he said. “Despite being married, they said I had to leave Finland because my request for asylum was turned down. That’s when the police took me to Metsälä [immigration removal center] where I was detained for a month.”
After moving to Finland and living in Oulu, Majid moved to Helsinki and lived with a Moroccan friend for four months. It is during this time when he met his future wife on the Internet. “We met, and we hit it off very well,” he said.
Even if Majid claims that the interview with Migri went well about his marriage to his wife, he claims that the police have done everything possible to destroy his marriage.
“The police told my wife that it was a mistake to marry a foreigner,” he said. “They told her that they know of many cases where foreign men take advantage of Finnish women. They marry just to get a residence permit.”
The man’s problems got worse when the police in a northern Finnish city asked him to come to the station.
“That’s when they detained me and locked me up in a police cell for three days,” he continued. “The only way I can see my wife for only a half an hour is in a city [abut 100km away] because there was no meeting room with a glass separation.”
Majid said that after two nights they woke him up at 4 am and said he was going to be deported. He could not call his lawyer or wife because the police took his phone.
“I was taken to Oulu, then to Helsinki, to Paris, where I boarded a plane with the police to Casablanca,” he said.
Despite all the legal problems and the battle with the authorities, Majid is hopeful that the administrative court will overrule Migri’s decision.
“I love my wife, I love Finland, and want to make my home in that country,” he concluded.
* The name of the person was changed to protect his identity.
Perussuomalaiset (PS) vice president and MP, Riikka Purra, likes to talk tough against Muslims and people of color. Her whole political message hinges on one overriding matter: spreading hatred and suspicion of Muslims.
Source: Goodreads.
Purra’s Islamophobic rants and prejudices expose in the raw her political opportunism and self-deception. Her Twitter page is peppered with anti-Muslim racist tweets and one wonders if she sees Muslims under her bed.
Her most recent tirade (surprise, surprise) is of the Muslim Ramadan celebrations, which ended over the weekend. She claimed in a tweet that schools in Vantaa had made Eid celebration an official holiday.
Eid is a celebration commemorating the end to Ramadan.
Here is a tweet from the City of Vantaa stating that Eid isn’t an official holiday at schools. I wonder from where Purra copied this line of attack. Denmark, maybe? Source: Twitter.
What Purra tweeted could not be further from the truth. It did, however, expose a tactic used by racist politicians like her. Make an incredible statement. It is beside the point, even if her claim is misleading since the news has already reached her followers.
Like all of the PS MPs, Purra has made a name for herself with the help of Islamophobia.
Imagine the leader of Finland’s biggest opposition party equating masturbation and immigration. In this tweet, he says that we would have no reason to masturbate if there were no news about migration and asylum seekers.Source: Twitter.
Her persona is such that if Muslims did not exist, she would target and shoot her diatribe against Jews, Roma and other minorities.
It does not take much to understand on which side Purra and the PS would be in Adolf Hitler’s Germany.
