Category: Enrique

Is Timo Soini losing his grip of the PS?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

For those who haven’t noticed, Perussuomalaiset (PS) anti-immigration hardliners like MP Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari have tried to show their human side to the media. Halla-aho was recently interviewed with his wife Hilla on Me Naiset, while Hirvisaari writes on a blog entry hitherto-unheard empathy and understanding for his archenemy, the media.  

Some of Finland’s most notorious Counterjihadists are members of the PS. From (top right, left to right): Olli Immonen, James Hirvisaari, Matias Turkkila, Jussi Halla-aho, (second row) Juho Eerola, Freddy Van Wonterghem, Simon Elo, and Kai Haavikko.

Migrant Tales’ guest writer Jos Schuurmans wrote recently about Halla-aho’s interview on Me Naiset.

He wrote: “How is it possible that Sanoma, one of Finland’s largest, most professional and most respected media firms, gets away with publishing a cosy, three-page family portrait of far-right MP Jussi Halla-aho in its November 1, 2012, issue of Me Naiset, the mainstream human interest women’s magazine?”

The interview by Essi Myllyoja of the Halla-ahos is not only an insult to many immigrants and Finns, but shows how the media continues to be run by white Finns. By controlling the narrative, white Finns, or those that rule this country, ensure that what you hear and see are only the stories they want to be told.

If we are going to analyze why two of the PS’ most notorious Counterjihadists are trying to show a softer more human side of themselves, we’d have to study what is going on behind the scenes of chairman Timo Soini’s party.

Apparently there is a pretty serious fight for control of the party between Soini and Halla-aho. Halla-aho, who was convicted by the Supreme Court for defaming and inciting ethnic hatred in June, didn’t rule out the possibility on the Subin Enbuske & Linnanahde Crew TV show of challenging Soini for the party’s leadership.

The present situation within the PS is an outcome of the election blows it received after its historic victory in the April 2011 parliamentary elections. Since then it has been a rough downhill ride: Soini didn’t even make it to the second round of the presidential elections and the municipal elections of October were a clear disappointment.

Disgruntled by the situation and Soini’s leadership, Hirvisaari said recently that the party did poorly in the municipal elections because it wasn’t outspoken as before on immigration issues.

Taking into account that the PS’ anti-immigration candidates fared well in the municipal elections, it suggests that the undecided mainstream voters that gave their support for the party in 2011 have started to jump ship. What is remaining are the most loyal and radical elements, or those who vote for anti-immigration, anti-Islam, homophobic, and populist-conservative candidates.

Emboldened and scenting blood like a hungry pack of wolves, the Counterjihadists of the PS see this as an opportune moment to challenge Soini for the party’s leadership. They are determined to try again if they don’t succeed.

Halla-aho’s and Hirvisaari’s “tolerant” new look should be seen as a shameless ploy in league with many of the red herrings they have tried to feed the public.

 

 

 

The true face of the PS is being exposed by its poor election results

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting editoral on Saturdary’s Helsingin Sanomat (HS) that shows how close Nordic anti-immigration are when it comes to the support they received in recent elections and poll standings. Migrant Tales wrote six days after Anders Breivik murdered in cold blood 77 people on July 22, 2011 that the tide had turned for far right anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region. 

Writes HS: “In the last national elections of 2011, the Progress Party of Norway got 11.4% and the Danish People’s Party 12.3%. In the October municipal elections, the Perussuomalaiset received 12.3%. The amount of votes that the Sweden Democrats got in the parliamentary elections was 5.7%, but a number of polls show their support to be over 10%.”

Even if the Nordic region’s main anti-immigration parties took a beating in recent elections, they have shown, at least in Finland, their real face.  Even if PS chairman Timo Soini continues to play down the role of the anti-immigration vote in the historic April 2011 election, the recent poor showing of the party in the presidential and  municipal elections suggest that mainstream voters are ditching the party.

Some of the most loyal PS voters appear to be today those that vote for anti-immigration candidates. Is this one of the reasons why PS MP Jussi Halla-aho is planning to challenge Soini for the party’s leadership?

Those politicians that base their support on immigrant and visible minority bashing, need the PS as much as a human needs oxygen. Without the party they would shrivel up, become insignificant and die.  A good example is former PS city councilman Hemmo Koskiniemi. When the Rovaniemi PS branch refused to accept his candidacy for city council, Koskiniemi’s votes plummeted to 74 from 337 in 2008.

Soini and these candidates feed off each other politically. One needs the other.

HS claims that in the face of the Sweden Democrats‘ racism scandal, Soini’s problems are small. Maybe so, but the plunge in PS support  and the success of their strongly anti-immigration and Counterjihadist candidates in the municipal elections show that Soini may be in deep water soon.

The SD (and PS) are far-right anti-immigration parties

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting opinion piece on Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter about the Swedish Democrats (SD) and the spread of fascism or neofascism in the Scandinavian country.  While classifying a party as “fascist” may be problematic, there are certain ideological characteristics that expose its true political colors. 

Historian and journalist Henrik Arnstad writes: “Fascism is a deeply problematic word…But it is the name of a specific political ideology, which for the first time represented today in the Swedish parliament.”

In Finland we have the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which is a close ideological relative of the SD. There are many factors that unite as well as separate both parties. Nationalism is one of these.

Another matter that draws them together is their suspicion of cultural diversity.  As Arnstad writes about fascism, the SD (and many members of the PS) see cultural diversity as a threat to their perceived homogenous society.

The far-right in the PS, led by PS MP’s like Jussi Halla-aho, fear – like the SD – the loss of the country’s near-white society due to immigration.

Even if the SD and Counterjihadists in the PS bend over backwards to show their pro-Israeli stances, the Jewish community in Sweden fears that it is only a question of time when their true anti-Semitic nature is revealed.

“We know where these people are coming from,” Lena Posner, president of the Official Council of Jewish communities in Sweden, was quoted as saying on Haaretz. “They [SD] are Nazi sympathizers who, under their jackets, are still wearing their brown shirts.”

“They love Israel because that sort of rhetoric is in tune with their hatred for Muslims;” she adds. “That’s it.”

It would be naive to think that the PS does not house the same anti-Semitic and far-right feelings than the SD.

 

 

 

 

Racism scandal rips far-right Sweden Democrats

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Here’s an interesting story that took place in June 2010 in Sweden involving a far-right Sweden Democrat (SD) MP, Erik Almqvist, who got rowdy and started hurling racist and sexist insults in public, reports Swedish tabloid Expressen. The MP naturally denied everything until Expressen published today a video confirming what others claimed he said.

After repeated denials, Almqvist wrote on his Facebook page that while he didn’t remember what he said two-and-a-half years ago, he was “greatly remorseful.”

Party chairman Jimmie Åkesson has tried to improve the party’s xenophobic and anti-immigration image by announcing that the SD maintain a strict zero tolerance for racism. As a result of the scandal, Åkesson has asked Almqvist to not only resign from all positions of trust in the party but to consider resigning as MP as well.

Every one knows about the SD’s neo-Nazi roots and their crackpot statements against immigrants and Muslims. Anti-immigration was the most important message of their 2010 campaign. The ad, which was banned in Sweden, is one of many examples of their xenophobia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwYHTn_xxc

As everyone know, in neighboring Finland we have the Perussuomalaiset (PS), a close ideological ally of the SD. Contrary to Sweden, however, PS politicians can get away by saying similar or worse racist insults than Almqvist with little or no consequences.

Here is a link to a Migrant Tales’ blog entry that lists a shameful list of PS party members who got elected to city council thanks to their strong anti-immigration message.

 

MP Hirvisaari claims PS anti-immigration message not strong enough

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James (Erkki Kalevi) Hirvisaari claims that his party did poorly in the municipal elections because it wasn’t as outspoken on immigration issues as before the 2011 parliamentary elections, according to YLE. Migrant Tales disagrees. The PS did poorly in the municipal elections because of the crackpot stuff they say and do to gain attention, listeners or votes. 

Contrary to what Hirvisaari claims, the PS and his band of Counterjihadists tried very hard to raise immigration issues during the last municipal elections. See the long list of blog entries below that were published by Migrant Tales that show that Hirvisaari and other PS politicians tried to gain attention and votes by fueling anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-Roma and homophobic sentiment.

Moreover, the anti-immigration message of the PS sounds like a broken record at this stage. The more it plays, the more their lies and opportunism are exposed. The public, media and politicians are not eating out of their hands as they did before last year’s parliamentary elections.

Politicians like Hirvisaari in the PS, with his usual witch-hunt comments about Islam and immigrants, is one reason why the party has lost popularity and credibility with voters.

One of the PS MP’s many bizarre comments were made after Anders Brevik went on the rampage killing in cold blood 77 Norwegians on July 22, 2011.

On his Uusi Suomi blog he blamed “immigration policy” and “100% rape cases by foreigners [sic!]” for Norway’s worst tragedy after World War 2. “A sensible immigration policy could have lowered tensions and helped avoid many problems as well as the atrocity [in Norway],” he wrote. “And we still can. In Finland as well.”

Hirvisaari, who was convicted for hate speech in December, has not only lost touch with his party but with his constituents.

Here are some blog entries that Migrant Tales published before the October municipal elections that had a strong anti-immigration, anti-Islam and homophobic message:

 

 

Reports: Greatest threat to immigrants are not far-right groups in Sweden

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two reports published on November 9 in Sweden show that the greatest threat to immigrants and visible minorities in that country aren’t far-right groups, but everyday intolerance and racism from white Swedes.

What does this report say about Sweden and suggest about how foreigners are treated in Finland? Contrary to our neighbor, Finland’s third-largest party in parliament, the Perussuomalaiset (PS), is staunchly xenophobic and against immigrants.

Relatives of the PS, the Sweden Democrats, are a minor force in parliament.

Cecilia Englung said: “The biggest challenge is to tackle the problem of everyday xenophobia by comments, evil staring and other negative behaviors toward non-ethnic Sweden.”

One of the reports asked 1,490 students about racism. Half of them, who were born elsewhere than Sweden, had experienced racism (28% said there is racism at their school and 24% knew of a racist assault at school).

Martin Luther King had a point when he said: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of social transition was not the striden clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

MLK had a point but how many of those people he mentions were actually that “good?”

What Saul Schubak did wrong in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Saul Schubak, the National Coalition Party politician who said that ”inferior people” should not get child allowances, resigned Friday as vice president of the party’s youth wing. If there is a lesson to be learned from the Schubak scandal, it’s which group you insult. 

If Schubak speaks of ”inferior people” and gets dumped by his party for his statement, why doesn’t the same happen when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and its anti-immigration extremists get showered with votes in elections?

The answer to this very simple question is obvious: Don’t insult the wrong group. Schubak insulted whites while the PS near-constantly insults immigrants and visible minorities.

The moral of the Schubak scandal? If you are going to insult people in Finland,  stay clear from white people especially if you have a Jewish background. Bashing immigrants and even visible minorities is, however, fine. You won’t lose face.

Schubak said in a statement that he ”did not mean to insult anyone” although that is exactly what he did.

The former National Coalition Party youth wing vice president said that politicians don’t take responsibility for what they say and do. Schubak, contrarily, does, which is why he is resigning, according to his words.

Pushing aside the melodramatics and political soap opera, Schubak is resigning because of what he said and to whom,  which made his position in the party untenable.

The National Coalition Party youth wing has been on other occasions a political thorn in the conservative party’s side.

 

 

Paavo Lipponen does not see far right threatening Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There are few politicians in Finland who speak out against the far-right threat in Finland. One of these is former Social Democrat Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, who expressed concern about the issue in a seminar in Helsinki on deportation of Jews to Germany in World War 2, reports Iltalehti. 

Lipponen expressed surprise that some parties use “racial hygiene” as part of their political agenda. The concept was exploited by Nazi Germany from 1933 and led to the mass murder of millions of Europeans, especially Jews.

Lipponen does not, however, consider the far right to be a threat to Finland.

While Lipponen may state that far-right ideology isn’t a big threat to Finland, some would disagree. Determining what is a threat to our society depends a lot on your perspective. If you are middle class, white and employed, the far-right wing of a party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) isn’t a threat.

If, however, you ask certain immigrant groups and visible minorities, the answer may be much different.

Here’s a Suomen Sisu t-shirt that shows the group’s hostility towards cultural diversity.

Lipponen used Saul Schubak, the vice chairman of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing, as an example of how public opinion has hardened in Finland. Schubak wrote on Facebook that “inferior people” should not get child allowance.

The PS is the party in parliament with the biggest number of anti-immigration fanatics, who base their views on racial hygiene, eugenics and cultural myths like ethnic superiority.

If Migrant Tales had the opportunity to draw a cartoon about PS chairman Timo Soini’s relationship with these far-right politicians, the setting would be a concentration camp in World War 2 with some infamous commandants like Rudolf Hoess and Franz Ziereis, hiding behind Soini.

Soini would state with a poker face: “Anti-Semitism isn’t an issue in our party.”

Barack Obama victory: “The most diverse [and powerful] nation on Earth”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

President Barack Obama’s election victory is the best news embattled United States could hope for. The U.S. president’s leadership on many fronts in the past should be a source of inspiration for European politicians who are being put under the gun by ever-growing populist mainstream intolerance and racism.

Obama has shown leadership on many occasions. He opposed the U.S led invasion of Iraq at a time when it was considered political suicide to be against President George W. Bush’s right to wage preemptive war on anyone Washington pleased. His support for gay marriage is another political milestone of his administration.

While these and many other difficult policy calls are risky, the job of an exemplary politician is to offer leadership and do what is right. Sometimes we need tap our gut instincts to make hard calls. Time will eventually reveal whether those political decision were right or wrong.

One of the many powerful messages in Obama’s victory speech was praising the United States as the most diverse nation on Earth. He said: “As long as we have the courage, to keep reaching, to keep working, keep fighting. Everyone can make it in America. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor, able, disabled, gay, straight. You can make it here in America if you are willing to try.”

Too many politicians in Europe and Finland still patronize with populism and racism. Instead of fueling inclusion, they promote social exclusion of certain groups with their silence and  views. This is a ruinous path that we must challenge with leadership.

Obama’s message, that the United States is the most diverse and  powerful nation on Earth, should inspire us to do much more in Europe and Finland to promote diversity.

If we fail in the task and allow our fear and myths to devour our courage, it’s pretty clear that we’ll be the biggest losers.

 

 

Finland must do more to ghostbust its race-and-blood myths

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and Kokoomus’ Saul Schubak’s statements concerning child allowances have in common?  Setting racism and greed aside, they are the ethnic and social myths that continue to be taught and reinforced at our schools, homes and society. 

One of the biggest myths and social constructs about our national identity is that only one group owns it or, as Schubak claimed, rich people who make money and have conservative views have special rights and privileges in our society.

The mere fact that a person like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho can spew fascist-eugenic ideology from the 1930s and claim that certain groups have less human dignity than others, shows an enormous failure of our educational system that is haunting us today.

One clear characteristic of how racism and discrimination work in Finland is that they tirelessly aim to undermine your rights and place obstacles in front of your path. There are no solutions, only obstacles.

While many racist ideas in Finland have their roots in eugenics and nineteenth-century colonialism, they continue to flourish in some circles like the PS and Schubaks’ National Coalition Party youth wing.

At the best, parties like the PS and Schubak show that Finland is still a predominantly white society that has no intention of relinquishing its privileges to other groups. Values such as social equality (tasa-arvo) are not meant for immigrants and visible minorities. They are for white Finns.

Meanwhile, the Police College of Finland  told Migrant Tales that 2011 hate crime statistics will be probably published by the end of November.

A total of 860 hate crimes reported to the police in 2010, which is a 15% fall from 1,007 cases in the previous year.

While some officials claim that ”hate crimes fell in 2010,” they may reveal a more worrying trend: Reluctance by some immigrants and visible minorities to report such crimes to the police.