Category: Enrique

The ever-embattled Soini of the PS of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman, Timo Soini, appears more embattled every day as he watches with weary eyes polls. The latest one published by Helsingin Sanomat Saturday shows racism to be more acceptable among PS supporters.   

The latest revelations, including other ones like PS party members belonging to neo-Nazi associations such as the Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta (SKL), show that the ever-embattled Soini has fewer explanations to offer and prefers to blame the media for being biased against his party.

If we were fair, Soini knows better than anyone else that the greatest enemy of the PS isn’t the Finnish media but the likes of PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Juho Eerola,  Tuomas Okkonen, a Perussuomalaiset (PS) party board vice president in Oulu, and others.

I’ve seen it many times happen during my long career as a journalist and foreign correspondent. Anytime a politician begins to blame the media for his problems, that politician or party is in deep water.

Ossi Mäntylahti asks  on his Uusi Suomi blog why can’t anyone comment on Soini’s blog and if he is following Halla-aho’s policy of not speaking to the media?

Soini’s cover as the “good cop” in an unpredictable party like the PS has eroded in the eyes of many voters.

Another factor that will hit the PS are the horrific events that took place in Norway on July 22, which have been a a hard blow to far right and right-wing populist parties in the Nordic region.

In light of the party’s ever-growing problems, it is surprising that Soini has  “nothing intelligent to say” as he points out on his blog.

He writes: “A political leader has two opportunities. To follow one’s plan or listen to other people’s plans. I have my own plan.”

It would be fair to Finland and to those who voted for the PS to have some idea what that plan is. At present it is entangled in a mess created by no one else but the PS.

HS-gallup: Enemmistö pitää Suomea rasistisena

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: A poll published  Saturday by Helsingin Sanomat, the country’s leading daily, reveals that two thirds of Finns believe that racism appears in Finland a lot or very much. Despite this view, only a minority of those polled felt that they held such attitudes towards people from other cultures. 

Somalians, Muslims and the Romany minority, were the most disliked by those polled and especially by supporters of the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. Contrarily, the most favored groups were Chinese, Estonians, English, Swedes and Saami.

What does this poll tell us? It reinforces the attitudes that some Finns have with respect to certain groups. It tells us that people like Somalians, Muslims and the Romany minority have a difficult struggle ahead of them in the country to become accepted. 

Negative attitudes in the poll expose the ignorance of some Finns. One of the favorite arguments of the far right about Muslims, for example, is that they are so different from us that they will never adapt. This permits people to hold hostile and racist attitudes towards certain groups. 

Twenty-nine percent of those interviewed and a high 51% of PS supporters believe that some immigrant groups of will never adapt to modern societies like Finland. 

__________

Suomi on vähintäänkin melko rasistinen maa, ajattelee enemmistö suomalaisista. Kaksi kolmasosaa kansasta ajattelee, että Suomessa ilmenee rasismia paljon tai melko paljon. Siitä huolimatta omassa itsessään rasismia tunnistaa tai tunnustaa paljon vain kaksi prosenttia ja melko paljon kaksitoista prosenttia.

Read whole story.

The day will come when cultural diversity will be accepted in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Native American Louie Gone asks an interesting question: Why isn’t a person’s “mixed” heritage acknowledged of all places in a country like the United States? How does Finland support identity development and what kind of exclusion or inclusion does it promote?

I visited this week an elementary school in Eastern Finland and saw a bunch of posters hanging on the walls with different names of countries, flags, and how to count up to three in languages such as Arabic, Denga and others.

While I am certain that the teachers’ intention at the school is to promote respect for diversity, one could ask if it actually doest that.

Why doesn’t the school promote the idea that the children can discover, put into practice and celebrate their new Finnish or hybrid identity on their terms?

What is interesting is that these so-called students with immigrant backgrounds have lived most of their lives in Finland.

It would be far-reaching and probably make some Finns uncomfortable if we’d empower children and people with culturally diverse backgrounds the right to belong and influence our culture as equals.  That would require a very strong dose of acceptance, a word that it rarely used by politicians in this country.

The last people to use terms like mutual acceptance and respect for diversity in Finland would be those that are pushing and placing people in different ethnic categories. They do so with the same intention as Gone mentioned: To conquer and rule.

If I were the principle of that elementary school in Eastern Finland, I would have asked the students to draw the flags of their former home countries together with the Finnish one and then mix them together and imagine how fortunate they are.

Thank you for the heads up @getgln!

PS of Finland: Giving racism a new respectable face

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

A number of far right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MPs have seen an image facelift after they were elected. PS MP Juho Eerola has seen the biggest transformation. 

I suspsect that after the April election, PS head Timo Soini called MPs like Eerola and told them to get a hair cut and look more respectable.

PS MP Juho Eerola before and after. Source: Eduskunta and Wikipedia.

Even PS MPs like Teuvo Hakkarainen was learning how to use a tie after he got elected. PS MP Jussi Halla-aho, the leader of the party’s anti-immigration wing, changed his Facebook profile picture. It could not, however, stop him from making controversial statements like “multiculturalism sucks ass” or that the military should overthrow the elected government in Greece.

Even James Hirvisaari, one of the eeriest of the Suomen Sisu PS MPs in parliament, got a suit and tie.

No matter how many suits these type of politicians put on they cannot hide who they are. Despite his haircut and respectable look, Eerola was incapable of condemning his aide Ulla Pyysalo for belonging to a neo-Nazi association.

One of the matters that surprised the Allies when they caught former concentration camp SS guards and commandants was how much they looked like the next-door neighbor.

The PS may want to give a legitimate face to racism and exclusion.

What does not change behind the new persona is the questionable ideology.

eWeek Europe: Anonymous Implicated In Finnish Web Hacks

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: The main aim of the hackers that exposed the vulnerability of the Finnish data security system was to expose neo-Nazi organizations like Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta. I wonder how many red faces there would be if they’d hack the Suomen Sisu association website? 

Anonymous Finland claimed responsibility for the hacks in a statement Monday. 

Writes Anonymous Finland:  “We have no tolerance for any group based on racial, sexual and religion discrimination as well as for all the people belonging to them and sharing their ideologies, which is the reason why We decided to carry out last Monday’s attack. That said, We demand SVK to cease its social and net activities and dissolve immediately: should it not happen, We will continue to carry out attacks to its website in the form We will find more appropriate for our intentions.”

And continues:  “We have seen a massive increase of racism among large layers of the population and national politics, as well as of violent verbal and physical actions towards foreigners. We have seen the birth of groups and political movements and apparition of political figures who support racist ideologies and foster and encourage racial hatred through flamboyant rhetoric, people and movements…”

Certainly what Anonymous Finland has done is a breach of the law but what can we say about websites like Hommaforum and Scripta, which are trying to make racism a normal thing in our society? 

Here is another link to Oo News! that writes about the incident.

_______________

By Iris Cheerin

Neo-Nazi politicians were exposed in Finland – but was Anonymous really responsible?  In the largest ever breach of its kind, Finnish websites were hacked last week and personal data leaked onto a file sharing website, it has been reported.

Read whole story.

HS in English: Europe’s true populists

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: It’s refreshing to read the work of a journalist like Lisa Bjurwald, who published on Monday her book, ”Europe’s Shame – Racists on the Rise.” Migrant Tales hasn’t let the Perussuomaliset (PS) party off the hook even if its leader, Timo Soini, and countless others assure us that they are a normal party that does not exploit and incite xenophobia, racism and fear. 

Writes HS in English: “Even though the True Finns are regarded in Finland as different from other populist parties, it is not true, Bjurwald claims. According to Bjurwald, it is typical of populism to appear ‘special.’ For example, in Hungary it is always argued that the right-wing Jobbik Party, which is calling for special separated-off areas for the Roma minority, has to be seen in the Hungarian context, as there the Roma are quite a special case.”

How one should treat a party like the PS in the media should not be difficult. Even so, we have had countless debates on Migrant Tales on what to call Suomen Sisu, which is more extreme than the PS. 

Migrant Tales does not have to cite the secret police or any other source to decide what describes an association like Suomen Sisu best. If we look at the racial views of the association, it can be described as “Nazi spirited” or even “Klu Klux Klan spirited.”  

HS in English continues quoting Bjurwald: ”Then we hear these statements like ”When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, which do not have any concrete content, but they increase the feeling of insecurity among a certain part of the population, for example immigrants.” 

The Swedish journalist is right by saying that there is high moral standard and leadership lacking in society. We are talking about a black spot on our democracy, she says. 

“Everyone can decide for themselves whom to vote for,” Bjurwald concludes. “But if the decision is made on the basis of false information and inspired with fear, someone has to say ’Stop.’” 

________________

By Anna-Liina Kauhanen in Stockholm 

The True Finns’ victory in Finland’s general elections gives Sweden and the entire European Union a lot to digest, says journalist Lisa Bjurwald from Stockholm, who watches the populist far-right parties.

Read whole story.

Karjalainen: Kuinka valheesta vähitellen tulee totuus

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is an interesting column on Joensuu-based daily Karjalainen about Wille Rydman, who is stepping down as Kokoomus youth leader. Writes Helena Tahvanainen: “According to Rydman, the biggest problem is, among other things, unjustified applications for asylum as well as the uncontrolled rise of asylum seekers. In (Rydman’s successor) Antti Häkkinen’s opinion Finland does not have enough resources to handle such (a large) refugee quota.”

For some odd reason, Rydman never  mind Häkkinen don’t tell us what a “large” and “uncontrolled” refugee quota is. 

Finland had last year 4,260 asylum seekers, which is less than in 2009 but more than this year.  Compared with Sweden and Norway, the number is very small. Sweden had 27,630 and Norway 15,255 asylum seekers. Finland gave asylum last year to 1,595 people compared with 8,495 in Sweden. 

One of the problems with the debate on asylum seekers is that it forgets an important detail: We are a rich country that has the luxury to give shelter to other people from all types of persecution. Politicians like Rydman, Häkkinen and too many others forget with their views the suffering people endure. 

If Häkkinen is an example of the leadership and future generation of this country, I feel sorry for this country because it shows nothing more than greed, indifference and lack of leadership. 

Let’s hope that one day that these types of politicians won’t have to go knocking on some country’s door and ask for political asylum.

I wonder how’d they feel if they were treated the same way they speak of asylum seekers. 

__________

Helena Tahvanainen

Viime viikonvaihteessa kokoomusnuoret valitsivat uuden puheenjohtajan. Maahanmuuttokriitikkona profiloitunut puheenjohtaja Wille Rydmania seurasi toinen maahanmuuttokriitikko eli Antti Häkkänen. Rydmanilla ei näyttänyt olevan mitään tätä leimaa vastaan.

Read whole story.

How to confront anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The societies of the Nordic countries are still models for the rest of Europe and the world when it comes to social justice, equality, and inclusion. Slower economic growth is not the only threat that they face today, but an ever-growing minority that believes that exclusion of certain groups is acceptable.  

Is there such a thing as selective suspicion or hatred? Can you hate one group and claim to be not hate another? What happens to us if we begin to exclude some and include others in our society?

Far right and right-wing populist parties like the Perussuomalaiset  of Finland, Danish People’s Party, Progress Party of Norway, and Sweden Democrats have grown in recent years thanks to their anti-immigration rhetoric.

If there is a threat to the Nordic welfare state system and the values that uphold it, it is these parties’ anti-immigrant message that goes much deeper and further than meets the eye.

For one, and if we permit it, their view of society creates a paradox that will end up checkmating those values we hold so dear to us. You cannot further the cause of  social equality while on the other hand you aim to make other groups unequal.

Martin Luther King Jr. dealt with centuries of hatred and suspicion when he led and inspired others to the US Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Even if anti-immigration groups are hostile in their approach to their imagined and real enemies like immigrants, we must never succumb to their brand of hatred. We must remember King Jr. words: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

It should be one of the rallying cries of our cause.

Supo: Suomen Sisu is an extremist group

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Kari Harju, Finnish secret police Supo regional security chief, classified Suomen Sisu as an extremist organization. He made the statement Monday in Ylen A-studio. 

As Migrant Tales readers know, there has been some debate about what kind of organization Suomen Sisu is. Citing Supo, Finnish Criminal Police (KRP) and an academic, the Council for the Mass Media (JSN), has called the association “Nazi spirited.”

Harju said that while he did not consider Suomen Sisu “Nazi spirited” but he did see it as an extremist group.

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Juho Eerola, who is a member of Suomen Sisu, denied in Ylen A-studio that the association was extremist.

He played down on Uusi Suomi what Harju said about the association.  “Some consider the police an extremist organization,” he said.

What would you describe an association that believes in “racial hygiene” and recommends against Finns marrying foreigners? Migrant Tales would call that racist, extremist and Nazi-spirited due to its racial views.

Nazism is the antithesis of cultural diversity.

A-studio 7.11.2011 TV1 klo 21:00: Onko perussuomalaisilla yhteyksiä äärijärjestöihin?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It would be interesting to have a debate on Migrant Tales after the A-studio report today at 9pm that asks if the PS has connections to far right groups.

If this question were asked of Migrant Tales the answer would be a definite yes. Some extremist organizations that come to mind are Suomen Sisu and blogs like The Gates of Vienna, where PS MP Jussi Halla-aho written.

Even though far right associations are bonded ideologically by anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim sentiment, they are the same beast that roamed the political landscape in the before and after 1930s. Some call these groups Counter-Jihadists whose ideas were used by mass killers like Anders Breivik in Norway.