The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is the biggest threat to our Nordic welfare state and democracy. Their xenophobic ideology reveals a noticeable conflict.
Gunnar Myrdal (1898.1987), a Swedish economist who did a groundbreaking study in the early 1940s about its racism, brought this dilemma to light:
“How can they [USAmericans] claim to respect the dignity of all persons, equality, and the inalienable rights to freedom, justice, and a fair opportunity, while countenancing pervasive violations of the dignity of blacks and their rights to that freedom, that justice, and that fair opportunity?”
In the same light, we can ask to whom and how social equality, one of our Nordic welfare state pillars, applies to migrants and minorities? Do these noble values apply to Muslims, people of color, and other visible migrants and minorities? Are we also living in a conflict where we preach one thing but do the opposite?
Take, for instance, one of PS’s first vice-president Riikka Purra’s reaction Fardowsa Mahamoud’s decision not to do military service because the hijab, or veil, is still prohibited.
Tweets Purra: “The police or the army should not use the hijab. The issue isn’t about a garment or accessory, but an instrument to oppress women – gender-equality Finland should not promote such a matter. The burka and niqab, as well as the use of veils by little girls, should be prohibited to defend gender equality and the rights of children.”
Really Purra, how many women use the burka in Finland never mind the niqab?
Returning to one of Myrdal’s points, we can spot the conflicts: some faiths don’t have the right to practice their religion; Nordic social equality is selective; the poison is ethnocentrism, exceptionalism, and racism.
All of the above-cited by Purra is prohibited by Finnish law. Even so, a high-ranking member of the PS and many others of her party continue to feed the conflict and hypocrisy.
One of the dangers of parties like the PS is not its raw racism and white Finnish nationalism but its systematic attempt to sow discord and polarize society.
As the party does this, and as long we allow the PS to do this, we will continue sinking into the pit of conflict and hypocrisy.
