The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in general and specifically MPs like Juho Eerola, Olli Immonen and Teuvo Hakkarainen are, together with MEP Jussi Halla-aho, examples of the worst kind of extremism and racism we can find in Finland today in the halls of our parliament. They are permitted to spread their racist and bigoted views because they have white Finnish privilege.
Disagree? Ask yourself what would happen if a Muslim spoke of white Finns in the same way as these politicians do about Muslims.
The Charlie Hebdo attack exposed a lot of things about us. Apart from our shock and grieving, it also unmasked our hypocrisy.
In Finland it exposed once again the opportunism of some PS politicians but also their extremist ideas and declaration of war against those migrants and Finns they loathe, like Muslims.
Racism in its most extreme forms has a goal: the annihilation of whole groups through genocide. We saw this when Europeans colonized the Americas, Africa and other regions like Australia. With the help of pseudo scientific “theories” like eugenics, Europeans were able to justify genocide or the displacement, exploitation and death of millions of non-Europeans.
What are we to make out of the following statements below by PS politicians before and after the Charlie Hebdo attack?
- Eerola, who admitted being attracted to Benito Mussolini’s fascism and economic policies, states in a letter to the editor below that Finland can still be saved from Islam;
- Immonen wants immigration from Muslim countries to end to Finland and Europe. Those Muslims that live here should be given incentives to return back to the countries they came from, according to him;
- MEP Halla-aho states on his blog that the world view of the majority of Muslims is no different from those that carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack;
- Hakkarainen claimed in 2013 that Europe is being invaded by millions of Muslims in a Trojan horse.
This tweet by Saska Saarikoski of Helsingin Sanomat says it all about Halla-aho and his cronies. “Halla-aho is worried about terrorism. Let’s not forget that the worst terrorist act [Anders Breivik on July 22, 2011] committed in the Nordic region was by a person who admired Halla-aho.”
How are we supposed to read these types of statements by members of Finland’s third-largest party in parliament? Should we shrug them off as populism or something more diabolical?
What do these politicians aim to gain from their extremist statements? More votes? Maybe. Media attention? Maybe. Keep Finland Christian and white? Absolutely.
Read full story here.
What can you say about a politician and a party whose aim is to socially exclude whole groups of people with the help of those high walls of racism?
Probably one matter that we can conclude is that Finland is still in deep denial. It hasn’t yet awoken to the perils of intolerance and doesn’t have a clue why spreading such hatred is hazardous to our society.
Since too many in this country don’t see intolerance as a serious enough social ill, it requires a lot more leadership from Finns and migrants of all backgrounds. It would be naive to believe that the ugly face of racism will leave quietly and peacefully.
Time has the ability to expose our stupidity and ignorance. How do you think future scholars and common people of our culturally diverse society will interpret the statements of politicians that aim to keep Finland white at all cost? Will the faces of their grandchildren and great grandchildren turn red with shame?
This is exactly what happened to the worst racists in the US Civil Rights Movement (1955-68).
Most USAmericans want to forget what was done and said during slavery and the Jim Crow era.
The same fate awaits these politicians.
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.