The knee-jerk reaction of politicians after the tragedy that took place in Turku on Friday not only smells of populism but opportunism. What have we heard from them since last week?
In this story in Ilta-Sanomat, Interior Minister Paula Risikko exposes her ignorance of our laws by suggesting that suspected terrorists with Finnish citizenship should be barred from entering the country. Source: Ilta-Sanomat.
Below is a list of what some government ministers and politicians have suggested:
- Interior Minister Paula Risikko wants to bar Finnish citizens from entering the country if they are suspected of terrorism;
- Interior Minister Risikko wants to take away a person’s Finnish citizenship if he or she is suspected of terrorism;
- Interior Minister Risikko wants to pass new legislation that would make assisting undocumented migrants a criminal offense;
- President Sauli Niinistö and the government want to fast track new legislation that will increase surveillance and erode privacy;
- Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen wants new legislation that would permit imprisoning undocumented migrants for six months if they don’t leave the country;
- Perussuomalaiset* chairman, Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted for hate speech in 2012, wants rejected asylum seekers to be placed in detention centers like in Hungary;
- Social Democratic Chairperson Antti Rinne wants Finns to have more babies;
- After what happened in Turku, we have seen a spike in attacks and hate speech against migrants and minorities living in Finland.
Believe it or not, these are all Finnish politicians who represent a Nordic welfare state that bases its values on human rights, social equality, and fairness. They are worried about the rise of undocumented migrants on our streets. Even so, they created such a problem by voting to scrap residence permits on humanitarian grounds.
While many of these proposals are in conflict with our Constitution and a direct attack on the rule of law, these politicians believe that tougher laws will protect us from terrorism. What will protect us from terrorism is a cool head and not fear that lies in between our ears.
Another important message that these suggestions suggest is that Finland is still in deep denial about its every-growing cultural and ethnic diversity. This means that members of our community are excluded and don’t have any input.
The reaction of our politicians and their opportunism is so evident that they should tread with care because they’ll cause more harm to our system than what the terrorists would hope to accomplish in their wildest dreams.
* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.
A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.