How deep in denial is Finland concerning the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and the values they represent? It’s pretty clear that the shameful racist gaffes of PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen and the party’s public statement on Thursday condemning racism are fuelling Finland’s Tahrir Square on social media sites like Facebook.
Just like what ignited the Arab street to rise up against their despotic rulers, we are seeing in Finland candid outrage to social ills like racism that have been accepted in silence for so long but never seriously challenged.
The PS’ public statement denouncing all forms of racism is a good example of how Timo Soini’s party is emboldening Finns to take action in our own Tahrir Square. We saw it gain strength right after the April 17 election when about 1,000 people demonstrated against the PS in front of parliament.
Apart from PS MP Hakkarainen, whose racist gaffes have made Finland a worse place to live for minorities like immigrants, the public statement by the PS denouncing all forms of racism is a good example of their cat-and-mouse game stance on racism.
But what else could be expected from a party that mixes too often facts with populism and hearsay? The statement against racism by the PS is another unfortunate example: We agree to be against all forms of racism and discrimination as long as we destroy minority rights by doing away with so-called positive discrimination.
Some professors like Kaarlo Tuomi, Tuomas Ojanen and Veli-Pekka Viljanen warned in Saturday’s Helsingin Sanomat that the PS statement was “terrible” and “very problematic” because it is in conflict with our Constitution. Instead of promoting equality it would undermine it fatally.
The PS have crossed once again another line but have revealed to us their double-talk and how they plan to further their jumbled political agenda for this country.
Since leading political parties like Kokoomus and the Social Democrats underestimated the PS and did not consider their challenge a menace to our society on matters like racism, it is then the job of common people to take action, which they have started on different social media sites.
The continued willingness of different political leaders to continue to see Soini as a “moderate” and “nice guy” is synonymous with burying one’s head in the sand. They should look at the big picture: The PS has 39 MPs in parliament that would be ready to water down minority rights for their brand of populist nationalism.
Recent attacks reported in the media of immigrants by thugs and the PS’ wishy-washy stand on racism ensure that Finland’s Tahrir Square will continue to gain strength.
How many articles are you gonna make out of the PS statement which is all pretty much say the same thing: PS are horrible and statement is racist?
About MP Hakkarainen, I think you way overreact his influence
“made Finland a worse place to live for minorities like immigrants”
I mean come on.. if anything the guy has made an fool out of himself and its so obvious for anyone to see. Not only did he once managed to offend people and basically made sure no one would take seriously anything he wanted to say, but he that twice after getting told off. He is just stupid as hell.
About minority rights and equality, I rather not use inequality as a weapon while trying to reach equality.
Hommaforum is the Tahrir Square and PS is the Brotherhood. Finally we are getting rid of the foreigner- worshippers and can stand up as a nation against those wishing to destroy Egy… Finland đ
Yossie: Enrique is not only an antifinite, but suffers from a really serious case of verafennophobia đ
Keep on writing these blog entries!
As long as Halla-Aho and his gang poison our society and environment with racism or intolerance, both direct or disguised (as in Halla-Aho’s so called “condemnation of racism”) every speech, every blog entry, every comment in discussion forums is welcome.
Racism must be weeded out from our society, not by violence but through information.
Hi hn, thank you for those words of encouragement and welcome to our blog. I totally agree with you. We must weed out and nip racism in the bud. The sooner we understand what a menace people like Halla-aho and his gang are the faster we’ll obtain that goal.
I hate to tell you but the goal of weeding out racism is like the goal of weeding out crime.
I believe by “weeding out” racism we mean not making it a threat. When you have too many weeds in a garden it’s a problem.
The goal is communism, its just beyond the horizon!
Enrique, you are a buttercup? đ
-‘Apart from PS MP Hakkarainen, whose racist gaffes have made Finland a worse place to live for minorities like immigrants’
Oh yeah how could I forget he holds that much power now he’s the president of Finland not just a first time MP in an opposition party.
–Oh yeah how could I forget he holds that much power now heâs the president of Finland not just a first time MP in an opposition party.
He is an MP making racist gaffes. He is an example to many in this country. His examples make Finland a worse place for others.
So racist gaffes would be OK if immigrants were a majority?
Allan it’s fine for the minority to make racist jokes about the white majority for people like Enrique. Havn’t you heard of the movie ‘White men can’t jump’? No one had a problem with that stereotype but imagine the uproar if another movie came out called ‘Black men can’t think’.
Well in Finland the local gipsy minority made their own tv-show playing on their own stereotypes, and they got complaints. Didn’t find it that funny the few skits I’ve seen in youtube.
Some of these comments are inane and patronizing. Racism is pernicious and corrupting. It starts as a series of trite one-liners and mildly inoffensive jokes. It does not take long to escalate to wild generalizations, inaccurate pseudo-psychological babbling and then on to scare-mongering. In final stages sees it as it really is: hate-fuelled, other-centered loathing with a set of solutions (final or temporary) to address what is now labelled a “problem”. Yes, a “problem” created by…. the racists themselves. PS – and its growing band of fellow-travellers all across Europe – hide their racism behind jocular, folksy appeals to “common sense” and soothing cliches about the natural superiority of their warped version of local/national identity. They mask their vitriol by a constant mockery of difference and diversity. They minimize their nastiness by a desperate and false effort to blend in to normal politics. It looks like a rat, it walks like a rat, it sneers like a rat, it stinks like a rat: it is a rat. Racism is racism. No ifs, ands or buts. I suggest we go back to the seminal works of Gordon Allport and his five stages of escalating prejudice. There is no denying that the ignorant poison being spread by PS and their ilk is designed to appeal to prejudice and stereotype. Finland deserves better. Europe deserves better. Humanity deserves better. We have been here before you know. Time for a reality check folks… there should be zero-tolerance for any manifestation of racism.
Hi Alan, could not agree more with you and thank you for putting this social ill where it belongs: in the dustbin of society. One of the things that have amazed me about racism in Finland is that it offers no alternatives except for a type of final solution: learn to accept my loathing of you. The zero-tolerance for racism is, unfortunately, not the case in the political world. Only those that want to further this pathological message are the ones that are bearing the sour fruits of their actions.