Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho announced that he will not take part in a live A2 televised debate on Islam, reports YLE. The MP, who has been convicted for ethnic agitation, said that the debate doesn’t serve the issue. He would, however, be ready to take part in a debate with fewer people.
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
Just like Helsingin Sanomat helped senior lecturer Kyösti Tarvainen to spread fear about Muslim birth rates, another important fabricated story of the far right and anti-immigration groups is that they are not allowed to speak openly about Islam.
See Facebook wall here.
The A2 program gave Halla-aho an opportunity to speak his heart out if he wished about Islam but he turned it down.
Why?
Because the arguments used by anti-immigration groups and personalities like Halla-aho hinge on prejudice and gross exaggerations. There’s very little truth in them.
Politicians like Halla-aho and anti-immigration groups live in bubbles. Their biggest fear is that their constantly changing arguments, which say the same thing, hate group x and y, will be exposed.
National Coalition Party city councilman, Mohammad Azizi, wasn’t surprised by Halla-aho’s decision.
”It’s easy to speak behind [the vail] of a blog and screen about anything, but he doesn’t dare to take part in a face-to-face debate,” he said. ”I am ready to talk about everything related to Islam, including the most difficult issues like circumcision.”
Even if it will take some time for Finland and Europe to wake up from its present far-right anti-immigration menace, it’s unlikely that Halla-aho’s arguments will be revered 20-30 years from now.
These code words of hate used to attack immigrants and visible minorities will be remembered with shame. They will look just like the arguments used by white racists in Southern United States to justify Jim Crow Laws during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.