The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
William Blake (1757-1827)
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* vice-president and MP, Laura Huhtasaari, is keen on building her political career on Islamophobia and polarizing our country into two distinct camps: “us” and “them.”
Apart from plagairizing 80% of her Master’s thesis, she copy-and-paste jobs of her Islamophobic and anti-immigration rhetoric from the likes of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and US President Donald Trump.
On October 8, Huhtasaari and PS MP Ville Tavio took part in an open talk about asylum policy in Finland at St Michael’s Church (Mikaelinkirkko) of Turku.
I wrote a rebuttal last year to an anti-immigration column written by Tavio published in the Helsinki Times. He never bothered to reply. Like Huhtasaari, Tavio is an admirer of Marine Le Pen’s Islamophobic and openly hostile Front National.
What did the Lutheran Church wanted to gain by inviting two anti-immigration hardliners to debate asylum policy is a mystery to me.
Huhtasaari lets off her usual Islamophobic rants about Muslims at the event:
“I honestly hope that the church defends Christian values, Christians, Christian traditions, otherwise Muslims will wipe out [our Christian way of life].”
See the original Facebook posting here.
While it’s doubtful that two politicians like Huhtasaari and Tavio will help create a better society based on mutual respect and understanding, the real worrisome matter is the reaction of other politicians and society in general.
Mostly silence and turning a blind eye.
* 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.