The popularity of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* plummeted to a record low of 13.3% in December and this has caused visible cracks in the party’s leadership. MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, blames PS chairman Timo Soini’s too soft stand on immigration for the drop in popularity, according to Oulu-based daily Kaleva.
“It would be good that the party leadership understands that one of the central pillars of our support hinges on our critical view of immigration,” he was quoted as saying on Kaleva. “This is not a marginal issue for voters.”
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
In order to understand Halla-aho’s real message, all you have to do is go back to 2008-11 when politicians like him were openly labeling and victimizing migrants and minorities as rapists and criminals with the help of a near-toothless media.
Halla-aho’s attack of Soini for being too soft on immigration is a typical Frankenstein movie plot. The mad scientist, in this case Soini, creates a social Frankenstein called Halla-aho, who turns against and kills his master.
Another matter that helps uncover Halla-aho’s opportunistic motives is his constant whining about migrants and minorities. Like the legendary Spanish antihero Don Quixote who attacked windmills with Sancho Panza, Halla-aho’s windmills are migrants and cultural diversity.
Is Don Quixote Halla-aho and Sancho Panza Soini?
Why are they windmills? Because Finland is already culturally and ethnically diverse. The only way you are going to turn Finland into an imaginary white Finnish country is by placing all those who aren’t ethnic Finns into box cars.
Halla-aho divides Finland into two groups: the so-called ethnic Finns (the good people) and migrants (those that are ruining Finland).
In the ongoing debate about immigration, there is one group that is always forgotten. This group, which is made up of tens of thousands of people, are Finns with multicultural backgrounds.
One of the reasons why this large group of people is largely ignored is because it would force some to see and accept Finland as a culturally and ethnically diverse country. For far right politicians like Halla-aho, it means giving up the fight to keep Finland white.
In Halla-aho’s world, a white Finn is any person who is ethnically white and speaks the Finnish language as white Finn. Swedish speakers aren’t included never mind groups like Estonians and Russians.
It’s highly doubtful that one person can change the misfortunes of a party like the PS. The party’s track record speaks volumes. Even so, it reveals that a more radical anti-immigration party like the Sweden Democrats and Danish People’s Party may be lurking in the PS background.
This party – if created – will be many times scarier than the PS.
* The Finnish name of 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 posting