Last year in Jämsä, an accompanied white Finn threatened an asylum seeker with a knife. Even if the asylum seeker does not speak Finnish well enough, he did make out the following words: vitun pakolainen (f**king asylum seeker) and vitun ulkomaalainen (f**king foreigner).

The police did not mention the last two insults to the asylum seeker in its investigation.

For this reason, the police report to the West Finland prosecutor is only charging two men in the case with an unlawful threat (laiton uhkaus). What happened isn’t a hate crime,* according to the police.

It would be interesting to ask the police officer in charge of the case why bias motivation was not considered.

Getting justice in a hate crime case is sometimes something better said than done in Finland.

*The Criminal Code of Finland does not recognize the term “hate crime.” Section 5 states that a basis for increasing punishment (564/2015) is if the “offense for a motive based on race, skin color, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or another corresponding grounds.”

Perussuomalaisten jytkyn jälkeen v. 2011 kerroin blogissani kylmistä väreistä, jotka sain lukiessani Helsingin Sanomien julkaiseman artikkelin Hitlerin varhaisesta kirjeestä. Kolmekymppinen tuleva hirmuhallitsija ilmaisi suhtautumisensa juutalaisiin näin:

“Vastenmielisyyden aiheuttajana on enimmäkseen henkilökohtainen kontakti ja vaikutelma, jonka yksittäinen juutalainen aiheuttaa – ja joka on lähes aina epäsuotuisa”

Juuri samalla tavalla argumentoi tuolloin vasta valittu kansanedustaja, Jussi Halla-aho, mm. kirjoituksessaan “Mistä somalivitsit tulevat.”

“Vitseissä esiintyy laiska ja seksihullu neekeri…”

“Keskeistä on, että “rasistinen vitsi” toimii (eli naurattaa) vain, jos kuulijoilla on jokin oletus puheena olevan ryhmän keskimääräisistä ominaisuuksista, ja jos tämä oletus on suurin piirtein jaettu. Oletukset ovat yleistäviä ja liioiteltuja, kyllä, mutta eivät ne tyhjän päällä lepää.”

Kirjoitus päättyy: “Mitä enemmän kosketusta tulee, sitä enemmän kerrotaan vitsejä. Mitä kielteisempiä nämä kosketukset ovat, sitä ilkeämpiä ovat myös vitsit.”

Useimmat Halla-ahon tuolloiset blogikirjoitukset, nykyiset twiitit ja Facebook-merkinnät toimivat samalla kaavalla: niljakasta vihjailua kuvitellusta vihollisesta. Halla-aho syöttää laumansa susille jatkuvasti pieniä haukkapaloja, ilmaisee inhonsa tiettyä poliittista ryhmää, aatetta tai henkilöä kohtaan.

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

It’s been close to five months after Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh, 18, lost his life at the Kannelmäki train station of Helsinki on April 26 when he was stabbed by a white Finn. Over two weeks ago on September 7, the suspect was handed a five-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

Ilhan Jama is the mother of the deceased Keyse. She said that she and her husband are not happy with the sentence, which she believes was a hate crime.

“The prosecutor tried to get a hate crime pinned on the suspect,” she said. “The person [who stabbed my son] alleged that he was scared by my son’s presence, or that a dark-skinned person was walking towards him down the stairs.”

Jama considers the excuse for stabbing her son quite incredible. She said that the stabber and his friend were both intoxicated, according to Jama.

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Helsingin Sanomat finally published an editorial about the Pekka Kataja case and the threat of far-right violence to our political system. While the editorial was long overdue due to the importance of the topic, why did it take Finland’s largest daily a week to form an opinion on its editorial page?

The fact that a former member of Finland’s largest opposition party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, is an attempted murder suspect and a far-right activist raises a lot of questions and concerns.

While the editorial raised some critical points, one wonders why it took so long for Helsingin Sanomat to take a stand on its editorial page. Why is the editorial behind a paywall? Isn’t this a topic of national interest?

Isn’t the topic important in today’s context? Isn’t the rise of a radical right party with numerous bedfellows with the far-right, neo-Nazi-spirited groups like the Soldiers of Odin and Kansallismielisten liitoutuma as threat?

If Finland’s democratic institutions suffered in the future a blow like those under Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, would Helsingin Sanomat take a week to form an opinion?

There is a reason why the Finnish media and the political establishment too often drags its heels when it comes to Islamophobia and the spread of far-right ideology.

One factor is the lack of leadership and naivety of our media and politicians. They have been the fuel why parties like the PS have grown during the past decade.

The rise of a party that spreads racism wholesale against groups like Muslims spreads ethnonationslist jibberish, has ties with anti-democratic and far-right groups is a threat exists because it appeals to a certain group of voters.

While the Helsingin Sanomat editorial correctly states that some threats like racism, hatred as well as political violence threaten to close the door on future government talks, I would not be too sure.

Finland’s treatment of the PS and its racism and nationalism resembles a small village. We all know and trust each other because we are all white.

A good start to change matters is to have more minority representation on Helsingin Sanomat the editorial board. It is highly revealing that Finland’s largest-circulating daily has few if any minorities on its editorial board considering that about 16% of Helsinki residents speak another mother tongue than Finnish or Swedish.