Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Petri Huru states in his Twitter account that his goal is to keep Finns safe. He is a chief fireman and a practical nurse.Noble professions but can trust Huru’s judgement?
A question: What are you, MP Huru, doing smiling in a picture below with far-right activist Tero Ala-Tuuhonden? Isn’t he the person who was arrested by the police on Friday for attempted murder?
PS MP Huru: You have poor judgment and I would never trust you with my life. You are also a big fan of PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari. Source: Twitter
Even if you want to forget, Ala-Tuuhonen is the far-right Kansallismielisten liittouma chairperson who hangs around with neo-Nazis and people of your party, like you. He even recently wrote that a culture war has begun in Finland.
Remember, who is Pekka Kataja? Of course, you do. He is the PS campaign manager whom Ala-Tuuhonen and Teemu Torssonen, a far-right politician that your party sacked 2019, brutally attacked.
After the bombshell news that one of the suspects arrested Friday who brutally attacked Pekka Kataja of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in July, the new chairperson of the Center Party, Annika Saarikko, said on Ykkösaamu Saturday that she could form a government with the PS.
In light of the PS’ links with far-right groups, Saarikko’s response was inopportune and ill-timed.
Center Party chairperson Annika Saarikko on Yle’s Ykkösaamu.
In a very white country like Finland, where few minorities wield power, her affirmation is not surprising. It reinforced how white power structures are that there is little political will to challenge them.
Nothing or very little will change as long as people of color and other minorities are kept powerless on short leashes.
Politicians like Saarikko may feel it is ok for several reasons to form a government with a party that is openly hostile to Muslims and ultraconservative. She can see matters this way because she is white. The PS is not a threat to her whiteness per se.
If we look at the rise of the PS since the 2011 parliamentary election, disgrunted and racist white Finns have found in the PS a voice that is anti-immigration, anti-EU and anti-establishment. Even if racism, sexism, and fascism have risen their heads, do politicians like Saarikko naively believe that consensus will work matters out?
As a person who grew up in the United States and who has, as a native Argentinean, followed and lived through the recent history of Latin America marred by violence, injustice, and poverty, it is not difficult to understand why racism and the PS live another day.
This is the wrong approach. Defend your institutions tooth and nail. Source: Reddit.
I worte in January that those who believe in Hollywood endings to racism are white people who don’t experience racism and speak on behalf of those that do.
There will not be a Hollywood ending to the racism problem in this country but one that will lead to a Hungarian ending.
As the Kataja case proves that violence and fascism are already here and taking root. It is our call to put an end to them.
It is revealing to read comments from the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party about Friday’s bombshell news: the police detained a former PS politician and a far-right Nazi-spirited activist on suspected attempted murder charges against Pakka Kataja.
Starting from PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion, was quoted as saying in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat: “It’s difficult even to believe one’s own eyes when reading this news [about the arrest of the suspects].”
In April, I had the opportunity to interview Yaron Nadbornik, the president of the Jewish Community of Helsinki. One of the matters that struck me of the interview was that in 2018-2019 the authorities started to recognize anti-Semitism as a problem.
Today the police took into custody two far-right activists charged for the attempted murder of Pekka Kataja, a Perussuomnalaiset (PS) councilor of Jämsänkoski, who was brutally attacked by two suspects.
Teemu Torssonen (left) is a municipal politician from Jyväskylä, who was sacked from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party last year. Tero Ala-Tuuhonen has a murkier far-right record with ties to far-right groups like Kansallismielisten liittouma,of which he is the chairperson, Soldiers of Odin, neo-Nazi Kohti vapautta!, among others. PS MP Mauri Peltokangas is one of many politicians of the same party that participates in events organized by the far right. Note the Kansallismielisten liittouma logo on the lower left of the snapshot above. The group’s chairperson Ala-Tuuhonen was detained today on suspected attempted murder charges.
Even if Kataja suspected one of these two as a “person of Arabic origin,” he later changed his story and blamed the attackers for being members of the far-right.
While it is a good matter that Kataja’s attackers were apprehended by the police, it does raise a lot of questions about the rise of the far-right, Islamophobia, and racism and what the authorities are doing to counter these types of threats to our society.
A study by Ognjen Obu?ina and Ilari Ilmakunnas and cited by Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat concluded the following: poverty and housing overcrowding was more prevalent among immigrant children compared with white Finnish children.
The study showed that 60% of migrant children had experienced poverty for at least a year during the first five years of their lives. Moreover, 45% of the latter group experienced overcrowding. The corresponding figure for white Finnish children was 25%.
Ilmakunnas was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat that renting is one factor that explains overcrowding. “Rents have gone up especially in [urban] growth centers,” he said.
While these types of studies are essential and shed light on our ever-growing culturally diverse communities, the problem is that they lack political action and will.
One factor that has dampened such political will is that Finland has since the 2011 parliamentary election a hostile and racist party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* Their presence and the popularity of their anti-immigration message and their success in the elections is enough to discourage many.
One of Trump’s biggest fans in Finland are Jussi Halla-aho and the PS. In the tweet above, he states that he digs Trump and believes that the US president is the best thing that happened to the United States and the Western World. Source: Twitter.
Statistics Finland researcher Pekka Myrskylä is one of many who has shown how disadvantaged migrant groups in this country. In 2014, he wrote. “Generous social welfare benefits to migrants appear to be an urban legend. Since migrants make a quarter less than natives, welfare benefits are smaller since they hinge on earnings-related subsidies.”
I wonder how many have read Pasi Suakkonen’s study, Maahanmuuttajen kotoutuminen Helsingissä (2016)? The study points out that migrants make annually on average nationally 27.3% less (21,479 euros versus 29,550 euros by Finns), and in Helsinki 38.5% less (22,286 euros versus 36,239 euros) than Finns.
Finland has never experienced a Black Lives Matter social movement like in the United States. But if we continue to drag our heels and do little to make migrants and minorities feel at home and enjoy the same rights as white Finns, it will only be a matter of time when such a movement will appear.
A 2020 survey showed that 91% trusted the police, down from 95% in 2018, according to the Police University College. Other studies have pointed out that trust in the police is high, even among migrants.
Despite the high amount of trust, the police service has not been immune to scandals.
The latest one involved a senior police constable, who was sentenced by the district court of the Päijät-Häme region for aggravated assault and breach of duty, according to Yle News.
The fact that this case became public is a step in the right direction that should strengthen and not erode confidence in the police.
Even so, many matters do erode confidence. One of these is an alleged case of aggressive and dehumanizing treatment of a black father and his son by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) and the police, according to the Helsinki Times.
Even if the passengers did not have a valid ticket, one could ask if this is how such an incident ends: humiliation, security guards, and the police.
How many white Finns end up in this situation if they don’t have a valid AB-zone ticket, which costs 2.80 euros!
Let’s assume that there is no ethnic profiling involved and that white Finns receive the same treatment as a black person.
Even so, this type of news does more to destroy the credibility of the police and the HSL ticket inspectors than anything else.
Other big trust busters are ethnic profiling and institutional racism.
“Since leaving the White House in 1981, Rosalynn and I have strived to advance human rights in countries around the world. In this quest, we have seen that silence can be as deadly as violence.”
Jimmy Carter
Some sectors of the media and other people like teachers believe that silence is the best response to racism spread by politicians.
One former journalist of the Mikkeli-based Länsi-Savo believed a few years ago that the best way to challenge racism was not to notice it.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho offers us many examples of the racism spread by politicians in Finland. His comments on migrants, especially asylum seekers, reveal a pathological obsession with the topic.
A new case of aggressive and dehumanizing treatment of a black father and his son by a Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) train ticket inspector and later on by the police, according to Helsinki Times. The reason: Not having a valid train ticket.
Both the father, David Gill, and his teenage son Max were returning from a basketball tournament in Tampere.
The event, which was a traumatic incident that won’t be forgotten for a long time by the father and son, reveals a system and problem on HSL’s transport.
In the last three months, the cases of aggressive and unprofessional treatment by HSL train inspectors or security guards became public on social media in June and July. The latest incident took place on August 5.
The first incident that received wide coverage on social media involved an East African nursing student removed aggressively from the train. In contrast, the following month involved a minor, also black, who was manhandled by the security guards for not having a valid ticket.
In all three cases the victims are black and on HSL-run trains.
In one of the videos below, the father, David Gill, asks the police what they are doing as they detain him. “Why are you searching me? What did I do? I didn’t do anything! I called the police as well!”
The statement by the father that he called the police as well as a sad reminder of what happens when foreigners ask for help. You call for help, and you get detained because the police give the benefit of the doubt to the security guards.
Below is a Helsinki Times account of how the incident developed:
Ylepublished Saturday, a study that tells us something we have known: The fear of losing one’s economic status is fuel for the rise of populist parties like the Perussuomnalaiset (PS). Hanna Wss, the researcher, states that the rise of populism in countries like Sweden, the United Kingdom (Brexit), and the election of President Donald Trump are similar examples.
No where in the story, however, is the word racism and scapegoating mentioned and how these social ills are fueled by social inequality.
A question: Does the fall in our economic status turn us into supporters of populist parties? Some will vote for such parties while others won’t irrespective of their socioeconomic situation.
Similarly, does civil war and the deterioration of one’s economic situation in another country makes me carry out acts of terrorism? For some, it may be the case but for the great number of people, it is not.
Why doesn’t the study tell us how populist parties deceive voters and don’t offer credible solutions to resolving economic inequality unless you believe that “immigration” or “asylum seekers” are at the root of the problem? The study is an example of populist political correct views.
Why doesn’t Wass’ study, or even the Yle article, point out that even if lower-class USAmericans vote for Trump, he has only worsened their situation by fueling greater inequality and by giving billionaires big tax breaks?
At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas. This election will decide if we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny. It will decide whether we rapidly create millions of high-paying jobs or whether we crush our industries and send millions of these jobs overseas, as has been foolishly done for many decades. Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, and agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.
And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it. That won’t happen.
Jussi Halla-ahon vaalipuheesta 2011:
Yksissäkään aiemmissa vaaleissa ei äänestäjällä ole ollut samanlaista mahdollisuutta ottaa kantaa, kuin nyt. Vuosia kestänyt maahanmuuttokriittinen projekti kulminoituu näihin vaaleihin ja se kulminoituu perussuomalaisten maahanmuuttokriittisiin ehdokkaisiin.
Tämä on tosiasia, jonka kaikki sisimmässään tietävät. Koko media ja kaikki muut puolueet ovat yksimielisenä laumana perussuomalaisten kimpussa siitä yksinkertaisesta syystä, että muutos maahanmuuttopolitiikassa voittaa tai häviää meidän mukanamme. Meidän vaalimenestyksemme on se, mitä seurataan. Meidän vaalivoittomme on se, mitä pelätään.
Jos me voitamme nämä vaalit, muutosta ei voi pysäyttää. Jos me häviämme nämä vaalit, maahanmuuttokriittisyys katsotaan torjutuksi ja monikulttuurinen höyryjyrä jatkaa kulkuaan.
Mitä eroa näillä kahdella todistajalla on?
Toinen on tullut valituksi supervallan presidentiksi, toinen pikkuvaltion äärioikeistopuolueen puheenjohtajaksi.
Mitäpä heillä on yhteistä? Höynäytettävät äänestäjät ja äärioikeistomyönteiset taustajoukot ja media.
