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.

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.

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.