* After 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.
Ihmisten kunnioittava, toisensa hyväksyvä yhdessäolo on parasta.
Poliitikot, viimeksi ministeri Risikko tänään Ylellä, toistelevat mantraa polarisaatiosta ja siitä, että ”muut” eivät uskalla osallistua keskusteluun, kun on ne ääripäät. Koska minä uskallan julkisesti vastustaa rasistista ja uusfasistista politiikkaa ja vääryyksiä, kuulunen siis näiden ”tolkun” poliitikkojen määrittämään ääripäähän.
Tolkuttajien mielestä minun ja kaltaisteni pitäisi osata olla hiljaa, tai puhua hellästi, jotta en estäisi muita osallistumasta. Mutta tiedättekö mitä: minäkin kuuluin siihen hiljaiseen enemmistöön, joka ei edes kulmakarvastoa hyppäyttänyt, kun halla-ahotyyppiset poliitikot alkoivat liikehtiä. Tilanne kuitenkin eskaloitui niin, että omatunto ei vaiennut. Heti alkuun kansalaiskeskustelijalle kävi ilmeiseksi, että kiltin tädin rooli ei toimi: kukaan ei korvaansa lotkauta, maailma on täynnä hymistelijöitä, me miehet tehdään tässä nyt töitä.
Ainoa, mitä saattoi seurata, oli muutama vedä itses hirteen -viesti sähköpostissa.
Tästähän se johtuu, että keskusteluun ei uskalleta osallistua. Minunkin lähipiirini huolestui heti turvallisuudestani – ja vähän kai omastaankin.
Onkin niin, että ne keskustelevat, jotka uskaltavat. Muilla ei ole siihen mitään
mahdollisuuksia sen vuoksi, että se ainoa olemassa oleva ääripää on niin rivo, rankka ja päällekäypä.
Valitettavasti näyttää olevan myös niin, että nykyiselle hallitukselle tuo räyhäjoukkio on melkeinpä siunaus. Hallitus saa rauhassa toteuttaa omaa agendaansa eikä kunnon vastustusta synny. Oppositiopoliitikotkin ovat varovaisia. Vain harva uskaltaa ottaa jämäkästi kantaa pahimpiakaan epäinhimillisiä puheita vastaan. Osaa hillitsee pelko, toisia uhka äänestäjien kaikkoamisesta.
Tämäkin on osa hallituksen maahanmuuttopolitiikkaa.
Pienet, toistuvat myönnytykset hallituksen taholta pitävät vihapuhepoliitikot tyytyväisinä. Perussuomalaisetkin keskittyvät nyt räksyttämään nyhtöpersujen takinkäännöstä, mutta seuraavat mielihyvällä, kuinka hallitus yhä tarmokkaammin toteuttaa maahanmuutto-ohjelmaa, jonka taustalla lymyävien arvojen piti olla hallituksen kahdelle puolueelle ja yhdelle yhdistykselle vastenmielisiä.
Jos olisi kysymys normaaleista poliittisista päätöksistä, asia olisi selvä: demokraattisesti muodostettu hallitus toteuttaa haluamaansa politiikkaa. Kun kuitenkin puhutaan siitä, kuinka pitkälle muukalaisvihamielisten tahojen sallitaan sanella hallituksen toimia, ollaan hakoteillä.
Continue reading “Reija Härkönen: Hallituksen inhimillisyysvaje”
After attending a European Network Against Racism in Brussels that ended Saturday, I discovered on my arrival to Finland that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Chairman Jussi Halla-aho, convicted for ethnic agitation in 2012 and who built his political career on Islamophobia, is now a columnist in MTV, Finland’s largest privately owned television station.
The big question is why Halla-aho and what does it say about the hostile anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity atmosphere in Finland?
It reveals, in my opinion, the continuing role of the media in normalizing racism and bigotry in this country.
Few will disagree that the PS under Halla-aho’s leadership is now unmistakably a far-right party that belongs in the same league as Marine Le Pen’s Front Nationale, Sweden Democrats, Danish People’s Party, AfD of Germany, UKIP, among others.
In a statement by MTV3 managing editor Ilkka Ahtiainen, he justifies inviting Halla-aho because he’s chairman of the PS.
Fine, but there is one flaw in his statement that exposes a problem in the debate on our ever-growing cultural diverse society in Finland: It is a friendly debate only between white Finns.
Continue reading “MTV: Normalizing racism and bigotry in Finland with Jussi Halla-aho’s help”
Abdel Bettahar, one of the organizers of the Stop Killing Rohingya demonstration this Friday in Turku (Yliopistokatu 25) says that protest aims to help people understanding of the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar.
“We are apolitical and our only aim is that people would understand the persecution that the Rohingya are suffering [at the hands of the Myanmar army],” said Bettahar, who is a member of the Mulsim Youth Forum. “We have people of all faiths and backgrounds that will take part in the demonstration.”
Bettahar said that global reaction to the atrocities against the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya has been slow but has now come to light.
“This is an important issue and we have to take action to support these people in the name of humanity,” he concluded.
* “Rikke” oli minä Los Angelista.
One lesson we could learn from former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini is that the right balance between flattery and speaking in code will get you everywhere, well, almost everywhere. You can win big elections like in 2011 and ride, albeit momentarily, the crest of the popularity wave until you hit the wall in disgrace with your fingers badly burned.
Treatment by politicians and the media of Soini, who ruled the PS for twenty years (1997-2017) and who gave nationalist bigots and the far right a political platform, is odd. The fact that some cannot see that fascism is flirting with them is worrying.
Soini’s rise and fall from power were possible thanks to the media and politicians who were afraid to challenge his populist anti-immigration ideas. His political program, if he ever had one, was nothing more than hot air. It all had to do with Soini grabbing power.
The fact that other political parties like the National Coalition Party and Center Party helped fuel the rise of the PS reveals a lot about these parties’ moral fiber. We are seeing this today in the government’s stiffening immigration policy, deportations, and the ever-growing inequality of our society.
Soini gained his place in Finnish politics this decade thanks to the political establishment and the media. Some naively still believe that you can have a quaint chat with bigots, fascists, and racists.
A proverb by William Blake highlights this predicament:
The only reason why some believe that you can have a sensible chat about cultural diversity with racists can happen is because they are white and not affected by the debate. Racism doesn’t affect white people directly because they benefit from it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl5PviXNRyk
Soini and his cast of eerie and odd political bedfellows throughout the years would make a great horror show. If you want to know and connect the dots, like in the video above and Farage at a far-right rally below, Soini has left a trail of lies, deceit, and contempt for our Nordic values.
Anyone who has had a refusal to emigrate from Finland has the problem of not organizing his or her defense at the appeal stage of the Finnish courts. Unfortunately, many are getting their applications for asylum rejected by the court. It is important to obtain support and information on the closure of the asylum case in Finland after all stages of the judicial appeal are exhausted.
– Lawyers representing asylum seekers: Very few of them care to check the asylum seeker’s interview, read between the lines and highlight the important points. Instead, they just present the case to the court and make easy money;
– Lack of trust as asylum seekers rightly feel that their lawyers would care less about their case. They do not ask clients the right questions that would strengthen their cases.
– Lawyers have a huge number of clients and therefore have no time to study each case effectively and represent the asylum seeker in need;
– Poor interpreters that do their job inefficiently and that fail to convey the right idea. Many asylum seekers told us that the interpreter twisted their statements and told the opposite of what they were saying.
