PS Counterjihadists: Live and die politically by the sword

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The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is at a crucial juncture concerning its strange-bedfellow relationship with Counterjihadist and populist radical right members. What kind of links do some members of the PS have with far-right groups like the Finnish Defense League (FDL)?

The FDL is nothing more than a mouthpiece of the English Defense League, a violent street protest movement that opposes the spread of Islam in Europe.

What would happen if a whistle-blower in a group like the FDL  revealed the strong links between the far-right group and certain prominent members of the PS?

Certainly all hell would break loose.

Politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho and especially James Hirvisaari have a lot to worry about these days since they are the Counterjihadists and populist radical right members of the PS.

You get a lot of interesting mail in Mikkeli like a recent copy of the Perussuomalainen. Note the highlighed words in yellow asking  “immigrants” and “everyone” to become PS candidates in the October municipal elections. The PS would be the last party I’d join for obvious reasons.

Things have changed a lot since the April 2011 elections, which gave the PS its historic victory. Since then, different ideological power struggles have become more pronounced within the party. The rude appearance of Norwegian Counterjihadist mass killer Anders Breivik in July 2011 has divided the PS ideologically.

This week we saw PS MP Juha Väätänen being ousted as chairman of the party’s Helsinki branch. This is expected to turn into a messy power battle as the municipal elections near in October.

In Mikkeli, we saw the PS implode when two of its four city councillors ditched the party to join the Christian Democrats and Center Party.

Figuring out what kinds of undercurrents are threatening the PS’ unity is not easy because the party is a tinderbox with the following warning: Do not move – highly explosive.  Approach at your own risk.

In the meantime, take a seat and fasten your seat belts in a new act unfolding of the tragic-comic political play called the PS.

What makes one language better than the other?

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Roble Bashir 

Two official languages are spoken in Finland: Finnish and Swedish. This means, at least theoretically, that immigrants can choose between two languages and which is best-suited for them.  

An ever-growing number of immigrants want to study the Swedish language. One important reason is that Swedish is easier for some to learn than Finnish.

What makes one language better than the other?

Government organisations that provide integration and language courses to immigrants, offer too few Swedish-language courses.

Since there are more Finnish-language courses offered to immigrants than Swedish, the situation leaves the newcomer in between a rock and a hard place. In the worst of cases, it may mean that the immigrant has to pay for private lessons if he wants to learn Swedish.

More Swedish-language courses should be offered in Finland today. The low number of such courses not only undermines the role of Swedish in Finland, but robs the immigrant of an opportunity to learn a language and integrate rapidly.

Norwegian armed forces show cultural sensitivity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Since July 1, the Norweaign armed forces have relaxed rules for religious headgear, writes the Local, quoting daily Stavanger Afterbladed. It is now possible for Sikh soldiers to use turbans as well as for Jews to use skull-caps while serving in the Norwegian armed forces. Muslim women are permitted to wear a hijab with their uniform. 

Objection to the new military dress code has been voiced by Jan-Arlid Ellingsen of the populist anti-immigration Progress Party.

”The armed forces should be kept independent of ethnic and religious affiliations,” he was quoted as saying on Norwegian news agency NTB. ”It’s fine having symbols to denote affiliation, but it’s entirely unnecessary to show them.”

Ellingsen forgets an important point: The uniform that the Norwegian armed forces uses shows cultural and national affiliation. There is no such thing as “culturally neutral” clothing.

YLE poll: The PS is expected to make the biggest gains in the October municipal elections

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A poll commissioned and published by YLE on Sunday reveals that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party will make the biggest gains in the October 28 municipal elections. If the PS gets 15.8% of the votes as the poll suggests, it will be a big leap from 5.4% that the party got in the 2008 municipal elections. 

The poll sees that the National Coalition Party getting in October 22.7% compared with 23.5% in 2008. That would be followed by the Social Democrats with 18.7% (21.2%), and the Center Party with 16.6% (20.1%).

Even if the PS are seen making significant gains in the municipal elections, it is a sharp fall from what polls showed the PS getting in summer 2011. Back then, the PS was the biggest party in Finland with 23%, followed by the National Coalition Party (21.6%), Social Democrats (18.1%) and Center Party (13.8%).

If the PS do well in the municipal elections of October, it reveals that some Finnish voters’ confidence in traditional parties has recovered somewhat but not enough to relegate Timo Soini’s party to the minor political leagues.

Some analysts believe the euro crisis and the government’s mixed messages concerning the latter have helped the PS.

 

Du Bois and Finland: “Your country”

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I read an interesting blog entry on Racism Review about what W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), sociologist, historian and civil rights activist, wrote* about blacks in the United States. His words still ring out today in light of the hostility we see today towards immigrants and visible minorities in many parts of Europe and the United States.

Even if the number of immigrants and visible minorities has been small in countries like Finland, these people form today an integral part of our society and history.

That history is being made right now and at this moment. Every day that passes we shed more roots in this country. Our home in Finland begins to sound like Woody Guthrie’s famous song, This land is your land.

Take a look at what Du Bois wrote over a century ago and try to picture Finland and our every-growing cultural diversity. Board a time machine and travel 30 years in the future and imagine Du Bois’ words in a Finnish context today:

Your country? How came its yours? Before the Pilgrims landed we were here. Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song—soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit.

Around us the history of the land has centered for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation’s heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this people, and they have found peace only in the altars of the God of Right.

Nor has our gift of the Spirit been merely passive. Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation,—we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy, and Truth, lest the nation be smitten with a curse. Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood. Are not these gifts worth the giving? Is not this work and striving?

Would America have been America without her Negro people? Even so is the hope that sang in the songs of my fathers well sung. If somewhere in this whirl and chaos of things there dwells Eternal Good, pitiful yet masterful, than anon in His good time America shall rend the Veil and the prisoned shall go free. Free, free as the sunshine trickling down the morning into these high windows of mine, free as yonder fresh young voices welling up to me from the caverns of brick and mortar below—swelling with song, instinct with life, tremulous treble and darkening bass. My children, my little children, are singing to the sunshine, and thus they sing: Let us cheer the weary traveller, Cheer the weary traveller, Let us cheer the weary traveller Along the heavenly way. And the traveler girds himself, and sets his face toward the Morning, and goes his way.

*Reference: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (pp. 125-126). Public Domain Books. Kindle. (Free version here)

Estonia’s GasTerm Eesti uses Auschwitz photo to promote gas company

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Believe it or not, the Estonian gas company, GasTerm Eesti, published on August 23 on their website a photograph of the Auschwitz concentration camp, with the infamous inscription Arbeit macht frei, or work makes you free. The caption of the published photo read: “Gas heating – flexible, convenient, and effective.”

GasTerm Eesti has removed the offensive picture and issued an apology, according to Haaretz.

Writes the Jerusalem Post: “The next day the photo was removed from the company’s website and an apology was posted there. Company director Sven Linros said, according to DzD.ee portal, “Hitler killed himself because he got a gas bill … a lot of people laugh at this, but I do not.”

Is anti-Semitism alive and kicking in Estonia?

When will parties like the PS start banning Islam in Finland?

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Pär Norling, a leader of  the populist radical right Sweden Democrats of Bolnäs, located about 250km north of Stockholm,  demanded the following on Sveriges Teleivision (SVT): ”Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion.” When will we start to hear similar demands from politicians in Finland?

One matter that populist radical right and Counterjihadist-spirited parties in Europe and Finland don’t tell you is that the fuel they use to fire their arguments comes from abroad. It’s hardly ever homegrown.

MPs of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) claim as well how incompatible a religion like Islam is with our Finnish way of life. One of their best-kept secrets they will never tell you publicly, however, is that they too wouldn’t have any problems banning Islam from Finland.

Migrant Tales believes it is only a question of time before anti-immigration and Counterjihadist politicians will begin making the same demands about Islam in Finland as Norling, who claims that neo-Nazism is a by-product of immigration.

Writes the Local of Sweden, quoting the Sweden Democrat politician: “’That [Islam] can exist elsewhere but in Sweden it doesn’t fit in.’ When asked what ought to be done with those who still want to believe in the religion, despite it being banned, Norling responded: ’Then the solution is deportation.’”

We don’t need to ask the politician what he thinks about religious freedom. It’s obvious that Norling’s solution suggests embarking on a slippery slope that would not only compromise our civil rights but undermine our Nordic democratic institutions.

Even if politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho and his band of Counterjihadists, populist radical right and anti-immigration followers would never dare make such a statement about Muslims in Finland, it is exactly what they aim to do if it were possible politically.

It’s clear that parties like the PS want to drastically limit immigration especially from Africa and the Muslim world. Didn’t Halla-aho suggest recently that the refugee status of Somali refugees in Finland should be lifted due to the improved situation in Somalia?

One of the big differences between the Sweden Democrats and PS is size. The former is a small party in Sweden, while the latter is the country’s third largest.

Migrant Tales Literary (Aug. 22, 2007): Pre-fall blues or where happiness lives

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No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
William Blake (1757-1827)

Of all the seasons that pass over the Nordic region, possibly fall is the most magical. But what makes it stand out from the rest?

Is it the pitch-darkness? Is it the vast universe above and its peppered celestial inhabitants that appear to gaze down upon us longer than usual? Yet again, could it be the sound of rustling leaves and rapid breezes that holds on for a moment to trees before losing steam?

I was certain on a late-Saturday afternoon two years ago that I’d finally succeed at finding where happiness lived.

Deep in the woods, I noticed a lone bird resting on a branch. Poor bird – I thought – it must have escaped from a farmhouse because toucans only live in the tropics.

“If you move fast and long enough you’ll be in different lands,” the bird said to my surprise in half-toucan, half- human. “In a way I envy stones because they know where their home is. They don’t move.”

“Don’t look surprised,” it continues. “There are other creatures from distant lands that inhabit these forests. Aren’t you from faraway as well?”

I followed the black bird with the brightly colored bill deeper in the woods.

The scenery looked familiar but then it started to change. A pine tree I passed had its cones pointing towards the sky and there was a spring that had the following sign: “Drink here and quench your thirst for dreams.”

There was also a modest shack that looked like a country store but only sold by the pound hugs, kisses and warm caresses.

A woman soon appeared before me just when I noticed the bird had vanished. She was blessed with so much beauty that it would take thousands of rainbows arched simultaneously in the sky to match her loveliness. I looked straight in her captivating eyes, which are like breathtaking views from space to Earth.

“So what brings you here?” she asks without malice.

“I’m searching for happiness. Can you help me find it?”

Silence and then an answer that twirls to the soft moist ground as an autumn leaf that parted from a branch.

“It’s useless for you to soar high enough by yourself… But with the help of the autumn woods we’ll show you that contentedness is right here and now.”

La Prorroga: El viaje de vuelta

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Zulma Sierra

Cuando te embarcas en una aventura que te gusta mucho, te apasionas hasta el punto de querer terminarla sin importar los obstáculos, las dificultades o la falta de recursos.

Foto Elkin Cabarcas – Fundaudiovisuales

Éste es el caso que me ocupa hoy. Fundaudiovisuales y yo estamos empeñados en sacar adelante el documental Viaje de Vuelta. Queremos contar las historias decinco latinoamericanos que estén planeando su regreso, esos que por diferentes circunstancias tengan que abandonar España y recomenzar -una vez más- su aventura como migrantes.

Viajarán de vuelta a sus países de origen, sí, pero ya han pasado tantos años en tierra extranjera que les costará readaptarse al ritmo, las costumbres y la realidad de la que provenían. Empacarán en sus maletas años y años de vivencias y se sentirán, por momentos, extraños en sus propias tierras.

Sin embargo, están dispuestos a intentarlo por su futuro y el de sus hijos.

Hasta el momento tenemos dos historias terminadas: la de la ecuatoriana, Hilda Zaragozín y la del colombiano, David Zapata. Éste vídeo inicial se dará a conocer en Casa América Catalunya el próximo 18 de setpiembre.

Nuestra intención es contar, por lo menos, tres historias más para completar cinco. Así quesi sabes de algún latinoamericano que esté planificando su regreso y le gustaría participar en este proyecto, cuéntanoslo.

Contar historias es lo que nos gusta hacer y creemos que éste es un momento crucial para el ciclo migratorio de nuestros países: el periplo de los retornados.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArkqR4bATGo&feature=player_embedded

Pinchar aquí si quieres leer la nota original.

Counterjihad Trojan Horse in Finland

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Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik cited five Finnish groups in his manifesto, 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence. These were the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, Suomen Sisu, Suomalaisuuden liitto, Suomen kansan sinivalkoiset and Vapaan Suomen liitto, according to a report by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO).

Writes YLE in English: “Texts similar to the manifest of Anders Behring Breivik have been published in Finland which [Maria] Paaso says shows an ideological preparedness to commit violent acts.”

While these latter groups haven’t carried out the same type of terrorist acts like Breivik did in July 2011, both are strongly bonded by Counterjihadist and/or populist radical right (PRR) ideology.

Some well-known Counterjihadists in Finland are PS MP Jussi Halla-aho, MP James Hirvisaari, MP Olli Immonen and others.

Counterjihadism is a radical ideology that speaks out against immigration and the Islamization of Europe. Counterjihadists like Breivik blame “multiculturalism” for the spread of Islam in Europe.

As most sensible people know, multiculturalism is a Canadian integration policy that was implemented in the 1970s. Counterjihadist ideology, however, sees multiculturalism as an immigration policy that permits Muslims and non-Europeans to emigrate and live in Europe.

Some well-known European Counterjihadist websites are: gatesofvienna.blogspot.com, jihadwatch.org as well as brusselsjournal.com. To these you could add Halla-aho’s Scripta blog in Finland.

Contrarily, PRR groups base their ideology on populism, radicalism and right-wing position on the left-right scale.

Populism means hostility to representative-pluralist politics. The PRR sees democracy as nativist, authoritarian and populist, according to a study by the University of Leicester.

Breivik is an excellent example of what Counterjihadism and PRR ideology are and can breed in countries like Finland.  In Norway we tragically saw how it came to fruit.

The Internet is the breeding ground for Counterjihadist ideology in Europe and Finland. Some of these forums in Finland are Hommaforum and Scripta. Two PS members, Matias Turkkila and MP Halla-aho, are their editors respectively.

Turkkila was named in May by the PS as the new editor-in-chief of the party’s newspaper and web page.

The aim of Counterjihad and PRR groups is simple: keep Europe and Finland white (culturally and ethnically) and place as many obstacles on cultural diversity as possible.

One should never underestimate an ideology like Counterjihadism or any other one that is exclusive and bases its ideology on “race and blood.”

If there are threats to our Nordic and European way of life today, we will find them right under our noses. Two of these are definitely Counterjihadism and PRR.