PS MP Hakkarainen instigates social-media lynch mob from Singapore

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Scandal-ridden Perussuomalaliset (PS) party MP, Teuvo Hakkarainen, has stuck his foot in his mouth again. This time  he has taken the law in his hands and instigated a social-media lynch mob against two minors found guilty of rape, according to Keskisuomalainen. The Jyväskylä-based daily reports that Hakkarainen published on his Facebook page a link to court documents that give the accused names, identification numbers, addresses and even their parents’ names.

“The court case can be found by anyone,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s not a problem. The link is there and that’s that. I don’t protect rapists. If someone wants to protect them it’s their business but I don’t protect them.”

A person apparently belonging to a far-right association tried to post the full text of the court case on Migrant Tales, which acted promptly to take them down thanks to our associate editors JusticeDemon and Mark.

Hakkarainen writes on his Facebook page, where all the posts on his wall have been now removed, the following from Singapore:  …I pleasantly  found out [in Singapore] that first and foremost immigrants that come to live here work and respect the local culture and people. It’s unfortunate that not everyone that goes there [to Finland] doesn’t share the same positive attitude, especially those in this case [below he shows a link to the court documents] of gross lack of respect…”

In his shortlived Facebook statement, Hakkarainen defends what he did by publishing the court documents because the media doesn’t do its job. Part of the court documents have been made secret until 2072. In Finland, the names of those that have been accused of crimes that carry over two-year prison sentences are not published by the media.

While a crime like rape must be strongly condemned by society, it is equally unacceptable that a public official like an MP takes justice in his hands.

Hakkarainen’s social-media call to lynch the sentenced minors reveals two disturbing matters: The PS MP from Viitasaari is unrepentant about his many former racist gaffes; by scapegoating people with non-white Finnish backgrounds he tries to absolve his past problematic behavior.

Migrant Tales wrote the previous month how anti-immigration groups like the PS plan a vicious campaign against immigrants and minorities in order to boost their sagging popularity. The Helena Eronen-James Hirvisaari scandal is one recent example as is the present ploy by Hakkarainen to publish hitherto-secret court documents.

Another case is far-right hardline anti-immigration PS MP Olli Immonen, who suggested that East European Roma beggars should be deported from Finland in the same way that the fascist Lapuan liike movement (1929-32) did to its enemies to the former Soviet Union.

Taking into account the recent and present scandals that are rocking the PS, one could ask if its chairman Timo Soini has lost control over the party and what we are seeing in fact is a power struggle between two rival groups: the Rural Party and far-right anti-immigration wing.

A column published by Yrjö Rautio on Apu magazine makes the same conclusion as Migrant Tales. That is exactly what is taking place at this moment.

The Eronen-Hirvisaari scandal reveals their contempt for press freedom, immigrants and minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Helena Eronen  , the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary aide who  suggested in a satirically intended blog entry that foreigners and minorities should start wearing armbands,  appeared on two talk shows Friday.  One of the most disturbing matters that is reinforced in both interviews is Eronen’s Hirvisaari-spirited view of immigrants and contempt for press freedom.

Calls to limit press freedom have been the strongest from the PS. Every time a scandal breaks out, and there have been many in the past year from the PS, too many times the standard response is that of the victim blaming the “elitist” media of bullying.

The PS, Eronen and especially Hirvisaari,  who was fined for hate speech in December, conveniently forget that it is the job of our media to hold accountable what politicians say and be society’s watchdog. What would we think of our media if they didn’t report all those unpleasant things about elected officials such as PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen or former PS councilman Tommi Rautio, who suggested to decorate a Finn for killing in cold blood a Muslim?

Hirvisaari’s contempt for press freedom is a cause for grave concern. He has described journalists as “bloodthirsty hyenas” as well as “arrogant and lying scum.”

This concern appears to be held by the PS parliamentary group as well, which suspended the PS MP for five months for not sacking Eronen.

Apart from the EU, immigrants and especially Islam, some PS members have a serious issue with the media. We have nothing to worry about, however,  as long as the powers of the media are not curtailed.  Spotting double-talk and holding politicians and their aides accountable are the best insurance against tyranny and far-right ideology.

It is easy to spot the rigmarole of the far right in Finland. Eronen, who used to advertise on her Uusi Suomi blog that she belonged to the anti-immigration Muutos2011, said she thought ethnic profiling by the police was wrong but acceptable in some cases.

The way Eronen tried to defend ethnic profiling “in some cases” reveals the concern expressed by the office of the Ombudsman for Minorities.  Rainer Hiltunen, the Minority Ombudsman’s head of office, said this month that he receives calls from foreigners who say they have been repeatedly questioned in the street by police. Some of those stopped are naturalized Finns and visible minorities.

Eronen apologized on A-studio but with her fingers crossed behind her back. She says that she is sorry if what she wrote offended some people but thanked her boss Hirvisaari for standing up for her and his convictions.

Apparently one of those questionable convictions is that it is acceptable to write about armbands that bring back stark memories of the Holocaust and that ethnic profiling is fine by the police.

Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from July 22, 1993

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.

The billboard below reports that the police raided a “gypsy” funeral. Unfortunately I don’t have the article but the interesting point about the ad is that the tabloid uses the term “gypsy.” The term, as we know, reinforces old stereotypes that people in this group are somehow always involved in some shady business.

Fortunately today we use the term Romany minority. Even so, the plight of poor Eastern Europeans belonging to this group in Finland shows not only our prejudice but how inept we are in dealing with these people.

*Migration Institute archive.

Are Hirvisaari and Eronen a mean Finnish version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If I had to draw a cartoon about suspended Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari and his aide Helena Eronen, I’d draw them as the legendary Spanish literary icons Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. If Hirvisaari were Don Quixote, would his windmills be “multiculturalism,” “Islamization” and the media? 

Contrary to Hirvisaari, Don Quixote was a kind-hearted impractical idealist that wanted to make right the incorrigible wrongs of the world.

Here is a painting by Pablo Picasso of  Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.  If Eronen were Sancho Panza she’d be much thinner. 

Alongside Hirvisaari Don Quixote is the always faithful Eronen Sancho Panza, listening to those far-right tales that would reinforce and encourage her to write demeaning blog entries of ghastly matters like female genital mutilation never mind about armbands. Here is a link to a young woman’s view [in Finnish] of Eronen’s blog post on female genital mutilation.

One of the matters that should worry sensible Finns about the Eronen scandal isn’t what she wrote but her boss Hirvisaari. It’s sometimes difficult to figure out what shines through this far-right PS MP: His ignorance of our democratic institutions like the media and/or his extremist views?

If it were up to Hirvisaari, he’d change the Constitution and our laws to censor and place limitations on press freedom directly from the annals of the 1930s but in a twenty-first century context.

By stating that the media intentionally lies and distorts reality, Hirvisaari exposes his far-right credentials and his contempt for our most cherished civil rights. What you are hearing in fact is a mean Hirvisaari Don Quixote charging at windmills.

Below is an excerpt of the PS MP’s latest blog post headlined Lies and power on Uusi Suomi. It sends shivers up one’s spine but you be the judge:

It is clear that the media has distorted the blog entry the truth by my parliamentary aide and blatantly lied to the public’s face. I have written in previous blog entries about the outrageous manner in which the Turun Sanomat staff  treated the ”armband” blog post.

Another monstrous lie: The media has falsely claimed for a long time that some members of the Perussuomalaiset parliamentary group are ”far right,” ”racists” and even ”Nazis.” The Perussuomaalist party does not have a ”racist wing.” This intentional demonizing [by the media] as well as all forms of distortion must stop in the name of truth.

…In the above-mentioned examples the issue is the power of the media. The people are deliberately fed lies. It is time that the media should look at itself in the mirror.

Look at itself in the mirror? Hmm.

Even if we pointed the mirror to Hirvisaari he’d have a difficult time figuring out which is the mirror and which are his demonic distortions of those institutions that shelter us from his extremist views.

Kyllä pistää vihaks!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jouni Karnasaari

Kun tässä kaikessa mediamylläkässä ja ihan ympäristön seuraamisen myötä on tullut melko ilmeiseksi muutama keskeinen seikka jotka antavat luvan vihaan, päätin minäkin kunnostautua ja ryhtyä vihaamaan.

Ainakin suomalaisittain yksi suurimmista vihan aiheista on ihonväri. Mitä tummempi, sen pahempi. Näin ainakin olen päätellyt, sillä miten muuten on selitettävissä se, että vaikkapa saksasta suomeen tullut valkoihoinen maahanmuuttaja on “ihan kiva jätkä”, mutta jos ruotsista muuttaa siellä kasvanut, yhdysvalloissa syntynyt afrikkalaista sukujuurta edustava henkilö, on se saatanan somali täällä viemässä meiltä kaiken! Joulukuusia ja mummun perintögrammaria myöten!

Koska minun on annettu ymmärtää ihan virallisen poliittisen puolueen avustuksella että ihonvärin avulla todella voi jakaa ihmiset hyviin ja huonoihin, olen voittaja! Nimittäin minulla on vitiligo, valkopälveksikin kutsuttu oireyhtymä jonka seurauksena pigmenttini vähenee. Joissain tapauksissa väheneminen saattaa lakata tai pigmenttiä jopa alkaa kehittyä uudelleen mutta sitä en toivo! Vitiligon myötä minusta on pikkuhiljaa tulossa valkoisista valkoisin! Eräänlainen über-valkoinen! On vähintäänkin suotavaa että ainakin pahimmat rasistit korottavat minut jumalakseen, olenhan heitäkin ylempi vähäisine, ellei olemattomine pigmentteineni! Ja koska minulla oikeus vihata kaikkia minua tummahipiäisempiä, vihattavaa riittää!

Toinen vihanaihe on se, että aina joku perkeleen kikkalo tulee ja vie meidän naiset! Myöntäkää pois, niin käy kaikille joskus. Ja koska todennäköisintä on se, että sen naisen vie toinen heteroseksuaalinen mies, olen päättänyt ruveta vihaamaan kaikkia heteroseksuaaleja. Vitun heterot! Tulevat tänne ja vievät meidän naiset!

Kolmas vihan aihe on se, että kaikki jotka tulevat suomeen, tulevat viemään työpaikkani. Ehkä juuri siksi pikkukaupungin lyhyttukkainen, pilottitakkiinsa hellyttävästi intialaista alkuperää olevan hindujen pyhän symbolin kirjaillut rehti nuorukainen päättää rikkoa paikallisen kebab-ravintolan ikkunan. “Siitäs saitte perkeleet, kun veitte mun liikeidean!” Tässäkin haluan laittaa paremmaksi. Ensinnäkin Sauli Niinistö valittiin presidentiksi, ja minua ei edes kysytty! Ihan jo pikkupoikana unelmani oli olla presidentti, ja nyt joku kikkaratukka ruiskukkapuliveivari vei duunin! Laskeutukoon siis vihani paitsi Kokoomuksen, myös kaikkien muidenkin puolueiden päälle jotka ohittivat minut!

Taidan ottaa vihalistalleni myös lihavat ihmiset, ne kun vievät arvokasta lebensraumiani enemmän kuin ei-niin painorajoitteiset. Toisaalta laihoja on syytä vihata myös! Heitä mahtuisi lentokoneessa parhaimmillaan kaksi yhteen istuimeen, mutta ehei! Siinä vaan istutaan reteästi isossa istuimessa yksin! Perkeleen riistäjät! Ja entäs sitten “normaalipainoiset”, nuo niin erinomaiset juuri oikean BMI:n omaavat ihmiset! Aina niin erinomaisina karppauksineen ja tasapainoitettuine ruokavalioineen että! Normaalipainoiset ovat kansaterveydellinen riski sillä he saavat muut masentumaan, mielialalääkkeiden käyttö kasvaa ja itsemurhaluvut synkistyvät aina vaan! Vihalistalle vaan!

Suomi kuuluu suomalaisille, sanovat mm. ne jotka osaavat ihan itse kirjoittaa “wihte pover” tiiliseinään. Siispä olen päättänyt vihata myös kaikkia niitä jotka eivät alkuperältään ole suomalaisia. Jäljelle tosin jäävät silloin vain saamelaiset jotka olivat täällä “meitäkin” ennen, mutta sittenpä saan vihata heitäkin! Saatanan saamelaiset, omat sukujuureni ovat vissiin jostain Puolasta ja nyt te perkeleen poronpurijat olette työntämässä meitä maahanmuuttajia pois!

Kyllä vain, niin paljon vihattavaa ja niin vähän aikaa. Onneksi tuli aloitettua näinkin aikaisin!

Pitää vielä tehdä muistilistaa että mitään ei unohdu:

  • Kaljut ja ne joilla on tukka (kaljut muistuttavat minua siitä että minulla ei ole tukkaa ja ne joilla on tukka, muistuttavat minua siitä että minulla ei ole tukkaa. Perkele!)
  • Rikkaat ja köyhät, rikkaat siksi että ne on varmaan jotenkin kepulikonstein saaneet rahansa ja köyhät siksi koska ovat todennäköisesti niin kepuleita etteivät edes rahaa saa tienattua. Ja sitten tietenkin ne keskituloiset jotka on niin ketkuja etteivät uskalla olla rikkaita tai köyhiä!
  • Naapurit
  • Naapurin Esko jolla on isompi pippeli kuin minulla. No vittu kaikillahan niillä on! Lisätään tähän nyt vaan sitten että muista vihata kaikkia joilla on penis.
  • Ruotsi
  • Hauskat ihmiset, ne kun saavat aina muut tuntumaan tylsiltä. Ja ei-hauskat jotka pilaavat fiiliksen.
  • Älykkäät, mitä vittua nekin on olevinaan?! Häh?!
  • Tyhmät. Häh?
  • Heteromiehet tulikin jo mainittua mutta sitten tietenkin lesbot! Helvetin lepakot, nekin vie meidän naiset!
  • Homomiehet. Niiden takia TV:stä ei tule kuin Innoa ja Strömsötä (Strömsökin on homo-ohjelma koska siinä puhutaan ruotsia)
  • Lätkäpelaajat. Ne vitun laatikossaluistelijat vie meidän naiset, ja just ne hoteimmat!
  • Euro. Ilman euroja minulla olisi 5,94 kertaa enemmän rahaa pankkitililläni! Markka takaisin. Paitsi että vihasin niitä helvetin rumia seteleitä!

Ai niin, varmuuden vuoksi… “vitsi vitsi”!

PS MP Hirvisaari gets suspended for five months for not sacking Eronen

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Helena Eronen scandal, the parliamentary aide that infamously suggested in Finland that foreigners should start wearing armbands to help police profile ethnic groups, took a new turn Tuesday when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary group decided to suspend MP James Hirvisaari until September 15 for not sacking his aide.

It is clear that in the face of  Eronen’s and Hirvisaari’s open defiance, the PS will end up paying a costly political price taking into account the October 28 municipal election. This latest political fallout is taking place a year after the PS won its historic election victory and at the time when Anders Breivik is testifying in Oslo for killing 77 people.

While it was expected that the police will not investigate Eronen’s complaint to sue Turun Sanomat for defamation, it may well turn the other way around with criminal charges brought against her for what she wrote as a parliamentary aide, according to Turn Sanomat.

In many respects Eronen’s and Hirvisaari’s insistence that we must read what she wrote as satire reveals what is wrong with the thinking of these public servants and their anti-immigration ideology.

Just like their free-for-all to insult any ethnic group or nationality, they have no limits, no shame, no morals, no respect and no empathy. They are political liabilities to our democracy because of their shameful disregard for our civil rights.

They are the far-right ogre that has entered parliament in sheep’s clothing.

As Breivik speaks out against multiculturalism the more damage he inflicts on anti-immigration parties

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

As Anders Breivik,who killed 77 people on July 22 on his crusade against multiculturalism, takes the stand and speaks out against immigration and Islam the more damage he inflicts on anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).  After his rampage in Norway, nothing was ever the same for parties like the PS because Breivik  put them on the defensive.

Writes the BBC: “Breivik’s comments have ranged from vehement criticisms of liberalism and multiculturalism to claims that he ‘supports the model in South Korea and Japan.'”

Breivik was quoted by the BBC as telling the court he had “carried out the most spectacular and sophisticated attack on Europe since World War II” and  would do it again.

Certainly far-right anti-immigration PS MP Jussi Halla-aho would have wished that Breivik would have never existed. He if anyone has done more damage to Halla-aho’s and his Counter-Jihadists’ rhetoric.

In a story published today Migrant Tales writes:  “He [Halla-aho] says on the [Tom Enbuske talk] show that Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer is a mentally ill lone wolf, despite the fact that he quoted him in his anti-Islam manifesto.  Certainly it’s convenient for Halla-aho to single out Breivik as a madman because it permits him to wash his hands of the probable impact his xenophobic rhetoric may have on others [like Breivik].”

You don’t have too bright to grasp that if you let out a social ill like racism and feed it with your hate it’s going to hit back one day.

That is exactly what Breivik did.

He is no madman nor loan wolf but a shameful anti-social miscreation our society gave birth to.

Halla-aho says ghettoization spreading in Finland’s major cities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho said on a popular talk show that he stands by everything he said and doesn’t regret anything. He does, however, admit that sometimes the timing of what he said was wrong. He then tells us that ghettoization is taking place ” full steam ahead” in Finland’s biggest cities.

As Migrant Tales has warned and as scandals continue to rock the PS whiile opinion polls show voters turning their backs on the right-wing populist party, the anti-immigration message of the PS will start to pick up.  Halla-aho didn’t lose such an opportunity on the talk show, claiming that our biggest cities are turning into ghettos.

Some analysts see, however, that his far-right anti-immigration rhetoric are the problem that will cause social exclusion and ghetoization.

With the usual poker face, Halla-aho tells us that all he want to do is avoid the problems that immigration brought to Sweden. He says on the [Tom Enbuske talk] show that Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer is a mentally ill lone wolf, despite the fact that he quoted Halla-aho in his anti-Islam manifesto.  Certainly it’s convenient for Halla-aho to single out Breivik as a madman because it permits him to wash his hands of the probable impact his xenophobic rhetoric may have on others.

On a more positive note, the anti-immigration message that spread like wildfire in Finland before the parliamentary election appears to have met greater scrutiny today by the media, some politicians and the general public.  A case in point is the Helena Eronen scandal that suggested   “armbands” for foreigners.

One typical debate and public-relations stunt used by Halla-aho and his far-right group is profiling themselves as white Finland’s saviors and victims of the media.  He claims that in Finland one cannot have a different opinion concerning immigration despite the fact that it was his anti-immigration message got him elected to parliament in the first place.

Below are two classic videoclips that Halla-aho doesn’t regret. On the one immediately below he warns “most Finnish cities will be surrounded by a ring of burning ghettos.”  Finland’s foreign population in 2010-11 totalled 167,954 people, or a mere 3.1% of the total poulation.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=30SSbpq-o_A]

Here is another one that was used in last  year’s parliamentary election. The campaign ad asks if multiculturalism is a “too hot potato” for Finland? Note the turban on the potatoe. Isn’t it from India?

Multiculturalism means for Halla-aho an immigration policy that permits Muslims and Africans from moving to Finland and Europe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L0zgxL8l_xg]

These videoclips were taken from Jussi K. Nieminen’s Facebook page.

The Eronen “armband” scandal reveals healthy accountability by the media

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Helena Eronen scandal exposes an important watershed in Finland. It is a similar turning point as we saw on July 22 with the mass killings in Norway by Anders Breivik and in February, when Tommi Rautio suggested decoarating a white Finn for killing a Muslim in in cold blood in Oulu. The latest scandal reveals something equally important: accountability.  

Back in the so-called good old days before last year’s election, politicians could say just about anything they pleased against immigrants and visible minorities without being held accountable. Times have changed since then and the Eronen scandal is a case in point.

What would happen if Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho published today a fraction of the quotes he made last decade? What would happen if Eronen published her infamous column on sleeve emblems in 2006 or 2008? Would she experience anything close to the criticism she is getting today? Probably not.

The magic word is accountability. Politicians, and especially those who gained prominence with their racist and Nazi-spirited language before last year’s election are now being held accountable for what they write by the media, some politicians and the general public. This is good news for Finland.

Accountability can do wonders. An association like Kansainvälinen Mikkeli sent an email to all those candidates before last year’s election who were strongly in favor of cutting back funds to immigrant associations and tightening immigration policy. You’d be surprised by how apologetic some were when they answered back.

It shows that if we ask questions and let politicians know that we are watching, listening and ready to act they will think twice what they say in public.

The media can play an important role. Leadership was shown by Turun Sanomat last week, when it picked up Eronen story on Uusi Suomi. The Turku-based daily merely did its job by asking her a question and, most importantly, held her accountable for what she wrote.

It’s still unclear whether Eronen will be able to keep her job as PS MP James Hirvisaari’s aide. In the meanwhile the scandal will continue to grow.

Turun Sanomat reports that apart from Sweden, Russia and former IVY countries, the column that suggested sleeve markings for different national groups has now spread to Holland, Iceland, Italy, Poland and Romania. To add more fuel to the fire, Johan Bäckman asked the police to investigate whether Eronen’s column is guilty of inciting ethnic hatred, according to Turun Sanomat.  

Finland’s interior minister wants to make begging illegal

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Christian Democrat (KD) Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen was quoted as saying on MTV3 that she is in favor of making begging illegal in Finland.  Just like many past suggestions by the conservative Räsänen, like her provocative views on homosexuality that caused last year an exodus from the Lutheran Church, her views on begging and how to deal with a group like the Roma of Eastern Europe doesn’t come as a surprise. 

While Räsänen uses the term “organized” begging, it’s clear that she is targeting Roma beggars from Eastern Europe that come to Finland.

In order to understand the dynamics of the Finnish government’s tough stand on immigration and its views of certain ethnic groups, Kokoomus Prime Minister appointed last year Räsänen to head the interior ministry in charge of immigration policy.

Her appointment was a clear attempt by the government to not only calm the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, which had gained a historic 39 seats in last year’s election, but to rob it of its anti-immigration thunder.

Räsänen’s stand on gay rights and marriage reflect her conservative views on immigration and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity.  Last year she said there are plans to tighten once again family reunification laws, which were tightened by the previous government.

Her views on immigration are pretty well summed up on a blog entry she wrote on Uusi Suomi:  “Our country’s culture, values and morals have been built around Christian ethics and we must not abandon them starting from our homes, day care centers and when bringing up children.”

What Räsänen is saying in the quote is that she doesn’t believe in cultural diversity but that immigrants should assimilate — not integrate — to Finnish society.  Assimilation is one-way integration, or something like sitting on your behind and requiring immigrants to adapt to your culture while you do nothing except watch.

Some have criticized Räsänen’s double standards. On the one hand she claims to uphold Christian values concerning the family but doesn’t appear to be bothered by minors who are refugees in Finland that are forced to live without their parents because of strict reunification laws.

While Räsänen likes to give the public simple answers to complex problems, her latest view on begging will not resolve anything but complicate the problem even more. We will soon see pictures of the Finnish police rounding up, arresting and deporting women and children from Finland. It will reveal and reinforce the image that we are an intolerant country that doesn’t have a clue on how to deal with a social problem like begging in our society.

It prefers instead to brush the problem under the rug by making “poverty illegal” by patronizing to parties like the PS.