A big question remains after a Helsingin Sanomat investigative journalism piece exposed how National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman treated women – even underaged ones – inappropriately. Some of these women, who were minors then, claimed that Rydman forced them to drink alcohol.
A question remains: Why does Kokoomus appear so shocked today, even after the police decided not to press charges in 2020 against the MP?
I wonder if National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman has ever heard of Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation for sexually abusing minors, among other crimes? Helsingin Sanomat exposed in a story Rydman of inappropriate behavior and abusing sexually minors Sunday.
Like Gaetz, Rydman is in hot water and denies all charges against him.
Apart from being unofficially christened as the Jussi Halla-aho by some Kokoomus MPs, it is ironic that such a politician warns Finns of the dangers of the crimes of asylum seekers, which include rape, is suspected of the same crimes.
Former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. In his blog writings, he hoped that migrants rape certain MPs.
One of the far-right conspiracy theories spread by Rydman is the great replacement theory, which warns that Muslims and people of color will take over Europe and whites will become a minority.
A campaign poster for the 2011 parliamentary election, where Rydman claims, among other matters, that Finland should only accept the number of migrants it can adapt. In the ad, Mukhtar Abid, a social worker, states, ” This is why I, a Helsinki Social Democrat, will vote for Kokoomus’ Wille Rydman.” I sent Abib a message to ask him what he thought about the scandal and if Rydman was the right person to back in 2011. He has not responded to my message. Source: Migrant Tales
Apart from the hypocrisy of Finnish exceptionalism and that of Kokoomus’, it is surprising how little the party did to get to the bottom of these alleged crimes committed by Rydman.
Writes Helsingin Sanomat: “The women who were in contact with Rydman say he acted inappropriately and was sexually explicit in his words, behaved in a threatening way and forced them [to consume] alcohol. Some of the women were minors when Rydman approached them.”
Kokoomus chairperson Petter Orpo had heard about the allegations against Rydman in winter when journalists were investigating Rydman.
National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman, whose xenophobic views have earned him the dubious label of being Kokoomus’ Jussi Halla-aho, is suspected by the police of harassing underaged girls. He is the same MP pushing hardline policies against asylum seekers because he is worried about sexual harassment.
Former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion and has, in his blog writings, hoped that migrants rape certain MPs.
One of the far-right conspiracy theories spread by Rydman is the great replacement theory, which warns that Muslims and people of color will take over Europe and whites will become a minority.
National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman is suspected of harassing underaged girls. Source: Helsingin Sanomat (paywall)
Helsingin Sanomat leads the story: “Several women report harassing behavior by MP Wille Rydman. Some were minors at the time of the incident, while others reported alcohol abuse and violence. In Kokoomus, Rydman’s interest in young women and girls has been widely discussed [and known] only inside the party. Rydman denies acting inappropriately.”
Rydman tweeted that he is planning to press charges against Helsingin Sanomat for writing a baseless “grossly stigmatizing article” He added that he would most probably report the matter to the police and charge Finland’s largest daily for aggravated defamation.
The recent article and editorial in Helsingin Sanomat about social segregation in Finland is a good example of how white privilege deals with growing social segregation.
Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, published an editorial Thursday about how social segregation is growing in Finland. That follows a story about how some schools in Espoo have more pupils who speak other languages than Finnish, Swedish, or Saami.
One of the most important matters in a story written by a predominantly white newsroom about migrant and minority groups is what they overlook in the story. What the story discards can be seen as a Freudian slip.
Suppose the editorial board of Helsingin Sanomat had taken the time to address the problem of social segregation from an EU perspective. In that case, they’d encounter some good solutions to challenge such a social ill. These would include the usual issues: tackling institutional racism, effective social policy, and making cities more inclusive.
Thus urban segregation is the unequal distribution of different social groups based on occupation, income, education, gender, and ethnicity, according to the EU. In recent years, the gap has widened.
Social segregation is a growing problem in Finland as in Europe. Source: Google
Why the Helsingin Sanomat editorial does not address the core issues behind urban segregation reveals volumes about the daily and its editorial board. One possible reason why they are not mentioned is a common phenomenon: denial.
With the parliamentary election about 10 months away in April 2023 and a disastrous county election showing and equally depressing opinion poll results, it’s clear that the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is desperately trying to connect with voters.
One example of these underhanded tactics is a proposal by the PS to close the border with Russia in case of hybrid threats coming from Moscow.
Two scenarios. Source: Facebook
Haven’t you wondered how parties like the PS fear-monger? It’s like they have a crystal ball to justify their racism by constructing selective scenarios.
In such stories coming from the PS, one must dig deeper and find out what is behind the proposal.
PS chairperson, Riikka Purra, claims that the measure is to guarantee the security of white Finns. OK, she does not mention white Finn, but that is what she means.
Thus, we see with the PS proposal r message: asylum seekers from Muslim and African countries threaten Finland’s white culture and society.
Purra, who heads the administrative committee of parliament, threatens to give the government’s proposal would fail to pass. In the face of the PS’ 38 MPs. the vote would not get a two-thirds majority.
Suspending the right to seek asylum, or just confining it to the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is not only a human rights violation but a political prank by the PS to further their election campaign in April. The EU has also stated that suspending asylum applications is illgeal.
Everyone is aware that the aim of closing the border is part of the PS’ zero asylum seeker goal.
Ever wondered why tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat continue to publish racist stories? When the first Somalis came to Finland in the early 1990s, the tabloid had a field day (see billboards below). Imagine headlines like “Somalis will remain in Finland,” “Somalis tricked (authorities) to get asylum,” and twenty years later, “10,000 illegal refugees will come this year to Finland.”
As we all know, there is no such thing as an “illegal” refugee. Refugees are refugees, period.
The latest story by Ilta-Sanomat is on EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen, who said something positive about Islam on her visit to the United Arab Emirates (see tweet below).
What does the Ilta-Sanomat story reveal about anti-Muslim racism in Finland? It shows that Finnish tabloids and the media have successfully framed Muslims as a threat to Finland. If you say something positive about Muslims, you are a traitor and must be crazy.
Throughout the years, far-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have in recent years mainly used code words to refer to Muslims. Some of the most common ones are sexual offenders, overrepresented in crime statistics, asylum seekers, and, now the latest, vieraskieli, or “people who don’t speak Finnish as their mother tongue.”
One article published last week by Helsingin Sanomat highlighted the issue.
Russian and Estonian speakers were the most prominent vieraskieli groups in the story about Espoo schools. Arabic speakers were the third-biggest mother language group.
When far-right politicians like Riikka Purra use the term vieraskieli, it means in code Muslim and people of color.
One researcher pointed out that using the term vieraskieli is safer and more sanitized to express anti-Muslim hatred. It may help you avoid ethnic agitation charges.
Many understand that the Finnish media is part of the country’s racism problem. Any sensible person can see that the media rarely asks racialized people their opinions, never mind experts’ views on issues like racism and discrimination.
One overbearing message of parties like the PS and the near-silence and flirting of parties like the National Coalition Party is that people who are granted asylum are portrayed as a threat to Finnish values and culture.
Racism is deeply ingrained in Finnish culture. Excluding other voices means that little to nothing will change. Institutional racism must be challenged head-on.
I believe that if Finland’s newsrooms weren’t so white, they would write about racialized people differently.
It would be a big blow to the racist narrative of parties like the PS, which always label racialized groups with suspicion.
With parliamentary elections approaching in April 2022 in a backdrop of depressing opinion polls, the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is ratcheting its usual attacks against migrants and minorities. The strategy is like a motto used by the Green Berets in the Vietnam War: “Kill ’em all, let God sort them.”
The violent saying was used in the thirteenth century, which means the ruthless extermination of enemy soldiers and civilians.
The PS does the same thing: exterminate everyone who isn’t like us, and destroy all of them in Finland.
Finland’s racism problem is so acute that people (less today) openly admit that they are racist.
Today there are more closet racists than before. The PS (openly racist) and Kokoomus (many closet racists) are good examples.
PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari tweets: “The Perussuomalaiset are racists What of it?”
Tweets @johanneskoski: “The political core of the Perussuomalaiset is racism. No wonder the Perussuomalaiset always appear as vicious school bullies, ruthless liars, and trolls mocking democratic institutions. Racists have nothing else to offer but endless hatred. Source: Twitter
One of the casualties of the war in Ukraine will be social rights and the recognition of racialized people in Finland. Are we witnessing more aggressive reporting as a result?
Helsingin Sanomatpublished Wednesday a whole spread about how “over half of the students at several schools in Espoo don’t speak Finnish as their mother tongue.”
And it leads the story claiming that a researcher warns that what is happening in Espoo is a part of a “worrisome” European trend.
Sounds pretty sensationalist, right?
To top it off, Yle published a survey a day earlier showing that a majority of Russian speakers in Finland have a negative view of the country’s membership in Nato.
The Yle story labels Russians in such a toxic way that it feeds the Russophobia beast that resides inside many Finns.
The story can only be accessed through a paywall.
The Helsingin Sanomat, like the Yle survey, have a common message: Don’t trust “foreigners.” They are a problem.
Another question that the Helsingin Sanomat article raises is the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS).* We have heard for a long time how the Islamophobic party has spread ethnonationalist views and the great replacement theory.
