By Leo Honka
Deep in the forests of Savo, darkness is not always darkness but a state of mind that has learned to remain an image. In such places, time comes and goes but never leaves; its magic maintains you balanced like a trapeze artist without falling thanks to heart-filled joyous moments of memories once a time ago when you were part of the scenery…
The riots in Sweden sparked by the burning of the Koran by the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party led by Rasmus Palaudan remind us how urgently we need solutions, not provocations, to heal the wounds gashed by racism and double standards. Provocations do nothing more than expose our hypocrisy and privilege. They never offer solutions on the way to move forward.
Be it by the Palaudan and other far-right political groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* it is always the same script: provoke, provoke but never give solutions. While Palaudan has threatened a “final solution” to Muslims and expelling all of them from Denmark, the PS has only given cheap racist soundbites.
Palaudan loves attention, and he gets it from the media and, unfortunately, from some Muslims and others. He is not a champion of free speech by burning the Koran but an example of white privilege disguised as free speech.
In the last election in Denmark, his party got 1.8% of the votes, which is below the 2% threshold for an MP to be elected.
The PS is so full of bravado that they fear mentioning the term “Muslim” in their hate soundbites but instead speak in code. Asylum seekers and immigration policy are their code words for Muslims.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports: “Police said up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence in the town of Landskrona after authorities moved a demonstration scheduled there by Danish party Stram Kurs to the nearby city of Malmö, about 45km (27 miles) to the south.”
Forgetting the crucial role migrants have played in building Sweden’s economy after World War 2, PS leader Riikka Purra parrots her usual far-right talking points about events in Sweden.
If former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Jussi Halla-aho were a women, her name would be Riikka Purra.
Helsingin Sanomat published Saturday an interview with PS Chairperson Riikka Purra, where she puts Ukrainian refugees on a pedestal and dehumanizes Muslim and African refugees.
Instead of just publishing Purra’s comments like a stenographer, why not fact-check?
Here are some questions I would ask Purra:
1. Why has your party headed south in recent opinion polls?
2. What is the greatest threat that the PS faces?
3. Using hindsight, do you believe that your membership in the pro-Putin EU bloc Democracy and Identity was a mistake?
4. What is your opinion of Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Marine le Pen and Matteo Salvini?
5. Why does the PS have close links with far-right and neo-Nazi groups?
6. Why were you against Nato membership last year but are now in favor? Should Finland leave the EU?
7. Are there any ideological differences between you and Jussi Halla-aho? Please state one difference.
Takeaways from the interview:
Continue reading “Helsingin Sanomat treats Rikka Purra with kid gloves – by and large, stenography journalism”This year has been disastrous for the populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* for several reasons. The first hiccup came in last year’s municipal election, when the party, guided by promising opinion polls, expected to win but came in fourth place. Then came an even worse wreck: the county election in January, when its support dove to 11%.
Despite these setbacks, the biggest one yet was going to land in chairperson Riikka Purra’s footsteps: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With Putin’s invasion, populist parties in Europe – including the PS – suffered a massive blow since It was a wake-up call about what dangers and limits of populism.
While populists like the PS cannot enjoy the same dictatorial powers that Putin has, people in the West fear that democracy is in danger. Populist parties can pave the way for an autocratic regime, wars, destruction, and the tragic loss of lives that such calamities bring.
In one of the most powerful editorials ever written about the PS by Helsingin Sanomat, it cited MEPs like Laura Huhtasaari and why the PS are members of the far-right bloc Identity and Democracy (ID) that is the most pro-Putin in the EU?
The editorial suggested that MEPs like Huhtasaari in the ID group were “useful idiots” and since the war was not going to plan for Putin, populist politicians were rats abandoning a sinking ship.
Another sign that populists like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán are losing support due to his close ties to Putin, was the cancellation of a meeting of the Visegrad Four defense ministers in Budapest on Wednesday. The Czech and Polish defense ministers refused to take part in the meeting due to Orban’s close relationship with Russia, according to Radio Prague International.
It is clear that the parties like the PS are disoriented today and trying to regain their political balance. What use is there for a party like the PS if anti-immigration sentiment and calls to leave the EU have lost their appeal among voters?
The latest example of the PS having lost its way was an announcement by Purra flip-flopped on NATO membership.
Continue reading “Populist European parties and politicians, like rats, will abandon a sinking ship in 2022”Think about it. Finland’s far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had a total change of heart about refugees, which it has attacked and fed its popularity. Not only the PS, but other parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Center Party, and a “taxi party” Liike Nyt, according to Yle.
A taxi party is one where all of its MPs can fit inside a taxi.
PS chairperson Riikka Purra, who scapegoats refugees with gusto, alleges that Ukrainian “women and children” should get help in Finland.
“There is a war in Europe pretty close to Finland,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that Finland should help mothers and children.”
Center Party head Annika Saarikko used the same argument with code words for white refugees such as women and children. Petteri Orpo, whose party has been hostile to Muslims, stated that we should help Ukrainians because “their integration will be much easier” because they have professions and speak languages.
Our favorable treatment of Ukrainians contrasts with our anti-Muslim racism.
Even if it is a good matter that the Ukrainians have forced a change of heart in Finland and Europe concerning refugees, under such expressions of solidarity lies our ugly racism and bigotry.
Let’s take the argument that we should help “women and children,.” Politicians who use this argument are bashing with another arm refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
With such thinking, men cannot apply for asylum even if they are fleeing war.
Continue reading “Our willingness to help “women and children” Ukrainian refugees is code for anti-Muslim racism”Comments about the Yle television series on far-right young women, Suomineidot (Finnish Maidens), went viral, and for a good reason. Apart from revealing how much in the dark Yle is about racism and the far right, it also exposes white privilege in Finland.
In a nutshell, the series is about three young women:
One of the best arguments against the program is that it lacks context. The journalists who did the series acted as obedient stenographers instead of critical reporters.
Despite the criticism of the program, Yle defended the program in a tweet below:
“Improving our understanding of each other and the world is one of Yle’s aims. By confronting different points of view, we increase our understanding and empathy and challenging confrontation. If we understand the reasons behind a particular point of view, we may feel that it isn’t so threatening.”
Source: Yle
Este 24 de marzo, conmemorando a esta fecha infame en la historia argentina, dedico este humilde escrito a Rodolfo Walsh quien murió un día después del primer aniversario de la dictadura militar de Jorge Rafael Videla.
Aquí publicamos su “Carta abierta a la Junta militar en 1977, al cumplirse un año del golpe de Estado de 1976:”
CARTA ABIERTA DE UN ESCRITOR A LA JUNTA MILITAR
1. La censura de prensa, la persecución a intelectuales, el allanamiento de mi casa en el Tigre, el asesinato de amigos queridos y la pérdida de una hija que murió combatiéndolos, son algunos de los hechos que me obligan a esta forma de expresión clandestina después de haber opinado libremente como escritor y periodista durante casi treinta años.
El primer aniversario de esta Junta Militar ha motivado un balance de la acción de gobierno en documentos y discursos oficiales, donde lo que ustedes llaman aciertos son errores, los que reconocen como errores son crímenes y lo que omiten son calamidades.
El 24 de marzo de 1976 derrocaron ustedes a un gobierno del que formaban parte, a cuyo desprestigio contribuyeron como ejecutores de su política represiva, y cuyo término estaba señalado por elecciones convocadas para nueve meses más tarde.
En esa perspectiva lo que ustedes liquidaron no fue el mandato transitorio de Isabel Martínez sino la posibilidad de un proceso democrático donde el pueblo remediara males que ustedes continuaron y agravaron.
Ilegítimo en su origen, el gobierno que ustedes ejercen pudo legitimarse en los hechos recuperando el programa en que coincidieron en las elecciones de 1973 el ochenta por ciento de los argentinos y que sigue en pie como expresión objetiva de la voluntad del pueblo, único significado posible de ese “ser nacional” que ustedes invocan tan a menudo.
Invirtiendo ese camino han restaurado ustedes la corriente de ideas e intereses de minorías derrotadas que traban el desarrollo de las fuerzas productivas, explotan al pueblo y disgregan la Nación.
Una política semejante solo puede imponerse transitoriamente prohibiendo los partidos, interviniendo los sindicatos, amordazando la prensa e implantando el terror más profundo que ha conocido la sociedad argentina.
2. Quince mil desaparecidos, diez mil presos, cuatro mil muertos, decenas de miles de desterrados son la cifra desnuda de ese terror. Colmadas las cárceles ordinarias, crearon ustedes en las principales guarniciones del país virtuales campos de concentración donde no entra ningún juez, abogado, periodista, observador internacional. El secreto militar de los procedimientos, invocado como necesidad de la investigación, convierte a la mayoría de las detenciones en secuestros que permiten la tortura sin límite y el fusilamiento sin juicio. (1)
Continue reading “(Migrant Tales 2015): Nunca más: 24 de marzo de 1976 y Rodolfo Walsh”Here is the plot of a new TV series Suomineidot (Finnish Maidens):
Apart from the radical political views of the three participants, YLE launched the television series during the UN week of the elimination of racial discrimination (March 21-27).
Great timing, Yle, I know it was intentional.
It’s not the first time that the state-owned national broadcaster, Yle, has fallen flat on its face due to its shoddy programs.
Below, are two recent examples of programs on racism and the far right that backfired:
So what gives?
If a program promotes or tries to understand what racist and far-right people think, there should be an opposite opinion.
With minorities having a pitifully illegible voice in the media, programs such as Suomineidot normalize and only strengthen institutional racism and thinking. A lot of historical whitewashing happens as well. We forget how our hatred and racism led us to terrible wars.
The TV series is another example of shoddy journalism driven by white Finnish privilege that don’t have a faint idea about racism and its harm.
Migrant Tales, the oldest anti-racism blog in Finland, will celebrate its 15th anniversary on May 30.
We are planning to publish an online magazine to commemorate the event. Apart from a section with greetings from people and associations, we will publish poetry, pictures, drawings, essays from our activists and readers in Finland and abroad. You can submit your writings in the language of your choice.
The online magazine will also offer an historical timeline of our most important achievements and the impact they had.
Send your submissions to [email protected] by May 16, 2022.
The interior ministry estimates “tens of thousands” Ukrainians moving to Finland as a result of the war in that country, according to Yle News. There are about 7,000 Ukrainians in Finland, but Anna Rundgren, a ministry of interior senior specialist, believes that the actual figure is several times higher.
In 2015, the country saw a record influx of people coming here. Thirty-two thousand four hundred seventy-six asylum seekers, mainly from Iraq (20,485) and Afghanistan (5,214), came to Finland in that historic year. The country’s first wave of refugees was in 1921 when some 6,500 Russians from Kronstadt island in the Gulf of Finland fled the Bolsheviks.
Any sensible person should understand that the Ukrainian newcomers are an important human asset to the country. If we want to make Finland their new home, we must also treat them with respect and be vigilant so they will not fall prey to human trafficking and exploitation.
The treatment that some Iraqis, Afghans, and other non-EU asylum seekers received in Finland from 2015 was shameful in some cases. In May 2016, Migrant Tales, Rovaniemi-based daily Lapin Kansa, and the asylum seekers of the Kolari asylum reception center forced the Red Cross to fire the deputy manager of the camp Jari Sillantie.
Continue reading “How will we treat Ukrainian refugees in Finland?”