The recent poll on the regional elections shows eveals and exposes the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who suffered a 3.3 percentage point fall, as a one-issue party. The regional elections, which will be held on Sunday, will transfer power from municipalities to regional councils, which will manage health care and emergency services.
Sunday’s election appears to turn out as a disaster to the PS and a stinging blow to Rikka Purra, who is leading the party for the first time as chairperson.
The PS’ campaign has been deceptive by bringing up issues like gas prices at the pumps, immigration, development aid, or issues that regional councils do not have the power to change.
Moreover, Purra’s performance at debates has been disappointing, to say the least.
The PS campaign has been hit from all sides. Two firms, ST1 and Finnair, which the party used in its commercials are asking to refrain from using their logos or products.
When everything starts to fail and the popularity of the PS heads south, it’s clear that the party reverts to its old lifesaver: Muslim and migrant bashing with a strong odor of toxic nationalism.
In the PS mindset, it is time to turn on the racist ads like the one below.
The claims that money is a value issue. “Three Somali migrants already cost the public sector annually more than hiring a nurse. How do you want your tax revenues spent?” Source: Twitter
A stomach-churning ad, no?
Should the PS be charged for ethnic agitation again?
I do, and very vividly. Jari Sillantie was the deputy manager of the northern Finland Kolari asylum reception center that sacked him after some 140 asylum seekers protested his management style.
Even if his management style and Facebook “likes” did not reveal his attraction to the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, they did speak volumes about his anti-immigration views (see picture below).
After all of the asylum seekers at the reception center demonstrated on May 4 and forced the Red Cross, which managed the reception center, to sack Sillantie was deemed “unsuitable for the job.”
We learned more things about Sillantie: His heart is with the Islamophobic PS party, and he was convicted for tax fraud in 2018. He owes 666,000 euros in back taxes to the state.
Jari Sillantie, who was sacked as deputy manager of the Kolari asylum reception center in 2016, was not suited for the job. His “likes” on Facebook, which have now been deleted, are an assortment of far-right associations and politicianslike Laura Huhtasaari.
Sillanpää is a good example of the hypocrisy of the PS. He states in his campaign message all the racist talking points of the party. Migrants should follow the law but Sillantie and the PS have special privileges.
Sillantie’s message comes in loud and clear in his campaign poster: Vote for Finns first!
Thanks to the asylum seekers of the former Kolari asylum reception center, the media, and our work, we were able to expose Sillantie for what he was: a questionable person who wanted to make the lives of asylum seekers as difficult as possible.
Guess which party has the highest number of candidates charged with a crime? Correct, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. According to Helsingin Sanomat, 6.3% (8.2% in the 2021 municipal elections) of PS candidates in January’s regional election have been charged for crimes during 2017-2021.
That was followed by the Left Alliance (3.0%/4.1%), Christian Democrats (2.2%/2.4%), National Coalition Party (2.1%/3.2%), Center Party (2.0%/2.5%), Social Democrats (1.2%/2.7%), Green League (0.8%/2.0%), and Swedish People’s Party (0.7%/2.1%).
Two one-MP parties, Power Belongs to the People (VKK) and Movement Now, had 6.1% and 7.4%, respectively, of their candidates in the regional election charged with a crime.
Apart from demonizing migrants, especially Muslims, the PS always finds ways to exclude Others.
Their latest prank is “Finns first.”
The Perussuomaliset campaigns for public services for everyone but claims that Finns should come first. When Pentti Karhunen, a candidate in Etelä-Savo was asked what he meant by “Finns,” he said anyone who has a Finnish citizenship. He was against offering services to unemployed foreigners. Source: Facebook
What the PS means by who is a Finn is a question for interpretation. Some PS politicians claim that even if a person becomes a naturalized Finn, he will never be a Finn.
The dehumanization and fear-mongering of people like Muslims explain the PS’ close ideological ties with a Nazi-spirited association called Suomen Sisu. At least five PS MPs are members of Suomen Sisu, which openly campaign for PS candidates.
Due process takes a long time in Finland as the landmark Johanna Vehkoo against far-right agitator Junnes Lokka, whom she called in a Facebook “a Nazi clown” and “a racist.” Surprisingly, a Rovaniemi appeal court upheld a prior Oulu district court ruling that Vehkoo had defamed Lokka.
Today’s ruling by the supreme court dismissed the prior ruling by the appeal and district courts.
“The supreme court ruling is important because members of Finland’s far-right and Islamophobic groups can also be criticized and fall under scrutiny. Moreover, the ruling reveals that some courts are not up to speed on racism and the threat of the far-right.”
Lokka’s case, if the supreme court had upheld the prior rulings, would have made it difficult to criticize politicians who use racism to advance their political aims.
While the Oulu appeal court ruled against Vehkoo because her comments were against Lokka’s person, the supreme court took a different view.
“In view of the derogatory and hostile statements made by Lokka in public, the terms used in the [Facebook post] text are not considered to have gone beyond what could be considered acceptable,” reported Yle News, citing the KKO stated in its judgment.
Timo Soini kirjoitti blogissaan 20.9.2015 otsikon ”Maahanmuuttolinja kiristyy huomattavasti” alle seuraavasti: ”Perussuomalaiset ovat jo vuosia varoittaneet sekä moraalittomasta europolitiikasta ja löperöstä maahanmuuttopolitiikasta Euroopassa, myös Suomessa. Minua, EU-politiikasta ja Jussi Halla-ahoa maahanmuuttopolitiikasta, on arvosteltu rajusti. Vääriksi väitteitämme ei ole todistettu”.
Timo Soini blogissaan 20.9.2015
Tuohon päivään mennessä perussuomalaisten rasistinen ja uusfasistinen henki oli jo moneen kertaan pulpahtanut pintaan, tankit oli lähetetty Kreikan kaduille, rikostutkintoja ja tuomioita kansanryhmää vastaan kiihottamisesta oli ollut useita ja Facebookiin perustettu ryhmä: Perussuomalaisista erotetut. Kaikki me tiesimme, että perussuomalaisista erottaminen tapahtui vain silloin, jos rasistinen möläyttely oli niin törkeää, että siitä nousi sosiaalisessa mediassa riittävän suuri kauhistelu tai perussuomalainen ei osannut tilanteessa olla riittävän nöyrää poikaa johdon suuntaan. Tuomio kiihottamisesta kansanryhmää vastaan ei ole ollut riittävä syy.
Turvapaikanhakijoiden mustamaalaaminen oli ja on määräävä osa perussuomalaisten toimintaa. Se pitää vain osata tehdä riittävän hillitysti. Riikka Purrakaan ei siihen kykene, vaikka media on hehkuttanut perussuomalaisten nyt hänen johdollaan sopivan entistä paremmin hillittyä rasismia suosivan kokoomuksen hallituskumppaniksi.
Riikka Purra Twitterissä 2.1.2020
Kun nyt turtiaislaiset ovat päässeet median huomion kohteeksi, on syytä muistuttaa, että Ano Turtiainen ja hänen sihteerinsä eduskunnassa, James Hirvisaari, ovat molemmat näitä perussuomalaisista erotettuja tai ”eronneita” ja he jatkavat perussuomalaisen politiikan tekemistä. Hommaforumilla sovittiin jo aikojen alussa, että yhteiselle asialle kelpaavat myös kokoomuslaiset rasistit ja kaikki, jotka ilmaisevat halunsa ”islamin invaasion” estämiseen. Hirvisaari oli Soinin mukaan ”itseohjautuva” ja Turtiainen nousi julkisesti Mestaria vastaan.
Suomalainen media ei vieläkään, toisin kuin vaikkapa ruotsalaiset, pidä perussuomalaista puoluetta rasistisena eikä ota puoluejohtoa kunnolla kiinni puolueessa ilmenevästä rasismista. Törkeimmätkin rasistisen retoriikan käyttäjät ohitetaan olankohautuksella. Ano Turtiaisen hörhöilystä voitiin nyt tehdä kunnon paljastusartikkeli Helsingin Sanomiin, kun siinä ei loukata paria suurta eduskuntapuoluetta, niiden rahoittajia ja vaalikansaa. On muka kysymys pienestä hörhöjoukkiosta, vaarallisesta, mutta ei kunniallisiin rasisteihin kuuluvasta.
Kun vain äänestäjät huomaisivat sen, että samalla edistetään Perussuomalaiset rp:n rasistista politiikkaa. Perussuomalaiset ovat Timo Soinin ja Jussi Halla-ahon johdolla jo päässeet ensimmäiseen tavoitteeseensa: rasistinen puhe on arkipäiväistetty. Hyvin nopeasti se johtaa siihen, että se on totta. Siitä ei sitten olekaan enää pitkä matka väkivaltaisuuksiin.
One of the children of the Iraqi family of nine looks outside her barred and barb-wired window from the Joutseno immigration removal center. Source: Migrant Tales and Iltalehti.
After creating a big commotion in December about uncovering Finland’s first far-right terrorist cell, the Stakunta District Court ordered the release of four of the suspects on Wednesday, according to Yle News. One of the suspects was released last month.
Even if the police consider the arrest of the suspects as the “first” far-right cell, it all depends on how you define terrorism. Several arson attacks, even a sitting MP (Ano Turtiainen), were carried out even encouraged against asylum reception centers in 2015.
Perussuomalaiset* Kankaanpää councillor Teuvo Roskala was elated by the release of the four terrorist suspects. He compared it with Finland’s first ice hockey world championship in 1995 and asked on Facebook to celebrate at the marketplace. Roskala took down the post after Helsingin Sanomat approached him. Source: Helsingin Sanomat
The four terrorist suspects were released on a technicality.
Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Veikko Vallin gives us a lesson in racism by definIslamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Veikko Vallin teaches us racism by defining “harmful” and beneficial migration. Vallin, who likes being called the Tampere’s Trump and boasts about how he places his money in Estonia from the Finnish tax person, bases his political program on hatred for asylum seekers, especially Muslims.
The PS is the only party in parliament that labels migrants as “harmful.”
Vallin is the last person you should listen to concerning ethnic relations.
He Tweets:
“The difference between harmful and beneficial migration? Harmful migration is a drain on the public sector, while beneficial migration generates tax revenues. Among others, beneficial migrants find employment as gardeners.”
What is wrong with this tweet?
It is racist because it generalizes and debates migration as a simple, 1 + 1 = 2 phenomenon.
As we return to that horrible day of January 6, when former President Donald Trump supporters invaded the Capitol and whacked the foundations of US democracy, we should ask how much of a blow that infamous day was for our democracy in the EU and Finland.
The bad news is that matters in the US will get much worse before they improve. As everyone should know, racism, fear, and political greed by autocrats to the US’ growing diversity is at the heart of the January 6 violence.
Insurrection? Coup attempt? Tour guide? Source: Washington Post
Apart from racism, capitalism and the smell of money have enticed the country to flirt with a right-wing dictatorship.
Certainly, exceptionalism and the blindspot to enforce adequate checks and balances is one of the main culprits. It comes in the form of denial and burying your head deep in your colon.
Can the same happen in Europe, in Finland?
All we have to do is turn the clock back 89 years to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his vehemently anti-Semitic and racist government that led to a global war that killed tens of millions of people.
Like Hitler, Trump was also considered a joke. Few, during the 2016 presidential primaries, thought he could win the election.
Hitler’s fuel was the unfair Versaille Treaty, anti-Semitism, and racism. Scapegoating the blame on minorities paved the way to Nazi power.
