The Perussuoalaiset (PS)* party’s tactics are in a desperate mode as the days in office of their US political mentor, President Donald Trump, ends on January 20.
PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari, a staunch Trump supporter who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, is one of Finland’s most representative white supremacist politicians.
Her aide, Olli Kotro, is also well known for his absurd statements and views. The latest one was seen on Saturday when he claimed that the words “Finland Suomi” did not appear on passports issued in Finland.
Kotro, who commonly uses fake news to drive home his extremist views, claimed that the source was a post on Instagram, whose identity he could not reveal for fear that the person would suffer attacks on social media.
Olli Kotro claims that the picture on the left is authentic. When asked (right picture) if it is authentic, he states that the picture is of a private person whose identity he wants to keep a secret.Source: Twitter
Kotro’s narrative is a copy-and-paste job of his boss, Huhtasaari, who in term constantly copy and pastes Islamophobic and alt-right diatribes. The strategy of far-right politicians like Kotro and Huhtasaari is not truth but raising the absurdity level to get attention. Their followers are like chronic fast-food consumers.
Their followers don’t mind since they are gullible if the fake news reinforces their prejudices.
Huhtasaari is such an avid white supremacist that she must spend hours shining her whiteness with the help of hair dye and makeup.
Pictures of showing the distinct phases of Huhtasaari’s “whiteness.”
Laura Huhtasaari in “good” company together (left) with far-right politicians like Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini. With US Vice President Mike Pence and the “nice” members that comprise (right) the EU’s far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) parliamentary bloc. Surprisingly, the Finnish media forgets to mention the PS’ membership in the ID bloc. Source: Facebook
Following on and off news about the repatriation of Finnish citizens from the al-Hol refugee camp raises a lot of questions about our society. The opposition, namely the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (NCP), are working overtime to score brownie points with the voters and fearmongering.
The commotion is now stirred by the repatriation of two women and six children. Considering that Finland is a country that claims to abide by social justice and the rule of law, some politicians’ behavior is shameful, self-centered, and cowardly.
Even if the path to repatriating the women and their children is a winding and difficult road for the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the best matter that could be done is to repatriate all the Finnish citizens.
Why?
According to a statement by the ministry of foreign affairs, “Under section 22 of the Constitution of Finland, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible. The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland.”
Forgetting that in our society, a person is considered innocent before proven guilty, politicians from the PS, NCP, and Supo, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service are busily in lynch-mob mode.
The tweet below by Orpo on Sunday reads: “The repatriated adults [two women] are, according to Supo, a security risk to Finland. The government has the responsibility to ensure that those who committed crimes and involved in terrorist activities face justice and that the safety of the Finns isn’t endangered.”
Has anyone noticed how National Coalition Party head Petteri Orpo changed his look using different glasses and haircut? Orpo before (left), with less hair, and on the right with more har and thicker glasses. What kind of image do the two pictures evoke? Despite these image stunts, the National Coalition Party continues to do poorly in opinion polls. Sources: Yle and Helsingin Sanomat.Continue reading “Mayday, Mayday! Two women and six children entering Finland”
Valtakunnan politiikassa on joukkio, joka esiintyy räyhäkkään rasistisesti, hyökkäävästi ja syrjivästi. Media kohtelee tätä sakkia pehmeästi, jopa hyväksyvästi. Vain harvoin käytetään heitä selkeästi kuvailevia termejä: rasistit, rasistipuolue, uusfasistit, uusnatsit, eduskunnan häiriköt, kansanryhmää vastaan kiihottajat.
Termi, jota media usein käyttää, on ”populisti”. Sana on niin mukavan pyöreä ja pumpulinen ja kuulostaa ihan popmusiikilta. Moni persu julistaakin ylpeästi kuuluvansa populistipuolueeseen. Kirjoittihan persuperustajakin gradunsa populismista. Mutta medialta se on määrityksenä rimanalitus, kun keskustellaan puolueen rasistisista ulostuloista. On totta, että kansaa voidaan kiihottaa ja houkutella myös rasismin avulla, mutta sitä ei voida pitää normaalina tai hyväksyttävänä tapana.
Populistiset ”isänmaan puolustujat” eivät uskalla näyttää naamaansa julkisuudessa. Media on lähtenyt leikkiin mukaan ja julkaisee kuvia takapuolista. Savon Sanomat/Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-Koivisto
Toinen perussuomalaisista ja muista rasisteista usein käytetty termi on ”maahanmuuttokriitikko”. Se on rasistien itse itselleen kehittämä ja median huojentuneena käyttöön ottama ilmaus. Medialle se on niin miellyttävä! Päästään puhumaan koko rasistisakista siten, että sen toiminta kuulostaa ihan asialliselta. Näin ei loukata ketään, vaikka kirjoitetaankin perussuomalaisten rikollisista toimista.
Yksi varsin harhaanjohtava, rasisteista usein käytetty termi on ”konservatiivi”. Konservatiivisuuteen kuuluu toki perinteisten arvojen korostaminen ja usein uudistusten vastustaminen tai hidastaminen, mutta konservatiivi ei ole rasisti. Jotkut puolustavat rasistisiin ulostuloihin syyllistynyttä ystäväänsä: ”No se nyt vaan on niin konservatiivinen, ei se mikään rasisti ole”. Normaalijärkinen konservatiivi oppii vielä vanhanakin olemaan käyttämättä rasistisia ilmaisuja ja lallattamatta mulliturpaloruja.
”Kansallismielinen” on myös termi, jonka taakse toimittaja usein kätkeytyy, kun pitää kirjoittaa henkilöistä, jotka eivät halua päästää maahan suomalaista miestä tummempaa ja naisiakin vain hyväksikäyttötarkoituksessa. Suomen itsenäisyyteen ja oman kulttuurin kehittämiseen noita ajatuksia ei mitenkään saa nivottua.
Kaikken ristiriitaisin termi rasismilla retostelevasta joukkiosta käytettynä on ehkä kuitenkin ”isänmaallinen”. Eiköhän liene niin, että vain maamme yhteisiä asioita eettisesti ja moraalisesti kestävällä tavalla hoitavia poliitikkoja voidaan kutsua isänmaallisiksi.
Miksi te toimittajat lähdette tällaiseen? Ettehän te murhaajiakaan kutsu oman käden oikeuden käyttäjiksi tai henkikriittisiksi.
Isänmaallista kuvastoa Jussi Halla-ahon Facebook-seinällä.
For decades, Finland has been such a far-flung country that it still does not have any good word for inclusion, never mind any willingness to promote it to newcomers. The same happened to the word “integration,” which became part of the Finnish language in the late-1990s.
Those were the good old days when foreigners and minorities were excluded and how white Finnish society monopolized all social, political, and economic power.
In Finland, we too often confuse these two words: equality (yhdenvertaisuus) and equity (oikeudenmukaisuus). Without equity, there is no social equality. Source: MF.
I would go as far as to state that a good Finnish term for inclusion does not exist because outsiders are expected to be indefinite outsiders.
A word like “inclusion” reveals volumes about Finnish society and how we see Others and keep them excluded. If you want people to integrate or be equal members of society, Finland should promote inclusion instead of integration.
But that is a tall order. By promoting inclusion, you are effectively giving real power, whereas, by integration, people accept the status quo.
Who could forget the former minister of immigration and integration, Inger Stojberg? Apart from her Islamophobic rhetoric, she is also remembered with a cake celebrating in 2017 the 50th tightening of Danish immigration laws.
There seems to be no shortages of Islamophobic politicians in Denmark.
The former minister is in a lot of hot water today for misleading parliament on the illegal order of separating certain married couples at asylum reception centers, reports The Local.
Writes The Local: “A further conclusion of the report is that the former minister, during the parliamentary hearings, ‘gave a different impression of the directive as it was communicated to the (immigration) service than was the case (in reality).’”
Bashy Quraishy, an anti-racism activist, wrote on Facebook: “Shouldn’t Inger Stjoberg be disqualified from her political position, and the law should punish her as Erik Ninn Hansen was after the Tamil Case?”
When he was minister of justice, Hansen tried to hinder Tamil refugees’ family reunification despite their legal rights as stipulated in Danish law.
The scandal led to the resignation of Poul Schlüter’s government in 1993.
Cartoon (left): Former minister of immigration and integration, Inger Stojberg tells the little girl if she does not have arms, she cannot have any cake.
Onko kuka laskenut montako kerta ovat Perussuomalaiset, erityisesti Jussi Halla-aho, on käyttänyt sanaa “maahanmuuttajia?” Entä kuinka monta kertaa hän on levittänyt palturia maahanmuuttajista ja maahanmuutosta?
On se hieno asia, että osa politiikoista ja lehdistöstä reagoivat näihin valeuutisiin.
Is there aconnection between what happened in July with Pekka Kataja and his attempted murder by the far right and the latest case involving at least one police officer and a group of far-right extremists to carry out a serious crime against the life or health of others?
Expo, the Swedish anti-racism NGO, states that such acts of violence may not be isolated events since raids against far-right groups were recently uncovered in Finland and Spain, and Austria.
If there is one matter that US President Donald Trump’s self-coup has evidenced, it is the fragility of our democracy. This is also the case in Finland with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, a pro-Trump radical right party that openly supports Trump.
Some factors unite Finland with the United States. Finns have – incorrectly – said in the past that they are the most USAmerican country in Europe.
Last Friday, we got a taste of how radical- and far-right populism have emboldened such groups to plan attacks against anti-racism activists.
Even if we don’t have Republicans in power, we do have the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which openly supports Trump and his divisive policies. We have a copy of the Proud Boys as well called the Soldiers of Odin, a far-right vigilante group with neo-Nazi ties that has threatened to use – and uses – violence to drive home its point.
On the right Soldiers of Odin supporters and on the left Proud Boys demonstrators. Sources: Kaleva and The Fayetteville Observer.
The message coming out of PS leader Jussi Halla-aho and Trump are strikingly based on similar worldviews. Both politicians and parties are trying to claw on to their white privilege by disenfranchising other goups.
In the United States, they are black and brown USAmericans. In Finland, too, we have an ever-growing number of black and brown Finns.
I am sometimes amazed by the racism of both of our societies. The fastest way to gain power and attention is to spread racism and incredulous alternative truths.
Even if the grip of Halla-aho’s Finland and Trump’s USAmerica is loosening, they will do anything – even destroying our democracy – to retain power.
PS MPs Vilhelmn Junnila and Veikko Vallin giving (right) the thumbs up with their MAGA caps. Halla-aho tweets (left): “I dig. him. Trump is the best thing that has happened in a long time to the United States and to the Western world.”Sources: Twitter
I have no doubt that, like Trump in the US now, the PS would be ready to water down our Nordic welfare state democracy and turn Finland into a Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Muukalaispelkoa ja siitä kehkeytynyttä vihaa lienee aina ollut ja tulee aina olemaan. Mutta milloin siitä tuli hyväksytty tapa tehdä politiikkaa? Milloin pakolaisesta tuli paholainen?
1990-luvulla vaihtaessani työpaikkaa esimieheni sihteeri kertoi, että uusilta työntekijöiltä kysytään heti, mitä mieltä he ovat pakolaisista. Arvaatte varmastikin, mitä mieltä olisi pitänyt olla. Minulle tuota kysymystä ei ollut esitetty ja olin tuon kuullessani niin ällikällä lyöty, että en edes osannut kunnolla reagoida asiaan. Vuoden 2011 vaalien jälkeen ahdistus oli suuri, kun huomasimme, kuinka suureksi viha oli noussut.
Meillä on jo kauan elänyt joukkio, jonka pelkoja ja ennakkoluuloja on onnistuttu kiihottamaan ja jotka ovat valmiit äänestämään ketä tahansa, joka lupaa pitää Suomen valkoisena. Siis rasistinen äänestäjäkunta äänestämässä rasistisia poliitikkoja.
Siinä joukossa ja sen liepeillä on väkeä, joka ei oikein malttaisi odottaa, että kiihottaminen pakolaisia vastaan johtaisi yksinkertaiseen enemmistöön eduskunnassa ja päästäisiin tositoimiin. Jo kymmenen vuotta sitten löydettiin äärioikeiston keräämä lista kansanpettureista, joihin toimenpiteet kohdennettaisiin. Me nettikeskusteluun ahkerasti osallistuvat lienemme kaikki saaneet myös suoraan meille osoitettuja viestejä: ”Sinä tulet olemaan ensimmäisten joukossa”.
Eilen kuulimme, että poliisilla on jälleen tutkinnassa törkeän henkeen ja terveyteen kohdistuvan rikoksen valmistelu. ”Ajatusrikoksia”, huutavat palstoilla äärioikeiston tukijat. Monet ”tolkun ihmisetkin” ovat sitä mieltä, että tyhjästä nostetaan meteli, eiväthän ne toteuttamaan pysty. Jos olisi ollut kysymys muusta kuin oikeiston suunnitelmista, poliisia jo kiiteltäisiin terroristisen teon ehkäisystä.
Perussuomalaisia kansanedustajia
Kun puolueen tai siksi pyrkivien agenda on niin heikko, että sen tukemiseksi tarvitaan tuollaista kielenkäyttöä ja edes ajatuksia siitä, että muita pitäisi vähän murhata, että päästäisiin elämään herroiksi, on yhteiskunnan syytä reagoida. Olisi tullut tehdä jotain kauan sitten. Rasistien nostaminen tasavertaisiksi kumppaneiksi poliittiseen keskusteluun oli suuri virhe. Eduskunnan häpäisy jatkuvilla rasistisilla puheilla samoin. Suomen kansa ansaitsee demokratiansa. Sen horjuttajia ei pidä kunnioittaa.
Remember Fares Al-Obaidi, 19, who was chased and violently attacked on Saturday, June 6, by a gang of angry residents of Teuva, a town in Western Finland?Six months have passed since that terrible incident, and no charges have been brought yet against the alleged attackers.
“The fact that I know nothing about my case [and the charges],” said Al-Obaidi, “gives me the impression that what happened to me isn’t important to the police. Those who attacked me are walking freely with no consequences.”
Fares admits that his life changed by the events of early June.
“I no longer feel safe when going outside,” he continued. “I moved to another city [to Espoo from Kristiinankaupunki]. I have to take sleeping pills because I suffer from sleep disorders and have a tough time concentrating at school.”
The terrible scene left after Fares Al-Obaidi was violently attacked in June by a group of townspeople of Teuva in western Finland. The police have not ruled out a hate crime. Source: Facebook
Fares came to Finland in 2015 like tens of thousands of others fleeing war. He speaks Finnish fluently and attends high school. Even if he left is home country, a former home that is at war with itself for a long time, he never thought he’d experience what he did in Finland.
His ordeal began on a Saturday. Fares was first insulted by a group of residents from the town of Teuva and then chased by two cars on the road. Two other cars blocked the road ahead of him and had no choice but to drive the car into a ditch.
Fares tried to run away from his attackers, but it was to no avail. He was beaten so badly by them that he ended up being taken by an ambulance to a hospital in Seinäjoki.
“I don’t know what will happen to me in the future, but I am waiting for justice,” he concluded.
