Perussuomalaist* MP Juha Mäenpää, a member of the far-right Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu, labelled asylum seekers in a session of parliament as “an invasive species.“
Mäenpää is the same person who in 2015 stated that god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was going to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground.
In a tweet by Martin Scheinin, international law and human rights professor at the European Institute University calls out MP Juha Mäenpää’s usage of the word “invasive species. He states that Perussuomalaiset vice president Juho Eerola kept silence. Referring asylum seekers as “invasive species” could bring ethnic agitation charges against Mäenpää.
The interesting matter to watch is if, like Scheinin correctly points, if ethnic agitation charges will be brought against Mäenpää.
In combating social ills like racism, the role of the state and its institutions should be clear: any form of discrimination or hate speech that dehumanizes people is unacceptable.
One of the biggest challenges of combating racism and discrimination in Finland is due process, which is too slow, and symbolic fines that are a joke. Even so, a conviction brings shame and that may deter others.
Still, too much racism and discrimination exist in Finland because they are allowed to exist and live another day. It is like giving protection and cover for anti-social behavior.
In my opinion, it is important that the state prosecutor bring ethnic agitation charges against Mäenpää, who speaks of other human beings as if they were animals.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform was wipedoff the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings theFinnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
