I’m always amused and saddened at the same time when political bullies like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen talk tough against migrants and other vulnerable minorities. The only way to challenge bullies is by giving them a taste of their own medicine
A tough (but in reality a weak) Rantanen slaps us with an ultimatum:
Studying the possibility of prohibiting Muslim women from wearing veils. Live like the locals or leave.
In my opinion, this is chickenshit populism that we should not underestimate. In the United States, we are seeing how the Trump Administration is targeting brown and black people.
Who is to say that something similar would not happen in Finland if the PS had the chance?
It’s no secret that the PS is a party that quietly supports Trump and his authoritarian tactics.
Even the party’s chairperson and finance minister, Riikka Purra, had warm words of support for US Vice J.D. Vance speech last year at the Munich Security Conference, which many see as a turning point in EU-US relations. Vance downplayed the threat of Russia, claiming that Europe’s greatest security threat was unregulated migration and the exclusion of far-right political groups. Purra praised Vance’s words as a great speech. “Freedom, freedom of speech, democracy; threats from within, inability to fight illegal immigration,” she posted on X.
