The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, which bases its popularity on anti-immigration rhetoric, empty nationalism, and promises, appears eager and “overjoyed“ that parliament will “finally” take long-overdue steps to tighten immigration law and undermine the human rights of asylum seekers.
Some of the changes that the new law will make possible if passed are shortened asylum appeals and do away with immigration on humanitarian grounds. Last year, there were only 119 people who got a residence permit in Finland on humanitarian grounds. Even so, the grand xenophobic party believes this to be important to make our country unattractive to asylum seekers.
It doesn’t take much gray matter to understand that the PS is lashing out against asylum seekers and migrants in an attempt to fix its atrocious poll standings, which plummeted in the fall.
Instead of showing our best humanitarian side, or those things that make us human, the PS, together with the government, keenly show their heartless populist side spiced with nationalistic arrogance.
Certainly Donald Trump isn’t from Finland, but his spirit of hate and division live on in this country through parties like the PS.
Further tightening of immigration law, and boasting about such matters, is an example of the illness that has inflicted Finland. We have become a society that fears its own shadow.
Laws that are xenophobic and anti-human rights won’t improve our sense of security. On the contrary, they will only fuel them and encourage the cancer to spread.
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”