Politicians sometimes say pretty incredible things. What do you think if the leader of Finland’s biggest anti-immigration party in parliament states that he’s surprised that not more immigrants move to Finland? And then the leader of this party, Timo Soini, puts the icing on the cake and is quoted on YLE in English as saying that Finland “is one of the least-immigrated countries in the world.”
Come again, Soini, what did you just say?! You wonder why so few immigrants move to Finland. Well we wonder why the PS is the third-biggest party in parliament if there are so few migrants in Finland.
Migrant Tales has written a number of times about the perils of anti-immigration rhetoric and how it scares away skilled immigrants and foreign investment.
We published in 2012 a blog entry on such preposterous views of the PS headlined, Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming, the super immigrant [3].
Migrant Tales wrote:
Certainly these types of politicians won’t tell you directly that they are against immigration to Finland. That would sound too radical and make them vulnerable and force them to lose votes.
What they will tell you, however, is totally a different story. With poker faces, they will state that they are not against immigration but against immigration they consider harmful to Finland.
Timo Soini being interviewed by YLE’s Denise Wall. Read full story here. Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted for ethnic agitation, is looking on from the window.
Who are the so-called super immigrants that will move to Finland after the blessing of the PS?
- They function perfectly as a group even if humans are far from perfect
- They are white northern Europeans (white Russians are excluded)
- They belong to the Christian faith
- They are heterosexuals
- They are skilled professionals and well-behaved
- They adapt quickly and without problems to our way of life
- They are never unemployed (they are against social welfare and handouts)
- They are paid less than Finnish employees
- They don’t mind wearing sleeve badges to help police ethnically profile them more effectively
- They never practice their culture in public spaces
- Their children only speak their parents’ language at home
- Their parents speak near-perfect Finnish
- Cultural difference and slight Finnish accents are fine because they allow us to distinguish who is “us” and “them”
Soini claims on YLE in English that Finland is “a good country to work, educate and live, this is a safe country.”
But for whom? For those who are victims of opportunity segregation?
Certainly with such double-talk and deception by the leader of the PS, Finland is definitely not a destination for skilled immigrants and foreign investment.
[1] The English name of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) is officially the Finns Party. The names 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.
[2] Soini claimed in 2009 that he’d sack any PS member if they got sentenced for inciting ethnic hatred. PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho did but nothing happened to him. Soini defended his decision not to sack Halla-aho on BBC’s HARDTalk and on top of that gave him the job of drafting the PS’s party program on immigration.
[3] This column about super immigrants was also published in Savon Sanomat, Kainuun Sanomat and Karjalainen.