THE STORY WAS UPDATED
The Finnish government announced Tuesday a day that will live in infamy when it introduced to parliament Tuesday the Draft Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration, or the so-called pushback law.
In a nutshell, researcher Milka Sormunen sums up in a good essay what the law is all about: legalizing illegality.
Moreover, would you trust a government and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen to spearhead such a law? Rantanen is an Islamophobe that sees Muslims even under her bed.
In an editorial, Helsingin Sanomat hit it right on the dot: “The stage is now being set for how easily another government in another situation could also violate the constitution and international treaties.”
Two questions arise from the draft pushback law:
– Will it be effective in stopping what the government calls the instrumentalization of migrants at the Finnish-Russian border?
– If Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is ready to go as far as to trash Human Rights, international agreements, and the rule of law, what will he do next? Which minorities will be targetted? Russian-Finnish dual citizens?
The dismantling of the rule of law, like what happened in countries like Hungary or Argentina during the 1970s, usually starts with convincing arguments and threat scenarios.
If the parliament approves the pushback law, it will put Finland on a slippery slope, where xenophobic and racist politicians will “Instrumentalize” migrants and minorities to dismantle the rule of law.
Prime Minister Orpo and his cronies in government speak of paradigm changes in migration, labor, and social welfare sectors. Such actions have a price and may create paradigm changes to our democracy.