“When people speak of racism in Finland they refer to the Perussuomalaiset* and Blue Reform. They do so to wash their hands of the social ill by claiming that it is a minority fringe group that is the country’s racism problem. Racism is everywhere in Finland and so well-entrenched that it forms part of our institutions and permits us to deny and deceive ourselves of the existence of the problem.”
Racism is not granting public spaces to Others but denying the right of migrants and minorities to have such spaces as equal members of society.
* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.
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 the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.