Radical right politicians like Mari Rantanen, the new interior minister of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government, claimed with a poker face in an Uusi Suomi interview that she does not see any racism or far-right issues in her party. “I don’t know then what we are supposed to renounce,” she added.
For those who have not been following the government crisis due to the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS) links with the far right and racist postings, National Coalition Party (NCP) Prime Minister Orpo has promised to set strong guidelines against racism and commitment to equality and non-discrimination.
To many who have observed Rantanen in the opposition, some may conclude that her views of migrants are racist and based on conspiracy theories. Before the April election, she posted (now taken down) on her website the great replacement theory: “We mustn’t be so naive [naive in Finnish means being ‘blue-eyed’] that soon we won’t be blue-eyed.”
Other PS politicians who have spread this conspiracy theory are Riikka Purra (finance minister and deputy prime minister), Leena Meri (justice minister), and Wille Rydman (minister for foreign trade).
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen. Source: Uusi Suomi.
Apart from hoping in a comment that asylum seekers would drown in Greek waters before reaching safety, her racist views, like on the great replacement, are littered throughout her Internet history.
Top tweet: “At this rate, before the end of the century, Europe will be part of Africa unless matters and policies change. But some people really want it.”
Middle tweet: “Speeches on population change and no-nos.”
Lower tweet: “At this pace, white Finns will become minorities with a smile.”
And guess what? Fearing a political backlash, Mari Rantanen has taken down all these tweets from her websites and social media platforms.
Thanks to Wayback Machine she hasn’t succeeded.
Rantanen’s “cleaned” Facebook page.
