It was only in March when the Finnish Security Service (Supo) 2020 annual report warned that the great replacement theory is nothing more than a conspiracy theory used by far-right terrorist groups. Should we be surprised that Finns Party (PS) politicians like its leader Jussi Halla-aho, vice president Riikka Purra, and party secretary Simo Grönroos have spread this type of dangerous racism?
While these politicians are stoking the fires of hatred in Finland. In the United States, the Anti-Defense League, stated in a letter to Fox News the dangers of spreading the “great replacement theory,” which is nothing more than “a classic white supremacist trope that undergirds the modern white supremacist movement in America.”
Writes Supo in its last-year report: “One of the most noteworthy ideological motives of far-right terrorists is known as the Great Replacement conspiracy theory based on the idea of a fundamental threat posed by immigration and multiculturalism to the white population of Western countries. Views reflecting the idea of a Great Replacement have been highlighted in several far-right terrorist attacks.”
While the PS supports these types of theories, it should not surprise us. What is worrying is the reaction of the media to the Supo report and why it didn’t raise much concern about the potential danger of such theories, which have been the ideological smoking gun of terrorist acts in Norway on 22/7 and recently in Christchurch, New Zealand.
While dailies like Helsingin Sanomat commented on the issue, they relied more on what Supo said than exploring the topic further. They should have asked why these types of “theories” are being spread by the PS and what potential they have to fuel home-grown terrorism.
Giving the long history of race-baiting by the PS, it is never too late to call out the party for what it is – racist and dangerous.
For further information contact:
Enrique Tessieri, chairperson, Anti-Hate Crime Organisation Finland
+358 40 8400773
* Anti-Hate Crime Organisation Finland was founded in September 2018 and registered as an NGO the following month. The aim of the NGO is to tackle and eradicate hate crime and all forms of discrimination in Finland such as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Afrophobia, misogyny, and other forms of social exclusion through education and training, seminars, events, conferences, among others.