Disgraced former National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman announced that he’d join the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. After announcing Monday that he’d leave Kokoomus, the latest announcement did not come as a surprise considering Rydman’s anti-immigration stance.
But some questions remain. In Kokoomus, he had built a reputation for being the Jussi Halla-aho of the party. Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. The far-right politician is responsible for steering the PS on its radical right path.
Will Rydman feel at home with so many Islamophobes? He will no longer be the Halla-aho of his party but will be part of a nasty mass of Islamophobes PS MPs.
Other Kokoomus MPs that could find a home in the PS are Atte Kaleva and Seida Sohrabi.
Another important question: Does the scandal, which led to him being indefinitely ousted from Kokoomus’ parliamentary group in June, means the end of Rydman’s political career?
A Helsingin Sanomat investigative story exposed in the summer MP Rydman’s sexual harassment of underage girls to whom he sometimes offered alcohol.
I had an opportunity to chat with Rydman in 2010. Back then, he wrote in a letter to the editor of Helsingin Sanomat that the state should neither support nor fund multiculturalism because it would hinder the adaption of immigrants into our society.
In plain English, Rydman wants to deny people their culture and identity. Moreover, it’s shameful that he does not even understand the Finnish constitution. The proposal he made in 2010 is not only racist but unconstitutional.
But that’s the questionable caliber in today’s Finland of some politicians like Rydman, who have built their careers on spreading hatred and lies about vulnerable groups.
