In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, Danish MP and Minister for European Affairs Maria Bjerre only had positive things to say about her country’s migration policy, one of the most restrictive in the EU. The interview by Elina Kervinen was in my opinion a good example of how the media feeds xenophobia by sidestepping some…
Tag: far right
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, the facilitator of Finland’s hard right who concocts political mirages and lies
One of the matters that has amazed me about National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is his alternative truth about non-existent the threat of the hard right in Finland. Despite the racism and far right scandals that have eaten away at his government’s credibility, Orpo actually believes that parties will change if you go…
Petteri Orpo, Mari Rantanen, Riikka Purra, and the government show contempt for Human Rights
It is shameful, but obvious, why Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government, not one minister of the National Coalition Party and Perussuomalaiset,* mentions International Human Rights Day. Being white, driven by xenophobia and having a privileged life in Finland, it is understandable why such politicians see Human Rights as a threat. Former President Tarja Halonen (2000-2012)…
The Finnish government’s xenophobic knee-jerk response: The asylum seekers are coming! Shut the border”
Yle: “Today [Wednesday] about 70 asylum seekers asked for asylum [at the Russian border].” A-studio: “One hundred thousand people attempt to cross the Mediterranean annually [to enter Europe].” I’ve been quiet, watching with manifest unease, the actions of the government spearheaded by the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party about the trickle of asylum seekers arriving at…
Länsi-Savo: Racism is a serious social ill
An article in Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo (10 August) interviewed three members of the Finns Party (PS) from the South Savo region who claimed that racism has no place in the party. If this is true, it is significant and welcome news. In the face of the numerous racism scandals that have overshadowed the activities of…
Riikka Purra plays the victim and plays down her racist blog writings of 2008
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Finance Minister Riikka Purra’s defense rests on playing the victim and underplaying her racist and hostile blog postings she wrote on Scripta in 2008, where she used the n-word, Turkish monkey, threatened to kill youths of migrant origin on a commuter train, among other anti-social postings. On the right, a self-confident Riikka Purra….
Radical Right Interior Minister Mari Rantanen tries to erase her racist past
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…
PS MP Jani Mäkelä bases his party’s harsh immigration policy on crystal balls and heresay
An immigration policy founded on racism and suspicion is bound to fail. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government has gotten off to a disastrous start that exposes how much out of touch it is with our Nordic values. Thanks to the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) and their ties to neo-Nazi and far-right groups, Prime Minister Orpo is…
War in Ukraine forces Finland to lurch to a dark place where human rights must eventually take a backseat
The polarized debate in parliament Monday on renewing the Border Guard Act and Emergency Powers Act is just another example of how Finland has lurched into a dark place where human rights are a nuisance and should not take presedence The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS), with the helping hand of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and…
What does Finland’s far-right Perussuomalaiset think of the overturning of Roe and Wade and attack of a gay bar in Oslo?
Setting aside the US Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe and Wade, which effectively took away women’s rights to have an abortion, we saw the cold-blooded attack at a gay bar by a man in Oslo that left two dead and 21 wounded. Meanwhile, in Finland, Yle reported some MPs’ reaction to the Supreme Court…