I’m surprised that the media and politicians are surprised by far-right Finns Party (PS)Interior Minister Mari Rantanen’s double-talk about favoring Christians over Muslims in next year’s quota refugee pick. Rantanen’s fishy denials that next year’s selection of quota refugees had anything to do with preferring Christians over Muslims, prompted the non-discrimination ombudsman to do some…
Tag: Far-right parties
The rise of the far right exposes our failure and our propensity to racism
The rise of the far-right and their simplistic scapegoating of migrants and minorities reveals a sad reality hitting Europe. The rise of the far-right does not expose the obvious but the fact that we have failed to educate generations after the horrors of World War 2. If there is one matter that characterizes an autocratic…
Yahya Rouissi: When only BURANA* helps to understand the political headache
In my opinion In Finland, the far-right can be understood as an underlying connection of ideological alignment shared between political parties, political groups within parties, individuals. Ideological outlooks that are characterized by extreme nationalist, anti-immigrant, and too often racist views. These groups typically promote the preservation of a perceived “pure” or “authentic” white Finnish identity,…
A future in the rearview mirror: Four years of reflection of an immigrant in Finland
As the ‘car’ is effectively unreliable so there were more than just frequent stops to fuel more hate and share some racism to ‘touch base’ and distract the curious followers questioning the destination.
Finland’s immigration policy has been for decades racist by design
Claim: The deportation law has nothing to do with migration policy. Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, among other Perussuomalaiset* politicians Migrant Tales: It has all to do with migration policy! The pushback law has not only brought several pressing questions about how Finland respects Human Rights, its Constitution, and international agreements, but it continues to reveal…
Mari Rantanen has no credibility and should resign – her racist posts reveal who she is
In the face of the far right in government, the only thing that Prime Minister Petteri Orpo can parrot is that we have a good government program. The recent MEP election revealed how little credibility Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government has. The Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, suffered a stinging blow. The National Coalition Party (NCP) was spared…
The Perussuomalaiset’s political Stalingrad
I still remember clearly the 2011 general election when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party saw the number of MPs surge to 39 from 5 previously. Some thought that the PS would implode as the Rural Party did in 1972. It took over 13 years for the PS to suffer its worst election loss in the European…
Finland: Between xenophobia and a hard place
Apart from being the most right-wing government in a hundred years, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government is doing everything possible to disenfranchise migrants and minorities. We can mention raising the citizenship requirements from five to eight years and excluding Russians from having dual citizenship as indicators of how xenophobia is driving Finnish politics. One Russian…
Minister Mari Rantanen and the government aim to trash human rights
Is it a coincidence that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen’s letter Tuesday to the EU Commission on scraping asylum rights temporarily is an accidental coincidence? News of Rantanen’s letter, which has received harsh criticism from Professor of International Law Matti Koskenniemi, was published after a story by The Guardian claiming global inaction on human…
Questioning dual citizenship rights is another indication of Finland’s path to greater insularity
Why is the dual citizenship issue being raised again by Yle? According to a survey of MPs, 34 would block dual Finnish-Russian citizenship, while 36 said they would not. Twenty-six had no opinion. Is it surprising that the majority of MPs who want to restrict dual citizenship are members of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National…