Tag: Finland

Is it ok to be a closet fascist, Nazi and racist in the PS after the Hirvisaari scandal?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In an A-studio talk show Monday, Perussuomalaiset (PS) third vice-president, Juho Eerola, was asked what was the underlying message of MP James Hirvisaari’s expulsion to members of the party. The PS MP said that “playing with issues like National Socialism and misanthropy” are unacceptable in the PS.

The person making such a claim, Eerola, wrote in 2010 that he was attracted to fascism and Benito Mussolini’s economic policies.

This is the same PS MP who forgot to mention that his aide, Ulla Pyysalo, was found in the end of 2011 on a list applying for membership in Kansallinen Vastarinta, a neo-Nazi group that openly supports National Socialism.

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Pyysalo was elected last year to the Taipalsaari town council last year and her views of immigrants are in the Hirvisaari league.

On a thread on Facebook last year with TU tennis, Ulla Pyysalo compared immigrants to animals and plants. “Yes, transplanting animals or plants in a new environment has always ended in failure…I heard just recently that hunters are encouraged to kill these raccoon dogs. God dang it how racist and terrible. Eeek help! :D DDDD,” she wrote.

The PS third vice-president admitted that he and those who signed the anti-immigration Nuiva Manifesto haven’t turned their backs on Hirvisaari irrespective of what happened last week.

Eerola tried to correct the A-studio journalist by stating that there isn’t an anti-immigration wing in the PS. He said that all of the candidates that ran for office in the 2011 election supported the party’s immigration policy, which is based on the Nuiva Manifesto.

The Nuiva Manifesto is hostile to immigrants because it seeks one-way integration, loathes cultural diversity, and aims to curtail Muslims and visible immigrants from outside the EU from moving to this country.

If by Eerola’s logic all of the PS MPs gave their backing to the Nuiva Manifesto in 2011, then it means that all of the PS MP belong to the anti-immigration camp or are Nuiva Manifesto supporters.

 

Why does the Finnish media give so much attention to anti-immigration politicians and parties?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I was invited on Tuesday to speak at a seminar on immigration* for YLE journalists. One of the questions I asked was why do Finnish journalists give so much space and attention to far-right anti-immigration politicians? Why do some give racists inflated respectability and importance?

A recent story about Finland accepting 500 refugees from war-torn Syria is a good example. In my opinion, the story has been blown way out of proportion.

Even if we’re speaking of a tiny number of refugees, 500 souls, who are in danger of dying, some media appears to think that the number one story is what Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs Jussi Halla-aho and Vesa-Matti Saarakkala think about the matter.

Both MPs are radical anti-immigration politicians who have made their political careers by spreading intolerance against immigrants and minorities. Halla-aho was sentenced for ethnic agitation.

A journalist who writes about immigration must spot the red herrings when writing the news.

Let’s take the news concerning the small number of refugees from Syria and ask what could be the top news:

  • Is it Halla-aho telling us once again that he loathes Muslim refugees?
  • Is it his argument, that saving a few from the clutches of war and destruction is useless?
  • Is it the parliamentary question which he sent with Vesa-Matti Saarakkala that has no chance of passing?
  • Is it that we are taking too few refugees when compared with Sweden, which has given asylum to 15,000 Syrians?
  • None of the above.

In the same way that Halla-aho and Saarakkala argue that it makes no difference to accept a few hundred from war-ravaged Syria, we could ask why Raoul Wallenberg or Oscar Schindler saved tens of thousands of Jews if millions were murdered in Nazi concentration camps?

Uusi Suomi is one disgraceful example of how bigotry has spread in Finland and helped politicians like James Hirvisaari to become household names. The Finnish media is definitely part of the problem when it comes to racism in Finland.

Even if parties like the PS and groups like the Youth League of the National Coalition Party believe it’s fine to take shots at immigrants and minorities, in many cases with the help of the media, the question we should ask is why we give so much attention and space to racism and intolerance?

Does it reveal something about our own attitudes?

Migrant Tales has grown rapidly thanks to the one-sided coverage by the media of immigrant and cultural diversity affairs in this country. The Finnish media leaves a lot of news out of the picture because it rarely takes into account the opinion of immigrants and members of the visible minority community.

In order to become a good beat reporter, an authority in a particular area, you need to be well-informed and know the issues. Patronizing and publishing anti-immigration sound bites won’t help your career but spells mediocre and shoddy journalism.

If journalists did their jobs when covering the news by taking into account the views of immigrants and members of the visible minority community, we would deal a fatal blow to one-sided journalism on cultural diversity.

Finland’s media plays an important role in preserving our Nordic values and everyone’s right, irrespective of his or her background, to be treated equally and with respect.  

If we lose sight of these values because the media is lazy and racist as those spreading intolerance in our country, we’ll lose more as a society than we ever imagined in our most dreadful nightmares.

*The seminar was hosted by Abdirahim Hussein of YLE and attended by Nora Kajantie, Camila Haavisto, Maryan Abdulkarim, Hanna Kautto and Iken Iduozee.

Two important stories this week that may have far-reaching implications for Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This week was marked by two important news stories that will could have far-reaching consequences on our country: Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari’s expulsion from the anti-immigration and anti-EU party, and positive words about immigration by Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen. 

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Verkkouutiset is published by the National Coalition Party. See full story here.

While the first news about Hirvisaari dominated this week’s headlines, it was interesting to note how this far-right anti-immigration MP has been turned into a scapegoat by Timo Soini and his party.

Hirvisaari was sacked because he took a picture of his guest, Seppo Lehto, making a Nazi salute in parliament. It wasn’t because of his conviction for ethnic agitation or for all the racist and far-right statements he’s made in the past. Moreover, we shouldn’t forget that Soini accepted Hirvisaari’s candidacy (and his anti-immigration rhetoric and lunacy).

Even if the PS wants to convince us that “its racism problem is over,” think twice because it is far from over. With or without Hirvisaari, the PS continues to be an anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party that aims to keep Finland white at all costs.

You don’t have to look too far in the PS to find the likes of Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo and a long list of others to understand that the party’s racism problem is still a festering issue.

Why is it ok for an MP like Juho Eerola to admit being attracted to fascism and why didn’t his aide, Ulla Pyysalo, get expelled after her name was found on a neo-Nazi associaton list?

Remember City Councilman Risto Helin who gave a Hitler clock to a neo-Nazi club in Vaasa? Why wasn’t he sacked from the party?

Doe the Hirvisaari incident tell us that it’s perfectly fine to house fascist, Nazi ideas in the PS and be a racist but a no-no to make a Nazi salute in parliament or with a Hitler mask?   

The expulsion of one far-right anti-immigration hothead like Hirvisaari is not enough. We need leadership and a shift in attitudes and values that will help Finland steer a new course on the intolerance front.

The second important piece of news this week was by Interior Minister Räsänen, who is no friend of gays, immigrants and immigration. She did, however, speak in a positive manner of the important role that Finland’s immigrants should be allowed play in this country’s development in this century.

The main point Räsänen made was that immigrants bring more money than take from society. Contrary to what politicians like Hirvisaari say, immigrants foster economic growth.

”Taking advantage of the skills of immigrants is vital to Finland’s well being,” she was quoted as saying on Verkkouutiset. ”Those that come [to Finland] from elsewhere should be seen as involved and active participants [in society]…”

If immigration is an important pillar of economic growth for many countries, why do some still believe that it is an economic and social burden? Why does the interior ministry have to tell us something so obvious, that immigration fosters economic growth?

The answer is simple: Because the debate on immigration, immigrants and our ever-growing cultural diversity has been hijacked by the likes of politicians like Hirvisaari and others  thanks to our silence. We are still taught at schools and at home that foreigners are a threat and should be eyed with suspicion.

Taking into account our aging population and the social and economic deterioration we face as a nation in this century if we persist to believe our urban tales about immigrants, it would be suicidal today not to challenge intolerance, prejudice and racism in Finland.

Nazi salutes and the growth of far-right ideology in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In two weeks, two Perussuomalaiset (PS) politicians got their fingers burned badly after one made a Nazi salute with a Hitler mask while another took a picture of another one who made the same salute in parliament. One of the reasons why some Finns can do this in public is because they have a blind spot for the Holocaust and the atrocities committed by the Nazis in World War 2.

Turku University historian Markku Jokisipilä agrees. He was quoted as saying on Iltalehti that some people in Finland don’t see Nazism the same way as elsewhere in Europe because they don’t grasp its connection to the Holocaust.

It’s been quite a week for the PS but what can you expect if too many of its members have a fascination with Nazi Germany.

In the first case, Kangasala councilman Jani Viinikainen, resigned from the PS after it became clear that it was him wearing a Hitler mask and making a Nazi salute below.

Viinikainen, a far-right politician who has a close ideological ties with Hirvisaari, first denied he was in the picture. He tried to play down his role by stating that the Nazi salute he made wasn’t at a 45° angle and done with his left arm.

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Former PS councilman Jani Viinikainen on the right with Seppo Lehto on the far left.

Finland still has a problem with Nazism because it has never debated openly its role with Hitler’s Germany during the Continuation War (1941-44). Debating it would be opening a can of worms that would put into serious question the credibility of some of our most important historic leaders like Marshal Carl Mannerheim.

The excuse, which impairs our understanding and condemnation of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in World War 2, is our hatred of the former Soviet Union and the Russians.

The same reasoning we used to go to bed with Nazi Germany works to promote far-right ideology today in Finland. Since we loathe Muslims, the new enemy, it’s fine to join and vote for a right-wing populist party like the PS and make Nazi salutes.

This ideological juggernaut that conditions our world view usually gets the last say and permits some to be tolerant of intolerance. It has given birth to far-right politicians like Hirvisaari, Jussi Halla-aho, Juho Eerola, Olli Immonen and many others. How do you explain a party like the PS that rose from relative obscurity to the country’s third-largest in parliament in 2011?

You can belong to a legally registered party in Finland and still wear a brown shirt under your suit. It’s not shameful and permits you to come to terms with “jokes” like the one below by Lehto.

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Seppo Lehto, who was sentenced to a 2.5-year prison sentence for ethnic agitation, gave a Nazi salute in parliament on Friday. He was PS MP James Hirvisaari guest.

Analysis: Is sacking MP Hirvisaari the beginning of the end for the PS?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the interesting questions that the sacking of MP James Hirvisaari raises is if it is the first visible crack that will force the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party to implode, eventually. Is Timo Soini’s PS a ticking time bomb and Hirvisaari a time counter indicating that we’ve got ten seconds to seek cover before the bomb explodes?  

Even if it is still too early to say, the Hirvisaari episode is an indication of the festering ideological sickness that the party suffers.

Miska Rantanen of Helsingin Sanomat believes that while its still to early to say if the party will suffer the same fate as the Rural Party in the 1970s, the PS looks like a tired team of players that are fouling out.

The Rural Party, which evolved into the PS in the 1990s, won the 1970 election with 17 seats from one in the previous election. The party, however, imploded due to internal bickering and differences.

Since intolerance, xenophobia and prejudice exist thanks to hot air comprising of inflated exaggerations and gross generalizations, anti-immigration politicians like Hirvisaari need to continually raise the bar to keep their followers entertained. Like dictators, they eventually lose touch with reality and fall from political grace.

While politicians like Soini are trying to wash their hands of Hirvisaari, we shouldn’t forget that it was he who helped Hirvisaari to get elected. Not only did Soini help Hirvisaari he left the PS door ajar for other far-right nationalists and racists.

Like Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja wrote, Soini made a pack with the devil when he brought them on board.

 

 

 

 

The Perussuomalaiset plan to sack MP Hirvisaari from the party

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Inviting Seppo Lehto to parliament, where a picture of him making a Nazi salute, was the last straw for Perussuomalaiset(PS) chairman Timo Soini, who was quoted as saying on MTV3 that PS MP James Hirvisaari will be sacked from the party. 

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Read full story here.

The decision to expel Hirvisaari was made by the five-member working committee of the PS governing board.

PS party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, said that Hirvisaari had hurt the party’s credibility and therefore would be expelled, writes Helsingin Sanomat.

Following Hirvisaari’s rocky and controversial political career, where he doesn’t hide his far-right credentials, Migrant Tales asked in July when the PS would sack the MP, who was convicted for ethnic agitation.

Even if this is a step in the right direction, it’s too little too late.

Hirvisaari has not only damaged the credibility of Finland’s legislature, but spread hatred and suspicion of immigrants and minorities living in this country.

He will not be missed.

A guest of the Finnish PS gives a Nazi salute in parliament

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We all know how a political party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) has declared war against immigrants and other minorities in this country. The latest attack by the PS was against the Finnish parliament by a guest of MP James Hirvisaari, who was pictured giving a Nazi salute. 

UPDATE: Hirvisaari confirmed Thursday that it was him who took the picture of Lehto below.

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Seppo Lehto, a guest of PS MP James Hirvisaari, gave a Nazi salute on Tuesday in parliament.

The picture of Seppo Lehto,* a far-right anti-immigration activist who was sentenced to a 2.5-year prison term for ethnic agitation, to support Jussi Halla-aho’s Euro MP candidacy, was widely distributed in social media and reported by the national media.

Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation like Hirvisaari, said that he had nothing to do with what Lehto published on his blog.

Dailies like Helsingin Sanomat speculate that the picture of Lehto making the Nazi salute could have been taken by Hirvisaari. The PS MP refused to confirm or deny this to Finland’s largest-circulation daily. 

Hirvisaari described Helsingin Sanomat’s attempts to get in touch with him as ”bullying.” As a general rule, the PS MP only answers journalist’s queries by email.

In an odd style of journalism, Helsingin Sanomat refused to publish Lehto’s name in the story.

What is probably the most incredible matter about the whole affair is the silence of the PS leadership.

Why is it so difficult for Finland’s third-largest party in parliament to openly condemn such publicity stunts? Is there silence a reinforcement of their declaration of war against immigrants and minorities in this country?

Absolutely.

*Seppo Lehto has visited and commented on Migrant Tales a number of times. His views are pretty clear: anti-Islam and anti-multiculturalism. Since we believed that it would be useless to have a meaningful debate with a person like Lehto, we decided to ignore him. The comments by him stopped and we never heard in writing from him ever again.

Abde Hussein shows there is more than one way to put racism on the defensive

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s more than one way to put intolerance on the defensive. Abde Hussein wrote on Thursday an encounter he had with a young unemployed white Finn, who said in public that he was a “monkey” and “living off welfare.” A discussion ensued but to make a long story short, the young white Finn turned out to be the monkey (no insult intended to these primates).  

Without getting hot under the collar, Hussein turned the insults hurled at him against the young man, who was ignorant of Finnish grammar, unemployed and living off welfare.

The encounter, published on Abde Hussein’s Facebook wall, has attracted over 9,440 “likes” and 1,565 votes.

Just like Ricky Ghansah’s encounter with a racist, who insulted him at a bus stop but forced him to apologize in public after paying his bus ticket, Hussein’s posting shows that we can beat the crude racists at their own game.

If there were a school to learn how a social ill like intolerance happens in our society, Ghansah’s and Hussein’s cases would be discussed in the elementary course.

Exposing intolerance in the intermediate and advanced levels of the course, however, would be more complicated.

At the advanced level, you’d study institutional racism, politicians, public officials and common people expressing their intolerance but in such a way that it is difficult to make out. At this level you learn that intolerance exists because there is a system that is maintained by our prejudices and fear of losing power and privilege.

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This post on Abde Hussein’s Facebook wall had over 9,440 “likes” on Sunday.

Just like social media brought some Perussuomalaiset (PS) politicians  to the attention of the media and public before the 2011 parliamentary elections, we can beat intolerance with the same tools.

While there may be many ways  to beat a social ill at its own game, silence is one method we should avoid at all costs.

If financial market suffer from bursting bubbles, like we saw with the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy of 2008, so do political bubbles fed by xenophobia, anti-immigration and populism.

Political bubbles burst when we discover they are based on the opportunistic hype of politicians.

Hussein’s posting encourages us to believe that Finland’s darkest period in modern times isn’t invincible.

Thank you Amir Hassan for the heads-up.

Why doesn’t Timo Soini make a clear split with its PS racists? Answer: political hara-kiri

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Columnist Yrjö Rautio of Apu magazine writes that if Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini doesn’t make a clear split with PS MP racists like Jussi Halla-aho and his followers, the party should make official that it supports the following values: “paranoia, hatred and human evil.” 

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Rautio makes a valid point. The real question, I believe, is why Soini hasn’t rid its party of its racists, especially those that have been sentenced for ethnic agitation.

The answer to the latter question is self-evident and clear: The PS would commit political hara-kiri if it rid its party of its racists.

We all know that intolerance is learned and based on ignorance, lies and prejudice.

Another PS MP, James Hirvisaari, who was convicted for ethnic agitation like Halla-aho, posts a story written by Aalto University lecturer Kyösti Tarvainen. He’s the person, who using a pocket calculator, predicted that the Muslims would become a majority in Finland due to their high birth rates.

Since many of these type of arguments are exaggerated lies whose aim is to fuel hatred against certain groups like Muslims, it’s not clear when Tarvainen posted the blog entry. Hirvisaari doesn’t give us a clue either because his aim may be to show something that was written last year is still topical and new.

Tarvainen expressed concern in February 2011 by sending an email to prominent Green Party politicians protesting Hussein Muhammed’s candidacy. He said that the Greens have made a mistake by allowing Muslims to stand as candidates in the Green Party.

Just because a person has a PhD or is a lecturer at a university doesn’t mean that he doesn’t house racist ideas.

If you disagree, check out the academics that were member of the Nazi party and SS.

 

 

Saving one life, one refugee from Syria, IS important

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Arguing that accepting a few hundred refugees from Syria is not important because it is a drop in the bucket, is an outrageous statement made by Jussi Halla-aho, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala and others. The other point they are trying to drive home, that these people will be a burden on Finland, exposes their loathing and ignorance.

How many refugees can you name in history that fled to other countries and became model members of their new home countries? One of these was Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany, a racist regime that rose to power by scapegoating minorities like Jews.

The argument, that refugees are a burden, is an insult to all the refugees of the world. Only an extreme egoist, who lacks feelings for the suffering of others, can make such a point.

These types of intolerant arguments are the same as those made constantly by anti-immigration and far-right politicians to drive home their point.

If you dissect their arguments, they are nothing more than typical anti-immigration sound bites spread with the help of the Finnish media, which gives them inflated respectability and importance.

Using such arguments to influence refugee and immigration policy, we could similarly ask why did Raoul Wallenberg or Oscar Schindler save tens of thousands of Jews if millions were murdered in Nazi concentration camps?

Stating that saving lives is futile because there are so many and makes no difference is similar to a racist trying to convince you that it is useless to oppose intolerance because nothing can be done.

If you accept that ludicrous argument, you have lost the war.

Saving one person is valuable and important.

If you disagree, why not ask the victims fleeing war and death.