Tag: Finland

The party with the most criminal charges: Perussuomalaiset candidates, who else?

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THE STORY WAS UPDATED

Guess which party has the highest number of candidates charged with a crime? Correct, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. According to Helsingin Sanomat, 6.3% (8.2% in the 2021 municipal elections) of PS candidates in January’s regional election have been charged for crimes during 2017-2021.

That was followed by the Left Alliance (3.0%/4.1%), Christian Democrats (2.2%/2.4%), National Coalition Party (2.1%/3.2%), Center Party (2.0%/2.5%), Social Democrats (1.2%/2.7%), Green League (0.8%/2.0%), and Swedish People’s Party (0.7%/2.1%).

Two one-MP parties, Power Belongs to the People (VKK) and Movement Now, had 6.1% and 7.4%, respectively, of their candidates in the regional election charged with a crime.

Apart from demonizing migrants, especially Muslims, the PS always finds ways to exclude Others.

Their latest prank is “Finns first.”

The Perussuomaliset campaigns for public services for everyone but claims that Finns should come first. When Pentti Karhunen, a candidate in Etelä-Savo was asked what he meant by “Finns,” he said anyone who has a Finnish citizenship. He was against offering services to unemployed foreigners. Source: Facebook

What the PS means by who is a Finn is a question for interpretation. Some PS politicians claim that even if a person becomes a naturalized Finn, he will never be a Finn.

The dehumanization and fear-mongering of people like Muslims explain the PS’ close ideological ties with a Nazi-spirited association called Suomen Sisu. At least five PS MPs are members of Suomen Sisu, which openly campaign for PS candidates.

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A victory for free speech against the far-right and “racist clowns”

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Due process takes a long time in Finland as the landmark Johanna Vehkoo against far-right agitator Junnes Lokka, whom she called in a Facebook “a Nazi clown” and “a racist.” Surprisingly, a Rovaniemi appeal court upheld a prior Oulu district court ruling that Vehkoo had defamed Lokka.

Today’s ruling by the supreme court dismissed the prior ruling by the appeal and district courts.

“The supreme court ruling is important because members of Finland’s far-right and Islamophobic groups can also be criticized and fall under scrutiny. Moreover, the ruling reveals that some courts are not up to speed on racism and the threat of the far-right.”

Lokka’s case, if the supreme court had upheld the prior rulings, would have made it difficult to criticize politicians who use racism to advance their political aims.

Read the full story here.

While the Oulu appeal court ruled against Vehkoo because her comments were against Lokka’s person, the supreme court took a different view.

“In view of the derogatory and hostile statements made by Lokka in public, the terms used in the [Facebook post] text are not considered to have gone beyond what could be considered acceptable,” reported Yle News, citing the KKO stated in its judgment.

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How we treat terrorism in our society depends on your ethnic and religious background

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After creating a big commotion in December about uncovering Finland’s first far-right terrorist cell, the Stakunta District Court ordered the release of four of the suspects on Wednesday, according to Yle News. One of the suspects was released last month.

Even if the police consider the arrest of the suspects as the “first” far-right cell, it all depends on how you define terrorism. Several arson attacks, even a sitting MP (Ano Turtiainen), were carried out even encouraged against asylum reception centers in 2015.

Perussuomalaiset* Kankaanpää councillor Teuvo Roskala was elated by the release of the four terrorist suspects. He compared it with Finland’s first ice hockey world championship in 1995 and asked on Facebook to celebrate at the marketplace. Roskala took down the post after Helsingin Sanomat approached him. Source: Helsingin Sanomat

The four terrorist suspects were released on a technicality.

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The PS and its enablers are the wrecking balls of Finland’s social welfare democracy

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I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.

James Baldwin

If some scholars sound the alarm bells that democracy in the United States could turn into a right-wing dictatorship that has the potential of sparking a civil war. How should Finland prepare for such an eventuality?

Writes Thomas Homer-Dixon, a Canadian political scientist, in an Op-Ed: “By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.”

The European think tank, among others, label the United States as a “backsliding democracy” in a new report.

While former US President Donald Trump has spread the big lie about the 2020 election that has turned the Republican Party into a personality cult, it is a different story in Finland even if the threat is the same.

While it should be clear that a party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, which is eager to strip minorities of their human rights and relegate them to second- or third-class citizens, the party is the best example of Trumpism in Finland.

The PS has not made its admiration for Trump a secret. Former PS leader Jussi Halla-aho – like other PS politicians – do not hold back their admiration for Trump and his racist and autocratic political message.

Jussi Halla-aho has backtracked on his 2019 claim that he digs Trump and is the best thing that has happened to the United States and to the West in a long time. Source: Twitter

Like the United States, Finland has seen its society become ever-polarized thanks to the politics of the PS and its enablers, which undermine our Nordic political institutions. If Trump’s big lie is the “stolen” election, which Joe Biden won hands down, in Finland, it is immigration and other populist soundbites.

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European Islamophobia Report: Finland

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The European Islamophobia Report 2020 was published on December 29. Below is the Finland chapter of the report. The editors for the report are Dr. Enes Bayrakli and Dr. Farid Hafez.

While the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin has tried to roll back some of the draconian immigration law measures of the previous government, Islamophobia continues to be an obstacle in treating Muslims and other minorities as equal members of society.

The big question will be the 2023 parliamentary elections and if the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), which is flirting with the far-right Finns Party (PS), will emerge – as recent opinion polls suggest – as the winner and form the country’s next government.

The actions and messages of Kokoomus are a cause for genuine concern for Finland’s culturally diverse community, especially Muslims.

In Finland, officials are quick to remind newcomers about gender equality, but too little is mentioned about equity for everyone irrespective of their background. Finding a job is part of the integration program, but too little is mentioned about discrimination at work and in the labor market. Due process still takes too long, and there are big questions about how seriously Finland sees institutional racism, the rise of fascism, and other social ills like hate speech.

Ensuring that Finland is not a hostile place to minorities is paramount and ensures that social ills like Islamophobia will not undermine the country’s democratic institutions.

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Somali-Finn victim’s mother appeals manslaughter conviction

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The mother of eighteen-year-old Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh, stabbed to death at Kannelmäki Helsinki railway station on April 26, 2020, by a white Finn called Miro Pesonen, is appealing the involuntary manslaughter ruling on September 7, 2020, by the Helsinki District Court.

The mother who said that she had not found the energy to pursue the case because of health issues, believed that the Court of Appeal would decide on their appeal “soon.”

Keyse Abdifatah Maalesh was stabbed and killed on April 26 at the Kanneläki train station of Helsinki. The police did not consider the death a hate crime. Source: Facebook

She added that at the time of the death of her son, she felt abandoned by the authorities, the Somali and foreign community.

“I was all alone,” she added. “I felt abandoned by the authorities, the Somali and foreign community.”

“We appealed the decision of the Helsinki District Court and are hoping to raise the conviction to 9-10 years from 5 years now,” she added.

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A question to the Kankaanpää police: Was a proper investigation carried out on the burning of an asylum reception center in 2015?

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In 2015, when a record number of asylum seekers came to Finland, a number of attacks were carried out against asylum reception centers. One of these was in Niinisalo, located a stone’s throw from Kankaanpää, where over two weeks ago a group of white Finnish terrorist suspects was detained by the police.

While a lot of questions abound about the motives and ideology of the white Finnish terrorist suspects, there is one question that needs an answer.

For those who don’t remember, a building going to house asylum seekers was set alight and razed to the ground in December 2015 in Niinisalo. Perussuomalaiset* MP Juho Mäenpää, elected to parliament in 2019, claimed jubilantly after the arson attack: “Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered.”

I interviewed Mäenpää and asked him about the arson attack. “Politicians should wake up to the situation [of asylum seekers],” he said, “if they don’t it could spark a civil war.”

The person thanking God for the burning of the future asylum center and threatening a civil war is none other than Mäenpää, who is Southern Ostrobothnia district manager of the far-right and Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association. During a session of parliament in 2019, he labeled asylum seekers “an invasive species.”

On the left the future asylum reception center razed to the ground in Niinisalo and (left) Mäenpää thanking god for burning it down. Sources: Yle and Twitter
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The sources of Finland’s far-right problem: downplaying and denial

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“The main agents of ideological violence are not isolated ‘lone wolves’ but are usually interconnected with communities, non-violent agents and legal entities, at times even including connections to law enforcement personnel.”

Mihai Varga

Over two weeks have elapsed since the police announced the detention of five white-Finn terrorist suspects in the Western Finnish city of Kankaanpää. Reaction to the detention has varied, but one matter is for sure: Denial shrouds our ability to identify and challenge the social ill.

The terrorist suspects of Kankaanpää are no joke. They meant business but does Finland mean business when challenging such groups? Is our exceptionalism blinding us from tackling the social ill? Photo: Police

Denial comes in many ways:

  • The terrorist suspects are a lone detached splinter group
  • Even if the suspects had committed acts of violence and promoted their far-right white nationalist ideology in Kankaanpää before, the rector of the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK), Jari Multisilta, downplayed the threat
  • Contrary to what some students felt that SAMK hadn’t given them enough support, Multisilta was quoted as saying in Yle that there was no threat to the fine arts campus in Kankaanpää by the suspects and that the authorities had not been in touch with the university
  • The fact that the police had not been in contact with SAMK about the threat reveals how they may have downplayed the problem in Kankaanpää
  • In 2015, a new asylum reception center was razed to the ground; we still don’t know who the possible suspects are and if like-minded groups carried it out
  • Yle A-studio airs over a week after the detentions a talk show about far-right violence with researcher Leena Malkki and police Superintendant Jari Tapanen
  • If the detained suspects were Muslims, a talk show and reaction would be much swifter
  • In the talk show, the rise of far-right terrorist violence is blamed on social media and an issue facing young people
  • There is no mention about how Finnish society and the police are responding to the rise of far-right terrorism and ideology
  • There is no mention about how Islamophobia can be a bridge between far-right ideology and terrorism
  • Why didn’t the A-studio program bring up how the rise of populist parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, far-right associations like Suomen Sisu among their ranks and their close links with even neo-Nazi groups promote far-right ideology are fertile ground for acts of terrorism?
  • The PS is the biggest party of the Kankaanpää city council
  • Why do we still know so little about this group and other ones that may be conspiring to carry out acts of terrorism?

Downplaying and whitewashing the far-right threat in Finland

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It is disappointing to note that it took Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, five days to write an editorial on the threat posed by the far-right after the detention of five white Finns on Friday. Considering the media attention and general outrage in general that Abderrahman Mechkah knife attack caused in Turku in 2017, a question emerges: were the suspects in Kakaanpää the wrong type of terrorists?

Pictures apprehended of the terrorist suspects. Source: Police

Moreover, the suggestion that the Kankaanpää suspects were some isolated splinter group detached from society is an example of how the problem is being whitewashed. As Mihai Varga stated: “The main agents of ideological violence are not isolated ‘lone wolves’ but are usually interconnected with communities, non-violent agents and legal entities, at times even including connections to law enforcement personnel.”

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