We all know about Perussuomalaiset (PS)* new chairperson Riikka Purra’s radical views on cultural diversity and migration in general. Yes, she’s the one warning about how Muslims are taking over Europe and how brown and black Finns will replace white Finns.
Her latest Tweet below suggests that white Finns should be the only beneficiaries of social welfare, but Finland must reform the constitution to do this. Purra states that she is ready to reform the constitution if she becomes the next prime minister.
The new PS chairperson lives in a time warp constantly attacking windmills. Purra speaks highly of Denmark, the Nordic region’s most Islamophobic country, and hopes to wipe out migrants and minorities with the help of discrimination, social exclusion and far-right nationlism. She can try, but she will fail beceause our ever-growing diversity as a nation is growing and blossoming every day.
The question that all of Purra’s and her party’s hostile attacks against migrants and minorities should raise a question: Are we going to allow it to happen?
Riikka Purra Tweets: “Should we consider changing our social security system that would be based on nationality (taking into account the EU). There are no good options [because the state] is running out of money. Such a change would require, for example, a reform of the constitution so it would not be a simple change of the law.”
Only the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and Ano Turtiainen’s one-man party expressed opposition to criminalizing the use of the Nazi flag in public. The story by Yle was published a day after the Helsinki District Court dismissed ethnic agitation charges agitation against five men of carrying a swastika flag in public on Independence Day 2018.
PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio told Yle that they should not criminalize the use of the Nazi flag.
“In my opinion, our society is not in such a critical [and fragile] state that we need the state to intervene [in this matter],” he said.
Yaron Nadbornik, president of the 1,100-strong Jewish Community of Helsinki, stated that the decision of the Helsinki district court shows that the country still has a long way to go in acknowledging hate crime, and the existence of minorities.
Considering what the Nazi flag symbolizes for Jews and other minorities, Nadbornik said that not a single newspaper had gotten in touch with him about the district court’s decision. He said that the recent case showed the little power the non-discrimination ombudsman has in challenging racism and discrimination.
In an interview in 2020, Nadbornik said that it was not until 2018-2019 when the police started to recognize anti-Semitism as a problem in Finland.
“It is od that even if the non-discrimination ombudsman spoke out in favor of criminalizing the Nazi flag, their position was not weighed by the court,” he said.
Another Jewish leader said with sarcasm that the court decision “didn’t get a lot of support” from the Jewish community [of Finland].
Leif Hagert, who is an activist for Roma and minority rights in Finland, was surprised by the district court’s decision.
“The Nazi flag represents hatred and racism,” he said. “I find it hard to understand why such opinions and values need to be proclaimed on the streets. I hope the court of appeal’s ruling is different. [from the district court’s]”
The Roma were also victims of the Holocaust with an estimated 1.5 million perishing during 1935-1945.
Some observers believe that the PS’ stance on the criminalization of the Nazi flag is another indication of the group’s close ideological bonds with the far right and neo-Nazis.
Remember when Center Party parliamentary group leader Juha Pylväs slammed asylum seekers as “parasites” that wanted to live off social welfare? Pretty sickening and lowly on his part.
I hope that Pylväs get charged with ethnic agitation.
But what is worse? The silence and support for what he said and the arguments that justify the latter?
Hanna-Leena Mattila is a Center Party politician from the city of Raahe in western Finland. She uses the same argument to call migrants parasites and deviants by stating that despite Pylväs’ words, “[We still]l have to be able to discuss [the problems of migration] without hesitation.”
Mattila’s Facebook post below:
Mattila states: “Juha Pylväs said what many people think: Our goodwill should not be abused. [His) use of words were not the best. Migration and its many forms have to be discussed without hesitation,”
How quaint and unimaginative are Mattila’s Tweet. What politicians like her say over and over again is that only white Finns can insult migrants.
The sometimes farcical “discussion” about migrants is similar if only men were speaking about women’s rights.
Another shameful fact of the ongoing debate that won’t be corrected any time soon as long as white Finns control the debate.
One of the big questions that the Hesburger employee debacle proves is that Finnish unions, the police, and state regulators don’t take the law seriously enough. Migrant Tales has cited numerous cases where employers exploited foreigners.
It’s clear that if their employers exploit some migrants, it happens as well to white Finns.
A group of former and present Hesburger employees of the fast-food chain made public the chronic understaffing problems and exploitation at work. Some said they worked long hours without breaks and did not even have time to go to the bathroom.
One may ask how this is possible in a Nordic welfare country like ours that promotes social equality and fairness?
If I were critical, even realistic, I would go as far as to state that laws that are aimed at protecting workers are selective. If you are a migrant, young, and without a profession, there is a good chance your rights aren’t respected.
These apply to labor laws, and Finland’s Constitution is supposed to guarantee that everyone is equal before the law. Too often we forget a key component of social equality – equity.
As the Hesburger case reveals, why were the employees who brought these illegal practices to light? Where is the Regional Administrative Agency (AVI)? The unions?
The Hesburger case does not only reveal the illegal working conditions of a fast-food chain but a much broader problem of complacency.
Center Party parliamentary group leader Juha Pylväs got his brief moment in the media by insulting migrants and minorities. Today, however, he showed us one of the oldest political tricks in the books: say something outrageous, usually racists, and then apologize.
He regretted calling some asylum seekers “welfare surfers” or shoppers. He said his statement was inappropriate because it undermined human dignity.
Such racist outbursts are harmful and only raise the level of hostility and suspicion of migrants and minorities.
Even if Pylväs spoke of “parasitic” asylum seekers who live off our social welfare, he meant our migrant and minority community. Asylum seekers don’t get social welfare but a small monthly allowance.
We’ve seen this same strategy many times. Remember Pia Kuma and her baby carriage claim? Another one that comes to mind is Perussuomalaiset MP Veikko Vallin, who took pictures secretly of children and employees of a Helsinki nursery.
Like Pylväs today, so did Kauma and Vallin apologize.
Center Party parliamentary group leader Juha Pylväs went on the rampage Wednesday: “We certainly need in Finland skilled foreigners who can live off their work,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat. “We don’t need surfers and parasites that seek a better standard of living.”
While we could consider Pylväs’ statement in foul taste, Center Party chairperson, Annikka Saarikko, only worsens matters by stating that the large amount of asylum seekers who did not get a residence permit is proof that they aren’t fleeing strife but looking for a better standard of living.
So?! Isn’t that what millions of Europeans did when they emigrated from Europe in the nineteenth and first half of the last century?
Is it a crime to seek a better life? According to many Finnish politicians like Pylväs and Saarikko it is a crime.
Pylväs is a member of the Center Party that uses the same language to label asylum seekers such as the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. PS MP Mauri Peltokangas, charged with ethnic agitation, calls asylum seekers “surfers” who seek a better standard of living.
Even if the media attributes Pylväs’ xenophobic description of asylum seekers to Peltokangas, the term “welfare shopper” or “surfer” was coined in 2015 by then PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo.
Pylväs knows he’s said the right thing when PS MP Sebastian Tynkkynen, who is being charged for a third time for ethnic agitation, compliments him for his words.
If he were fair, the Center Party MP could tell us what studies he bases his insult on asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse community.
Considering the news coming out of Afghanistan these days, Pylväs’ words are especially insulting and expose what has always been wrong concerning the debate on asylum seekers and migrants.
Pylväs, and others of his ilk, are nothing but opportunists, bullies, even cowards for targetting and picking on the most vulnerable and defenseless people of our society, who are asylum seekers. Since asylum seekers are not eligible for social welfare except for the little financial aid they receive monthly, Pylväs directs his insult on Finland’s whole migrant community.
In the face of these types of inappropriate statements that are possible thanks to Finland’s white political system and media, one could ask why even parties in the government continually fuel suspicion, the hostile environment, and hatred of Finland’s new residents.
Even if the answer is complex, its roots are evident: Finland’s big “R” problem and nationalism.
In the meantime, I can vouch for most asylum seekers, migrants, and minorities living in this country that we are proud of our roots and our accomplishments in this country.
Silence and complacency are some of the reasons why xenophobia and the rise of an anti-immigration party have been possible in Finland. While there are many common citizens and activists in Finland who have been fighting against parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, chairperson Riikka Purra’s interview on Yle’s Ykkösaamu is a definite reminder that we cannot stand idle.
Riikka Purra offered a view of her political fantasies charged with populism. See the interview here.
Here is a list of how Purra and the PS plan to disenfranchise migrants and minorities if they can:
Produce changes in the constitution so migrants can directly be discriminated by doing away with Section 6, which guarantees that everyone is equal before the law;
Raise the requirements for citizenship from five to 10+ years;
Force migrants to take or be graded by “pseudo integration” tests to prove that they are servile and docile enough and no threat to white Finnish privilege;
Fuel the hostile environment and maintain an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred for diversity.
All of these dangers should not only be a wake up call but a call to struggle against toxic politicians.
They also prove that if the PS ever got into power, they would not solve the problems of our ever-growing culturally diverse community but worsen them a million times.
Consensus, sucking up to racists and fantasies by the likes of Purra will not save us from our peril.
Perussuomalaiset MP and chair of the foreign affairs committee, Mika Niikko, said in Helsingin Sanomat that he’d only want to give asylum to Afghan women and girls. Niikko’s and the PS’ xenophobic views of asylum seekers are exposed.
“I am not heartless to not help women and children who seek to come and seek shelter from a dreadful government in the EU region,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat.
It should not surprise us that Niikko, like his party, constantly questions and undermines asylum seekers. As chair of the foreign affairs committee, he should know that asylum seekers are not accepted according to their sex.
Moreover, doesn’t Niikko think that Afghans have families and consider them an important factor like in all cultures?
Think what it’s like to live in a broken family, or be a single mother, fleeing war.
The chair of the foreign affairs committee is ignorant of history. Over 1.2 million Finns emigrated during 1860-1999. When they settled in the United States, they first brought their wife and children, then their relatives and even their friends.
Niikko’s comments only expose how the PS fuel and maintain Finland’s hostile environment against migrants and minorities.
The newly elected chairperson of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, Riikka Purra, did not waste any time attacking migrants. Apart from tightening naturalization laws and family reunification, she stated that the PS will not become a member of a new government that doesn’t “significantly” tightenimmigration laws.
The timing of her hostile and anti-social statements could not have been worse. We saw during the same weekend Taliban’s victory In Afghanistan to take back the country into the 21st-century stone age.
When Purra was asked if she would take in Afghan asylum seekers, her answer was negative and why no Afghan refugees must enter Europe.
What turns a politician like Purra to lose her empathy for the suffering of others only to spoonfeed herself and her base with racist sentiment?
Even if the PS is the biggest opposition party in parliament, only a minority voted for them in the last 10 years. The vast majority of voters did not vote for the party.
Some of the matters that surprise me about the PS are its shameless bravado and crystal ball antics.
Purra speaks as if she already won the 2023 parliamentary election and will be Finland’s next prime minister.
Another matter that amazes me about the far-right or radical-right party is how it shamelessly copies and plagiarizes (see PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari’s interview below, where she is accused of plagiarizing 80% of her master’s thesis).
