The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have been quick to point out how much migrants (all?!) are an economic burden to Finland. A new study by Citigroup claims that ethnic inequality and inequity have cost the US a staggering $16 trillion!
While parties like the PS and other ones who follow their racist tune believe that social exclusion and racism are cheap, they should think twice.
“Racial inequality has always had an outsized cost, one that was thought to be paid only by underrepresented groups,” said Citigroup Banking Chair Raymond McGuire in a statement. “What this report underscores is that this tariff is levied on us all.”
The high cost of racism is not only maintained institutionally but through outright lies. One of these is by the PS that talks about migration as one whole when they mean Muslims and people of color.
According to the Finnish Immigration Service, the vast majority (73.3%) of migrants came in 2019 for the following reasons: work (40.8%), family (21.5%), and as students (11%). Asylum seekers and refugees accounted for 7.8%. Source e: Twitter (Maria Ohisalo)
If racism has cost the US trillions of dollars, how much do you think it has cost Finland?
One case in particular that took place in Teuva on June 6 is still under investigation, and there is no indication when those guilty will face charges. The case involves a Muslim insulted and chased by some townspeople forcing his car off the road into a ditch and assaulted.
If you speak to the victim, whose name is Fares A-O, there is an abundance of evidence that shows that one clear bias motive was his ethnic background.
Here is a simple forumula to determine a hate crime:
Bias motivators.
Tejuka, a Teuva newspaper, published in June a spread and an editorial about what happened to Fares.
Writes Tejuka: “…soon [the attackers] forced [Fares] on the ground and started to rough him up by hitting and kicking him. Someone held Fares in a chokehold while others continued to hit him. Fares could no longer breathe. Somebody yelled: ‘Kill that mamu (a derogatory term for migrant)!”
Fares ended up taken to the Seinjäjoki and later to the hospital in Vaasa where they conducted tests and treated his wounds.
The police state: “For now there is no information that points to a hate crime but we are not ruling out such a possibility.” No evidence of a hate crime? For one, check out the victim’s car. Source: Poliisi
While what happened in Teuva is a hate crime case, it is also one of the worse to come to public light this year.
Indeed, the police can give a million excuses why this particular case is taking such a long time to investigate. One of these could even be the Covid pandemic, but the police officer in charge of the investigation did not mention it as a reason.
It is clear that a person that goes through such a traumatic event wants justice to move swiftly as opposed to slowly. The incident happened in June, or five months ago.
Apart from dealing with one’s trauma of what happened, Fares said that one of the most challenging matters was the slow pace of the investigation.
“Immigration from Africa and the Middle East is harmful and becomes more harmful as their numbers grow.”
The quote by Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairperson Jussi Halla-aho in today’s session of parliament is an example of his disdain and hatred of people of color.The reason why he and his party victimize people in such a racist fashion is that migrants have little to no political power in Finland.
But they are actually weak, a facade, similar to baby teeth. A house of cards built on hot air.
One of Finland’s two PS MEPs in Brussels. A Trump supporter even in underwear. Source: Twitter.
It looks like the PS are going to suffer a significant setback on November 3 if US President Donald Trump loses the election.
Parties like the PS have copied and pasted Trump, which partly explains why they pour on their racism in the way they do. Today’s parliamentary session is a prime example.
The PS are the most ungrateful party that I know. They label and kick migrants, especially Muslims and blacks, who in turn give them an opportunistic chance to gain political power.
The copy-cat PS uses the slogan from Brexit, “Take back Finland.” But they should know that we, the good people of Finland who don’t fall for their xenophobic baloney, are going to take back this country.
All of the hatred and lies they spread will not be forgotten.
I, for one, have pledged to fight them and all the other racist and toxic forces until my last breath.
Many, if not most migrants who have moved to Finland, have heard the following claim: Learn the language, and presto you are integrated.
While learning the language of your new homeland helps, it is only one of many things that will help you adapt to society.
Finland’s integration policy is similar to Sleeping Beauty. It is waiting for a handsome white prince (a super migrant, perhaps?) to kiss and wake her up. When that happens, our problems will vanish and we will live happily ever after. Source: Disney.,
Erna Bödström’s dissertation, “Welcome to Fantasy Finland,” points out a lot of facts why Finland’s official integration process is selective and exclusive.
Apart from painting a rosy picture of white Finnish society where visible migrants are sometimes doing menial work, integration does not promote interaction between white Finns and migrants and visible minorities.
Another observation that Bödström makes is that there is nothing in the integration brochures about racism and how difficult it is to find work.
Bödström sees integration as a process where the newly arrived resident becomes familiar with the social services and entering the labor market.
Some politicians, as we saw during the hysterical reaction of the Oulu sexual assault cases, claimed outright that Finland’s integration program has failed.
Failed?
True.
The integration program is, in many respects, a tool used by the state to show off its exceptionalism and society’s best side. Another role it appears to have is to exclude newcomers and minorities from gaining social and political power.
Who can forget the 10-year-old girl allegedly bullied and physically attacked in a Northern Espoo school by her classmate(s) for wearing a hijab? When the incident occurred, the police quickly denied that racism was a factor in the bullying.
Considering that too often the police months, if not years, to resolve racism cases, in the particular case of the Muslim girl the police stated three days after the incident “that no such motives have come up in the investigation by the police.”
When it comes t racism and discrimination cases, due process in Finland has different actions, priorities, and timelines.
Picture of the bullied child posted on Instagram by her brother. The posting states: “What do they teach [children] at Finnish homes? That Muslims are terrorists? The little girl [in the picture above] is spending a normal day at school when four boys [classmates] tried to rip off her hijab from her head and kicked her unconscious. We are not talking now about a migrant but about a victim. @iltalehti [tabloid] I want you to write out loud that racism must stop once for all, this girl is an angel!”
The recent case of a white Finnish boy bullied in Vantaa, and whose case has received a lot of public attention, there is a vibrant ongoing debate about bullying at schools. A good letter to the editor was published Saturday by Helsingin Sanomat.
Playing dumb or dead to the threat of far-right groups is a political statement or reveals you are either lazy, naive, or white..
While it is a positive matter that the Finnish media is shedding light on two long-time bedfellows: the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and far-right groups, even so, the question we should ask is why now if this was common knowledge for a long time?
One reason could be our propensity to play dumb or silent to the growing threat of far-right groups.
Isn’t it shameful and a slap in the face to all of our noble social welfare advancements that the biggest opposition party, the PS, is a xenophobic radical-right party?
Who cares?
A lot of people in Finland who don’t want this country to be driven by xenophobia to the lap of a Finnish Viktor Orbán are rightfully worried.
Tero Ala-Tuuhonen, the attempted murder suspect who tried to kill Pekka Kataja, is posing with some far-right Kansallismielisten liitouma activists. The circled persons all have ties to the PS. Source: Twitter
Kansallismielisten liitouma was originally founded by the Soldiers of Odin, a far-right vigilante groups that the police and many politicians supported in the face of a record number of asylum seekers to Finland in 2015.
Yes, I am surprised that you may be surprised by this fact that the PS and far-right groups are bedfellows.
Those who claim that we should ignore the racist narrative of parties like the PS and their far-right buddies are leaving our country’s future to chance.
We cannot allow this to happen.
With your help we’ll stop it and nip it off the bud.
Tero Ala-Tuuhonen is not a nice guy. Indeed, it depends on your perspective. If you sympathize with Nazis and all the far-right BS, then he is your man.
Despite his background, there is a long list of Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politicians who like him. Is it the uniform he is wearing in the picture below, or is it his far-right rhetoric that resonates with Finland’s largest opposition party?
Ala-Tuuhonen reminiscing the good old Nazi days.Ala-Tuuhonen states on his Facebook page that “all lives matter.” Is this a joke? Wearing an SS uniform and attempting with Teemu Torssonen to murder Pekka Kataja of the PS? Source: Facebook.Source: Kskisuomalainen
You will find some surprises if you go through Ala-Tuuhonen’s Facebook friends. You will find a lot of PS politicians.
According to the Jyväskylä-based daily Keskisuomalainen, some of Ala-Tuuhonen’s Facebook friends include PS MP’s like Juha Mäenpää, Riikka Purra, Ville Tavio, Sebastian Tynkkynen and Ano Turtiainen, a former PS MP suspended indefinitely.
Ala-Tuuhonen’s Facebook friends changed on Sunday. You will no longer find PS vice president Purra and PS parliamentary group leader Tavio and MP Tynkkynen on the attempted murder suspect’s list of friends.
No worries, I found two other PS MPs. Sakari Puisto and Veijo Niemi, as well as many PS municipal politicians and supporters.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Petri Huru states in his Twitter account that his goal is to keep Finns safe. He is a chief fireman and a practical nurse.Noble professions but can trust Huru’s judgement?
A question: What are you, MP Huru, doing smiling in a picture below with far-right activist Tero Ala-Tuuhonden? Isn’t he the person who was arrested by the police on Friday for attempted murder?
PS MP Huru: You have poor judgment and I would never trust you with my life. You are also a big fan of PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari. Source: Twitter
Even if you want to forget, Ala-Tuuhonen is the far-right Kansallismielisten liittouma chairperson who hangs around with neo-Nazis and people of your party, like you. He even recently wrote that a culture war has begun in Finland.
Remember, who is Pekka Kataja? Of course, you do. He is the PS campaign manager whom Ala-Tuuhonen and Teemu Torssonen, a far-right politician that your party sacked 2019, brutally attacked.
After the bombshell news that one of the suspects arrested Friday who brutally attacked Pekka Kataja of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in July, the new chairperson of the Center Party, Annika Saarikko, said on Ykkösaamu Saturday that she could form a government with the PS.
In light of the PS’ links with far-right groups, Saarikko’s response was inopportune and ill-timed.
Center Party chairperson Annika Saarikko on Yle’s Ykkösaamu.
In a very white country like Finland, where few minorities wield power, her affirmation is not surprising. It reinforced how white power structures are that there is little political will to challenge them.
Nothing or very little will change as long as people of color and other minorities are kept powerless on short leashes.
Politicians like Saarikko may feel it is ok for several reasons to form a government with a party that is openly hostile to Muslims and ultraconservative. She can see matters this way because she is white. The PS is not a threat to her whiteness per se.
If we look at the rise of the PS since the 2011 parliamentary election, disgrunted and racist white Finns have found in the PS a voice that is anti-immigration, anti-EU and anti-establishment. Even if racism, sexism, and fascism have risen their heads, do politicians like Saarikko naively believe that consensus will work matters out?
As a person who grew up in the United States and who has, as a native Argentinean, followed and lived through the recent history of Latin America marred by violence, injustice, and poverty, it is not difficult to understand why racism and the PS live another day.
This is the wrong approach. Defend your institutions tooth and nail. Source: Reddit.
I worte in January that those who believe in Hollywood endings to racism are white people who don’t experience racism and speak on behalf of those that do.
There will not be a Hollywood ending to the racism problem in this country but one that will lead to a Hungarian ending.
As the Kataja case proves that violence and fascism are already here and taking root. It is our call to put an end to them.
It is revealing to read comments from the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party about Friday’s bombshell news: the police detained a former PS politician and a far-right Nazi-spirited activist on suspected attempted murder charges against Pakka Kataja.
Starting from PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion, was quoted as saying in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat: “It’s difficult even to believe one’s own eyes when reading this news [about the arrest of the suspects].”
