US President Joe Biden warned in a recent speech that his country’s democracy is in peril. He pointed the finger at former President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again or Make Attorneys Get Attorneys) followers.
We asked in a recent posting if Biden labeled MAGA Republicans “semi-fascists,” why couldn’t we call the far-right Perussuonalaiset (PS)* the same?
Even if the PS’ and other radical-right followers have not yet stormed Parliament like on January 6 at the Capitol, the party’s far-right brand of rhetoric has caused a lot of harm to our democratic institutions. The hate speech they spread against migrants and minorities is one of many examples.
True, the PS wants to sanitize its hateful rhetoric because they want to form part of a next government after the April parliamentary election.
Source: Yle
Who is Mäenpää? He’s the PS MP who called asylum seekers “invasive species” and did not face an ethnic agitation charges since his parliamentary immunity was not lifted.
The incident of Finnish police brutality, where they physically forced Muslim asylum seekers to remove their hijabs, is not surprising in the least, taking into account the year (2017) and the Häme regionof Finland.
Seven months after the incident with the Muslim women, Migrant Talespublished a story about how the police gave tacit approval to the questionable role of far-right vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin.
At that time, Detective chief inspector of southern Finland, Markku Tuominen, surprised many people In January 2016 when he was quoted as saying that Finns should avoid contact with foreigners. In December, we even read that the police service of Häme welcomed street patrols in the town of Asikkala, according to Hämeen Kaiku.
Asiakkala is located between Hämeenlinna and Lahti.
Apart from supporting far-right vigilante gangs, several asylum reception centers attacked many arson (terrorist?) attacks in 2015. One of these was razed to the ground in Kankaanpää, where five white Finnish suspects were held last year for suspected far-right terrorist charges.
Adding another element to the country’s hostile environment towards asylum seekers and migrants, the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* were in government. Their presence spearheaded numerous laws that tightened Finland’s already restrictive immigration law.
I have often wondered why racism some people in Finland are not moved by racism. Racism is a traumatic experience that remains inside of you. Some don’t react or care because they have never been a victim of such a social ill.
When racism jabs or throws a violent punch and your colleague or friend doesn’t react, it is the worst insult. Even worse is if the person denies completely racism or claims that you are overreacting.
Racism is such a profitable disorder that politicians use it to gain power and attention. Even so, the worst racists are the ones who do nothing, remain silent, and keep the structures of institutional racism intact.
An excellent book worth reading.
Racism is a monster that you learn to live with but constantly plan on slaying it.
As a reminder of the long history of discriminatory laws against Muslim women in Europe, here is a chronological summary of all the laws banning headscarves in schools in Europe since 2004, when France got the ball rolling.”
Denmark, the Nordic region’s most Islamophobic country, plans to tighten (again) its immigration laws by deporting all foreigners who are handed prison sentences, according to DR of Denmark.
DR writes that the government wants to introduce changes in the law so that any foreigner slapped with an unconditional prison sentence will be deported. “Today, a foreigner can avoid deportation despite being handed a prison sentence,” said Denmark’s Social Democratic minister for immigration and integration, Kaare Dybvad Bek.
While some idealize the Nordic welfare system because it is supposed to promote social equality, nothing could be further from the truth than Denmark, which some have correctly called a xenophobic country on steroids.
Helsingin Sanomat published (paywall) Sunday an interview with Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. Helsingin Sanomat‘s veteran reporter, Marko Junkkari, did the interview.
In general, Junkkari did a good job in handling Purra’s comments with facts and in no place in the interview did the PS chairperson dominate the interview with her answers, which did not convince.
The story’s headline, “Always the same topic,” sits well with the story. Like her predecessor Jussi Halla-aho, migration is the PS’ pet topic.
In the story, it becomes clear that Junkkari dominates the topic and is not afraid to ask Purra some uncomfortable questions. However, one matter that bothered me about the story was the use of the term “migrant.” It was used too generally, and Junkkari could have asked the PS chairperson to specify what types of migrants she refers to.
I doubt that Purra refers to white German migrants in Finland when speaking of migrants.
It is such an important topic for the party that it grew from a minor to a major party in parliament. The PS is the first party in modern Finnish history to use migration as a rallying cry for voters.
Even if Purra promised the party would expand to other topics, nothing has happened on this front.
Politicians and parties expel a lot of blah blah. Ask this question: Will matters improve for Finland’s racialized communities if the PS and Kokoomus partner in a government? There’s your answer with no blah blah.
A recent story by MTV, a private television channel with a streak of Fox News, published a story about what some National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) leaders thought about forming a government with the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)*.
Finland will hold parliamentary elections in April, and considering that Kokoomus and the PS are the biggest opposition parties, with the former leading in opinion polls, future cooperation in a Kokoomus-led government is naturally a topic of speculation.
For some, a government led by Kokoomus and the PS would bring a lot of social hardship, especially to migrants and minorities. Read the full story (in Finnish) here.
Even so, the MTV story reveals many ugly truths about how the Finnish media treats its ever-growing culturally diverse communities with disregard. It is an example of whitewash journalism that avoids asking essential questions.
Even if MTV did not care to bring up what a partnership between Kokoomus and the PS would have on our racialized communities in Finland, Migrant Tales is obliged to do so. Moreover, the television station did not even attempt to answer what extreme cost-saving measures would affect people’s lives.
While the story only mentions labor migrants twice, it sidelines the topic effectively and brushes it under the rug.
Although without the same obsessive zeal, Kokoomus is also inflicted by racism. In its black-and-white world, there are “undesirable” migrants, asylum seekers, Muslims, people of color, and “desirable” ones like cheap, obedient, easily exploitable labor.
Let’s look at some of Purra’s quotes and ask after reading them why MTV did not even bother to bring them up:
“If it were up to me, the Perussuomalaiset will never form part of a government that does not successfully [and] significantly tighten Finnish immigration policy;”
Aims to scrap dual citizenship rights and raise citizenship requirements from five to 10 years;
Total rejection of Muslim asylum seekers to Finland even at the cost of ditching international agreements and human rights obligations;
Constant attacks against cultural diversity by labeling Others as incompatible, irreparable, and hopeless problems;
Much whing about “multiculturalism” but little on solutions.
A short editorial by Helsingin Sanomat Thursday warns that the 1.3 percentage point rise in the recent opinion poll of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party may force other parties to latch on to Islamophobic rhetoric. The PS’ pet themes today are high electricity and gas prices at the pumps and others, which it did not specify.
Even if the daily did not specify the other topic, anyone following the populist party would note that migration is the likely candidate.
While the latter should be clear to the editorial board of Helsingin Sanomat, the daily leaves out another important fact: the national media and public servants like the police spread the PS’ hateful rhetoric.
The 2011 parliamentary election, when the PS won 39 seats from 5 previously, was propelled and helped by uncritical reporting that was more amazed at the new racist kid on the political block. Even parties like the Social Democrats started copying the PS’ anti-immigration rhetoric.
PS rising political “stars” like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Juho Erola, Timo Soini, and others got their place in the sun. Things were so bad back then that Islamophobes were invited to give their opinions on talk shows.
In Finland, some parties are openly racist, and others are more subtle about it. Both are dangerous to our community. The more we know about them, the better prepared we are to challenge such a menace.
Large opposition parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) have one matter in common: they loathe asylum seekers from outside the EU but rarely name the ethnic group directly.
In all respects, they are nothing more than cowardly bullies for treating vulnerable people like asylum seekers with such contempt.
Parties that profit politically off asylum seekers are such cowards that they usually speak in code. The term “asylum seeker” is used usually to signify Muslim as well as “person of migrant background,” when he’s not an asylum seeker.
Ever wonder why both these parties usually refuse to use the word “Muslim” or “Arab?” True, the PS no longer does but uses Afghans (and previously Somalis) in some of its postings like the one below, where it claims that keeping such people out of Finland and putting them in refugee camps in a neighboring country helps 50 refugees.
The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party hates migrants from Muslim countries. It hates these people so much that it rarely utters the word “Muslim” and “African.”
PS tweet below states:
Do we want to help – or do we want more migrants?
The best way to help them is in neighboring [countries].
One Afghan to Finland costs as much as [helping] 50 people in bordering countries.
Source: Twitter
Ask the PS the following questions:
1. How many Afghan refugees are living in refugee camps?
2. Is living in a refugee camp similar to living at a five-star hotel?
3. Why are we taking a fraction of the refugees in Europe compares to countries like Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey and others?
