Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power.
Reino Eddo-Lodge
Watching last Thursday’s parliamentary question time was a repulsive experience. If the opposition Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is to be believed, all of Finland’s problems hinge on migrants.
An article in Verkkouutiset claims that since Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s government began its mandate on June 6, nine of the eleven weekly parliamentary question times have dealt with migrants and or immigration policy.
Such political tactics by the PS are a blow to the institution’s credibility and its elected members.
One reason why the PS is leading the opinion polls these days is because they are feared and due also to ignorance or denial about racism in Finland. They believe that if they are too outspoken against their lies, they will scare away voters.
We at Migrant Tales have never let down our guard or given such a racist party the benefit of the doubt as the Finnish mainstream media too often does.
These are the constant lies that the PS spreads about migrants on Thursday’s question time:
- Migrants are taking money away from white Finns;
- The government puts the priorities of migrants before white Finns;
- Migrants are a menace to society;
- Migrants commit more crime than white Finns;
- We must not allow Finland to turn into a Sweden when it comes to migrants;
- Blah blah blah blah…
While all these claims are exaggerated lies, the strategy of the PS is simple: Finland’s most pressing problems hinge on migrants. Get rid of migrants and, presto, problem solved.
When you watch politicians of the PS making their anti-immigration cases in parliament, they don’t tell us whom they are speaking of and how many.
If they were to mention these two things, we’d understand that they are explicitly targeting asylum seekers who are Muslims and only about 10% of all migrants living in Finland.
