James Hirvisaari Archives - Page 3 of 5

Reija Härkönen: Kansanedustajan natsijatsit

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Reija Härkönen*

Ensi kuussa on taas Asikkalassa hyvin naamioitu vaalitilaisuus. Vääksyn kanavalla soi jazz. Ihan ilmaiseksi. Kemut järjestää kansanedustaja James Hirvisaari. Hirvisaaren vanhat jatsi- ja gospelkaverit ovat jo vuosia saapuneet tähän aikaan vuodesta juhlistamaan Jameksen syntymäpäiviä. Alkuun yksityisesti, mutta politiikkaan lähdettyään Hirvisaari sai mainion idean pitää juhlat kanavalla, kutsua kyläläiset synttärikansan sekaan ja näin saada juhlille julkista tukea. Kansanedustajan arvovallan myötä tuki kasvaa ja pidot paranevat. Tänä vuonna eliitti purjehtii paikalle yksityisellä siipirataslaivaristeilyllä.

Tässä on linkki.

Päätukijoita ovat vuodesta toiseen olleet Asikkalan kunnan lisäksi pankki, ruokamarketit ja hotelli. Tänä vuonna tukijoihin on liittynyt jo yli kymmenen paikallista yritystä.

Tämähän voisi vielä näyttää ihan lutuselta: kansanedustaja käyttää arvovaltaansa ja järjestää vanhoille kamuille töitä. Samalla saadaan Vääksyn kanavalle leppoisa konsertti ja joku paikallinen yrittäjä pääsee myymään makkaraa ja kanawokkia. Ja kansanedustajan profiili kirkastuu paikallisena hyväntekijänä.

Mutta millaisen kansanedustajan? James Hirvisaari on vuosittain Facebookin kautta kutsunut tilaisuuteen luottoystävänsä. Ilmoittautuneet pyörivät karusellissa Internetissä: kaikkienhan tulee tietää, kuka saapuu kiillottamaan kansanedustajan julkisuuskuvaa. Sulassa sovussa sukulaisten ja paikallisten musiikinystävien joukossa pyörivät myös Hirvisaaren poliittiset kannattajat. Tämä on uusi tapa levittää poliittista agendaa. Samaan aikaan ilmestyvät Hirvisaaren uudet henkilökohtaiset mainokset kaikkien niiden Facebookin käyttäjien sivuille, jotka ovat jollakin lailla olleet tekemisissä hänen kannattajiensa tai sukulaistensa kanssa. Rasistinen sanoma leviää.

Hirvisaaren kutsumista kannattajista useat ilmoittautuvat Hirvisaaren ja perussuomalaisten lisäksi myös Ruotsidemokraattien tai Nationaldemokraterna-puolueen kannattajiksi. Jostain syystä he tahtovat esitellä puolueohjelmaa saksan kielellä:

Begrenzung der Einwanderung;
Bewahrung traditioneller schwedischer Kultur, unter anderem auch durch Verbote von Moscheen;
Kein Verkauf von Medien an ausländische Investoren;
Verteidigung eines konservativen Familienideals und Ablehnung von „pervertierten“ Lebensformen wie z. B. homosexueller Lebensgemeinschaften.

Lienevätkö ottaneet oppia kansanedustaja Hirvisaarelta, joka kannattajille suunnatussa Waffen SS –videon esittelyssä julistaa: ”Deutschland und Finnland sind uber alles. Deutschland hat Finnland frei gemacht. Vielen Dank!” Saksan kieli näyttäisi näille aktiiveille olevan se oikea kieli, kun puhutaan vähemmistöjen syrjinnästä.

Useat jatsivieraat, jotka tukevat Hirvisaarta, suosivat seuraavia Facebook-yhteisöjä:

En ole rasisti vain roturealisti.

Auttakaamme-Maahanmuuttaja-Rikolliset-Takaisin-Kotiin. Sivuston logona on apina, joka ohjaa pientä lentokonetta. Aikaisempi versio, jossa Hirvisaarikin oli jäsenenä, poistettiin rasistisena, nykyinen on jostain syystä vielä olemassa.

Perussuomalaisten Sinivalkoinen Suomi

Sivuston aiheita ovat ulkomaalaisten tekemät raiskaukset, rasistiset vitsit, Jussi Halla-aho ja Olavi Mäenpään blogit. Mäenpää ja Halla-aho on Hirvisaaren tavoin tuomittu rasistisesta kiihottamisesta kansanryhmää vastaan. Sivustolla käytetään kuvia, joiden teksteissä on vaikkapa: ”Neekeri mene pois, olemme kyllästyneet elättämään sinua. Suomi on suomalaisten, ei mutiaisten” ja kuvasarja, jossa verrataan mustaihoisten ihmisten kasvoja nimellä ”Tikkurilan värikartta”.

Suomen Sisu, Suomalaisuuden liitto, Nuiva vaalimanifesti, Finnish Defence League,

”Vaaditaan uutta lakiehdoitusta!
Maahanmuuttajien tuet samaksi kun suomalaisilla,

This-was-Germany. Memories of the Good Old Days. Natsi-Saksan muisteloita.

Eräs Hirvisaaren kannattaja suosittelee kymmeniä islamofobisia Facebook-yhteisöjä. Ne jakelevat kuvaa muslimiäidistä, joka uhkaa verta vuotavaa, pää valkoisessa kääreessä makaavaa vauvaansa suurella verisellä veitsellä. Lapsi sanoo: ”Mommy, I don’t wanna play Islam anymore.” Yhteisöjen kuvottavaa sanomaa vahvistetaan ammattimaisella tavalla toimivien vihasivustojen lavastetuilla kuvilla, jotka ovat hyvin väkivaltaisia ja rasistisia ja aiheuttavat pahoinvointia kenessä tahansa normaalissa ihmisessä.

Hirvisaaren vihanlietsonta ja maaninen muslimeita parjaavien videoiden ja tekstien levittäminen on purrut hyvin ja samanhenkiset ihmiset ovat löytäneet hänessä idolinsa.

Onko Asikkala sitten Suomen rasistisin kunta, kun suuri joukko yrityksiä on yhdessä äänestäjien ja kannattajien kanssa tukemassa rasistikansanedustajan vaalityötä ja imagonkiillotusta ja yhdessä kutsumassa Asikkalaan tällaisen aatesuunnan kannattajia? Vai onko niin, että osa näistä yrityksistä on vain huijattu joukkoon samalla tavalla kuin sukulaiset ja ystävät, jotka pyörivät ilmoittautuneiden ketjussa yhdessä Hirvisaaren ja muiden rasistien, natsimielisten, Ruotsidemokraattien tukijoiden, Finnish Defence Leaguen johtohahmojen ja apinoiden Afrikkaan palauttajien kanssa?

Tässä on kuitenkin kaikille muillekin kansanedustajille malliksi mainio tapa tehdä vaalityötä. Ei muuta kuin kemut pystyyn, paikallisesta musiikkiopistosta raikkaita nuoria muusikoita soittamaan ja omaa agendaa edistämään, jollekulle eläkeläissoittokunnalle voi samalla tarjota keikkaa, tai, kuten Asikkalassa, voi gospelyhtye levittää kansalaisille evankeliumin sanomaa. Sitten vain hakemaan apurahaa säätiöiltä (ainakin Suomen Kulttuurirahasto on sellaisen Hirvisaarelle myöntänyt) ja paikallinen pankki ja kunta maksamaan loput viulut. Kukapa voisi kieltäytyä kansanedustajan pyynnöstä edistää kylän kulttuuritoimintaa.

Koska perussuomalaiset eivät hyvävelitoimintaa harrasta, Hirvisaaren aktiviteetit lienevät tarkkaan harkittuja ja kaikki lait ja asetukset täyttäviä.

Tänä vuonna Hirvisaaren vaalitilaisuudessa on aivan erityinen juhlavuus, sillä nyt jatsiväki pääsee myös juhlimaan Hirvisaarten avioliiton kymmenettä juhlavuotta. Aivan ilmaiseksi. ”Avoin tilaisuus, vapaa pääsy, tule kanssamme tanssimaan”, kajahtaa Hirvisaarten julkinen hääpäiväkutsu.

Tule kansanedustajan kanssa tanssimaan. Natsijatsia.

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen julkaistettiin Uudessa Suomessa.

Uusi Suomi poisti sen jostain syystä välittömästi ilmestymisen jälkeen, vaikka juttu on tehty huolellisesti ja perusteellisen totuudenmukaisesti.

*Härkönen ei tiedä miksi Uusi Suomi poisti hänen kirjoitus. “Jostain syystä välittömästi ilmestymisen jälkeen [juttu poistettiin], vaikka se on tehty huolellisesti ja perusteellisen totuudenmukaisesti,” hän kirjoitti Migrant Talesille.

PS MP Hirvisaari gets publicly enraged with daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari has done it again. He didn’t lambast immigrants and Muslims this time, but got publicly enraged with a journalist working for Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (ESS). What happened? Ari Helminen reported that Hirvisaari, together with another PS MP, had the most absences in parliament during spring.

Hirvisaari is from Asikkala, a town located near Lahti.

The news, that Hirvisaari and PS MP Ismo Soukkola had been absent from eight parliamentary sessions without an excuse, was apparently too much for the MP. Hirvisaari tweeted that ESS’ Helminen had “betrayed his trust” and that he will never greet or answer the journalist’s phone calls.

”…I don’t want to have anything to do with liars,” he continued. ”The worst rotten journalism [in Finland] is by TS [Turun Sanomat] and ESS. Extreme abuse of power, unfair and manipulation of people’s [opinion].”

Hirvisaari’s former aide, Helena Eronen, who wrote about sleeve badges in April last year, blamed Turun Sanomat for taking her opinion piece out of context.

Read PS MP James Hirvisaari’s tweets here.

Reading about Hirvisaari’s outbursts is nothing new from this cantankerous politician, but sadly reveals why Finland has become a country where intolerance and hatred have raised their heads big time.

Migrant Tales wrote back in May: ”Every time a PS MP like Hirvisaari opens his mouth, he actually helps the PS lose its appeal among voters and what’s important its chances of being a partner in a future government.”

Hirvisaari was sentnced for ethnic agitation in 2011.

Even so, he has continued to insult gays, immigrants and visible minorities in Finland. His far right Islamophobic credentials were reinforced when he announced that he publicly supports the Finnish Defense League.

Go GO PS MP Hirvisaari! Let all of your intolerance and racism hang out!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

We have written so much about the outbursts of far right Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari that it isn’t funny. One of his latest statements on Facebook, where he considers using the Swedish language in parliament as “ridiculous,” is not an attack on this language minority but serves to expose the intolerance and loathing that the PS has for minorities in Finland.

Every time a PS MP like Hirvisaari opens his mouth, he actually helps the PS lose its appeal among voters and what’s most important its chances of being a partner in a future government.

We hope that Hirvisaari, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation in 2011, continuous to stoop to ever-lower levels so that voters in his home municipality of Asikkala will give him the thumbs down in 2015.

A party that accepts politicians like Hirvisaari and a too long list of others like him doesn’t belong in parliament unless our aim is to send Finland back to the political dark ages when scapegoats and political witch hunts were the rule.

PS MP James Hirvisaari claims that speaking Swedish, Finland’s second official language, in parliament is “arrogant snobbery” and a waste of time. Thank you @DrMKuismaa.

Kansanedustaja James Hirvisaari ja hänen mielikuvituksellinen Suomi

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalainen kansanedustaja James Hirvisaaren Facebook sivun kommentit Itä-Suomen hovioikeus tuomiosta niin sanotussa Lieksan Facebook-rasismijutussa, ovat hyvä esimerkki siitä kuinka suvaitsemattomuus on saanut jalansijan Suomessa. Riippumatta kuinka paljon perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Timo Soini haluaa antaa maltillisen kuvan puolueesta, siinä aina nousee samat tekijät ja viha pintaan.

Suomessa vihataan paljon tänä päivänä. Vihataan maahanmuuttajat, homot, feministejä, suomen ruotsalaisia, vihervasemmistolaisia ja vaikka mitä.

Kun asuin Argentiinassa sotilasjuntan aikana 1977-1978, jossa katosi yli 30 000 ihmisiä, kenraalit puhuivat samalla tavalla vihollisista kuin nyt jotkut perussuomalaiset kansanedustajat puhuvat monikulttuurisuudesta.

Jos muuttaisin sanan “kommunismi,” joka antoi juntalle vapakädet terrorisoida koko kansaa ja maan oikeilla tai kuvitteellisilla vihollisilla ja laittaisit tilalle sanan “monikulttuurisuus,” yhtäläisyys on pelottava.

Hirvisaari ja hänen aatetoverinsa ovat valitettava ilmiö yhteiskunnassa. Heidän ristiretki monikulttuurisuutta vastaan muistuttaa Don Quijoten taistelu tuulimyllyjä vastaan.

He eivät vain halua kieltä, että olemme kasvava kulttuurisesti moninainen yhteiskunta, mutta taistelevat sen vastaan.

Olen varma, että he tulevat epäonnistumaan pahasti tavoitesaan.

Does PS MP James Hirvisaari have any idea what racism is?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales aims to publish on the same day news that appears in the media. There was one opinion piece written on March 21 by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that should have received our attention.

Our intention is not advertise James Hirvisaari, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, but to show that PS MP is in the dark about racism.

Hirvisaari is not the only MP in the PS who doesn’t know what racism and discrimination are. There are many others like MP Reijo Tossavainen, who expressed ignorance of our Non-Discrimination Act by stating it was acceptable to hire people based on nationality.

One of the matters that the PS has done in Finland is bring out the darkest side of some Finns. These include: intolerance, racism, discrimination, provincialism, conservatism, sexism, anti-Russian nationalism to just name a few from a very long list.

Hirvisaari, who was sentenced in December 2011 for ethnic agitation, considered the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to be a joke. Even so, his ignorance about racism reinforces the importance of that day.

He writes on a blog entry headlined “Anti-racism day” the following: “In spite of everything I must admit that I belong to that national group that is treated by those in particular [who claim to be] “tolerant” in a very racist (sic!) manner. I am for example a Perussuomalaiset [party member] and a devout Christian.”

Even if it’s clear that extremist anti-immigration groups want to rewrite and redefine history and concepts that reveal their intolerance, racism and far right credentials, are people like Hirvisaari ignorant or do they play on people’s ignorance – or are both of the above true?

I have been labelled by some members of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) of being a “racist” because I speak out against the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party. I explain to them that I never knew that the PS was an ethnic group. Christians aren’t an ethnic group either as Hirvisaari believes.

Despite all the bravado, ethnic sabre-rattling and provocations by extremist politicians like Hirvisaari and the PS in general, I wonder why none of their MPs have taken part in any debates on our blog.

That fact in itself is revealing. It shows that they only feel at home with people who think like them.

YLE ensures that opinion pieces and news will be easily identifiable in the future

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Migrant Tales

YLE emailed a Migrant Tales reader, who expressed concern Friday about an opinion piece written as news by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen. It was an odd coincidence that Immonen’s opinion piece was published in such a manner, considering that the PS MP is the new chairman of Suomen Sisu, a far right anti-immigration association.

The email sent by Teijo Valtanen, the regional and radio current affairs director, states: “Because in your opinion it wasn’t easily enough to distinguish that [what Immonen wrote] was an opinion piece, we will check these columns written [weekly on Fridays by Oulu region] MPs to ensure that they stand out sufficiently from news and are easily identifiable as opinion pieces.”

Thank you YLE. Even if Valtanen states that the broadcaster will take special care so that this mistake doesn’t happen again, this is exactly what should be always done. It’s the readers right to know if he or she is reading an opinion piece or a news story. Opinion is opinion and news stories are supposed to be fairly written without editorializing the topic.

In countries where the media is controlled by autocratic governments that have little respect for human rights, a strongman’s opinion can be presented as “news.”

Since the media plays an important role in our Western society to ensure Montesquieu’s checks and balances, the newsroom should be always off limits to representatives of the judiciary, legislative and executive.

Taking into account the attitude of some politicians especially from the PS, some of them would be more than happy to control what the media says. This became self-evident right after the PS’ historic victory in 2011. Both MPs Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari, who have been sentenced for ethnic agitation, tried to tell the media how they should write about the populist party.

Hirvisaari, who wanted the media to stop nicknaming the PS persu, which could be seen coming from the word perse, meaning anus, claimed in 2011 that YLE should be made redundant because it brainwashes the public.

Why shouldn’t we be worried if an opinion piece written by a party member who loathes the media appears as news?

Our reaction to such a mistake clearly showed that that we want politicians, especially like Immonen, to stay out of the newsroom.

The media does its job when it places politicians under scrutiny, especially those who want to undermine its role and compromise its independence.

What Finland can learn from countries like the U.K. about racism

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Migrant Tales

We can learn a lot from countries like the United Kingdom, where multiculturalism is an official social policy. Few won’t deny that the U.K. as well as other European countries don’t know what racism is if we look at their direct involvement in the slave trade and in the systematic genocide of indigenous peoples outside Europe.

What does the U.K. do differently from us in Finland when it comes to racism? They take a social ill like racism more seriously than us. Few if any sensible politicians, except from xenophobic parties like the BNP or UKIP, deny that racism isn’t an issue in the country or that this is caused by immigrants.

Despite the rise of an anti-EU and anti-immigration party in 2011 in this country, the Perussuomalaaiset (PS) and its leader Timo Soini continue to play down racism with quaint sound bites like, “I cannot be a racist because I am a Catholic.”

Soini tried this line on HARDtalk and got torn to shreds. PS MP James Hirvisaari, an anti-immigration extremist who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, tried the same approach on a blog entry, Kristitty ei voi olla rasisti (A Christian cannot be a racist).

It’s pretty obvious that Hirvisaari, who must be worried about his image as a racist and extremist, must have asked Soini what to do about this. The head of the PS must have advised him to write a blog entry and argue that he, a Christian, cannot be racist.

Even if the credibility of such claims from Soini, Hirvisaari and others are questionable to say the least, they reveal two matters about those who make them: (1) They have no idea what racism and how damaging it is and therefore don’t take it seriously; and/or (2) know what racism is but are its junkies because it feeds their hunger for power and brings them media attention.

PS town concillor Mika Hiltunen is the latest politician to face ethnic agitation charges. There are, unfortunately, many others who build their political careers on spreading racism, prejudice and intolerance in all forms and shapes.

You may ask why doesn’t the media see things the same way like Migrant Tales. It does. The problem is that 99% of the national media is run by white Finns who have never faced racism. People like Soini and his band of followers aren’t yet a threat to them never mind white Finns.

If there is a model we could start to look at on how to deal with racism in our country, one good country to start is the U.K. never mind Canada and Australia. All three countries have adopted multiculturalism as their official integration policy.

Check out what happened to councillor Christ Joannides of the Conservative Tory Party after he made Islamophobic comments on his Facebook page. Right. He got in hot water and is now facing a police investigation but he hasn’t been kicked out of the party.

The Tories continue to have their racism issues in the party as this story on North London Newspapers reveals. To give the boot or not, that is the question.

Contrarily, Migrant Tales wrote about Tory MP Aidan Burley and how he was sacked from the party after attending a “Nazi” stag party.

By breaking his campaign promise, that any PS politician, especially an MP, would get sacked if sentenced by court for ethnic agitation, sends a mixed message: We’re sort of against racism but we’re not really. Carry on.

Shameful and disgraceful behavior coming from the leader of Finland’s third-largest party in parliament.

While racism and the PS may be in vogue today, history will judge them as a racist party that never got it when it came to cultural diversity.

PS MP Hirvisaari now says he was “pressured” to resign from Suomen Sisu

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari, who was convicted for ethnic agitation in December, announced Saturday on Twitter that he was “pressured” to resign from the extremist Suomen Sisu association. He announced on Friday that he was resigning from Suomen Sisu because he was too old to belong to “a youth organization.”

Hirvisaari tweets, “The truth: I was pressured to resign from Suomen Sisu.”

In his usual far right tone, Hirvisaari wrote on his blog: ”[I didn’t resign] because there was something wrong with the association, but because it is a youth organization.”

And continues: “I thank Suomen Sisu’s smart young men and women for their inspiring, intelligent, peaceful and authentic love for the fatherland and for their company and great example.”

So what does this latest piece of news about Hirvisaari’s motive to resign from Suomen Sisu tell us? It reveals that there is a big struggle in the PS between the far right faction led by MP Jussi Halla-aho and the party’s chairman Timo Soini.

Hirvisaari now regrets resigning from Suomen Sisu.

Is this tweet by Hirvisaari an outright declaration of war against Soini?

Are Hirvisaari’s days counted in the PS?

Maybe.

Sources: Hannele Kosonen and Turun Sanomat

PS MP Hirvisaari goes off the wall as Finnish appeals court upholds Van Wonterghem’s hate speech sentence

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish appeals court announced Wednesday that it has upheld a district court decision to fine Perussuomalaiset (PS) Kotka city councillor Freddy van Wonterghem for inciting ethnic hatred.

While Van Wonterghem is a small fry in the anti-immigration party, far-right PS MP James Hirvisaari blew his stack by slamming the appeals court decision on his Facebook page as “sick, sick.”

“The Kouvola appeals court would end up under sea but it’s lucky that it will even be transferred to Kuopio,” Hirvisaari wrote. “So lawyers are in favor of whipping to death a raped girl. There’s no other way that [van Wonterghem’s] sentence can be understood.”

It is surprising that Hirvisaari and van Wonterghem, who have built their political careers on spreading hate speech, are now upset that it’s legal pay-back time. Without the PS party, social media and Hirvisaari’s hate speech, it’s doubtful that this railroad engineer would have ever been elected to parliament.

Van Wonterghem commented on a blog entry written by Migrant Tales that he had no regrets about what he wrote in the summer of 2011. He said that if a Muslim girl would die it was a good matter since it would be one less woman giving birth to a member of that religious group.

Hirvisaari, who belongs to the legal committee of parliament, said on Uusi Suomi that deputy state prosecutor Jorma Kalske and state prosecutor Mika Illman were “politically corrupt.”

Kalske laughed off Hirvisaari’s claim.

“I can’t remember during my 40-year career of ever hearing an MP that is a member of the legal committee using this type of langauge against the judicial authorities,” he said.

The chairman of the legal committee, Anne Holmlund of the National Coalition Party, doesn’t consider it appropriate for a member of the legal committee or MP to criticize Finland’s legal system in the way that Hirvisaari does.

PS MP James Hirvisaari and his Nazi-SS YouTube video

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari has been caught once again with his hand in the extremist cookie jar. Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reports that Hirvisaari had uploaded a Nazi video years ago that glorifies the SS.

Hirvisaari uploaded the video as ”allamarcia” but it was originally published by kingtiger88 in March 2007.

The video, which shows SS officers and tanks, plays Rammstein’s song, Sonne (Sun).

Etelä-Suomen Sanomat got in touch with Hirvisaari about the video clip. He sent the following SMS message:

”Many years ago through that Nazi video I got know this great band Rammstein. Thus there is no reason to draw any questionable conclusions since there are no war or Nazi sympathies on my part. It must, therefore, simply be seen just as a heavy metal music video.”

These are the words of an MP convicted for inciting ethnic hatred and who, with his far-right ideology, believes he can make up and rewrite history to fit his myopic worldview.

Taking into account the atrocities the SS committed in World War 2, it isn’t surprising that Hirvisaari could get a kick out of watching these types of videos.