Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* interior minister, Mari Rantanen, has pulled another fast one on the media. Anti-immigration politicians usually make outrageous statements that are then rebuffed by the media. It is a course in Fake News 101. Even if Interior Minister Mari Rantanen admits her claim, that millions of migrants are coming to Finland, to be…
Tag: Mari Rantanen
Close the Finnish-Russian border and leave everything to chance
I have always said that if there were another government, preferably without the National Coalition Party (NCP) and Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, the decision to shut the Russian-Finnish border would have some credibility. Source: X (formerly Twitter). The decision to close the border is first and foremost a political decision. It is a good way to shift…
“Black Friday:” Two Finnish government lies about migrants for the price of one
THE STORY WAS UPDATED In order to expose the lies of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government, just look at the flagrant denials and outrageous claims. There are two that fit the far-right playbook to a tee: (1) We can shut the Finnish-Russian border and deny people the right to asylum; and (2) Vladimir Putin can…
Closing the Finnish-Russian border is a stunt to boost to the government’s sagging popularity
How can you trust a party and government that builds its support on conspiracy theories about asylum seekers? You can if you are gullible. Due to over 300 asylum seekers who came from countries with terrible human rights issues due to wars like Syria, Yemen, and Somalia, the Finnish government has decided to shut four…
The Finnish government’s xenophobic knee-jerk response: The asylum seekers are coming! Shut the border”
Yle: “Today [Wednesday] about 70 asylum seekers asked for asylum [at the Russian border].” A-studio: “One hundred thousand people attempt to cross the Mediterranean annually [to enter Europe].” I’ve been quiet, watching with manifest unease, the actions of the government spearheaded by the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party about the trickle of asylum seekers arriving at…
The tightening of Finland’s citizenship law is disenfranchisement and sheer hypocrisy by Interior Minister Mari Rantanen
Listening to the anti-immigration rhetoric of Petteri Orpo’s government and especially of its Perussuomalaiset (PS)* interior minister, Mari Rantanen, on tightening citizenship requirements, two matters come to light: racism and hypocrisy. The planned changes in the citizenship law include: Rantanen is not only a multiculturally challenged politician but does not practice what she hatefully preaches….
The biggest challenges that Nordic countries like Finland have to challenge their gang violence problem are exceptionalism and denial
As we mentioned in our report in March, Finland’s youth gang problem is a tool used by the Perussuomalaiset and National Coalition Party to tar-and feather migrants. It is an excellent topic to drive home Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s migration policy that will disenfranchise such people. In an Ykkösaamu interview Saturday, apart from Interior Minister…
When xenophobia becomes an obsession and knows no end
Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Interior Minister Mari Rantanen is one of the government’s xenophobic “hotheads.” She, like PS Finance Minister Riikka Purra, will exploit and spread xenophobic soundbites to suit her party’s political agenda, which is nothing more than bashing brown and black migrants and refugees. Even if she is supposed to watch out for our…
The Finnish youth gang “problem” is a monster concocted by the radical right
What drives the government, particularly Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen of Perussuomalaiset (PS), to give utmost attention and tackle the issue of youth street gangs? Is it a sincere attempt tosolve such a social problem, or an opportunity to further victimize migrants and minorities in Finland? The assertion isn’t far-fetched. The PS is historically…
The “Denmarkization” of Finland’s immigration and asylum policy
The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had a long love affair with Denmark’s anti-Muslim immigration policy, one of the toughest in Europe. With loaded guns in government, the PS must be happy that they can adopt, with the blessings of National Coalition Party (NCP) Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and the two minor coalition partners, the…