Populism is a good way to win elections but an impossible way to govern. Eugene Robinson How far will right-wing parties like the Moderate Party of Sweden go to make a pact with their political devils? How much populism and empty nationalism led to the demise of UK Prime Minister Liz Truss? These are valid…
Tag: nationalism
When countries become nationalism addicts and junkies
Xenophobia tends to pile up. Like blacks in the United States, Finland’s “black” problem is Russia, and from the 1990s, Muslims. In the 1980s, when I lived permanently in Finland, and about 12,000 foreign nationals were living in the country, the racist undercurrent that flowed like a mighty river was ever-present. It reminded you whenever…
Center Party’s Pylväs cannot resist and swallows the “sweet” pill of racism
Center Party parliamentary group leader Juha Pylväs went on the rampage Wednesday: “We certainly need in Finland skilled foreigners who can live off their work,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat. “We don’t need surfers and parasites that seek a better standard of living.” While we could consider Pylväs’ statement in foul taste, Center…
The new PS board is a tinderbox and a liability to their political goals
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED While some reporters are hoping for the downfall of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government, they are also rooting for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, whom they see as a shoo-in to lead or be a member of Finland’s next government after the 2023 parliamentary elections. If you look at the reporting of the…
Piia Kattelus-Kilpeläinen: Put another fascist feather in my PS cap
Piia Kattelus-Kilpeläinen is the latest example of the bedfellows of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. The councilperson from Seinäjoki, where she works as a police officer, offers an odd New Year’s greeting, all with a fascist Lapua Movement, Lapua like, (1928-1932) pullover, an ax, and a chain. A publicity stunt of a media-hungry person craving for…
Adam Al-Sawad: Missä menee sivistysvaltion raja?
Nationalististen tahojen kerätessä suosiota Suomessa, kohtaa Suomen poliittinen kenttä yhä useammin skandaaleja perussuomalaisten poliitikkojen toimesta. Yhdessä skandaalissa kannatetaan “eliminointia” ja tuhopolttoja (Turtiainen, 2015) tai levitetään räikeästi väärää tietoa rasistisin tarkoitusperin (Purra, 2020), toisessa vitsaillaan murhattujen tummaihoisten kustannuksella (Turtiainen, 2020) tai väitetään vielä elossa olevien tekevän kouluista eläintarhoja (Halla-Aho, 2007). Puolueen sisältä paljastuu tasaisin väliajoin kytköksiä…
Finland’s speaker of parliament stokes the white Christian flames of “us” and “them”
Conservative National Coalition Party speaker of parliament, Paula Risikko, was quoted as saying in Senäjoki-based daily Ilkka that she is concerned about the role of Christians in Finland. “Was it easier before to be religious,” she was quoted as asking in Keskisuomalainen. “For example, it’s not as easy today to bring one’s religious views at…
Blue Reform MP Simon Elo: Let’s make discrimination official in Finland
Even if the Blue Reform*, which is an offshoot of the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS), wants to change the constitution so that non-Finnish citizens would get paid less social welfare than Finnish citizens, the suggestion by MP Simon Elo exposes to the tee the racism of his party and hatred of migrants. Blue Reform, like the…
Finland’s lost decade flirting with racism, fascism and the Perussuomalaiset party
Sampo Terho, minister culture, sport and European affairs, was elected on Saturday to chair Blue Reform, a Lilliputian party that split from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* after their plush ministerial jobs were on the line after Jussi Halla-aho was elected PS chairperson in June.
Timo Soini’s fall from grace and the legacy of planting the political seeds of bigotry and racism in Finland
One lesson we could learn from former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini is that the right balance between flattery and speaking in code will get you everywhere, well, almost everywhere. You can win big elections like in 2011 and ride, albeit momentarily, the crest of the popularity wave until you hit the wall in disgrace with your fingers badly burned.