Tag: nationalism

Facebook (Timo Vornanen, the Finnish MP who shot his gun in public): Oops!

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Finland lives in collective amnesia about its ultranationalistic, xenophobic disposition. The post earlier this month shows Vornanen’s loathing of the Greens and of migrants.

Rosa Meriläinen is a Green politician and writer.

For obvious reasons, the former policeman is on sick leave for two weeks.

The shooting incident not only exposes the lies of the government program, “a strong and committed Finland,” it exposes its outright lies.

Is this the Finland I want to live in?

No, thanks, I’ll pass.

“All kinds of candidates for the European[parliamentary] elections. This comes from the GREENS.
For Rosa’s information, climate change will not be stopped by standing up to the police and breaking the law. I understand that you think breaking the law is “all OK and fun;” as long as it is not directed at your own people.
Or do you Rosa think that the world will be a better place if someone gives you a good beating?
The only effect such an act would have is to overwork the police and the courts; they would have just one more case to deal with and this would make you feel bad. Breaking the law will not have any effect on climate change.
Breaking the law will not save the world.
I think your actions as a parent are very irresponsible.
And as far as the immigration that Rosa mentioned is concerned, we do not need any more foreign “specialists” living on social benefits and other income transfers here in Europe and Finland.
We simply cannot afford it.
A skilled workforce that comes here to work and pay their taxes is welcome.”

Sweden’s election and UK PM Liz Truss’ demise are a warning to Finland’s National Coalition Party

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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 questions for Finland’s National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), which is making similar pacts with populism.

Kokoomus, like the Moderate Party of Sweden, and the rapid downfall of UK Prime Minister Truss must have raised some concerns. An election strategy is needed for April, but peppered with toxic populism and anti-immigration soundbites?

Finland faces a lot of challenges. For one, it needs labor migrants but this is difficult to realize on a grand scale because the Perussuomalaiset, Kokoomus, and other parties that attack and see migrants as a threat.

Politicians make fiery speeches against migrants – note they speak of all migrants – and then expect people to move here. Even for some who live here, the environment looks and feels hostile.

If we continue down the road of populism and exclusive nationalism, it’s clear that our future spells ruin.

Disagree?

See the UK before and after Brexit.

When countries become nationalism addicts and junkies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

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 you talked about the Russians and later on, Muslims became a part of that shameful picture.

That undercurrent showed itself on several occasions. It did so in the early 1990s when Somalis started to arrive in Finland. That undercurrent, especially nurtured by tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat, acted like a thug’s warning.

You will pay a high price If you get too friendly with foreigners.

That toxic undercurrent has gotten stronger in recent years. Finland’s biggest opposition party is openly Islamophobic and racist. Politicians, even in the government like MP Eveliina Heinäluoma and a long list of National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) politicians in the opposition, have cuddled up to our hostile environment.

I always say that minority rights in Finland will not improve under their leadership. And even less so if the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Kokoomus, Center Party, Liike nyt, Christian Democrats ever get power.

Finland’s deep mistrust of Russia and Russians stems from its difficult history with that country. The war in Ukraine has only revived even more such hatred. Matters will get worse for Finland’s minorities.

We saw that in Estonia when the new government of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced that it would phase out the Russian language at nursery homes and schools by 2030.

About a quarter of Estonia’s population speaks Russian as their mother tongue. The right to an education and recognition will spell trouble for white Estonians by denying rights to such a large group of people.

Continue reading “When countries become nationalism addicts and junkies”

Center Party’s Pylväs cannot resist and swallows the “sweet” pill of racism

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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 Party chairperson, Annikka Saarikko, only worsens matters by stating that the large amount of asylum seekers who did not get a residence permit is proof that they aren’t fleeing strife but looking for a better standard of living.

So?! Isn’t that what millions of Europeans did when they emigrated from Europe in the nineteenth and first half of the last century?

Is it a crime to seek a better life? According to many Finnish politicians like Pylväs and Saarikko it is a crime.

Read the full story here.

Pylväs is a member of the Center Party that uses the same language to label asylum seekers such as the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. PS MP Mauri Peltokangas, charged with ethnic agitation, calls asylum seekers “surfers” who seek a better standard of living.

Even if the media attributes Pylväs’ xenophobic description of asylum seekers to Peltokangas, the term “welfare shopper” or “surfer” was coined in 2015 by then PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo.

Pylväs knows he’s said the right thing when PS MP Sebastian Tynkkynen, who is being charged for a third time for ethnic agitation, compliments him for his words.

If he were fair, the Center Party MP could tell us what studies he bases his insult on asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse community.

Considering the news coming out of Afghanistan these days, Pylväs’ words are especially insulting and expose what has always been wrong concerning the debate on asylum seekers and migrants.

Pylväs, and others of his ilk, are nothing but opportunists, bullies, even cowards for targetting and picking on the most vulnerable and defenseless people of our society, who are asylum seekers. Since asylum seekers are not eligible for social welfare except for the little financial aid they receive monthly, Pylväs directs his insult on Finland’s whole migrant community.

In the face of these types of inappropriate statements that are possible thanks to Finland’s white political system and media, one could ask why even parties in the government continually fuel suspicion, the hostile environment, and hatred of Finland’s new residents.

Even if the answer is complex, its roots are evident: Finland’s big “R” problem and nationalism.

In the meantime, I can vouch for most asylum seekers, migrants, and minorities living in this country that we are proud of our roots and our accomplishments in this country.

The new PS board is a tinderbox and a liability to their political goals

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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 PS, it’s easy to discern the Finnish media’s important role in the growth of this radical-right and xenophobic party.

Moreover, the growth of the PS could be seen as Finland’s racism problem’s coming of age and that all the media had to do was give it a platform at the right.


Even if racism was always present in Finland, it had no opportunity to grow since there were hardly any foreigners until the 1990s, especially from 1995 when we joined the EU in 1995.

The first question: Is the new PS leadership under Riikka Purra capable of turning Finland into a worse country for migrants and minorities? Will the PS leadership succeed at penalizing people even more for not being a white Finn?

If we look at the new PS leaders elected on Saturday, the answer is no. I have written that the worst enemy of the party is its radical-right and racist views.

Let’s briefly look at the PS leadership and why they will fail to transform Finland into a country that loathes diversity.

  • Riikka Purra is an ethnonationslist who believes in far-right “great replacement theories.” Like her predecessor, Jussi Halla-aho, she will lie, kick and bitch to keep Finland white. As chairperson, she will fail at this. Tougher migration laws and xenophobia are not panaceas for the country’s ills.
  • First Vice President Leena Meri is a former police officer with strong views against groups like Black Lives Matter, which she mispronounces. Meri is a raving Islamophobe who sees no wrong in hate speech.
  • Second Vice President Mauri Peltokangas, charged with ethnic agitation, is a far-right Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu organization member. In a 2:36-minute long monologue, he said every 20 seconds the following words: two times shit (paska); two times fucked (perssestä); two times what the hell, hell (mitä helevetti, helevetti); and two times the devil (perkele). He is an Islamophobic hothead.
  • Third Vice President Sebastian Tynkkynen was charged for a third time for ethnic agitation. A social media Islamophobe, Tynkkynen wants to prohibit Muslims from applying for asylum, put asylum seekers in immigration removal centers, among other draconian measures.
  • Party Secretary Arto Luukkanen finds himself in “good” company. Some of his most infamous arguments was accusing the conservative National Coalition Party of caving into communism because of its stance against hate speech. In Luukkanen’s world, racists from parties like the PS can say anything they want to minorities like Muslims.
Continue reading “The new PS board is a tinderbox and a liability to their political goals”

Piia Kattelus-Kilpeläinen: Put another fascist feather in my PS cap

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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 attention. Yes, true. Moreover, a person who would care less about the police’s image.

The PS has had several politicians who are from the police force. How could we forget Olli Sademies, convicted of ethnic agitation, Leena Meri, Tom Packalén, Mika Raatikainen, and others?

Former Helsinki substitute councilperson Sademies played dumb in court about his racist comments.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” he was quoted as saying in 2017 by Demokraatti . “What is that ethnic group anyway that I have agitated? Charging me is absurd, and it’s a racist opinion.”

So what did Sademies actually say about Africans and Muslims?

Sademies’ post in May 2015 on Facebook suggested that since Africans threaten to destroy Finland’s social welfare system because they have so many babies. Therefore it “would require forced sterilization of African men [after three children], which would stop such a flood [of people coming to Finland] from obtaining a better living standard by shagging.”

Writes Kattelus-Kilpeläinen: “During the following year [2021], the Perussuomalaiset will become trendy and will be able to walk on Bulevardi street [in Helsinki] with a coffee with the colors of the Lapua Movement [a fascist group that was dissolved in 1932 after attempting a coup] [in Helsinki] without creating a commotion.”

All of the above-mentioned police officers who are PS politicians are known for their anti-Islam stances, which are so blatant at times that one wonders if it forms part of their police training.

Continue reading “Piia Kattelus-Kilpeläinen: Put another fascist feather in my PS cap”

Adam Al-Sawad: Missä menee sivistysvaltion raja?

Posted on by Adam Al-Sawad
SAVON SANOMAT PÄIVYRI Adam Al-Sawad, Puheenjohtaja perustettavassa rasismin ja islamofobian vastaisessa yhdistyksessä, Kuva: Akseli Muraja

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 väkivaltaisiin radikaaleihin (PVL/SVL) ja heitä tukeviin tahoihin (Suomen Sisu, Perussuomalaiset nuoret, RK! ja niin edelleen). Viranomaisten puuttuessa näiden tahojen toimintaan, perustetaan vain uusia yhdistyksiä tilalle. Yleensä tätä kaikkea seuraa pieni nuhtelu ja sulka hattuun puolueen sisällä (Verkkouutiset, 2019), tai korkeintaan muutamassa tapauksessa skandaalin keskipisteen etäännyttäminen emopuolueesta, toki niin että samalla paukutellaan henkseleitä sillä, miten nykyään ei saa sanoa mitään ilman että haukutaan rasistiksi.

Kaikkea tätä pahentaa se, että nykyään näihin skandaaleihin puuttumista katsotaan pahalla. Maltilliset tahot niin oikealla kuin vasemmallakin lakaisevat Suomen häpeäpilkkuna toimivan puolueen maton alle sen nimissä, ettei heille saa antaa lisää huomiota mediassa, kun taas puolue itse kapitalisoi saamaansa kritiikkiä keksimällä uusia “derangement syndrome” -nimityksiä heitä kohtaan osoitettavalle kritiikille. Kriitikot myös saavat osakseen jatkuvaa uhkailua, vähättelyä ja kyseenalaistamista, ja kun läheisten ikkunoita on käyty kerran rikkomassa äänekkään kritiikin jälkeen, on monen aktivistinkin vaikea enää löytää samanlaista ääntä itselleen toistamiseen. Lopputuloksena puolueen nyrkkisäkkeinä toimivat vähemmistöt saavat vuodesta toiseen miettiä, miten sekulaarina sivistyneenä länsimaana markkinoitavassa Suomessa voidaan hyväksyä tällaista radikalismia. Missä menee sivistysvaltion raja?

Raja on kuitenkin vedettävä johonkin, ja minusta se pitää vetää jo viimeistään tähän. Puolueen ajatushautomona toimiva, opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriöltä rahoitusta saava Suomen Perusta julkaisi hiljattain Jukka Hankamäen kirjan “Totuus kiihottaa”, joka on ajatuspajan mukaan “Filosofinen tutkimus vasemmistopopulistisen valtamedian tieto- ja totuuskriisistä.” Teos on käytännössä äärimmäisen radikaali populistinen teos, jossa etnonationalismi ja rotupetturuuden käsitteellä flirttaileminen kohtaa avoimen rotuopin ja eugeniikan puolustamisen. Sivulla 261 siinä lukee muun muassa näin: ”Osa naisista on saattanut haluta kostaa joitakin kaunojaan suomalaiselle yhteiskunnalle pariutumalla ulkomaalaisen kanssa, ja asiaan liittyvä epäreiluus on saanut suomalaismiesten veren kiehumaan. Samalla naiset ovat käyttäneet myös väestöpoliittista valtaa, sillä rajat ylittävillä pariutumisillaan he ovat muokanneet kansamme geeniperintöä tavalla, joka on rikkonut biologisen rodun, etnisesti määriteltävissä olevan kansan, valtio-opillisesti jäsenneltävissä olevan kansakunnan, juridisen kansalaisuuden ja valtiofilosofisesti voimassa olevan kansallisvaltionvälisen ekvivalenssin sekä korrelatiivisen ja luottamuksellisen suhteen.”

Saatamme olla toden totta kriisin keskellä, mutta tämä kriisi ei ole mikään vasemmistopopulistien masinoima kriisi valtamediassa, vaan nationalismin nousun aiheuttama poliittinen kriisi, jossa törkeästä, radikaalista ja ihmisoikeuksien vastaisesta politiikasta on tulossa Suomessa hyväksyttävää ja normaalia. “Meistä tulee uusi normaali”, iloitsi perussuomalaisten Laura Huhtasaari jo vuonna 2018. Onko tämä kriisi toden totta se uusi normaali, jota pitää rakennuspalikkana tulevaisuuden Suomelle? Vai onko puhe rotupettureista ja n******ukoista jo tullut jäädäkseen hyväksyttävänä osana vaalit melkein voittaneen puolueen politiikkaa.

Finland’s speaker of parliament stokes the white Christian flames of “us” and “them”

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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 work. Christians are being pushed in a closet at the same time when other [religions] are coming out of the closet.”

From giving the thumbs up to far-right demonstrators, expressing ignorance that Finns are not only white, and her tough stand on asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, which she calls illegal immigrants and spreads fear, Risikko’s conservative views continue to insult minorities in this country.

Behind that smile and her Marimekko shirt, lies a sinister ideology that sees migrants, especially Muslims, as a threat to Finland. Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Certainly one reason for Risikko’s latest comment is the parliamentary elections of April 14, 2019, and the EU elections the following month. Does Risikko believe that stoking the flames of “us” and “them” will give short-term political gains?

Do her comments target Muslims and other minorities? Does it reveal her white fragility? Or are they a glimpse of how politicians in Finland continue to lurch towards cheap nationalism with the help of “us” and “them?”

All of the above stain Risikko. 

Blue Reform MP Simon Elo: Let’s make discrimination official in Finland

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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 PS, are not only a danger to our Nordic welfare state and democracy, but a threat to migrants and minorities living in Finland. 

Why? Because both parties are racist. 

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

The fact that a party in government wants to officialize discrimination reveals the extent of racism in the government and why this social ill has worsened under Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.

Such discrimination that Elo proposes isn’t possible because it is unconstitutional. Section 6 of the Finnish constitution expressly states: 

“Everyone is equal before the law. No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age,
origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.”

Finland will hold parliamentary election in April 2019, which explains why Blue Reform is so eager to take out its racism card in order to attract similar-minded voters.

Blue Reform’s support, according to various polls, is dismal, or under 1%.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Finland’s lost decade flirting with racism, fascism and the Perussuomalaiset party

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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. 

Even if the PS imploded into two factions, the Blue Reform party continues in government despite its roughly 1% backing in the latest polls.

Terho admitted Saturday that the new party’s aim is a long and challenging one. He said that the final goal is to become the biggest party in Finland.

The new chairman of Blue Reform can fantasize about the future. The PS’ opportunity came in the 2011 and 2015 parliamentary elections but was dashed by power struggles and infighting.

Finland has paid a high price to learn today that parties like the PS and Blue Reform are a deception because the only thing they like to do is offer simplistic solutions to complex issues, scapegoat and never offer effective solutions.

The lies and the fantasies coming out of Blue Reform appear never-ending. Terho said that his party helped salvage Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government and thereby ensured that the country’s anti-EU stance and anti-immigration policy would continue.

“Finland has a more sensible immigration policy [now] where the economic burden of granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds, uncontrolled immigration and security risks are checked,” he said, adding that one of the government’s accomplishments, thanks to Blue Reform, is putting an end to “asylum tourism.”

Fact check: It is questionable whether there was any economic burden of Finland for granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds. The Finnish Immigration Service’s numbers speak for themselves: 2016 (50 cases); 2015 (6); 2014 (4); 2013 (11); 2012 (112); 2011 (143); and 2010 (654). 

Exaggerating and feeding fake news to the public is nothing new by politicians like Terho, who loathes cultural diversity. He also wants through the Association of Finnish Culture and Identity (Suomalaisuuden liitto) for Finland to remain white and ensure our history is thoroughly whitewashed.

Continue reading “Finland’s lost decade flirting with racism, fascism and the Perussuomalaiset party”