Perussuomalaiset Archives - Page 109 of 161

Sarcastic and humorous politicians should seek new careers in comedy

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Imagine the following predicament: Politicians who should know better capitalizing on a country’s racist streak in order to further their careers and narcissism. Adding salt to social injury, these politicians claim to be “patriotic” but in fact are far from it. Is promoting nationalism, hatred, racism – no matter how passionately or subtly – so-called “patriotic” behavior?

PS MP James Hirvisaari defended this person’s Nazi salute in parliament as “humor.” When politicians spread the message of hate and racism in Finland, they do so by claiming to be humorous, sarcastic or being critical. For obvious reasons it’s never considered racist or unbecoming behavior by an elected public servant.

Fueling intolerance is reckless and opportunistic behavior, especially if it will land you lots of votes and a political career.

On top of being reckless and opportunistic, these types of politicians are weaklings because they claim to dress their racism with humor and sarcasm.

Take for example the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) party of Finland. Is it acceptable for an elected public official from the PS or any other party to spread racism and victimize other groups to further his or her career?

Is it acceptable that the PS’ leader, Timo Soini, broke his promise to voters by not sacking party members who were sentenced for ethnic agitation?

Here’s the bottom line: The sarcasm, humor and even the so-called critical thinking against immigrants and minorities of these opportunistic politicians isn’t funny at all, especially to those they label and victimize.

If these politicians are so much into humor and sarcasm, they should make a career change and become comedians.

If they are public servants, however, they should learn to behave accordingly, respect values like social equality for all, and never forget they represent a wide constituency of society.

Another red herring about gays and Jews by Finnish PS MP Juho Eerola

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Migrant Tales

I’m always amazed by these anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset MPs like Juho Eerola, sent a written question to parliament demanding that Muslims in Finland renounce publicly their anti-gay and anti-Semitic stances, according to Kotka-based Kymen Sanomat.

Here’s a very good opinion piece (in Finnish) by Sakari Timonen that exposes Eerola for what he is: A politician without scruples.

The question that Eerola’s statement raises is why is he offering us this red herring now.

Those that have read Eerola throughout the years, know perfectly well that he’s no friend of gays. We could even put to question his pro-Jewish stance. Is he pro-Jewish because he supports how Israel treats Palestinians, who are Muslims?

The answer why the PS MP expresses concern now for gays and Jews is clear: European MEP elections are coming up in May and there is apparently concern in the PS that the party’s negative stand against same sex-marriages may cost it dearly.

Read full story here.

Eerola’s victimization of Muslims is done the same old way: He groups all Muslims in the same bag.

Reaction to Eerola’s stunt has been widely commented and condemned on social media.

PS MP Eerola is that type of far-right politicians who would care less for gays never mind cultural diversity in Finland and religious freedom.

His most recent outburst and red herring is ample proof of that.

Violent language

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Some Finns don’t grasp how violent anti-immigration groups are and the role of institutional racism, which serves and supports such groups. Every lie, distorted and exaggerated fact concocted against migrants and visible minorities is a bullet.

These anti-immigration groups and their supporters are, however, big cowards. They often threaten, slander and distort facts anonymously. Some may even write to your employer – anonymously of course – and chastise you in the hope that you’ll get fired from your job.

Even though I got my first death threats in Finland in the early 1990s after I wrote about Somali and African asylum seekers in Mikkeli for Finland’s largest magazine, Apu, matters have gotten worse since those days.

That’s why I believe that the Perussuomalaiset, especially their far-right and anti-immigration wing, are a big threat to the security of migrants and visible minorities. The Perussuomalaiset aren’t the only political party in Finland that has racists. You can find them in all parties.

Violence doesn’t always have to be physical and can be found in the form of institutional racism. It lives at elementary schools where children of migrant parents are openly labeled as “them,” or “other.”

Inequality is violence with a capital “V” especially in a noble country like Finland.

It’s high time that we recognize and challenge violent language against migrants and all minorities.

Being “critical of migrants” is only a code word for racism and hostility.

Read posting in Finnish here.

Väkivallan kielellä

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Jotkut eivät ymmärrä kuinka väkivaltaisia ovat maahanmuuttovastustajat ja niitä rasismin yhteiskunnallisia rakenteita joita he palvelevat ja joihin saavat tukea. Jokainen valhe, vääristetty ja liioiteltu tieto on kuin luoti.

Nämä maahanmuuttovastaiset ovat kuitenkin suuria pelkureita. He monesti uhkaavat, solvaavat toisia ei omalla nimellä mutta nimettömänä. He kirjoittavat jopa työantajalle – tietysti nimettömänä – ja haukkuvat sinua siinä toivossa, että saisit potkut työpaikkaistasi.

Vaikka sain ensimmäiset tappouhkaukset toimittajana Suomessa 1990-luvun alussa, koska kirjoitin jutun Apu-lehteen somalialaisista ja afrikkalaisista pakolaisista Mikkelissä, sama meno on vain kiihtynyt tänään.

Siksi uskon, että perussuomalaiset ja erityisesti sen äärioikeisto ja maahanmuuttovastainen siipi ovat suuri vaara ja turvallisuusriski meille, eli maahanmuuttajille ja näkyville vähemmistöille. Perussuomalaiset eivät ole ainoa puolue jossa on rasisteja. Niitä on valitettavasti jokaisessa suomalaisissa puolueessa.

Väkivallan ei tarvitse aina olla fyysistä, koska siitä löytyy myös valtion ja yhteiskunnanrakenteissa. Se voi tapahtua ala-asteen koululla kun sinut leimataan avoimesti mamu.

Epätasa-arvoa on väkivalta isolla V:llä erityisesti niin hienossa maassa kuin Suomessa.

Olisi siksi korkea aika tunnistaa ja haasta väkivallan kieli.

Se ei ole mitään “kriittisyyttä,” se on väkivalta.

___________

Nimetön kirje minulle Ylä-Savosta päivitetty 8.11.2010:

Herra Tessieri

Hyvin kylmät terveiset täältä Ylä-Savosta, kirjoittaja on alkuperäinen Suomen kansalainen, joka puolusti tätä maata, jonka sos. turvan varassa ilmeisesti sinäkin nyt nautiskelet. Haavoitun tätä maata puolustaessani talvi ja jatko sodassa itsenäisyytemme puolesta, en teikäläisten muukalaisten puolesta. Emme voi hyväksyä tätä ”luuseri”-laumaa mitä sinäkin edustat ja vielä yrität moittia ja haukkua alkuperäisiä suomalaisia, jotka ovat tämän maan rakentaneet ja verellään lunastaneet. Häpeä hyvä mies tälläistä artikkeliä minkä Savon Sanomat vielä julkaisi.

Sain vihaisen kirjeen tämän mielipidejutun takia.

Mene hyvä mies sinne maahan mistä olet tullut, äläkä tule koskaan takaisin. Korjaa sen valtakunnan etuja, jos sinut joku maa haluaa elätäkseen ottaa. Terve menoa vain.

Olen tilannut Savon Sanomia yli 50 vuotta, mutta nyt olen sanonut tilaukseni irti kun häpäisevät tilaajiaan tuommoisilta artikkeleilla sinun ansioistasi. Kirjoitti eräs sotimme veteraani suuren joukon puolesta jotka ovat samaa mieltä tällöisistä luusereista. Emme todella puolustanut tätä maata teikäläisiä varten. Suomi Suomalaisille.!

The PS throw water into the steaming sauna stones of intolerance as MEP elections near

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS) are Finland’s anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party. Some of their questionable political soul mates in Europe are the far-right Danish People’s Party, Sweden Democrats and Ukip of Britain. Even if they are all of the above, they make up shameful denials that they aren’t all of the above.

Why? Because Finnish voters are conservative and their tolerance for reckless populism has its limits. Moreover, Finland’s version of the U.S. Tea Party is only good at two things: whining and denying.

As mentioned, one of the main things that the PS does is spread racism and urban tales. They do so because that’s the way they get media attention. When they get media attention, they connect with their voters through code.

It shouldn’t surprise us that as the European Member of Parliament (MEP) elections near on May 25, the PS are feverishly connecting with their voters through their usual intolerance and racism.

In the city of Kouvola in southeast Finland, the PS are offering to potential voters licorice with a golliwog-looking mascot on a box that reads: PS – you get what you ordered.

This phrase could be interpreted in the following manner: “What you got” are blacks from Africa due to Finland’s immigration policy. The PS will set things right.

Thank you Marian Abdulkarim for the heads-up on Facebook.

So a PS councilman of Lieksa, Finland, wants a “Somali-free” room…

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Roble Bashir

We need a Somali-free meeting room today in the eastern Finnish town of Lieksa, according to a Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman Esko Saastamoinen. Somali-free town tomorrow or Somali- free country after tomorrow? Why do they hate us so much?

Illustration by Sebastian L. Jackson for Migrant Tales.

Many times I wonder what is wrong with the PS? Why do they make near-constant ludicrous comments to the media about Somalis in Finland? It makes me sad to read what they say but it gives me power and awareness at the same time.

The PS has put a large sign over its head: We hate everything about you Somalis, your skin color and the fact that you live in this Finland.

Why do they hate us so much if we don’t hold any grudges against them? What’s wrong? Are we invaders to this land? Actually not, because some of us were not only born here but grew up in this country as well. Despite this fact, we’re treated like strangers, even as outcasts.

How can immigrants integrate into Finland if politicians create a climate of intolerance and hatred with their racist speeches to the public and sound bites to the media?

It’s a pretty normal day in Finland when you wake up in a morning, read a newspaper or start surfing the internet, when you eventually read about a politician saying something negative and hostile about immigrants. It’s extremely sad that an MP, who represents this country, uses his power for fear-mongering.

One of these MPs is Jussi Halla-aho of the PS, who visited the town of Lieksa over the weekend. If he gets elected to the European Parliament in May, he will do everything possible to make our lives more difficult in Europe.

Even so, I’m certain he won’t succeed.

We can do it and send Halla-aho and the PS to where they came from

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Migrant Tales

I still remember April 2011, when the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) party opened a gloomy chapter in Finland’s history by getting 39 MPs elected to parliament. The election was impressive to say the least considering that only 5 PS MPs got elected in 2007.

Source: www.youthventure.org

While some were surprised by the election result, some played it down. They felt that the PS would blow over and that it’s only a question of time when the party would implode, like the Rural Party of the 1970s, due to internal differences.

While the PS does well in opinion polls, the presidential and municipal elections were a far cry from the historic result that the right-wing populist party gained in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

With two crucial make-or-break elections in May and April 2015, the million-euro question is how well will the PS fare.

Certainly a lot of things can happen from here to May and April of next year, there are signs that the public is getting tired of the PS political scandals and the racism that continues to plague the party.

While there was a definite honeymoon with the PS’ chairman, Timo Soini, the media and public have started to lose interest in the charismatic leader.

And this is quite understandable considering that the PS have not given one credible solution to put the Finnish economy back on a healthy path of growth. It’s MPs are more interested in whining and machismo, which has a heavy dose of intolerance, nationalism and bravado, instead of offering credible solutions.

One of the biggest mistakes that the PS is making at this moment is that it believes its election good fortunes of 2011 are eternal, which reveals why the party has become arrogant and power-hungry.

I believe that we’ll see big surprises in the following MEP and parliamentary elections and that the election of PS MP Jussi Halla-aho is still undecided. Certainly the misfortunes of the PS rest on themselves and how well Finland’s traditional parties can expose Soini’s political antics and double-talk.

Finland took a clear swing to the populist and far-right three years ago. Finnish voters in 2012 gave an inconclusive show of support to the PS in the presidential and municipal elections.

The next two elections will decide whether the PS will be sent or not back to the minor political leagues.

Finland is repeating the mistakes of the past because we deny our history

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting question that a YLE journalist asks National Coalition Party minister for European affairs and foreign trade, Aleksander Stubb, on the Ykkösaamu talk show Saturday about why small- and medium-sized companies in Finland prefer to be acquired by foreign companies instead of continue to expand in global markets.

National Coalition Party Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Aleksander Stubb speaking on YLE’s Ykkösaamu talk show.

It’s unfortunate that Stubb wasn’t more honest with his answer because it would have revealed, in my opinion, what’s wrong with this country today and why an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party became in 2011 the third-biggest force in parliament.

Stubb ducked the answer by stating that small- and medium-sized companies should “believe more in themselves” and continue their expansion in global market.

While it’s clear that “belief in oneself” is crucial, another important factor is how you see the outside world.

How could some Finns not see the outside world as a threat if some of these small- and medium-sized business leaders, who grew up during the cold war era, were taught to mistrust it? Finland did everything possible during that period to hinder migration and foreign investment to Finland with the help of laws and myths of self-sufficiency that were reinforced by our hatred of the former Soviet Union.

I’m certain that the reason why some Finnish companies, and there are many, have succeeded in global markets is simply because they’ve overcome their own prejudices they learned at home and school.

We come again to the so-called dumb question why intolerance and racism are bad for a healthy country like Finland. Aren’t we our worst enemies, not those migrants and visible minorities we scapegoat and blame for our own shortcomings?

Finland must look at its intolerance in a bolder fashion. If we don’t, as the PS have shown, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past.

PS MP Halla-aho to attend first Council of Europe meeting Monday

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, will represent Finland at a Council of Europe meeting Monday in Strasbourg, according to Tampere-based Aamulehti, which cites STT.

Read full story (in FInnish) here.

The appointment of Halla-aho to the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe last year prompted a joint statement by the leaders of seven parliamentary parties expressing regret over this move.

One of the aims of the Council of Europe is to promote human rights.

National Coalition Party MP Kimmo Sasi, who is Vice-Chairman of the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe, said that Halla-aho’s appointment as deputy member didn’t advance Finland’s image as a country that defends human rights.

True, but Sasi forgets that before 1995, when Finland became an EU member, the human rights of migrants were not respected. One clear indication of breaches of human rights were denying Soviet citizens the right to political asylum in Finland.

The fact that Finland’s third largest party in parliament, the PS, doesn’t have any problems with naming an MP like Halla-aho to represent this country speaks volumes about the state of intolerance in this country.

Finland was one of the last countries in Western Europe to join the Council of Europe in 1989. Finland’s special relationship with the former Soviet Union was one reason why Finland took so long to join.

Trade Union Pro leader affair: PS leadership claims it is a victim of hate speech

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo put her two cents on tabloid Ilta-Sanomat Tuesday by stating that Antti Rinne is guilty of hate speech against her party. One matter is an MP filing police charges against a person for having an opinion and the other is for the party leadership to back such action.

Migrant Tales reported Monday that PS MP Kaj Turunen had filed charges against Rinne for ”ethnic agitation” because he had stated on a Helsingin Sanomat interviews that the right-wing populist party had no scruples and therefore was open to racism and fascism.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

The reaction of the PS to Rinne’s statement is one of the party’s deceptions exposed in the raw.

Since much of the party’s support comes from Finnish males who feel excluded and victims of society, Rinne’s comment sits well with the image the party wants to give voters. “The image that the party wants to reinforce is that of a socially excluded [male] victim who is misunderstood and has no voice,” a university professor told Migrant Tales.

Sensible people understand that what Turunen did and what Slunga-Poutsalo condoned is ludicrous from a legal standpoint. We know that the PS is a political party not an ethnic group or religious minority that needs protection from hate speech.

The present incident, which will be forgotten by many but not by Migrant Tales, is another example of the tragic-comic performance by the PS. It not only shows how lost ideologically and susceptible they are to racism and fascism, but to shameless opportunism as well.

It reinforces our view that the PS are a political menace to Finland.