Tag: Perussuomalaiset

Mixed reactions to Hakkarainen’s racist blog entry that victimizes immigrants and Muslims

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Teuvo Hakkarainen’s recent blog entry, which attacked immigrants and Muslims, has been condemned by the vice president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Eero Vainio, and by Muslims like Abdirahim Husu Hussein of the Center Party. 

Reaction to what Hakkarainen wrote is a positive sign that part of Finland’s political establishment considers Islamophobia, racism and intolerance in general unacceptable and out of tune with our values.

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Read original blog entry here.

One reason why the Social Democrats have spoken out against Hakkarainen is because he named SDP Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja an “imam” and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Vainio said that Hakkarainen’s opinions are a good example of how the PS diverts attention from the country’s real problems and shifts them to imaginary ones like immigration.

“The Perussuomalaiset have to get their act together and aim at offering solutions to real problems facing our society in the face of fear-mongering,” he was quoted as saying on Tampere-based daily Aamulehti.

Nasima Razmyar, an SDP Helsinki city councillor and Muslim, said on a blog that what Hakkarainen wrote made her blood boil but would not demand an apology from him.

One of the reasons why Razmyar fell short of asking for an apology is because she apparently believes that racism can be eradicated from the halls of parliament with odd empathy for the racist.

Swedish People’s Party chairman, Carl Haglund, considered what Hakkarainen wrote as “sheer racism.”

“Somebody has to say something,” he was quoted as saying on tabloid Iltalehti. “I’m surprised ho little attention has been given [to what Hakkarainen wrote]…”

Without condemning what Hakkarainen wrote, PS parliamentary leader Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner was quoted as saying on Helsingin Sanomat that the MP’s views did not represent the party’s.

”Critical debate is accepted and welcome [in the PS],” she said, ”but I will not say where we draw the line [on debate].”

Hakkarainen claimed on his blog entry that immigrants who move to this country live off social welfare and are “increasingly guilty of crimes, which were previously rare, among others, like gang rape.”

He claimed that it is every “Muslim’s honor and responsibility to kill and annihilate every religion and Jews, according to the Koran,” and that, “the West is being flooded by millions of Muslims in a wooden Trojan horse…”

Citing a story on Turun Sanomat, the PS MP said that there are Muslim extremists concentrated in the city of Turku ready to declare jihad on Finland.

On an Uusi Suomi blog entry, Hussein offered Hakkarainen an invitation to meet and know more about Finland’s Muslim community. Such meetings have been arranged before for the PS MP, according to the Center Party politician.

”I haven’t heard that such a meeting has ever materilaized, thus I come to the conclusion that either MP Hakkarainen isn’t interested or he really fears Muslims,” he wrote.

Hussein cited on his blog entry a campaign phrase used by the Center Party in the 2012 municipal election to lure back voters that ditched the party and voted for the PS in the April 2011 election.

”We say that it’s time to come back home,” he writes. ”Good man, I want to tell you that it’s time for you to step into the light.”

Let’s play fill in the blanks with far-right Finnish MP Teuvo Hakkarainen

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Teuvo Hakkarainen attacked immigrants and Muslims in a latest blog entry, where he accuses them of living off social welfare and Muslims of taking over Europe. In order to understand how ludicrous and racist the PS MP’s arguments are, Migrant Tales will play “fill in the blanks.”

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Migrant Tales has “played” fill in the blanks with PS MP James Hirvisaari’s rants.

Hakkarainen is, unfortunately, an example of how some politicians in Finland can get away with anything as long as what they state is racist or prejudiced.

But let’s play fill in the banks with Hakkarainen.

The PS MP claims that immigrants who move to this country live off social welfare and are “increasingly guilty of crimes, which were previously rare, among others, like gang rape.”

Some may believe the latter is true. All immigrants immediately become gang rapists as soon as they cross the border.

How would a white Finn feel and react if a fanatic claimed the following: “Finns are no good alcoholics, increasingly guilty of crimes, which are rare elsewhere, like pedophilia, shooting classmates in cold blood at schools, killing their children and wife before taking their own life.”

While the latter statement isn’t true because it generalizes and reveals extreme prejudice about the Finns, Hakkarainen does the same thing when he blames immigrants and Muslims for everything under the sun.

In another part of the PS MP’s blog entry, he claims that it is every “Muslim’s honor and responsibility to kill and annihilate every religion and Jews, according to the Koran.”  And continues: “The West is being flooded by millions of Muslims in a wooden Trojan horse…”

Citing a story on Turun Sanomat, he claims that there are Muslim extremists concentrated in Turku ready to declare jihad.

If we play fill in the blanks with the latter affirmations, it could look like the following:  “It’s a Christian and atheist’s honor as well as responsibility to control and kill and invade other countries, according to the Bible.” And continues: “The South and East are being flooded by military intervention and multinational companies in a wooden Trojan horse…”

If you want to continue playing fill in the blanks, just substitute words like immigrant, migrant, gay, Muslim, refugee and replace them with the group and/or ethnicity that is doing the victimizing.

 

 

PS MP Hakkarainen of Finland launches new attack against immigrants and Muslims

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who suggested two years ago that homosexuals, lesbians and Somalians should be relocated to the Åland Islands, has launched a fresh attack against immigrants and Muslims on a blog entry.

Sensible people understand that generalizing about different groups, like Hakkarainen does, is not only wrong but racist.

Migrant Tales strongly condemns this type of hate speech that only serves to fuel ethnic hatred and further Hakkarainen’s questionable political career. We not only condemn the PS MP’s words, but the silence of Finland’s political establishment, especially that of the PS.

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Read original blog entry here.

Hakkarainen, who represents the Central Finnish town of Viitasaari where there are few to no Muslims, was the first part of the PS tragic-comic political play that kicked off after the historic April 2011 elections.

Watch what the newly elected MP had to say about Muslims in this video English subtitles.

At that time, PS chairman Timo Soini defended politicians like Hakkarainen with a poker face by claiming there wasn’t one racist running for office.

According to Hakkarainen’s latest blog entry, the government doesn’t want to admit that Finland allows too many migrants to the country, which cost too much to upkeep and are a drain on the country.

He claims that too many immigrants live off social welfare and are ”increasingly guilty of crimes, which were previously rare, among others, like gang rape.”

According to the PS MP, whose drinking problems have been well-documented by the media, it is every Muslim’s “honor and responsibility” to kill and annihilate every religion and Jews, according to the Koran. ”The West is being flooded by millions of Muslims inside a wooden Trojan horse…” he wrote.

Citing a story on Turun Sanomat, he claims that there are Muslim extremists concentrated in Turku ready to declare jihad.

Hakkarainen slammed Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, who he called an ”imam” and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Is Hakkarainen for real or is he a political buffoon, who likes to amuse hard-core racists like himself?

He is for real. He is one of the many faces of intolerance and nationalism of Finland today kept intact by society’s near-silence.

Direct initiative to demote Swedish language at schools stands slim chance of approval

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What are we to think about a direct initiative that got over 50,000 signatures today to demote Finland’s second official language to elective status at schools? While this initiative stands a slim chance of passing in parliament, it shows how intolerance has raised its head in Finland recently.

Even if those that are lobbying against Finland’s 290,977-strong Swedish-language minority claim that by eliminating mandatory Swedish will help people learn more “useful” languages like Russian, the whole campaign is nothing more than a red herring.

Finland has lots of polyglots despite the fact that Swedish is mandatory at schools.

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Swedish as a mother tongue is spoken by 5.36% of the population, according to the Population Register Center.

Vapaa kielivalinta, which has spearheaded the initiative together with Suomalaisuuden liitto, the youth associations of the Perussuomalaiset and National Coalition Party, claims the goal of the anti-Swedish-langauge initiative is:

    • freedom of choice of languages in schools
    • reduction of unnecessary language demands in public service
    • national action for these issues.

Even if those that are endorsing this effort claim with a poker face that it will further tolerance, it will actually do the opposite. At least three of the associations promoting the initiative have very strong anti-cultural diversity stands.

Suomalsiuuden liitto, for example, has played a key role in undermining cultural diversity in Finland from the onset of independence. The chairman of Vapaa kielivalinta, Ilmari Rostila, is a Tampere city councilman for the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset party.

If the initiative passed in parliament, we may well ask what is the next matter that we’ll try to dismantle of our cultural diversity, which has been on the defensive for quite some time.

If Swedish is the second official language of this country, why is it being treated with such contempt?

Because there are groups that are bent on destroying as much of our cultural diversity as a nation as possible.

Why aren’t we outraged enough by intolerance?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finnish department store J. Kärkkäinen’s Magneettimedia writings are a disturbing sign of how anti-Semitism, like anti-immigration and anti-Islam sentiment, have gained a foothold in Finland. And why shouldn’t it find fertile ground to grow in this country? During the past years, the genie of intolerance has been let out of the bottle and it shows. 

We’re still not outraged enough by intolerance. If we were, it would be on the defensive.

Why aren’t we?

One of the reasons is that we fallaciously believe that our racism works in our favor.

If many of us have little idea how destructive racism is, some are at an even greater loss when it comes to finding ways to challenge it.

Why are we so much in the dark about the pernicious impact of racism on society? The answer sits right under our noses: It is what maintains the national and global status quo of power. There’s a lot of clout and wealth to be made by maintaing such a socially unjust national and global system intact.

Turn in a new leaf

While Juha Kärkkäinen, the owner of the retail company that carries his same name promises to no longer publish anti-Semitic pieces by the likes of David Duke and Ted Pike, the damage has been done.

But to whom?

Two matters are crucial in order for racism to thrive and survive another day: apathy of the victims (they’ve given up before the fight has even begun), and denial-secrecy  (intolerance is the most effective and strongest when it works behind the scenes and is institutionalized).

By publishing virulent anti-Semitic opinion pieces by racists like Duke, who was the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, Kärkkäinen does a disfavor to all those confessed and closet racists in Finland and elsewhere because it exposes the problem.

After the horrors of Nazi Germany, which was responsible for the systematic death of some six million Jews, one way to ensure that Jews would not fall victim of such massive treachery was by lobbying and confronting anti-Semitism head on.

The many victories of the Simon Wiesenthal Center against anti-Semitism is a source of inspiration and a reminder that the only way to confront intolerance is by challenging it directly. Silence will encourage greater hostility, not undermine it.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a letter to President Sauli Niinistö expressing concern over the anti-Semitic writings on Magneettimedia.

But do other ethnic and religious groups have the same resources? If not, are they doomed to suffer for generations social exclusion and discrimination?

Perussuomalaiset

How do you explain and justify the rise of an anti-immigration and anti-Islam party in Finland like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in April 2011, and which is still as popular as ever as a recent YLE poll shows?

It suggests that we live in a society where intolerance is fruiting and continues to shortchange others of opportunities. It is the very undercurrent that has geysered in Denmark with the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party, in Holland with Geert Wilders, in England with Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Go Home or Face Arrest” campaign, in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “multiculturalism has utterly failed” statement, and Finland with the PS.

Even if the PS is the most vocal anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity political force in Finland, its popularity could have never reached present levels without the direct or indirect support of Finland’s political establishment.

As long as our collective denial, that we have intolerance under control or it is a “minor problem,” we will continue to feed it and it will continue to grow.

If we have learned little from the horrors of two World Wars and xenophobia, which is raising its head higher than before these days in Europe, it proves that our education is deficient and outright racist. We are not taught tolerance at school but more effectively, in fine print, code and in between the lines, intolerance.

It’s clear why we aren’t outraged by such a destructive force.

We are content with the way things are because intolerance doesn’t threaten us directly.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

 

 

 

Magneettimedia spreads anti-Semitism in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Should we be surprised if anti-Semitism raises its head in Finland alongside anti-Islam, anti-immigration and anti-gay sentiment? Using the same argument as those who spread hate speech against minorities in this country, Magneettimedia, a publication owned by J. Kärkkäinen, claims that an article by anti-Semitic Ted Pike was published to promote public debate.

J. Kärkkäinen is a company based in Ylivieska that develops and owns shopping centers. It is owned by Juha Kärkkäinen, who is editor of Magneettimedia, which advertises the company’s products and has a circulation of 366,500.
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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

The latest anti-Semitic opinion piece published on Magneettimedia by Pike is headlined, The Great ”Raping Rabbis” Cover-Up (Suuri “raiskaavien rabbien” salailu).

He writes: “One of the reasons Jewish control of big media is wrong is that it protects the sins of evil Jews, from Hollywood to New York to Tel Aviv, from being openly subjected to the cleansing effect of truthful analysis and criticism. This morally ghettoizes Jews, shielding them from the oxygen of constructive criticism, a force that functions to bless and mature everyone else.”

Using the same arguments as some Perussuomalaiset (PS) politicians, who have been convicted for ethnic agitation, Kärkkäinen claims no wrongdoing and defends Pike’s right to express his anti-Semitic views.

”We don’t have anything against Jews,” he was quoted as saying on YLE. ”The aim of these writings is to promote [public] debate in society [about Jews].”

The deputy state prosecutor has filed ethnic agitation charges against J Kärkkäinen’s Magneettimediaa for anti-Semitic writings that have appeared in previous issue of the publication.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which hunts former Nazi war criminals and confronts anti-Semitism globally, sent a letter to President Sauli Niinistö expressing its concern over the anti-Semitic writings on Magneettimedia, reports Oulu-based daily Kaleva.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Pike is an extremist who has been engaged for years in an anti-Semitic campaign that denigrates the Jewish religion.

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Go to original webpage.

Writes ADL: ”To promote his virulent anti-Semitic ideology, Pike often works under the guise of opposing federal hate crimes legislation and upholding free speech and Christian values. He gives interviews to extremist cable TV and Internet radio shows to further disseminate his anti-Semitic views and also links from his organization’s Website to various anti-Semitic sites.”

While it is clear that anti-Semitism is raising its head in Finland and is directly linked to anti-immigration, anti-Islam and anti-gay sentiment, it’s surprising that PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, James Hirvisaari and others are so quiet about the Magneettimedia affair.

Why aren’t they defending the publication’s anti-Semitic writings as “free speech?”

 

Will anti-immigration rhetoric boost the PS in the upcoming Finnish elections?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two important questions arise in light of the upcoming Euro MP and parliamentary elections in Finland in 2014 and 2015, respectively:  How many parties will use immigration as an election issue, and will the next two elections reveal the ugly face of intolerance of other political parties in Finland?

If we look at the United Kingdom, there are clear signs that the Conservatives are using the anti-immigration message to boost their standing in the polls.

If the Tories have been able to gain on Labor and Ukip thanks to their anti-immigration message, will political parties jump on the same bandwagon as elections near?

We saw clearly how intolerance made its way into Finnish politics especially since 2008. As the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) were becoming a political sensation, the reaction of other parties was shameful to say the least. Instead of challenging the PS’ anti-EU and anti-immigration message, they approved it with their silence and patronizing.

We all remember SDP chairwoman Jutta Urplilainen’s infamous maassa maan tavalla (in Rome do as the Romans do) statement and National Coalition Party head Jyrki Katainen’s affirmation,  “debating immigrant issues didn’t make you a racist.”

Even today, Urpilainen’s statement is still used with gusto by some Finns. Some teachers use it to justify their ignorance and their own discriminatory behavior against other ethnic groups.

Politicians and the media must learn to lead and not cave in to pernicious ideologies that promote intolerance. We must look further than 2014 and 2015 if we want to keep Finland a successful society based on social equality for all.

PS chairman Timo Soini has claimed that the April 2011 historic election victory was mainly due to anti-EU and to a lesser degree on anti-immigration sentiment. The affirmation, in my opinion, is a good example of how racism is defended and protected in Finland.

Our intolerance is like having a gun hidden under our pillow. We can use it whenever we need to but we won’t tell anyone that we have such a firearm hidden in our bed.

There are already some clear signs that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is investing in the anti-immigration campaign message to lure voters. Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo of the PS “demanded” right after she was elected as the party’s new secretary that Finland should tighten immigration policy.

If the anti-immigration message picks up in the next two years, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, the biggest loser will be Finland.

Our society will not only lose demographically, but economically, socially and politically as well. Anti-immigration means being anti-foreign. Being anti-foreign in a globalized world is like shooting oneself in the leg and curing your wound with populist mumbo jumbo incantations.

It is like putting a noose around our necks as a society.

Death threats and the PS threat to our Nordic way of life

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman, Timo Soini, reveals in a recent blog that he got four death threats recently. Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen’s Christian Democratic party received a bomb threat as well, which was reported by tabloid Iltalehti. The death threats are similar to what Swedish-language journalists received a while back. Migrant Tales has been a victim of death threats as well. 

The question that we should ask in light of the latter is what these threats say about Finland and where we’re heading today as a country.

One matter it says loud and clearly is that our response to intolerance is far from satisfactory. Those that fuel ethnic hatred, racism and make it their business to polarize society between “us” and “them,” believe opportunistically that hate speech can be their political servant.

How wrong they are! Mass murderer Anders Breivik of Norway is one recent example of how you cannot keep xenophobia and racism on a short leash because it can bite back at its owner, and hard.

Ali Esbati, a survivor of 22/7,* when Breivik murdered 77 innocent victims on his Islamophobic rampage in Norway in 2011, was quoted as saying on The Local, which cites an op-ed on Aftonbladet,  that Norway had learned little from the massacre. He claimed that the “undergrowth of hateful rhetoric” had recovered from the attacks by Breivik.

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Read story here.

While anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region suffered election losses due to Breivik, the approval rating of the anti-immigration Progress Party (FrP) of Norway has swelled today to 20% in the polls.

An editorial on Oulu-based daily Kaleva writes about the death threats against Soini.

”Hate speech has been raging for a long time, and there are among Perussuomalaiset MPs people who have been sentenced for ethnic agitation. From the mouthes of the Perussuomalaiset we’ve read uncensored text that is written off as humor.

Death threats show that the hate speech can travel the other way. The party’s figurehead Soini is the victim of such a situation.”

To use a recent example of how the PS fuels hatred in Finland, one of its MPs, James Hirvisaari, published on Facebook the wonderful time he spent with Seppo Lehto, a far right agitator who was  imprisoned for inciting ethnic hatred.

On the same weekend, he said in a tweet that a reporter working for tabloid Iltalehti ”masturbated wildly” when he was interviewed by him on the phone.

Add to the latter the near-constant hate speech against gays, elites, immigrants, and groups like Muslims from parties like the PS and a broader worrisome picture emerges of the problem.

Intolerance breeds more intolerance until it snaps like on 22/7 or turns into something more sinister like Germany 1933.

*I was surprised to see The Local use 22/7 to describe the mass murders that took place in Norway in 2011. Using a date for a tragedy is a way to honor and respect the victims. 

When will the PS sack MP James Hirvisaari?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Recent tweets and Facebook comments by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari reveal how racism, fascism and right-wing populism have spread like a cancer in Finnish society. Hirvisaari now praises  Seppo Lehto and claims the ultimate far right narcissist, like him, is a nice person. 

Would you praise a man who gives Nazi salutes, likes swastikas, insults immigrants and longs for the days of World War 2, when Finland was Hitler’s ally?

seppo

Seppo Lehto as he sees himself when he was a candidate. Source: tiede.fi

It’s odd that the PS hasn’t said a word about Hirvisaari tweeting on Saturday that a journalist “masturbated wildly” during a telephone interview and now his praise of an extremist clown like Lehto.

Seriously folks, would you trust a party like the PS in government? One that has MPs who insult journalists, immigrants, praises far right extremists and likes to talk about skid marks in the toilet bowls of parliament?

A party that doesn’t have the guts or is incapable of putting one of its MPs in line, or sack them if necessary for making racist and far right statements, is a party that should never be in government.

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Go to Hirvisaari’s Facebook page here.

 

PS MP James Hirvisaari claims journalist “masturbated wildly” in phone interview

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari is the best gift that anti-racists could have in this country. If there is a loose cannon in parliament, it’s Hirvisaari. The PS MP has a pretty one-track mind. When he opens his mouth, he usually talks about Muslim rapists, skid marks on toilet bowls and now his latest topic, masturbation. 

Here’s a tweet on Saturday by the PS MP: “I sensed during the telephone interview that the boy journalist masturbated wildly.”

The journalist that Hirvissari refers to is Mikko Vesa of tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.

The Ilta-Sanomat journalist asked Hirvisaari about another tweet on July 14, where he suggesting that n-word kiss chocolates should be changed to baboon kisses.

Folks, this is not a prank. Hirvisaari is an adult, an MP elected by voters to represent them in the Finnish parliament.

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The European Court of Human Rights turned down in July a request by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari to review a conviction for ethnic agitation in December 2011 by the Kouvola Court of Appeals, which was upheld last year by the Finnish Supreme Court.

The PS aims to become the biggest party in the 2015 parliamentary elections.