Tag: Perussuomalaiset

When will parties like the PS start banning Islam in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Pär Norling, a leader of  the populist radical right Sweden Democrats of Bolnäs, located about 250km north of Stockholm,  demanded the following on Sveriges Teleivision (SVT): ”Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion.” When will we start to hear similar demands from politicians in Finland?

One matter that populist radical right and Counterjihadist-spirited parties in Europe and Finland don’t tell you is that the fuel they use to fire their arguments comes from abroad. It’s hardly ever homegrown.

MPs of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) claim as well how incompatible a religion like Islam is with our Finnish way of life. One of their best-kept secrets they will never tell you publicly, however, is that they too wouldn’t have any problems banning Islam from Finland.

Migrant Tales believes it is only a question of time before anti-immigration and Counterjihadist politicians will begin making the same demands about Islam in Finland as Norling, who claims that neo-Nazism is a by-product of immigration.

Writes the Local of Sweden, quoting the Sweden Democrat politician: “’That [Islam] can exist elsewhere but in Sweden it doesn’t fit in.’ When asked what ought to be done with those who still want to believe in the religion, despite it being banned, Norling responded: ’Then the solution is deportation.’”

We don’t need to ask the politician what he thinks about religious freedom. It’s obvious that Norling’s solution suggests embarking on a slippery slope that would not only compromise our civil rights but undermine our Nordic democratic institutions.

Even if politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho and his band of Counterjihadists, populist radical right and anti-immigration followers would never dare make such a statement about Muslims in Finland, it is exactly what they aim to do if it were possible politically.

It’s clear that parties like the PS want to drastically limit immigration especially from Africa and the Muslim world. Didn’t Halla-aho suggest recently that the refugee status of Somali refugees in Finland should be lifted due to the improved situation in Somalia?

One of the big differences between the Sweden Democrats and PS is size. The former is a small party in Sweden, while the latter is the country’s third largest.

Counterjihad Trojan Horse in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik cited five Finnish groups in his manifesto, 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence. These were the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, Suomen Sisu, Suomalaisuuden liitto, Suomen kansan sinivalkoiset and Vapaan Suomen liitto, according to a report by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO).

Writes YLE in English: “Texts similar to the manifest of Anders Behring Breivik have been published in Finland which [Maria] Paaso says shows an ideological preparedness to commit violent acts.”

While these latter groups haven’t carried out the same type of terrorist acts like Breivik did in July 2011, both are strongly bonded by Counterjihadist and/or populist radical right (PRR) ideology.

Some well-known Counterjihadists in Finland are PS MP Jussi Halla-aho, MP James Hirvisaari, MP Olli Immonen and others.

Counterjihadism is a radical ideology that speaks out against immigration and the Islamization of Europe. Counterjihadists like Breivik blame “multiculturalism” for the spread of Islam in Europe.

As most sensible people know, multiculturalism is a Canadian integration policy that was implemented in the 1970s. Counterjihadist ideology, however, sees multiculturalism as an immigration policy that permits Muslims and non-Europeans to emigrate and live in Europe.

Some well-known European Counterjihadist websites are: gatesofvienna.blogspot.com, jihadwatch.org as well as brusselsjournal.com. To these you could add Halla-aho’s Scripta blog in Finland.

Contrarily, PRR groups base their ideology on populism, radicalism and right-wing position on the left-right scale.

Populism means hostility to representative-pluralist politics. The PRR sees democracy as nativist, authoritarian and populist, according to a study by the University of Leicester.

Breivik is an excellent example of what Counterjihadism and PRR ideology are and can breed in countries like Finland.  In Norway we tragically saw how it came to fruit.

The Internet is the breeding ground for Counterjihadist ideology in Europe and Finland. Some of these forums in Finland are Hommaforum and Scripta. Two PS members, Matias Turkkila and MP Halla-aho, are their editors respectively.

Turkkila was named in May by the PS as the new editor-in-chief of the party’s newspaper and web page.

The aim of Counterjihad and PRR groups is simple: keep Europe and Finland white (culturally and ethnically) and place as many obstacles on cultural diversity as possible.

One should never underestimate an ideology like Counterjihadism or any other one that is exclusive and bases its ideology on “race and blood.”

If there are threats to our Nordic and European way of life today, we will find them right under our noses. Two of these are definitely Counterjihadism and PRR.

 

Finland’s demographic landscape is changing (again)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland is presently in the midst of one of its biggest demographic changes in its history due to the rapid growth of its immigrant community. Our ever-growing cultural diversity as a nation has brought out the best in many of us but has encouraged some of us to throw in the towel on sanity. 

Is Finland in danger of becoming a Hungary or Greece?

Those promoting Hungary’s far-right Jobbik or Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party model on immigration and cultural diversity are none other than the usual band of extremists of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), who see nothing wrong with these xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups.

They don’t see these parties as a danger because Jobbik and Golden Dawn promote the same matter as the PS: ethnic purity at any cost, even losing our Nordic liberal democracy to far-right extremism.

Migrant Tales wrote in a recent blog entry: “In many respects it [open discrimination of immigrants and visible minorities] will look like Russification all over again in the 2010s but with different players – the PS are the Russians and immigrants/visible minorities are personified through Eugen Schauman.”

When I moved to Finland a second time in the late-1970s, our foreign population totalled about 10,000 people, or around 0.2% of the population. Most of these so-called “foreigners” were Finnish expats who had moved back to the country.

The biggest national group living in Finland at the time were Finns who were naturalized Swedes.

Back then, Finland was in its own league when it came to cultural diversity. Albania was the other European country that resembled Finland. People joked back then that our country was the Albania of Europe since it had so few immigrants.

Our foreign population started to grow rapidly and steadily after it hit rock bottom in the 1970s, when it totaled about 7,000 souls. By 2002-03, Finland’s immigrant population passed the 100,000 barrier for the first time, reaching 103,687, or 2% of the population.

Our immigrant population totals today 183,133 (3.4%).

With the rise of far-right, populist and anti-immigration parties growing throughout Europe, we in Finland should be especially concerned about how such a trend could impact our country socially, politically and above all economically.

Finland needs right-wing populist and anti-immigration parties like a hole in the head.

We need more than ever today leadership and proactive solutions to make cultural diversity work.

 

The PS and the roosting chickens of intolerance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The fact that 19.1% of Finnish voters gave their support to an anti-immigration and anti-EU party in April 2011 speaks volumes about who we are as a society. Many things can be said about the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and their election victory, but one matter stands out for me: The chickens of intolerance have come home to roost. 

Even if academics, the Finnish media and general public are still scratching their heads over what the PS represent, we at Migrant Tales have never had any doubts from day one.

In a recent blog entry, we wrote the following: ”The PS are an anti-EU, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-gay and anti-minority rights party with ties to the far right.”

Classifying the PS as a far-right party reveals the same challenges that Norway had in declaring Anders Breivik sane after he carried out his murderous rampage in July 2011.

By declaring Europe’s first Counter-Jihadist mass-murderer sane, Norway sent an important political message: Our society and way of life are being seriously challenged by a violent ideology.

Instead of being complacent, what would happen if we in Finland had the courage and wisdom to clearly state that the PS is a Trojan Horse that flirts with the same ideology that encouraged Breivik to terrorize Norway and Europe?

Certainly those people who would not wish to answer the above-mentioned question are those who have the least to lose but the most to gain from the situation. Those that have the most to gain are parties like the PS and those that have the least to lose is your common white Finnish John Doe with a steady job.

It’s a completely different story, however, if you are a visible minority.

There is no simpler way to put it: The PS, like other anti-immigration and anti-Islam groups in this country and in Europe, are a threat to our way of life. Their growth and influence will mean ever-growing polarization and radicalization of our society.

If you are a political party or group that openly lobbies for greater social exclusion of different groups and lesser  minorities’ rights, the only outcome will be social strife.

In many respects it will look like Russification all over again in the 2010s but with different players: the PS are the Russians and immigrants/visible minorities are personified through Eugen Schauman.

 

Poll supports PS’ negative stand on immigration

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What value does the following news story offer: Sixty percent of Finns support cutbacks on spending that is linked with international agreements such as development aid, immigration costs, and green-house gas emissions, according to Helsingin Sanomat, the country’s largest daily. 

Matti Putkonen of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) Party said that the findings of the poll are “to a surprising degree” in line to the party’s stand on such issues.

The PS calculates that spending on immigration, climate change and energy subsidies total 3.5 billion euros annually.

Putkonen said that Finland should put its house in order before helping others.

Migrant Tales has written before about such no-brainer polls. Any country you ask, irrespective if they have many or few immigrants, will most likely give you the same answer: We have too many immigrants.

At the most, the Helsingin Sanomat poll reinforces what we already know about the PS and their stands on immigration and cultural diversity.

Putkonen’s comment, that Finland should put its house in order before helping others, is another way of saying that we will never help others.

A letter to Jussi Halla-aho from Bashir Roble

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset MP Jussi Halla-aho,

Have you ever visited Somalia? Do you have any Somali friends? I know that both answers are negative because of the way you speak about my people and my country. MPs like you and others who think the same way, like Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, belong to the same group. You spread hatred and prejudices about us while Räsänen makes certain that we live separated from our loved ones indefinitely.

Weren’t you recently fined by the Finnish Supreme Court for defaming our religion and inciting ethnic hatred?

Due to much tougher immigration rules, one must apply from abroad if they want to be reunited with their family in Finland. This is a very expensive and time-consuming process. Even those who live in this country, and who want their families to move Finland, are struggling to get a job in order to help their loved ones in war-ravaged Somalia.

Is Mogadishu a safe place to visit?

Mogadishu is a large coastal city and two times bigger than Helsinki. African Union Mission in Somalia  (AMISOM) troops control twelve districts of the capital while Al-shabaab still unfortunately controls four. Those places you saw on the news are districts controlled by AMISOM troops and which are heavily guarded by military tanks. One of them is Lido Beach, where people go swimming on Fridays or other evenings to relax.

You made a parliamentary question suggesting that our refugee status and rights of Somalis in Finland should be lifted in light of the YLE news story. True, after almost two decades of civil war, our city is slowly learning to stand on its feet again because of peace. Everything is evolving rapidly but peace is still a long way off and the situation in my country is still fragile. Everything could change overnight.

Do you know what it feels like to see your loved ones after a decade or two? Do you know what it feels like for your children, who never visited Somalia, to see their relatives for the first time? Such a moment of happiness is impossible to describe in words.

I am certain that many Somalis who live abroad would move back to our country and help in reconstruction. Somalis in Finland are no different. But you overlook an important point when you talk about Somalia and Somalis in Finland: We already have a large community of Somali-Finns who were born and raised in this country. Finland is as much their home as is Somalia and you never can deprive us of that right.

Everyone has the human right to live in a country, especially if that person is being persecuted politically or fleeing war. What about the 1.2 million Finns that moved to other countries from here between 1860-1999? Shouldn’t they be forced to return to Finland?

Where the person lives is a personal choice – not yours to make.

Bahir Roble

Those who loathe you are your supporters

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The biggest supporters of immigrants and visible minorities in Finland aren’t groups lobbying for their rights per se, but their enemies. Instead of tapping ourselves on the back for challenging a social ill like racism, we should thank Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini for exposing in this country bigotry and isolationism in the raw.     

Without Soni, how would we have ever learned of politicians and aides like James Hirvisaari, Jussi Halla-aho, Jussi Niinistö, Ulla Pyysalo, Helena Eronen, Tommi Rautio, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola and a long list of others?

Instead of bringing out the worst in our society, these politicians and aides have empowered and brought the best in some of us. Migrant Tales is one of many examples of groups that have been energized by the present situation.

Our reaction as a society to racism, isolationism, hate speech and far-right extremism has been slow but encouraging.

When some spread with their extremist ideology their message of hate, they do a great service to our cause.  Taking into account how racism and isolationism boosted the PS to victory in April 2011, it’s clear that things have changed considerably since then.

How can you fumble a golden political opportunity that the PS had after the election and see it disintegrate before your eyes?  For this we must thank the PS and MPs like Teuvo Hakkarainen from day one.

The real threat to Finland are those politicians and groups that want to divide our society with the help of racism, prejudice and hate speech.

We are not being attacked and overrun by immigrants and refugees, the real threat comes from our backyard in the form of Soini, Hirvisari, Niinistö, Pyysalo, Ratio and many others.

(Migrant Tales, August 19, 2012): Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming, the super immigrant

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Even if the op-ed was published about 10 years ago, too many politicians and officials continue to falsely believe that “super immigrants” will save the country from its low birth rates, aging population, and ever-present racism. 

See also: The world’s happiest country faces a labor and talent crunch

THIS OP-ED PIECE WAS UPDATED.

Is it possible that in 2012 we have politicians who are totally against immigration? We actually have quite a few of them in Finland. While all political parties have these types of politicians, none of them have so many as the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. 

Certainly, these types of politicians won’t tell you directly that they are against immigration to Finland. That would sound too radical and make them vulnerable and force them to lose votes.

What they will tell you, however, is totally a different story. With poker faces, they will state that they are not against immigration but against immigration they consider harmful to Finland.

These politicians sound like they are reading to you the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, when Prince Charming  wakes the beautiful princess with a kiss from her deep sleep. Anti-immigration politicians and parties don’t speak of Sleeping Beauty per se, but about super immigrants.

Sleeping Beauty (anti-immigration  view of Finland) , Prince Charming (super immigrant) and other pro- and anti-immigration forces. In this famous Walt Disney fairy tale, everyone is white except for the evil witch, who is almost white. 

Who are these super immigrants?

  • They function perfectly as a group even if humans are far from perfect
  • They are white northern Europeans, some Far East Asia groups like the Chinese (white Russians are excluded)
  • They commonly belong to the Christian faith
  • They are heterosexuals
  • They are skilled professionals and well-behaved
  • They adapt quickly and without problems to our way of life
  • They are never unemployed (they are against social welfare and handouts)
  • They are paid less than  Finnish employees
  • They don’t mind wearing sleeve badges to help police ethnically profile more effectively
  • They never practice their culture in public spaces
  • Their children only speak their parents’ language at home
  • Their parents speak near-perfect Finnish
  • Cultural difference and slight Finnish accents are fine because they allow us to distinguish who is “us” and “them”

Let’s stop kidding ourselves about these so-called super immigrants. They may exist but not in the numbers that a party like the PS or other anti-immigrant groups would like to see moving to Finland.

If you are waiting for these types of people to inhabit Finland in the near future, you might as well turn into Sleeping Beauty.

A column about super immigrants will appear next week in Savon Sanomat, Kainuun Sanomat and Karjalainen. 

PS MP James Hirvisaari does it again

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Remember when Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari commented on Hommaforum, the unofficial PS website that spreads intolerance against minorities in Finland, that homosexuality is “a disability in sexual development?” The police have brought the case to the state prosecutor, who will decide whether to bring charges against the PS MP, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Criminal inspector Kari Kajala was quoted as saying on Helsingin Sanomat that Hirvisaari’s statement concerning homosexuality could fall under incitement of hatred against a group.

A colleague who has interviewed Hirvisaari, confirmed to Migrant Tales his Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde political personality disorder.

“When you meet him [Hirvisaari] in person he seems well-behaved and reasonable,” he said. “When he’s on social media sites, however, he turns into a totally different person and loses control.”

For some, social media is like alcohol adiction. Taste one drop and you’re a gonner.

Hirvisaari was fined in December for inciting ethnic hatred.

 

How rape statistics reveal a serious problem: racism and prejudice

Posted on by Migrant Tales

You know there is something fishy whenever any person starts to use percentages to drive home the point that immigrants are rapists. If anything, rape statistics do reveal a problem: racism and prejudice. 

One blogger on Uusi Suomi writes: ”In April, Finns were told that men from xxxx  are guilty of committing rape alarmingly often.” Using a tabloid story as a source, he states that in 2006-09 34% of all convicted rapes were by foreigners.

There are some serious problems with the conclusions of the tabloid never mind the writer:

  • How many foreigners were convicted of rape?
  • Are we speaking of an ”alarmingly high” amount?

In the Uusi Suomi blog entry, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari, who was fined in December for inciting ethnic hatred, believes that 25 rape convictions during the first five months of the year is enough proof to close our borders.

Hirvisaari writes:  “We don’t need ‘free movement’ since it only brings too many problems and forms part of the left-wing agenda to undermine the nation-state.  ’Let’s do away with borders and mix different nationalities.’ Border control and immigration policy should be contrarily tightened.”

Here is some of Hirvisaari’s latest double-talk on his latest blog entry:  “Multiculturalism is a destroying politicial ideology, which does not fit in a [culturally] diverse society.”*

Yes, that’s right, such a comment was made by a Finnish MP based on 25 rape convictions during the first five months of the year!

If anything, rape statistics reveal a serious problem: a society’s racism and prejudice.