Now, as far-right parties aim to capitalize on the coronavirus with the help of fake news, we must stay vigilant to challenge their sinister and selfish aims.
We saw this happen in Finland on Yle’sA-talk when Perussuomalaiset* MP Riikka Purra claimed that a hospital was washing and using disposable equipment.
“I have received information from a hospital that they wash disposable equipment,” she tweeted, declining to say who her source is. state her source.
Purra’s claim that she cannot reveal her source is an old tactic even used by US President Donald Trump playbook: “There’s that guy who told me…” “I’ve a very nice friend who told me…” “Many beautiful experts told me…”…etc. [1]
In the face of fake news and claims by opportunist and irresponsible påoliticians, EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) director Michael O’Flaherty has an important message below.
There is one matter that bonds all the Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs in parliament: They use migrants, especially Muslims and asylum seekers, to get votes. Their ads and rhetoric reflect well their racist disposition.
Take, for instance, the ad below that promises that she will make “Finnish well being and security” priorities.
Some of her pet topics are Muslims even if in her small, far-flung town of Outokumpu (6,803 inhabitants), there are hardly any foreigners, never mind Muslims.
Ouokumpu is located in such a far-flung place that it would be a miracle if a foreigner, never mind a Muslim, would find it on the map. Source: Wikipedia.
In Outokumpu – are you ready for this – there are 177 people (2.6% of the total town population) who are not Finnish citizens, 231 (3.39%) who were born elsewhere than Finland, and 239 (3.51%) who do not speak Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their mother tongue.
Despite their minimal numbers, Antikainen does not miss a chance to label Muslims as rapists and terrorists.
That is why she is obsessed with the message: prioritizing white Finns’ well-being and security.
Perussuomalaiset MP Sanna Antikainen campaign slogan and promises to defend the “well-being and security of Finns’ priorities.”
Antikainen’s Islamophobic worldview raises a lot of questions.
One of these is how she graduated as a registered nurse and what kind of an oath she took. The Hippocratic oath of nurses is also based on the Nightingale Pledge, named in honor of Florence Nightingale,
In the United States, nurses vow to treat patients equally: “Discrimination in any form is harmful to society as a whole and in opposition to the values and ethical code of the nursing profession, which directs the nurse to ‘…respect the inherent dignity, worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals.’” (American Nursing Association, 2015, p.17).
Below are a Finnish nurse’s views about human rights and how to deal with people she does not like.
The PS likes Trump and his racist policies that are against migrants. Don’t be surprised if MP Antikainen would want to build a wall about her small town. Source: Twitter. This claim that “Europeans do not have the money for their social security,” is an old Islamophobic excuse to not help asylum seekers. We are a rich continent and we DO have a lot of money. Source: Twitter.
I sent MP Antikainen Thursday the following questions:
What do you mean when you state that you are “on the side of Finns?”
What about if a person was born in another country but is a Finnish citizen? Are you on his or her side as well?
What about if the person was born in Finland and is black?
Do you defend the interests of all people in Finland irrespective of their backgrounds?
I never expect to get an answer from Antikainen. Even so, the fact that she didn’t answer is already an answer that reveals a lot about herself and her party.
If the PS ever could change the laws of Finland, that would be a sad day for Finnish democracy and the rule of law.
It would be a very sad day indeed because it would be based on racism and far-right populism.
We won’t allow it to happen and, in the meantime, we will give parties like the PS and MPs like Antikainen a run for their money.
Onko perussuomalaisten kansanedustaja Sanna Antikianen sairaanhoitaja tai lähihoitaja? Twitter profiliisa hän on sairaanhoitaja ja toisessa mainoksissa hän on lähihoitaja.
Jos olet sairaanhoitaja, kohteletko työssä muslimeja tasavertaisesti?
Onko mahdollista olla sairaanhoitaja Suomessa ja vihata eri ihmisryhmiä?
Tässä Sanna Antikainen on “sairaanhoitaja…” …ja tässä “lähihoitaja.” Mitä olet, Sanna Antikainen, sairaanhoitaja tai lähihoitaja?
Yksi asia on kuitenkin varmaa Antikaisesta: hän ei tykkää muslimeja.
”Viime vuosien ajan Suomen turvallisuustilanne on yhdessä muun Euroopan kanssa muuttunut askel askeleelta huonompaan suuntaan. Lukuisat eri terroristi-iskut Euroopassa ovat vaatineet satojen ihmisten hengen. Elokuussa 2017 Suomen Turussa nähtiin ensimmäinen terroristi-isku, kun parikymppinen turvapaikanhakija teurasti julmasti suomalaisia naisia kadulla.”
Conservative parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) are on a dangerous path putting in peril human rights and the rule of law. The latest suggestion by Kokoomus parliamentary group leader, Kai Mykkänen, to pass legislation so Finland could suspend asylum applications like Greece is worrying.
The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party clutched political power in the last decade with the help of anti-Muslim racism. Only white EU citizens were spared from their hateful rhetoric as long as they kept quiet.
Anyone from outside the EU with different skin color or religion was targetted and victimized by their hateful rhetoric.
Since the historic victory of the PS in the 2011 parliamentary election, when they won 39 seats from 5 seats previously, the party’s message has steered further to the far right.
Even if it was only a time when the PS would show it real far-right colors, it is disappointing to watch how Kokoomus has climbed into bed with the PS.
Kokoomus parliamentary group leader Kai Mykkänen stated after Greece decided to suspend asylum applications for a month that Finland should pass legislation to do the same.
Even if politics makes strange bedfellows as in the case of the PS and Kokoomus, it is worrying how much alike they are in their xenophobic knee-jerk reactions. Read the full story (in Finnish) here.
“Finland must be prepared, if necessary if we were exposed to pressure from a large number of [asylum] applications coming towards Finland,” he was quoted as saying in Yleand added that the country should be able to do what Greece did under exceptional circumstances.
Somebody should tell Mykkänen and his party that it is a human right, specifically Article 14, guarantees the right to seek asylum. It does not read that such a human right can be suspended under any circumstances.
With such arguments, we could put on hold our democratic system whenever a political party in power deems.
Kokoomus, never mind the PS, are placing Finland on a dangerous path.
The Toni Jalonen story of the former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* second vice president who resigned because he said he was a fascist, is an opportunity for Finland to take a long and deep look in the mirror.
Above all, it is an opportunity to look at the hypocrisy within the PS and political culture. It also reveals the lack of teeth of the media.
Jalonen gives the thumbs up to PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho on keeping Finland white and Muslim-free and people of color-free.
Toni Jalonen is a hardcore ethnonationalist and a fascist. In the tweet, he “totally agrees” with Halla-aho that the PS does not want a Finland that is culturally diverse Finland. Source: Twitter.
Here is the question: How can a country like Finland find sympathy for a party that promotes ethnonationalism, far-right ideology, and fascism?
About 20% of Finland’s population are hardcore racists who like or agree with fascism;
We deny what the PS is because acknowledging it would be saying something ugly about ourselves. It’s like the story of the alcoholic who has a difficult time admitting that he has a drinking problem and must go to Alcoholics Anonymous.
Disagree?
Why, then, doesn’t the media put PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho in the hot seat and ask him about his racist and far-right writings? Wasn’t he convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012? Yes.
And just a fast comment about PS Youth chairperson Asseri Kinnunen, who voted Saturday for a change in the bylaws of the youth association, is seen standing in fascist attire from the 1930s Lapua Movement and Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaalinen kansanliike, IKL).
Are you too a fascist PS Youth chairperson Asseri Kinnunen? What’s with the black shirt, blue tie and that Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu rollup behind you? Source: Toopics.
If I had the opportunity to get an answer from these PS politicians, I’d ask them to elaborate on the following questions about their far-right political program:
The PS wants to bar Muslims and people of color from coming to Finland. Does this mean that you will ditch international agreements like the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Declaration of Human Rights?
Does the PS believe that these radical changes, which would imply Finland leaving the EU, are possible?
The PS wants to scrap hate speech laws. How will you assure that migrants and minorities won’t become victims of racist harassment and hate crime?
Could the PS define what is racism and social equality?
What does social equality mean? Is it only a white Finnish right?
Your party clearly states that it does not want Finland to be culturally and ethnically diverse. (Duh. It already is). If this is the case, and it is, what are you going to do about all those who are not white like you and live in Finland?
Is the PS going to put them in camps, islands and/or send them back to where they, their parents or grandparents came from?
When the PS speaks of making radical changes in immigration law, does this mean that migrants and minorities will become officially treated as second- and third-class citizens before the law?
Tell us specifically what would Finland look like if you had your way in changing immigration law and the constitution? What would you do to people who oppose such changes?
I suspect that the PS would only answer these questions totally off the record and anonymously.
The former interior minister and leader of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) parliamentary leader, Kai Mykkänen, wants stricter laws to combat terrorism. What re the motives behind the tightening of such laws? Do such laws only to Islam-based terrorism?
He writes: “According to the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo), the threat of terrorism in Finland continues to be individual actors or small groups that get their motivation from radical Islamist propaganda or encouragement from terrorist organizations. Marginalization and loneliness are the fuel that feeds radicalization.”
Looking at Mykkäenen’s text, there is nothing mentioned about what could be seen as far-right terrorism from 2015 in Finland when asylum reception centers were vandalized in cities like Pori, Rauma, Kankaanpää, Siilijärvi, and others.
And what does Mykkänen have to say about far-right vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin?
When these far-right groups appeared, and which have close ties with neo-Nazi groups, they were treated with kid’s gloves by the police and too many politicians.
National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen stated in 2016 that vigilante gangs are fine as long as they didn’t break the law.
“It’s a positive matter that [Finnish] citizens [note: not migrants] are interested in their neighborhood’s security and take part and debate in such matters,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat.
The leader of the Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, has threatened in a statement below that the vigilante group will go to the border and defend Finland if asylum seekers started coming as in 2015.
“If a 2015 invasion takes place and the defense forces are at the border [helping asylum seekers] to carry their baggage inside [as in 2015], we will with other nationalists [code for far-right and Islamophobic groups] close [by force] the Tornio border checkpoint. Finland must not make the same mistake that Sweden and our defense forces made and for this reason obliges us to take action!”
Source: Soldiers of Odin.
Fear-mongering with the help of disingenuous terrorist laws that apply to only one group but are blind to other forms of terrorism is a blow to the credibility of such legislation, and to the political party drafting them.
As in the past, Mykkänen and Kokoomus are eager to score political brownie points with voters and continue flirting with the Perussuomalaiset party.*
Being white is ok if you are white, but when you use your whiteness to oppress others and promote ideologies like fascism, then we need to have a discussion.
On the left is the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth logo, which portrays an ideal of whiteness and ethnonationalism with fascist overtones.
I have always wondered about the exceptionally white image that MEP Laura Huhtasaari portrays. Hair dyed super white, blue eyes bursting out of her eye sockets and her very white skin enhanced with the help of makeup racist myths.
These are just a few images that the PS uses to attract voters with the help . of hashtags like #ItsOKtobeWhite and #ItsOKtobeChristian
On the left is the Perussuomalaiset Youth logo and on the right MEP Laura Huhtasaari.
Despite these manifestations of ethnowhiteness, there is one quote that left me guessing with a question by none other than former PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen.
Feeling sorry for himself because the world does not sympathize with his view of fascism, I wonder what Jalonen would say 10 years from now if he looked at the quote below.
I suspect he’d wonder what the hell he was saying and doing.
Some may believe that the big news from the weekend is that the former second vice president of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth, Toni Jalonen, admitted publicly to being “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and a fascist.”
Reaction to what Jalonen affirmed came fast and hard after it hit social media. National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) leader Petteri Orpo stated that “Halla-aho’s circus is mixed up,” and all of the parties’ youth leagues pledged not to work with PS Youth only after they renounced ethnonationalism and fascism.
Jalonen fascist affirmation was followed over the weened by other PS outbursts from MP Ano Turtainen, who wrote that civil war was inevitable if Christian Democrat MP Päivi Räsänen is charged and convicted of ethnic agitation. European MP Laura Huhtasaari sent us to the twilight zone as well when she said in an interview that Kokoomus is a Communist Party.
Jalonen and the PS Youth’s third vice president, Tomer Souranto, resigned as well on Tuesday due to the scandal. Even if the PS tries to wash its hands of what happened, there are some unanswered questions lingering: Did Jalonen represent only himself or PS Youth) Did PS Youth pay for his and Souranto’s trip to the Etnofutur IV event in Tallinn?
If you look at the Etnofutur IV program below, Jalonen is listed as a Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu and PS Youth representative.
Former PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen speaking on behalf of Suomen Sisu and Perussuomalaiset Youth. Source: Facebook. Top picture and in “good” company: Toni Jalonen (left) at the Etnofutur IV conference posing with the Estonian Minister of Finance Martin Helm of the far-right EKRE party, former PS Youth third vice president Tomer Souranto and EKRE party member Ruuben Kaalep. Bottom left photo: Kaalep and far-right French leader Marine Le Pen giving the white power sign. Bottom right: Helm and father, interior minister Mart Helm giving the white power sign in parliament. Source: Yle, ERR News, and Migrant Tales.Toni Jalonen and some PS Youth members from Satakunta showing the white power sign in a February 15, 2020 posting. Writes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) about the white power sign: “In 2017, the ‘okay’ hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters ‘wp,’ for ‘white power.’ The ‘okay’ gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous symbols; in each case, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact by condemning a common image as white supremacist.”Source: Facebook.
If we are fair, PS chairperson Halla-aho’s irritation with what happened isn’t what Jalonen said, but that he sees such statements by his followers as a challenge to his leadership.
We saw a lot of this when Timo Soni, the former chairperson of PS, led the party. The Halla-aho faction that made racism in the cornerstone of its political message finally succeeded at ousting Soini in disgrace.
There is one sentence in Tuesday’s Yle A-studio that reveals the latter when Halla-aho admitted that he was “surprised” by Jalonen’s statement and saw it as “a provocation.”
Where has Halla-aho’s stuck his head during the past years? How can he forget what he’s written and where he has published his far-right racist writings? Let’s not kid ourselves, fascism and other far-right nonsense are an integral part of the party’s message.
Usually, the message comes out in code, but now Jalonen decided to open up and spill the beans dressed with the colors of the 1930s Finnish fascist Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaalinen kansanliike): “Today I am an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and a fascist [clapping].”
Jalonen’s scandalous statement isn’t the only matter that points to the PS’ liking of fascism. Check out the PS Youth logo. It also flirts with ethnonationalism and fascism. Risto Laakkonen once said that when you start to talk about Finns as a tribe, you start to flirt with racism.
What does this PS Youth logo evoke? White Finnish traditions, ethnonationalism, and racism under the guise of fascism.
If Finland is so much against racism and fascism as mainstream politicians and policy-makers want us to believe, how do you explain the popularity of the PS?
There are two explanations, in my opinion:
About 20% of Finland’s population are hardcore racists who like or agree with fascism;
We deny what the PS is because acknowledging it would be saying something ugly about ourselves. It’s like the story of the alcoholic who has a difficult time admitting that he has a drinking problem and must go to Alcoholics Anonymous.
There is no doubt in my mind that the PS is a threat to Finnish society and our way of life. Flirting with it or being a bedfellow will not change or tame the party.
If the PS had their way, Muslims and people of color would be treated worse than in the United States at the expense of neoliberal economic policies. The borders would be shut to non-EU asylum seekers. It would mean that Finland would ditch its international agreements and become a copy of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. Welcome gross human rights abuses.
The PS is a nightmare that would become real if ever in government.
It is justified to consider the Nürnberg trials a farce. Guilt was decided in advance, and the justifications for the sentences were absurd.[1]
Perussuomalaiset* (PS) chairperson Jussi Halla-aho (2010)
Isn’t it incredible how PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen put himself in the eye of a political storm when he admitted over the weekend that he is “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and a fascist?”
Not only admitted these words in public is one matter but doing it with his Finnish fascist black shirt and blue tie adds more light to the hypocrisy of the Finnish political system and specifically on the PS.
Halla-aho was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat that the PS doesn’t tolerate nazism or fascism. These assurances are as empty as Halla-aho admitting that the PS isn’t a racist party.
A 2011 campaign ad of Wille Rydman of the National Coalition Party. In some ads like this one he appears for some strange reason with photoshopped dark skin and in others with white skin. Rydman believes that his party should work closer with the PS. It is for this reason, and many others, why he is known as the Halla-aho of the National Coalition Party.
Jalonen used MP Juha Mäenpää, who is suspected for ethnic agitation over his invasive species remark of asylum seekers, as an example of why it would be injust to sack him from the party.
“I understand that if the party sacks me, but I do not see it as just if you look at what others have said [publicly] in the party,” he was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat, pointing the finger at Mäenpää.
What makes the whole we’re-going-to-possibly-sack Jalonen farce by the PS leadership is itself and its track record. Jalonen’s case shows that it is fine being a fascist in the party as long as you don’t say it too loudly in public.
Halla-aho was, for example, convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. He was also suspended a year earlier from the party for two weeks for supporting a military regime in Greece.
“What is needed in Greece right now is a military junta, which would not need public approval and could use tanks against strikers and demonstrators,” he wrote on Facebook.[2]
The PS has, under the leadership of Halla-aho, become more radicalized. Racist concepts like ethnonationalism, ethnic replacement, fascism, and other ones are today the norm.
The same challenges former PS leader Timo Soini had with the racists in the party, which was nothing more than a power fight between him and Halla-aho, is now taking place in the party but with fascists and ethnonationalists.
Let’s not fall for the hypocrisy of the PS, but continue to focus on challenging a party that wants to turn Finland into a country like Victor Orbán’s Hungary.
[1] For an example Alber Speer (an architect) got a long sentence since he knew about the holocaust but didn’t try to prevent it. As if a person living in a dictatorship should fight against the dictatorship even if it costs his life. Source: Wikiquote (Hommaforum).
