Tag: Perussuomalaiset

MP Ano Turtiainen: A shovelful of PS violence and rage

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I doubt that anyone of us wants to see a [civil] war in our country.

PS MP Ano Turtiainen

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP with a curious first name, “Ano,” [1] Turtiainen is another dangerous example of how the Islamophobic party fuels the hostile environment against migrants and minorities like Muslims.

Recently we saw a deadly killing in Hanau, Germany, at the hands of a far-right German who turned words into bullets. Considering that lawmakers like Turtiainen and others are encouraging people to acts of violence, the horrific events in Hanau sends chills up our spines.

Turtiainen was quoted as saying in Mikkeli-based Länsi-Savo last year that he has no regrets about publishing in December 2015 a post where he asks people to burn asylum reception centers run by the Red Cross.

In another interview with the Mikkeli daily, he stated the conviction for inciting people to commit a crime was a” feather in his cap.”

What kind of a lawmaker is Turtiainen who directly incites (see posting below) white Finns to rise up in arms?

See also

One of his writings in Uusi Suomi was taken down recently. In the opinion piece, he called people to incite a civil war:

“I doubt that anyone of us wants to see a [civil] war in our country. We cannot, however, avoid such an eventuality if we continue this silent unsuspecting observation from the side when the enemy among us takes more power.

Use your voice and [say it] loudly! “

Ano Turtiainen: “member of parliament, father, town councilperson, entrepreneur, weightlifting world champion, weightlifting record holder.”

[1] “Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. In Spanish, “ano” means anus.

MP Mauri Peltokangas is an example of the PS’ far-right rage and hateful narrative

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Mauri Peltokangas is an MP for the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and a member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association. In the hostile video below, the PS MP with close ties to neo-Nazi groups, uses the following terms to cry us a river about bringing to Finland 175 children from the Lesvos refugee camp.

If his invective monologue below lasts 2:36 minutes, it means that around every 20 seconds you hear the following swear words:

  • Shit (paska): 2 times
  • Fucked (perseestä): 2 times
  • What the hell, hell (mitä helevetti, helevetti): 2
  • The devil (perkele): 2

Are these the “lawmakers” that are supposed to look after our interests and bring security?

Source: Facebook.

Writes Al-Jazeera about the humanitarian crisis in Lesvos: “More than 18,300 asylum seekers currently live in and around Moria camp, a facility built to accommodate 2,200, according to the UNHCR. Tents and ad hoc structures are stacked close by on the hillsides, forming a makeshift city whose population is now the second largest on the island, after the capital Mytilini.”

Migrant Tales recently published a story of a refugee family in Lesvos.

Peltokangas spreads fake news.

“The toilets are a kilometer from their tent, and the journey there is dangerous because it is downhill and slippery when it rains,” said a relative of the family that now lives on Lesvos. “If you get to the toilet, you’ll find long lines with families with ten children waiting for their turn.”

But Peltokangas is defiant. He states in the video that there is no reason to bring 175 children from Lesbos because Greece “is a warm and secure EU country.”

Believe it or not, Peltokangas is a very popular politician in Finland, a country that tries to prize itself as a champion of human rights, social equality, and one of the best education systems in the world.

A warning from Germany: Far-right and populist rhetoric can turn into bullets

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

An analysis piece in the Guardian looked at the international and local links that lead to the deadly incidents that led to the deaths Tof nine people in Hanau, Germany at the hands of a far-right killer.

Patrik Hermansson of Hope Not Hate, a UK-based far-right monitoring group, correctly warns us again of the danger of toxic anti-immigration rhetoric by far-right and populist groups.

“Part of the problem is that until now the German security community doesn’t seem to have been very good at dealing with the situation,” said Hermansson. “In some cases, extremists have had links with the police and the military.”

According to the Guardian, British investors claim that there are links “between British, German, and Nordic far-right groups.”

In Finland, there are already direct links of the far-right in parliament through the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and Nazi-spirited association, Suomen Sisu nevermind neo-Nazi groups like the banned Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL) and Pohjoinen Perinne (Nordic Tradition Group).

Apart from the close ties between the PS and neo-Nazi groups, the Soldiers of Odin are another far-right group masquerading in our country with impunity.

Being white and with the help of institutional racism, groups like the police and military are in danger in Finland of underestimating the far-right threat with the help of denial and cultural wise tales.

Writes the Anti-Hate Crime Organization Finland: “Demonizing groups like Muslims and labeling them as ‘an invasive species’ by a PS MP or spreading fear about how white Finns will become a minority in their country is the same type of poison [of racism and hate] that [Chancellor Angela] Merkel warned.”

Hatred and even violent rhetoric against Muslims, people of color, Jews, and other visible minorities has not unfortunately subsided but picked up in Finland.

Finland must get a grip on the threat the far-right and populist parties pose to our way of life. If we do nothing or too little as now, we will only have ourselves to blame if Hanau-style terrorism strikes our society.

Helsingin Sanomat’s Saarikoski should seek facts and not rely on his prejudices

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The tweet by Saksa Saarikoski of Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s biggest daily, represents to the tee how our society has changed and become ever-suspicious of asylum seekers.

Finland’s interior minister, Maria Ohisalo, has correctly criticized the EU for its lame and disastrous asylum policy. The suggestion that Ohisalo wants to bring refugee minors from the island of Lesvos to Finland has – surprise, surprise – unleashed a torrent of debate.

Saarikoski’s tweet below picture well the integrity of the ongoing debate: “I understand that we must help children, but is a fast lane to bring 16-17-year-olds [to Finland] reasonable? Doesn’t that encourage a system where the child is sent first, and then the family arrives later? That puts children in harm’s way and to exploitation.”

Really, Saarikoski? Do you have any proof? Are all children sent to the EU aim to help their families come to the EU?

Erna Bodström gives Saarikoski an answer: “Hey Saska, if you want facts, why don’t you find out instead of tweeting without knowing [what you are talking about]? As a journalist, you have learned how to find facts.”

When a journalist at Finland’s largest daily makes such comments about asylum seeker minors, it reveals something worrying about our society: We are hostages to our racism and crippled to change our point of view.”

A dumb question: What the f**k is wrong if a person wants to migrate or flee violence for a better life and future?

What is wrong with these people who want to rob people of this right?

Is Matias Turkkila a part of Finland’s Islamophobic network? You bet!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One matter is for certain: You don’t need to prove somebody is a racist because that person does it for you. Racists also think people are stupid and can’t see through them.

While I am not suggesting that Turkkila is a racist, he’s had a big role in helping the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and its politicians to spread the party’s Islamophobic message and their brand of hatred of people of color.

Matias Turkkila “feels angry” because he name was mentioned on page 315 of the report: “As in previous years, Laura Huhtasaari, PS vice president and MP, ranks high on the Islamophobic network together with the president of the party, Jussi Halla aho, who was convicted in 2012 of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion. Others include: Teuvo Hakkarainen, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Atte Kaleva, Matias Turkkila, Marco de Wit, Marko Mäki, Junes Lokka, and Tiina Wiik.
Even if Muslims account for an estimated 1.8% of the total population and nonEU migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Africa amount to 16.9% (63,362
in 2017) of Finland’s foreign-born residents, Halla-aho, Huhtasaari, and other
Islamophobes like the neo-Nazi PVL make a big deal about Muslims being a threat
to society. Huhtasaari, who supports U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungary’s strongman Viktor Orbán, is worried about the “Islamization” of Europe. In a
recent post on social media, she expressed her three greatest concerns: “no substitution for Finland’s population and culture; we don’t want Finland taken over by
Islam; and we don’t want people in our streets to be substituted for women and
girls wearing veils.” Source: European Islamophobia Report 2018.

Some facts about how Turkkila and how he has furthered racism with the help of the Islamophobic network:

  • He’s was PS Jussi Halla-aho’s campaign manager. Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion;
  • Founding with Halla-aho or by himself Hommaforum, an Islamophobic platform to frame and attack antiracists and other people they don’t like;
  • He is editor os Suomen Uutiset, a PS publication that regularly spews hatred and misinformation about people of color and Muslims.

The question: Does Matias Turkkila belong to the Islamophobic network of Finland?

Definitely yes!

Is the PS a far-right party?

You bet!

Is the PS Islamophobic?

Certainly!

What would Jussi Halla-aho and the PS say if Harvey Weinstein lived in Finland? Would anti-Semitism spiral out of control?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If there is one party that racializes sexual assaults, especially committed by Muslims, that party is without a doubt the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. Its chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, first vice-president Riikka Purra, MP Sebastian Tynkkynen, and the rest of the 36 MPs of their party in parliament.

All of them, the 39 PS MPs, used Islamophobia and xenophobia to get elected. They have nothing else to bring to the political table except for their hatred of Muslims and non-EU citizens.

Both the Perussuomalaiset and its youth chapter are opportunistic cowards. In this tweet affirming that cultural appropriation is ok, there is no Jew with a kippah. I asked them about this, but they never responded.

In the Perussuomalaiset Youth tweet above, the Islamophobic and far-right group makes a statement about cultural appropriation, which is ok, according to them.

If you look at the picture, the only thing I can make out is a Mexican, two Arabs, and, possibly, somebody from the Far East. There are no Jews in the picture because that would force all hell to break loose. The PS, like its youth organization, bully and pick on soft targets like Muslims.

Remember the Oulu sexual assault cases and the hysteria it brought upon Oulu and Finland? Not only were the PS guilty of spreading anti-Muslim racism, government parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and even the police did so as well.

The spread of this racism would not have been possible without the collusion of the media. The media should know better to distinguish what racist reporting is and what is not.

Harvey Weinstein

In the United States, we’ve been reading about the scores of women that disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually abused and raped.

In one story in the Huffington Post, it states that the Weinstein case has not only sparked debate about the sexism and abuse in the entertainment industry but anti-Semitism as well.

Writes the Huffington Post: “Several white supremacists and even one prominent Jewish magazine, though, have latched onto Weinstein’s Jewish identity as somehow explaining his abusive behavior towards women.”

Just like our far-right Islamophobic politicians like Halla-aho, Purra and others, anti-Semitic commentary in the U.S. came from the likes of David Duke, a white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan leader, who said that Weinstein is “a case study in the corrosive nature of Jewish domination of our media and cultural industries.”

Certainly, Muslims do not have the same power are Jews have in the United States. Even so, the racializing of the Weinstein case is strikingly similar to how the PS and other racists frame Muslims.

It is a case in point how the Finnish media treats Muslims and a good examples why the Finnish media has an “r” and “I” problem.

PS MP Ano Turtiainen is the bald face of aging communities losing vitality

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“The inhabitants of Juva are quiet about [MP] Ano Turtianen.* It is a sign that there is a lot of shame.”

A Juva resident

THIS POST WAS UPDATED

Juva in the region of Etelä-Savo is a sad example of how a town withers demographically and what types of politicians appear and are supposed to save it from itself.

Etelä-Savo, like Juva, is graying, and rapidly. The population of the region plummeted by 18.2% to 142,380 inhabitants in 2019 from 174,237 in 1990. Thirty percent of the region’s inhabitants are over 65 years old, with Juva having 32%.

In the face of the region’s and Juva’s demographic challenges, voters don’t support people who want effective solutions but body-building politicians like Ano Turtiainen [1] of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

Turtiainen is no “lawmaker” per se but one who breaks the law.

Source: Facebook.

In 2018, he was convicted of inciting violence against the Finnish Red Cross, which manages many asylum reception centers. The conviction has its roots in 2015.

In that year, asylum reception centers were attacked by white Finns. In 2015, a record number of asylum seekers, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan, came to Finland.

In an interview with Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo, Turtainen boasted after he took away his appeal that the conviction was “a feather in his cap.”

In the year that Turtiainen posted and incited people to attack the Finnish Red Cross, there were fourteen asylum reception centers that were attacked in Finland in 2015.

During that year, over 30,000 asylum seekers came to Finland.

Further reading:

Nature is helping in keeping population growth in check. #ebola #Africa he stated on Facebook in June 2019.

The latest incident involving Turtiainen for slamming police Chief inspector Jari Taponen a “castrated wimp” for telling him that freedom of expression carries responsibilities.

Taponen has filed defamation charges against Turtiainen.

Another one of PS MP Turtiainen’s “famous” Facebook posts. He writes: “It came from painful constipation for swallowing the Greens in government…it was a great relief to see a bucketful of shit…

[1] Ano is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is anus.

Finland’s anti-Semitism and “r” problem: Washing one’s hands with Denial soap

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland’s reaction: See no evil, hear no evil.

Finland has had, for a long time, an “r” problem in the way of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and other social ills like hatred against the Romany minority. Part of it has to do with the historical acceptance and even closet glorification of our alliance with Nazi Germany.

The photograph below of Marshall Carl Mannerheim and Heinrich Himmler toasting to a glass of schnapps, at the height of Operation Reinhard to commit mass murder to wipe the Jews off the face of Europe.

You may ask people about this shameful picture and if it is ok to be on the wall of Mikkeli Klubi in Mikkeli. “It’s history,” the majority would respond and thereby washing their hands of such genocide.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Turku Synagogue saw its walls vandalized with red paint, according to Yle News.

Is it a cultural thing or is that some of us have witnessed racism and the oppression from it directly? It seems that every time a Finnish politician speaks about “rising racism” he attempts to be diplomatic and kind.

President Sauli Niinistö was asked to comment on what happened in Turku. Writes Yle News: “[N]iinistö characterized the incident at Turku Synagogue as very disturbing. He said the vandalism was an indication of broader racism, saying that the growth of racism and anti-Semitism was worrying and that their developments were linked.”

Niinistö said that the growth of racism and anti-Semitism “was worrying” and what happened in Turku “very disturbing.”

The term “worrying” should, in my opinion, be replaced with alarming taking into account the present situation spearheaded by an Islamophobic party on the warpath against migrants and minorities.

A respectful question to President Niinistö: What have you done to challenge this “worrying” and “very disturbing” news?

Read the full story here.

President Niinistö, like any other politician in Finland, is part of the racism problem in Finland. It is, unfortunately, done through denial and watered-down reactions.

The good news is that President Niinistö appears to be waking up as he warned in his New Year’s speech about the dangers of hate speech.

______________________________________________________________________________

Further reading about Niinistö’s gaffes about migrants and asylum seekers: 

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Vandalism and attacks against others like Muslims is too common in Finland these day.

PS MP hides behind his party to absolve him of ethnic agitation charges. Chicken!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“Part of the problem seems to lie with Finnish politicians who truly believe that having a dialogue – any dialogue, regardless of who is on the opposite side of the table – is better than having no dialogue at all. So you can easily end up with the equivalent of a businessman trying to reach an agreement with Al Capone.”

Kenneth Sikorski, Jerusalem Post

The latter quote fits perfectly with the naive perception that racists and antiracists will one day kiss, makeup, and live happily together.

Dead wrong.

Talking to the likes of Jussi Halla-aho and his political cronies, who have built their careers on racism won’t work because those who try will be exploited and crushed.

And why should I talk to a racist? A racist is a racist who is set on his idea. The racist has to make the first move and renounce his hateful ideology.

PS MP Juha Mäenpää is the latest example of an Islamophobic politician who is afraid to stand by what he said in June, when he compared during a session of parliament asylum seekers, who are mostly Muslim, as an “invasive species.”

Mäenpää hates Muslims. He is the same person who in 2015 said that god had answered his prayers when an asylum reception center, which going to be used to house refugees, was razed to the ground. Mäenpää is a member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association as well.

Juha Mäenpää is an Islamophobe who is member of a Nazi-spirited association, Suomen Sisu. Source: Yle News.

After over a half a year, Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen announced Thursday that she plans to charge Mäenpää for ethnic agitation. This may be better said than done since for an MP to be charged, it requires the approval of five-sixths of parliament, or of 167 out of 200 MPs.

The PS, which has said that they will vote against such a proposal, has 39 MPs, which would be enough to force the proposal to be voted down.

The defiant attitude of Mäenpää was clearly seen when the police questioned him. He refused to answer some of the police questions and stated that it wasn’t his fault for how people interpret what he said.

What a bully! What a coward! Chicken!

Should we be surprised by Mäenpää’s reaction to the ethnic agitation charges? Not at all. Those who bully and use their power to push around others are usually cowards when challenged.

Calling Muslim asylum seekers an “invasive species” is 1930 déjà vu, when the Nazi regime victimized and systematically murdered Jews and other minorities.

Andrew Stroehlein is a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch.
Entrance to the Auschwitz death camp where it mockingly reads: “Work will set you free.” On January 27,1945 the camp was liberated. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.

The only person who is oblivious to Timo Soini the politician is Timo Soini

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Former Perussuomnalaiset chairperson Timo Soini reappeared from obscurity on Tuesday with the launching of his book on populism called “Populismi.” My initial reaction was that I had not missed at all and his round-about and apologist soundbites and arguments.

He states with his usual poker face: “My opinion about humanity is that every person is valuable irrespective of his race, religion, or ethnic background.”

A good cartoon of Soini would be of him at some Nazi extermination camp where he states in his usual style that he is against all the mass killing of Jews but does nothing to stop it.

Former Perussuomalaiset chairperson Timo Soini got his fingers burned by the very party he helped grow. A politician who is a master opportunist, Soini’s comeback to Finnish politics suffered a fatal blow in June 2017, when Jussi Halla-aho was elected as chairperson of the party. Source: Yle A-studio.

He continues: “I am against any self-indulgent speech and such rumblings about people through hate speech and the like.”

Then Soini puts on his usual they-done-it mask: “[b]ut if people are worried that if tens of thousands of people [Muslims] will do to Finland if they come here, their worries are justified.”

The interesting question to ask about Soini’s resurfacing is why the media, starting with Helsingin Sanomat, treats him with kid gloves. Writes an editorial of Finland’s most important daily: “He’s like a passage of Hameln’s Folk Tale of Fables: When he plays the flute, the media follows.”

It is incredible how Helsingin Sanomat offers in an editorial such a sanitized view of a man that brought populism and racist politicians mainstream politics.

Certainly, Soini’s brand of opportunistic does not directly affect some white Finnish journalists in the same way as Muslims and other minorities in this country.

Just like we bid farewell and good riddance to Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government, the same wish goes to Soini.