Tag: Perussuomalaiset

PS’ Third Vice President Juho Eerola is suspected of ethnic agitation in Finland

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Perussuomalaiset (PS)* third vice president Juho Eerola is suspected of ethnic agitation, according to YLE News. If convicted, only PS First Vice President Laura Huhtasaari would be the only board member of the party that doesn’t have a conviction for ethnic agitation. Chairman Jussi Halla-aho was convicted in 2012 and MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, the second vice president, convicted in January. 

Eerola, who is an anti-immigration politician who said Benito Mussolini’s fascism attracted him, got in legal hot water when he wrote in Facebook this summer that he spat at Roma beggars and asked them if they accepted Visa.

Eerola chairs the parliamentary administration committee that, among other things, oversees immigration policy.

Migrant Tales had the opportunity to speak by phone to Rikhard Blomerus, a Savonlinna deputy councilperson, who filed ethnic agitation charges to the police and brought the matter to the attention of the chancellor of justice.

“I filed charges not because I am a Roma, but I would have done it irrespective if the victim were Saami or any other minority like the Swedish Finns,” he said, stating that he knew Eerola when he was a member of the PS. “I think he made the [Facebook] posting to score brownie points [with the voters].”

UPDATED: Blomerus said that he had received a lot of comments about what he did.

“A lot of them are angry with me,” he continued. “One was even angry because he considered it an insult that a Roma would bring charges against a white Finn.”

Blomerus used to be a member of the PS but left the party after Halla-aho was elected chair in June. The Savonlinna deputy councilperson has complained previously about the anti-Roma sentiment in the PS.

“I don’t belong to any party these days,” he said. “I’m an independent.”

Read the full story here.

Continue reading “PS’ Third Vice President Juho Eerola is suspected of ethnic agitation in Finland”

The words and silence of politicians have dire consequences in Finland for us

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After the stabbing of ten people in Turku on Friday, politicians like President Sauli Niinistö, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, Interior Minister Paula Risikko and the national media appear to be carried away by their prejudices and hostility towards asylum seekers. Even Jussi Halla-aho, the chairman of the Perussuomalaiset* convicted for hate speech, threw his hat in the ring.  

These politicians, like many others, are the ones who speak to us about mutual respect and social equality but despite such assurances, they are not meant for migrants and minorities. They loathe our social welfare system and the noble values so much that they intend to destroy them. On their list of suspicious people are not only those who are different from them but the most vulnerable sectors of society like the unemployed, single mothers and others.

They tell us that there is no connection between what happened in Turku and plans to fast-track a new intelligence law and ever-tougher stances against asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, migrants, and minorities.

We know that there is a connection and if we don’t watch out, they will sell out everything great and noble about Finland that took decades to build.

Read the full story (in Swedish) here.

After Friday’s tragic events in Turku, we have seen a spike in hostility against non-white Finns throughout the country. Business establishments were attacked as well as innocent people whose only “crime” is being Other. One of these was a young man told to remove himself from a seat, and another was stabbed in Vantaa after being asked if he was a Muslim.

These cases are, like hate crimes, only the tip of the iceberg.

Continue reading “The words and silence of politicians have dire consequences in Finland for us”

Ilari Kaila & Tuomas Kaila: Finland, we hardly knew

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Migrant Tales insight: The op-ed piece below gives another view of Finland that appears to always be the best, the happiest, the most successful in everything. All of this is happening, as the authors, Ilari Kaila and Tuomas Kaila correctly point out how the Finnish welfare state is being eroded with the rise of the far right.

The op-ed piece was published in Jacobin Magazine.

The Finnish welfare state is being eroded, and the far right has gained momentum. As the country turns one hundred, what’s happened to Finland?

You’ve got to hand it to Finland: in its centennial year, the country enjoys “strong brand recognition” and “positive brand sentiment” — to use the kind of corporate-speak that’s in vogue with much of Finland’s contemporary political class.

Judging by the international news stories circulating on social media, our native country is a veritable Shangri-La. Its citizens are ecstatically happy — perhaps because we are a mysterious people “of quiet strength and pride,” or because we’ve uncovered the “Secret to Success With Schools, Moms, Kids . . .and Everything.” Finns aren’t just technologically but socially innovative. Everyone is taken care of, from the cradle to the grave, by a friendly Santa Claus state: even as we speak, Finland is pushing the boundaries of its already stellar public education and social welfare systems. The country is welcoming and egalitarian, with free health care for all and high speeding tickets for millionaires. It’s inclusive and progressive; last in corruption, number one in homoerotic postage stamps.

But here’s a more urgent story you aren’t likely to see: much of what once made Finland an exceptional place to live is being systematically dismantled. Finland should not be held up as a beacon of equality and progress. All the media hype and myths notwithstanding, there is no secret Nordic formula for social justice. The famed Finnish welfare state, while still much more generous than the US’s, mirrors the trajectory of other industrialized nations, from its advancement after World War II to its current erosion. And with the curtailment of the welfare state, political space is opening up for the far right.

So how did we get here?

Read the full story here.

The Rise and Fall of a Nordic Welfare State

On New Year’s Eve 1917, a Finnish delegation, seeking an audience with Russia’s new Bolshevik leadership, waited patiently in the ice-cold lobby of the Council of People’s Commissars in St Petersburg. The place was brimming with people: chain-smoking commissars, civil servants, typists, sailors, Red Army officers.

Read the full story here.

Introducing presidential hopeful Laura Huhtasaari, the Islamophobe with the kindergarten teacher smile

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The far-right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party announced Friday that their first vice president, Laura Huhtasaari, is their candidate for the 2018 presidential elections. The announcement didn’t surprise anyone but it did raise a lot of media and social media interest. 

There are many things we could say about Huhtasaari. The short description below will give you a taste of what she is:

Huhtasaari is an avid Islamophobe, a Donald Trump supporter, a creationist who wants to see Finland shut its doors to asylum seekers and wants keep the country white and ditch the EU. Her white image and her bigoted comments have earned her the title at Migrant Tales of the Islamophobe with the kindergarten teacher smile.

Even if Huhtasaari is a special needs teacher and she should know better, Reija Härkönen revealed in January how she shamelessly plagiarized other people’s text.

Some believe that if she can copy other people’s text with such ease, the same could have happened in her master’s thesis, which was on multicultural classrooms.

Huhtasaari’s thesis could be accessed on the Internet a few years ago. That is no longer possible.

Helsingin Sanomat writes that experts say that Huhtasaari is a different type of presidential candidate since she is an under-40-year-old woman with no foreign policy experience and a creationist.

What does Huhtasaari represent and what does it say about the far right in Finland?

Even if her candidacy attracted a lot of attention a recent poll gave showed her popularity at 1%. That compares with 62% for President Sauli Niinistö and 11% for Green Party hopeful Pekka Haavisto. Continue reading “Introducing presidential hopeful Laura Huhtasaari, the Islamophobe with the kindergarten teacher smile”

Disingenuous Timo Soini should take a long look in the mirror

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If there is a power-hungry politician who will do almost anything to gain power and lose it in an instant, that politician is Timo Soini. Apart from being a disingenuous politician who saw his populist creation inflate and implode, he is a sore loser as well.

In an interview in Tampere-based daily Aamulehti, he claims that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* “is no longer the party he founded” and that the party he ruled for 20 years is now “an anti-human” party under its new chairperson Jussi Halla-aho.

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

Soini, the PS, and the new PS, or Siniset, have a long history of lying to the public.

The PS has always been a so-called “anti-human” party because it has victimized migrants and been hostile to cultural diversity and difference.

If you disagree, how come Soini turned to people like Tony Halme and Halla-aho to get more support for the party?

His political creation, the PS, is like from the classic 1931 movie Frankenstein, when the monster kills its master.

The same happened with Soini and the PS.

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS

Just call them the New Perussuomalaiset and Old Perussuomalaiset

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As politicians like MP Simon Elo try to assure us of their questionable political credentials after he and nineteen others ditched the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party on June 13,  the new party’s name, which has changed three times in less than two months, is nothing more than a snow job. 

Let’s go back to see what happened in early June. Former chairperson Timo Soini, who chaired the party for twenty years, backed Sampo Terho to head the PS. Sampo loses against Jussi Halla-aho, and it caused the PS to implode three days later.

PS MPs that give the thumbs down to Halla-aho form a new parliamentary group called New Alternative, Uusi vaihtoehto, which is later called Blue Reform and on Monday it changes the name for a third time to Siniset.

Changing the name so many times is confusing to say the least. The public isn’t buying it as the latest polls show below for the New and Old PS.

Note that the Old PS (Finns) and New Alternative (N. Alt) see their standings in the latest poll by YLE plummet by 1.6 percentage points.

Instead of allowing a new party to make up its mind what it wants to call itself, just call both blocs the “Old” Perussuomalaiset and “New” Perussuomalsiet to avoid confusion.

What differentiates the Old from the New Perussuomalaiset from each other?

Apart from their common bigotry, hostility and Islamophobic views, the New Perussuomalaiset is no different from the Old Perussuomalaiset. The difference, however, is that the former look acceptable from the outside but inside their views of Finnish society is racist and hostile to cultural diversity.

 

Continue reading “Just call them the New Perussuomalaiset and Old Perussuomalaiset”

The fired bus driver who seeks fame with his racist videos will end up forsaken, jobless

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Racism is a sickness, and as a disorder, it has consequences for the victim and the perpetrator. We learned about a bus driver and Peurssuomalaiset (PS)* politician called Gleb Simanov, who thought up the “bright” idea to videotape and insult Somalis while at work in three videos that he posted.  

On Thursday Simonov’s fortunes changed when he was fired from Nobina, a bus company.

His sacking reminds me of what happened in 2015 to a woman called Martta Petman, who worked at the Tikkurila congregation. She was fired after she wrote on Facebook that she spat in the porridge that she served asylum seekers.

Petman might have raised some attention with her questionable actions, but she was quickly forgotten. Nobody came to her rescue never mind helped her find a new job. Sakari Timonen, one of Finland’s best bloggers, said that racists are the last people to come to another racist’s rescue.

The same is happening to Simonov. He may have caught the attention of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and other xenophobic groups, but he too like Petman will be forgotten and left without a job.

In the Facebook posting below, Simanov thanks his supporters. He even thanks a person for giving him 10 euros.

For a single father with two children, ten euros isn’t going to take you very far.

One of the interesting questions to arise from what happened is Paavo Tajukangas’ role. Tajukangas is a far-right white supremacist and a member of Suomen Sisu, an association that wants to keep Finland white.  Continue reading “The fired bus driver who seeks fame with his racist videos will end up forsaken, jobless”

The Helsinki bus driver that videotaped, insulted his customers was fired Thursday

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Today we read about a bus driver of Russian origin, and a candidate of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party ethnically profile Somalis, insulted, videotaped and published on YouTube got sacked today. The bus driver was so sure of himself that he even gave the numbers of his company’s managers to complain. 

The bus driver, Gleb Simanov, got fired for “inappropriate and racist” behavior.

Migrant Tales spoke to one of the managers at Nobina, the bus company where he works.

 

“Let me state that it’s not acceptable that a bus driver [of our firm] videotapes clients in our buses,” said Mårten Winqvist of Nobina. “Moreover, it was wrong for the bus driver to ask a woman to leave the bus even after she offered to pay the fare.”

Winqvist said that the actions of the bus driver were in conflict with company policy.

Gleb Simanov posts the following on his Facebook wall: “Nobina Finland has fired me because of inappropriate and racist behavior. “I’m now unemployed and Kela’s [The Social Service Institution] new customer,” he writes. His firing will take effect on September 14.


We won’t publish the videos because we don’t want to bring more suffering to the victims.

Even if Paavo Tajukangas, a far-right white supremacist, and a member of Suomen Sisu, has published Simanov’s videos, nobody will come to his rescue.

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

A Helsinki bus driver who publishes video tapes of Somali clients he’s insulted

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What would you say if a bus driver, who only video tapes Somalis, starts calling them liars and forces them off the bus even after one of them wanted to pay for the bus fare? Ethnic profiling? Racist or all of the above? 

Add to the latter a story authored by Paavo Tajukangas and the message and intent of the story is clear.

Tajukangas is a member of the far-right white supremacist Suomen Sisu association. His trademark is making up stories to suit his racist writings.

We won’t publish the videos because we don’t want to bring more suffering to the victims.

According to a Facebook posting, the bus driver of Russian origin seeks a lawyer because he found out that he cannot videotape customers and publish them.

Migrant Tales got in touch with the company, which promised to call back.

Continue reading “A Helsinki bus driver who publishes video tapes of Somali clients he’s insulted”

Defining white Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship

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Let’s be honest and expose one of the biggest lies concerning hate speech and censorship that always pops up at interviews like the one Thursday MTV with (the old) Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo and the editor of the party’s magazine, Matias Turkkila. 

Both claim that people aren’t allowed to express themselves freely when it comes to cultural diversity because they don’t want to be named racists. Before I respond to this false claim, let’s see who are Slunga-Poutsalo and Turkkila.

Slunga-Poutsalo is one of the persons who signed the Nuiva manifesto in 2010, an anti-immigration proposal to keep Finland white and how to disenfranchise migrants and minorities. She called asylum seekers in 2015 “economic migrants” and “social welfare shoppers.”

Turkkila is an old ally of Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted of hate speech in 2012 and caused the PS to implode after he was elected chairman in June.

Turkkila is also one of the founders of Hommaforum, a racist platform where its members, usually anonymously, make racist comments. Hommaforum could be described as a racist peep show where racism is the erotic attraction.

Both Slunga-Poutsalo and Turkkila had the opportunity in MTV to spread once again a lie that “common Finns” cannot say what they think about immigration.

 

Watch the full interview (in Finnish) here.

The affirmation is, as we know, one of the biggest lies spread by anti-immigration politicians. On many occasions, the person making such a claim said right after it something racist and bigoted.

Finnish white privilege #36

Continue reading “Defining white Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship”