Tag: Perussuomalaiset

White privilege under threat

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Trump administration is one of the best examples of the violent knee-jerk reaction of how white privilege reacts when threatened. As Nazi Germany proved, government’s will go to any lengths to defend their privileges, even if it is a fabricated threat.

No country is immune to such a situation. The rise of far-right parties in Europe is an example of the latter. All of them have one factor in common: outsiders are threatening to take away our privileges.

Fortunately, Finland is bucking the trend for now. The anti-immigration and far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which is in government, has seen its poll numbers nosedive, as a recent Helsingin Sanomat opinion poll showed.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, the last time the PS’ share of the vote was at the 10% level was in January 2019, when it was 9.7%. It is today a far cry from its peak of 22.8% in January 2020.

The PS’ lack of support is linked to white privilege, which the party is attacking through its austerity measures that target vulnerable groups like single mothers and the unemployed. 

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A promising result about the Perussuomalaiset

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The worst enemy of the Perussuomalaiset is the Perussuomalaiset.

The recent opinion poll published by Yle is a source of hope that Finland is finally awakening from its 2011 general election nightmare, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* saw its MPs in parliament soar to 39 from five previously.

The latest poll shows that the PS’ support plummeted by four percentage points to 11.4% relegating the anti-immigration far-right party to fourth place after the Social Democrats (25.3%), National Coalition Party (20.2%), and Center Party (15.6%).

Source: Yle

The PS saw its support dive in April’s municipal and county elections and this is a bad omen for the party in the 2027 general election.

Even if the PS leadership blames their poor election misfortunes on “a red wave” and “poor communication,” the party’s membership in government has exposed its far-right neoliberal policies and agenda.

Many, like myself who have followed the PS closely since the early 2010s, are hoping that the PS will return permanently to the single-digit political leagues characterized by internal fighting.

It is the best news for Finland in a long time.

It’s the elephant in the room, stupid!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In the face of what is happening in the United States under President Donald Trump and the rise of far-right parties in Europe like the AfD of Germany, one may ask if we have crossed the point of no return. Finland’s municipal and county elections of April offer us a clear no to that question.

In the municipal and county elections, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* saw its results plummet raising speculation that it may be even a death blow to the party with parliamentary elections due in April 2027.

The worst enemy of far-right and autocratic parties and rulers is none other than themselves. Autocratic rulers and parties become success or speed blind until they smash against a wall.

In a watershed announcement by Germany’s domestic intelligence service it slammed AdF as a “right-wing extremist group.” This could allow the government to ban the far-right party. As guessed, the Trump administration has expressed its displeasure.

Continue reading “It’s the elephant in the room, stupid!”

The cyanide capsule of the authoritarian ruler

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the lessons that I learned from my native Argentina, is that political turmoil caused by autocrats like military rulers have their days counted when they believe they are invincible. Today, we are witnessing it in the United States under the Trump regime.

As he promised, Trump is an autocrat from day one challenging the very institutional fabric of the country.

It would be naive and careless to believe that the US is now under attack from an autocrat. It has been under attack from within ever since it institutionalized slavery, injustice and runaway capitalism.

And what is even greater and offers a ray of hope, is that fact that you do not need an army to defeat the most well-equipped regime. All you need is a few good people at the right historical place and time.

An example of how the mainstream media spreads racism and frames migrants. MTV is supposed to be a “serious” source but last year it invited Interioir Minister Mari Rantanen to talk about the governments anti-immigration policy with a provocative picture on the right. You can read the lastest European Islamophobia Report 2023 here.

Opulence and inustice are a deadly mix that can destroy an autocrat like cyanide and it will end up killing and impoverishing it.

The recent municipal and county elections in Finland also are a cyaide pill for the xenophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, whch saw its election result plunge to by 6.8% to 7.6% and by 3.3% ti 7.8%, respectively.

Few are shedding a tear about the dismal result of the PS in the election after it has spread in Finland xenophobia and attacked migrants and minorities. It is a party that appeals and spreads racism that are masters at playing the victim. The PS is a constant threat to our democracy and the rule of law.

Parliamentary election in Finland take place in 2027 and we’ll see then whether the PS will be relegated to the minor political leagues and was a brief political nightmare.

ECHR wants answers from the Finnish government for the closure of the country’s border with Russia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In a clear victory without visible consequences, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has asked that Finnish authorities to cite reasons for the closure of the Finnish-Russian border. The request is significant considering that the ECHR rejects about 90% of complaints seeking answers from state authroities.

In the face of the ECHR decision, Finland appears to be on a war footing with its Russian neighbor even if President Alexander Stubb said recently that Finns should prepapre for better political relations with Moscow.

Despite such a mesage, the government sends mixed messages by announcing that the country plans to quit a global convention banning anti-personnel landmines and boost defense spending to at least 3% of GDP by 2029, according to CNN.

One of the problems of the so-called pushback law, which allows Finnish border guards to deny their human right to seek asylum, is its credibility. In order to pitch the law to other MPs and the public, Interioir Minister Mari Rantanan of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, is the claim that “thousands” of asylum seekers are waiting to cross the border and claim asylum.

Without offering any proof, Rantanen has accused Russia on steering asylum seekers to the border to increase pressure on EU as we have seen at the Belarus-Lithuainian, – Latvian and -Polisih border.

The nine plantiffs cite in the compaint to the ECHR how their human rights have been breached. Some of them have families in Russia, whom they cannot visit, antother plantiff said that he cannot receive a Russian pension made more difficult by the sanction against Russian banks.

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The politicization of “street gangs” has eaten away at the police’s credibility

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The recent resignation of former Chief Nnspector Jari Taponen and others from the police reveals the extent to which populist politics has infiltrated the police. In 2023, and with funding from the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), the EU’s largest anti-racism NGO, we published a report showing how parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* use migrant crime to attract voters.

I have interviewed Taponen a few times about street gangs. What he writes in a column in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat confirms our conclusions that the issue has a strong political component.

It is sad how slowly, if not yet, the media has reacted to the populist politicking of parties like PS and the National Coalition Party.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the whole street gang news story is a ploy by parties like the PS to further polarize the country and label all racialised youth as potential criminals.

Shame on the PS and the Finnish media.

We wrote in the report: “Moreover, the “youth gang” story has exposed how the media, police, and
politicians collaborate to spread a narrative about marginalized groups. Each of the
three involved has a vested interest in exploiting stories about minorities:
– The media gains viewers and advertising revenues.
– The police can secure more funding for fighting crime.
– Politicians appeal to voters.”

Media like MTV engage in a lot of shameless hypocrisy. Look at the pictures below and how they have labelled all racialised youth as potential criminals.

Has MTV changed its ways? Below is a picture of an interview with the PS Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen.

This ad was placed on MTV last year to mark an interview with Ivan Puopolo Rantanen. Puopolo is the face of MTV, who frequently interviews and spreads the anti-immigration message of the PS.

In his column, Taponen hits the nail on the head: “This is a worrying trend [in the police], because the functioning of the police and the upholding of security in socleity must be based on respect for inalienable and human rights and the fair and equal treatment of all groups of the population.”

You can read the story in Finnish here.

When racism becomes normal in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The normalization of racism and government policy that reinforces the social illness are the sad examples that will get worse as long as National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petter Orpo leads the government with the Perussuomalaiset (PS).*

One way of putting some breaks on the adverse climate of polarization and xenophobia is by forcing the government to fall.

Normalization happens when even the opposition can cave into the pushback law that ended Finland’s respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The pushback law says it clearly: asylum seekers are animals who don’t deserve human rights.

Thanks to Petteri Orpo’s toothless anti-racism measures, white power is gaining strength in Finland and emboldens racists. Picture: Enrique Tessieri

The normalization of racism happens through the media as well by portraying migrants and asylum seekers as the guilty suspects when, in fact, they are the victims of our draconian migration policy and our lack of empathy.

The media, which is a big part of Finland’s racism problem, is toothless when it reports on ministers like Mari Rantanen, who is the biggest threat to migrant and minority rights.

If the government could shape your thinking, Rantanen and her cronies want you to believe that migrants and asylum seekers are lowlifes taking advantage of the social welfare system.

The next measure suggested by the likes of Rantanen is to offer social security only to Finns.

Here is the question: Why do foreigners pay taxes in that type of dark world where you are a mere visitor in Finland?

Uutissuomalainen: The government’s anti-racism training lasts an hour (discussion included!)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

You cannot make this up. National Coalition Party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government plans to offer an hour-long anti-racism training for the government. The training has been postponed to after the municipal and regional elections of April.

“It will be an intensive training of about an hour, including discussion,” Katriina Nousiainen, project manager and senior expert at the prime minister’s office, was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat.

The course was suggested after the numerous racism scandals last summer that led to the resignation of Perussuomalaiset Minister of Economic Affairs Wilhelm Junnila and the resurfacing of Finance Minister Riikka Purra’s racist writings from 2008.

The scandals of the summer of 2023 almost forced Orpo’s government to fall. In the autumn, it published an anti-racism statement that was nothing more than a ploy to save the government’s skin.

The most recent scanal brought by the non-discrimination ombudsman is another case in point of the toothless and empty efforts to tackle racism when PS Interior Minister Mari Rantanen attempted to favor Christians over Muslims in the quota-refugee scheme.

The government and large sectors of Finland have a serious issue with racism. Not doing enough and playing dumb to the social ill is just as bad as being openly racist.

Shame of on Finland!

Evidence shows why the Perussuomalaiset party is “openly Islamophobic”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I’m always surprised by the aha moment of the mainstream media when it comes to the hostile and polarizing message of the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* After PS Interior Minister Mari Rantanen was caught with her hand in the cookie jar by attempting to favor Christians over Muslims in the quota-refugee scheme, Finland’s biggest daily reported that between 2015-2022 the PS led all other parties by a long shot by addressing in parliament the term Islam.

Of the 199 times Islam was addressed in a parliamentary session, the PS brought it up 66.3% of the total followed by the Christian Democrats, which mentioned it 7.5% of the total.

Another favorite terms of the PS are “Muslim,” “Africa” and “Somalia,” which were brought up by the party 58.9%, 95.3% and 61.7% of the total, respectively.

Is it surprising that the non-discrimination ombudswoman findings on discrimination of Muslims over Christians in the quota refugees slammed the PS as “openly Islamophobic?”

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The Perussuomalaiset are “openly Islamophobic,” according to the non-discrimination ombudsman

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is known for its hostility and attacks against migrants and minorities as well as anyone who dares call them what they are: a party that peddles racism. In a statement Thursday, the non-discrimination ombudsman, said that the actions of PS Minister of Interior Mari Rantanen were discriminatory when the ministry attempted to favor Christians over Muslims in the quota-refugee scheme.

Non-Discrimination Ombudswoman Kristina Stenman defended the work of her orgnization in Helsingin Sanomat for not only calling out the discriminatory actions of the interior ministry but calling the PS “openly Islamophobic.”

Defending her use of Islamophobia to describe the PS, she said that the party’s immigration policy program states that the present refugee quota system based on the work of the UNHCR “can be phased out, with persecuted Christians and other groups with [so-called] positive integration prospects being slected for the quota.”

Moreover, the party’s program also says that “many of the problems of integration in Finland are linked to the Islamic cultural influence.”

As a result of the report, the PS leadership has gone into their customery victim mode by stating that the statement by the non-discrimination ombudsman was “a shocking attack,” according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Stenman said that the ombudsman report is not an attack against the PS.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen’s and the party’s views of Muslims and other racialized migrants is well documented.

Source: Migrant Tales

In an Interview with the tabloid Iltalehti in 2023, PS chairperson Riikka Purra acknowledged that she aims for zero asylum seekers, like Denmark, from Muslim countries. Speaker of parliament, Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted for ethnic agitation in 2012, has repeated the same aim.

Continue reading “The Perussuomalaiset are “openly Islamophobic,” according to the non-discrimination ombudsman”