Tag: Racism

The true face of the PS is being exposed by its poor election results

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting editoral on Saturdary’s Helsingin Sanomat (HS) that shows how close Nordic anti-immigration are when it comes to the support they received in recent elections and poll standings. Migrant Tales wrote six days after Anders Breivik murdered in cold blood 77 people on July 22, 2011 that the tide had turned for far right anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region. 

Writes HS: “In the last national elections of 2011, the Progress Party of Norway got 11.4% and the Danish People’s Party 12.3%. In the October municipal elections, the Perussuomalaiset received 12.3%. The amount of votes that the Sweden Democrats got in the parliamentary elections was 5.7%, but a number of polls show their support to be over 10%.”

Even if the Nordic region’s main anti-immigration parties took a beating in recent elections, they have shown, at least in Finland, their real face.  Even if PS chairman Timo Soini continues to play down the role of the anti-immigration vote in the historic April 2011 election, the recent poor showing of the party in the presidential and  municipal elections suggest that mainstream voters are ditching the party.

Some of the most loyal PS voters appear to be today those that vote for anti-immigration candidates. Is this one of the reasons why PS MP Jussi Halla-aho is planning to challenge Soini for the party’s leadership?

Those politicians that base their support on immigrant and visible minority bashing, need the PS as much as a human needs oxygen. Without the party they would shrivel up, become insignificant and die.  A good example is former PS city councilman Hemmo Koskiniemi. When the Rovaniemi PS branch refused to accept his candidacy for city council, Koskiniemi’s votes plummeted to 74 from 337 in 2008.

Soini and these candidates feed off each other politically. One needs the other.

HS claims that in the face of the Sweden Democrats‘ racism scandal, Soini’s problems are small. Maybe so, but the plunge in PS support  and the success of their strongly anti-immigration and Counterjihadist candidates in the municipal elections show that Soini may be in deep water soon.

The SD (and PS) are far-right anti-immigration parties

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting opinion piece on Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter about the Swedish Democrats (SD) and the spread of fascism or neofascism in the Scandinavian country.  While classifying a party as “fascist” may be problematic, there are certain ideological characteristics that expose its true political colors. 

Historian and journalist Henrik Arnstad writes: “Fascism is a deeply problematic word…But it is the name of a specific political ideology, which for the first time represented today in the Swedish parliament.”

In Finland we have the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which is a close ideological relative of the SD. There are many factors that unite as well as separate both parties. Nationalism is one of these.

Another matter that draws them together is their suspicion of cultural diversity.  As Arnstad writes about fascism, the SD (and many members of the PS) see cultural diversity as a threat to their perceived homogenous society.

The far-right in the PS, led by PS MP’s like Jussi Halla-aho, fear – like the SD – the loss of the country’s near-white society due to immigration.

Even if the SD and Counterjihadists in the PS bend over backwards to show their pro-Israeli stances, the Jewish community in Sweden fears that it is only a question of time when their true anti-Semitic nature is revealed.

“We know where these people are coming from,” Lena Posner, president of the Official Council of Jewish communities in Sweden, was quoted as saying on Haaretz. “They [SD] are Nazi sympathizers who, under their jackets, are still wearing their brown shirts.”

“They love Israel because that sort of rhetoric is in tune with their hatred for Muslims;” she adds. “That’s it.”

It would be naive to think that the PS does not house the same anti-Semitic and far-right feelings than the SD.

 

 

 

 

Racism scandal rips far-right Sweden Democrats

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Here’s an interesting story that took place in June 2010 in Sweden involving a far-right Sweden Democrat (SD) MP, Erik Almqvist, who got rowdy and started hurling racist and sexist insults in public, reports Swedish tabloid Expressen. The MP naturally denied everything until Expressen published today a video confirming what others claimed he said.

After repeated denials, Almqvist wrote on his Facebook page that while he didn’t remember what he said two-and-a-half years ago, he was “greatly remorseful.”

Party chairman Jimmie Åkesson has tried to improve the party’s xenophobic and anti-immigration image by announcing that the SD maintain a strict zero tolerance for racism. As a result of the scandal, Åkesson has asked Almqvist to not only resign from all positions of trust in the party but to consider resigning as MP as well.

Every one knows about the SD’s neo-Nazi roots and their crackpot statements against immigrants and Muslims. Anti-immigration was the most important message of their 2010 campaign. The ad, which was banned in Sweden, is one of many examples of their xenophobia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwYHTn_xxc

As everyone know, in neighboring Finland we have the Perussuomalaiset (PS), a close ideological ally of the SD. Contrary to Sweden, however, PS politicians can get away by saying similar or worse racist insults than Almqvist with little or no consequences.

Here is a link to a Migrant Tales’ blog entry that lists a shameful list of PS party members who got elected to city council thanks to their strong anti-immigration message.

 

Schuurmudgeon: Sanoma, your ignorance is not sexy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Jos Schuurmans

“Hello? This is the nineteen-thirties calling. Can we have our nazi family snap shots back, please?”

How is it possible that Sanoma, one of Finland’s largest, most professional and most respected media firms, gets away with publishing a cosy, three-page family portrait of far-right MP Jussi Halla-aho in its November 1, 2012, issue of Me Naiset, the mainstream human interest women’s magazine?

Headlined, Jussi and Hilla Halla-aho: “Intelligence is sexy”, the article (web-version here) runs photos of Halla-aho and his wife at home and at the diner table with their children. On the cover of the magazine they are quoted as saying:

“Home is a place where one doesn’t need to face criticism.”

Well… tell that to the visible immigrants whose homes have fallen prey to arson attacks from anti-immigration extremists in recent years!

Halla-aho is a contender to the leadership of the far-right ‘Perussuomalaiset’ party. Not hindered by political correctness, his blog writings are crudely critical of immigration and multiculturalism. He has been convicted by the country’s Supreme Court of enticing intolerance.

Yet the article doesn’t go into details concerning his political actions or agenda. The closest writer Essi Myllyoja and photographer Milka Alanen come to touching upon his controversial track record is this:

“(…) Jussi is a man who evokes emotions – even fears. His radical opinions and provocative blog articles have taken him even to court. But when Kerttu jumps onto Jussi’s lap and drowns her father in kisses, what springs to mind is that there is surely also a softer side to the man. (…)”

Excuse me, I feel slightly nauseous. Saisinko vatin, kiitos?

In June 2012, following Halla-aho’s appeals after conviction in lower courts, the Supreme Court of Finland found him guilty of both disturbing religious worship and ethnic agitation. He was sentenced to pay fines as well as to remove parts from his blog.

Halla-aho had remarked that the prophet Muhammad was a paedophile, and Islam a religion of paedophilia, because Muhammad had intercourse with his 9-year-old wife and according to Sunnah Mohammed’s life is exemplary in every way.

He also asked if it could be stated that robbing passers-by and living on taxpayers’ expense are cultural and possibly genetic characteristics of Somalis. This was apparently stated in sarcastic response to a Finnish columnist who wrote that drinking excessively and fighting when drunk were cultural and possibly genetic characteristics of Finns.

The Supreme Court considered the blog posts’ descriptions to be defaming and abusive to an ethnic group. It found the writing in itself to evoke intolerance, contempt and possibly even hatred. (Sources via Wikipedia, Wikiquotes, HS.fi, Migrant Tales)

Of course the man’s unattractive political accomplishment is very disturbing and a cause of outrage in itself. We’ve known for a while that Timo Soini’s Perussuomalaiset (which translates into ‘True Finns’, although the party adopted ‘The Finns’ as its official English name in August 2011) harbor dangerously right-wing elements and it’s really objectionable that the party leader doesn’t seem to have made any effort to dis-associate them from his movement.

The far-right thugs in this country are receiving way too much air time already and I wouldn’t want to add to that.

But with this article in Me Naiset, the boundaries of what is considered to be acceptable in mainstream journalism are being pushed to a new level. This should not be allowed to pass without notice.

It’s staggering that Sanoma can publish such politically and historically ignorant fluff without causing a public outrage and without repercussions for its insensitive and irresponsible management.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Reports: Greatest threat to immigrants are not far-right groups in Sweden

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two reports published on November 9 in Sweden show that the greatest threat to immigrants and visible minorities in that country aren’t far-right groups, but everyday intolerance and racism from white Swedes.

What does this report say about Sweden and suggest about how foreigners are treated in Finland? Contrary to our neighbor, Finland’s third-largest party in parliament, the Perussuomalaiset (PS), is staunchly xenophobic and against immigrants.

Relatives of the PS, the Sweden Democrats, are a minor force in parliament.

Cecilia Englung said: “The biggest challenge is to tackle the problem of everyday xenophobia by comments, evil staring and other negative behaviors toward non-ethnic Sweden.”

One of the reports asked 1,490 students about racism. Half of them, who were born elsewhere than Sweden, had experienced racism (28% said there is racism at their school and 24% knew of a racist assault at school).

Martin Luther King had a point when he said: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of social transition was not the striden clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

MLK had a point but how many of those people he mentions were actually that “good?”

Paavo Lipponen does not see far right threatening Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There are few politicians in Finland who speak out against the far-right threat in Finland. One of these is former Social Democrat Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, who expressed concern about the issue in a seminar in Helsinki on deportation of Jews to Germany in World War 2, reports Iltalehti. 

Lipponen expressed surprise that some parties use “racial hygiene” as part of their political agenda. The concept was exploited by Nazi Germany from 1933 and led to the mass murder of millions of Europeans, especially Jews.

Lipponen does not, however, consider the far right to be a threat to Finland.

While Lipponen may state that far-right ideology isn’t a big threat to Finland, some would disagree. Determining what is a threat to our society depends a lot on your perspective. If you are middle class, white and employed, the far-right wing of a party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) isn’t a threat.

If, however, you ask certain immigrant groups and visible minorities, the answer may be much different.

Here’s a Suomen Sisu t-shirt that shows the group’s hostility towards cultural diversity.

Lipponen used Saul Schubak, the vice chairman of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing, as an example of how public opinion has hardened in Finland. Schubak wrote on Facebook that “inferior people” should not get child allowance.

The PS is the party in parliament with the biggest number of anti-immigration fanatics, who base their views on racial hygiene, eugenics and cultural myths like ethnic superiority.

If Migrant Tales had the opportunity to draw a cartoon about PS chairman Timo Soini’s relationship with these far-right politicians, the setting would be a concentration camp in World War 2 with some infamous commandants like Rudolf Hoess and Franz Ziereis, hiding behind Soini.

Soini would state with a poker face: “Anti-Semitism isn’t an issue in our party.”

Finland must do more to ghostbust its race-and-blood myths

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and Kokoomus’ Saul Schubak’s statements concerning child allowances have in common?  Setting racism and greed aside, they are the ethnic and social myths that continue to be taught and reinforced at our schools, homes and society. 

One of the biggest myths and social constructs about our national identity is that only one group owns it or, as Schubak claimed, rich people who make money and have conservative views have special rights and privileges in our society.

The mere fact that a person like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho can spew fascist-eugenic ideology from the 1930s and claim that certain groups have less human dignity than others, shows an enormous failure of our educational system that is haunting us today.

One clear characteristic of how racism and discrimination work in Finland is that they tirelessly aim to undermine your rights and place obstacles in front of your path. There are no solutions, only obstacles.

While many racist ideas in Finland have their roots in eugenics and nineteenth-century colonialism, they continue to flourish in some circles like the PS and Schubaks’ National Coalition Party youth wing.

At the best, parties like the PS and Schubak show that Finland is still a predominantly white society that has no intention of relinquishing its privileges to other groups. Values such as social equality (tasa-arvo) are not meant for immigrants and visible minorities. They are for white Finns.

Meanwhile, the Police College of Finland  told Migrant Tales that 2011 hate crime statistics will be probably published by the end of November.

A total of 860 hate crimes reported to the police in 2010, which is a 15% fall from 1,007 cases in the previous year.

While some officials claim that ”hate crimes fell in 2010,” they may reveal a more worrying trend: Reluctance by some immigrants and visible minorities to report such crimes to the police.

 

Racism Review: Racism Keeps Us from Seeing Each Other as Fully Human

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By

Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2, are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims. They were swept out of their mother’s arms by the storm.

(Image from here.)

When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda Moore, had been “denied refuge.”  Why would this happen? How could this happen?

Then, reports came that their mother – the woman asking for refuge from the storm – was black (the boys’ father is white but wasn’t there).  And, then the story seemed to come into a horrible kind of focus, that implicated racism.

This story is being compared to the infamous ‘Kitty Genovese’ story from years ago in New York – when a young woman was stabbed to death and her neighbors did nothing to help. The not-often-told part of that story is that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian, and that’s part of why her neighbors didn’t call police on her behalf.  Her status as an ‘Other’ (lesbian) made her seem less-than-human to her neighbors.

This week, in Staten Island – the ‘fifth borough’ – people there, if reports are accurate, were blinded to the humanity of a mother and her two young sons because of racism.

Ultimately, racism blinds us to our shared humanity, keeps up from seeing each other as fully human, and in need of each others’ help. This time it cost two young lives, and we are all little less for it.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Spiegel Online International: A case that successfully challenged ethnic profiling in Germany

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This story, which was published by German Spiegel Online International, offers some good points on how to challenge ethnic profiling. It’s pretty clear that this illegal practice goes on in Finland as well and is more widespread than believed.  

Migrant Tales asked in June blog entry: “How serious is ethnic profiling in Finland? Denials that it doesn’t occur at all by the police suggest that it may be a much wider problem than believed.”

Like any challenge facing society, we need proactive solutions. This story of a black German who was a victim of ethnic profiling on Spiegel Online International is not only inspiring, but offers hope: We can challenge such an injustice with our example.

An important matter to remember if you are harassed in public or are a victim of ethnic profiling and discrimination, is that it’s all about our children and grandchildren. We want them to live in a society that lives up to its values and that its laws should protect everyone.

The black German simply got tired of being constantly stopped by police because of his ethnic background.

“In the two years prior, they [police] had selected me about 10 times for a random check of my identification. It’s a pretty rotten feeling. I was born and raised here. I am German. According to the anti-discrimination law in the constitution, skin color is not grounds for a spot check.”

Read I didn’t want to be treated differently any longer here.

 

Finland’s problem that is correcting itself: lack of cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finland hasn’t been the same since the April 2011 elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party won its historic victory and became Finland’s third-largest party with 39 seats versus 5 seats in 2007. The PS’ latest election flop is another indication that the vast majority of Finns and immigrants are giving the thumbs down to anti-almost-everything populism.

The spoils of last years election victory appear to have weaned considerably. This is good news not only for immigrants in Finland but for the country as well. In the presidential election in January, Finns Party chairman Timo Soini got  9.4% of the votes, while in last Sunday’s municipal election the PS could only muster 12.3%, a far cry from 19.1% it gained in last year’s election.

Many have wondered how is it possible that an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party could become in such a short time a major political force in Finland. My guess is the following: Our lack of cultural diversity.

If Finland had larger ethnic and religious minorities, it’s highly doubtful that a radical populist party with a strong anti-immigration message would have ever raised to national prominence as the PS did.

One of the big debates going on in Finland presently is how our ever-growing immigrant population will change our country. While we don’t have a precise answer how it will change Finland in this century, we can say with certainty that it will change the country.

If I had the opportunity to take a fast peek into the future, I would see a society that comprises of many ethnic and cultural groups. I am confident that our cultural diversity will benefit and strengthen us for one main reason: it will ensure that no group ever gets the high ground.

No society is perfect, not even those that claim to be ”near-homogenous” like Finland. Since no society is perfect, never mind one that is culturally diverse, there are many poor examples we should avoid.

The Perussuomalaiset party’s popularity and anti-almost-everything message resembles a a flat tire. Source: Survival News Online. 

One of the most important are those examples that stray away from our values, which are strongly enshrined on acceptance, respect and equal opportunities.