With parliamentary elections approaching in April 2022 in a backdrop of depressing opinion polls, the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is ratcheting its usual attacks against migrants and minorities. The strategy is like a motto used by the Green Berets in the Vietnam War: “Kill ’em all, let God sort them.”
The violent saying was used in the thirteenth century, which means the ruthless extermination of enemy soldiers and civilians.
The PS does the same thing: exterminate everyone who isn’t like us, and destroy all of them in Finland.
Finland’s racism problem is so acute that people (less today) openly admit that they are racist.
Today there are more closet racists than before. The PS (openly racist) and Kokoomus (many closet racists) are good examples.
PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari tweets: “The Perussuomalaiset are racists What of it?”
Tweets @johanneskoski: “The political core of the Perussuomalaiset is racism. No wonder the Perussuomalaiset always appear as vicious school bullies, ruthless liars, and trolls mocking democratic institutions. Racists have nothing else to offer but endless hatred. Source: Twitter
One of the casualties of the war in Ukraine will be social rights and the recognition of racialized people in Finland. Are we witnessing more aggressive reporting as a result?
Helsingin Sanomatpublished Wednesday a whole spread about how “over half of the students at several schools in Espoo don’t speak Finnish as their mother tongue.”
And it leads the story claiming that a researcher warns that what is happening in Espoo is a part of a “worrisome” European trend.
Sounds pretty sensationalist, right?
To top it off, Yle published a survey a day earlier showing that a majority of Russian speakers in Finland have a negative view of the country’s membership in Nato.
The Yle story labels Russians in such a toxic way that it feeds the Russophobia beast that resides inside many Finns.
The story can only be accessed through a paywall.
The Helsingin Sanomat, like the Yle survey, have a common message: Don’t trust “foreigners.” They are a problem.
Another question that the Helsingin Sanomat article raises is the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS).* We have heard for a long time how the Islamophobic party has spread ethnonationalist views and the great replacement theory.
How does institutional racism survive unchallenged at a Finnish school? An anonymous source got in touch with Migrant Tales and pointed out how structural or institutional racism survives at a Finnish school.
One of the most crucial factors for its survival aren’t surveys and legal ineffective and false assurances against discrimination and racism but what the principal or leadership of the school thinks about such social ills. Is anti-racism a low priority, and does the school management camouflage its racism usually with its silence?
In Finland, according to the source, it is easy to house racist views and seek cover in the protective structural racism infrastructure. One can even get money from the state for anti-discrimination work by throwing out catchphrases like “this will be good for integration.”
In many cases, the promise that “this will be good for integration” is false and misguided and feeds structural racism. Integration, or adaption, is a two-way process. Even so, this is usually forgotten.
The majority is not required to “integrate” but the newcomer is.
I received a call from an old Migrant Tales reader who was distraught about a letter to the editor written by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth of Lappeenranta. The headline? “The nation-state is our best protection.”
Is it?
The reader continued: “How can Helsingin Sanomat publish something that openly excludes non-white Finns and other minorities in Finland? I’m worried about my child. What kind of a country are we heading? Nazi Germany?”
After reading the letter to the editor, I agreed and understood the reader’s concern. Like the Republicans in the US, the PS of Finland are openly subverting our Nordic democracy by replacing it with an autocratic system like Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Source: Twitter
Apart from excluding minorities in Finland and forgetting what racism and hatred of Nazi Germany in World War 2, the PS Youth claims the following:
Länsiväyläis a community newspaper that lives off advertising revenues. One story on Ukrainian refugees raking a park in Kirkonnummi, a city near Helsinki, is another chapter in framing Ukrainian refugees as “good” refugees, while similar people from the Middle East are viewed as “bad” refugees.
One PS politician states:
“These Ukrainians are pretty different from many who sought asylum in Finland.
Thankfulness is shown in this way (raking a park lawn. See picture below.)
I hope that some of them remain in Finland when the war ends.
They are needed here.
I believe they will not be over-represented in crime statistics. “
Iraqi asylum seekers raking leaves in a story published in 2015. Source: YleA far-right Perussuomalaiset politician praising Ukrainian refugees in order to hit Muslim refugees below the belt. Source: Facebook
Instead of framing “good” and “bad” migrants, it would be good for the media to show that we are as a society humane and ready to help others. If we can open our hearts to Ukrainians, why couldn’t we do the same for people from the Middle East and Africa?
Ever wonder why the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party gets so excited about so-called failed immigration and riots in Sweden? Is it because there isn’t enough news in Finland to spike and spread their Islamophobic message and perpetuate their deceptive claims?
The PS is a case in point to study how fake news about migrants is planted and watered in Finland. You only need two things: fake claims and silent media.
A lot of fake news about migrants is perpetuated by the PS. One of these is that Finland is “on the path of Sweden” when it comes to brown migrants.
Some of the toxic assumptions that such a claim makes are that certain groups of migrants, namely Muslims and people of color, are prone to violence and anti-social behavior because of their cultural background.
Such claims or news stories dig deeper into why there is social unrest in Sweden and its causes. Ever heard of institutional racism? Discrimination? Lack of social mobility?
Placing the blame on migrants and minorities won’t solve matters but perpetuate the problem.
A PS tweet: “Finland should not take the same path as Sweden. We don’t want burning police cars. A policy shift is needed.” Ville Tavio is the chairperson of the PS parliamentary group. Source: Twitter
Apart from the lack of news in Finland and crystal ball predictions about our cultural diversity in Finland, why do the PS rarely state that they are targeting Muslims, people of color or brown and black people?
Is it because their racist rhetoric is so immersed in code words like “asylum seeker” and “people of foreign background” mean groups like Muslims? Are they fearful of being charged for ethnic agitation?
Considering that 17% of Helsinki’s population speaks another mother tongue other than Finnish, Swedish, and Saami, it is surprising how slowly the newsroom of Finland’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, is still so white.
Why does the media not challenge fake news about migrants?
Is it because the media is part of Finland’s racism problem?
The riots in Sweden sparked by the burning of the Koran by the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party led by Rasmus Palaudan remind us how urgently we need solutions, not provocations, to heal the wounds gashed by racism and double standards. Provocations do nothing more than expose our hypocrisy and privilege. They never offer solutions on the way to move forward.
Be it by the Palaudan and other far-right political groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* it is always the same script: provoke, provoke but never give solutions. While Palaudan has threatened a “final solution” to Muslims and expelling all of them from Denmark, the PS has only given cheap racist soundbites.
Palaudan loves attention, and he gets it from the media and, unfortunately, from some Muslims and others. He is not a champion of free speech by burning the Koran but an example of white privilege disguised as free speech.
In the last election in Denmark, his party got 1.8% of the votes, which is below the 2% threshold for an MP to be elected.
The PS is so full of bravado that they fear mentioning the term “Muslim” in their hate soundbites but instead speak in code. Asylum seekers and immigration policy are their code words for Muslims.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports: “Police said up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence in the town of Landskrona after authorities moved a demonstration scheduled there by Danish party Stram Kurs to the nearby city of Malmö, about 45km (27 miles) to the south.”
Forgetting the crucial role migrants have played in building Sweden’s economy after World War 2, PS leader Riikka Purra parrots her usual far-right talking points about events in Sweden.
If former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* head Jussi Halla-aho were a women, her name would be Riikka Purra.
Helsingin Sanomat published Saturday an interview with PS Chairperson Riikka Purra, where she puts Ukrainian refugees on a pedestal and dehumanizes Muslim and African refugees.
Instead of just publishing Purra’s comments like a stenographer, why not fact-check?
Here are some questions I would ask Purra:
1. Why has your party headed south in recent opinion polls?
2. What is the greatest threat that the PS faces?
3. Using hindsight, do you believe that your membership in the pro-Putin EU bloc Democracy and Identity was a mistake?
4. What is your opinion of Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Marine le Pen and Matteo Salvini?
5. Why does the PS have close links with far-right and neo-Nazi groups?
6. Why were you against Nato membership last year but are now in favor? Should Finland leave the EU?
7. Are there any ideological differences between you and Jussi Halla-aho? Please state one difference.
This year has been disastrous for the populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* for several reasons. The first hiccup came in last year’s municipal election, when the party, guided by promising opinion polls, expected to win but came in fourth place. Then came an even worse wreck: the county election in January, when its support dove to 11%.
Despite these setbacks, the biggest one yet was going to land in chairperson Riikka Purra’s footsteps: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With Putin’s invasion, populist parties in Europe – including the PS – suffered a massive blow since It was a wake-up call about what dangers and limits of populism.
While populists like the PS cannot enjoy the same dictatorial powers that Putin has, people in the West fear that democracy is in danger. Populist parties can pave the way for an autocratic regime, wars, destruction, and the tragic loss of lives that such calamities bring.
In one of the most powerful editorials ever written about the PS by Helsingin Sanomat, it cited MEPs like Laura Huhtasaari and why the PS are members of the far-right bloc Identity and Democracy (ID) that is the most pro-Putin in the EU?
The editorial suggested that MEPs like Huhtasaari in the ID group were “useful idiots” and since the war was not going to plan for Putin, populist politicians were rats abandoning a sinking ship.
Another sign that populists like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán are losing support due to his close ties to Putin, was the cancellation of a meeting of the Visegrad Four defense ministers in Budapest on Wednesday. The Czech and Polish defense ministers refused to take part in the meeting due to Orban’s close relationship with Russia, according to Radio Prague International.
It is clear that the parties like the PS are disoriented today and trying to regain their political balance. What use is there for a party like the PS if anti-immigration sentiment and calls to leave the EU have lost their appeal among voters?
The latest example of the PS having lost its way was an announcement by Purra flip-flopped on NATO membership.
Think about it. Finland’s far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has had a total change of heart about refugees, which it has attacked and fed its popularity. Not only the PS, but other parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Center Party, and a “taxi party” Liike Nyt, according to Yle.
A taxi party is one where all of its MPs can fit inside a taxi.
PS chairperson Riikka Purra, who scapegoats refugees with gusto, alleges that Ukrainian “women and children” should get help in Finland.
“There is a war in Europe pretty close to Finland,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that Finland should help mothers and children.”
Center Party head Annika Saarikko used the same argument with code words for white refugees such as women and children. Petteri Orpo, whose party has been hostile to Muslims, stated that we should help Ukrainians because “their integration will be much easier” because they have professions and speak languages.
Our favorable treatment of Ukrainians contrasts with our anti-Muslim racism.
Source: TRT World. Thank you Ambrosius Wollstén for the heads-up.
Even if it is a good matter that the Ukrainians have forced a change of heart in Finland and Europe concerning refugees, under such expressions of solidarity lies our ugly racism and bigotry.
Let’s take the argument that we should help “women and children,.” Politicians who use this argument are bashing with another arm refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
With such thinking, men cannot apply for asylum even if they are fleeing war.
