It is quite extraordinary that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* continues to play down and deflect criticism for their admiration and support for outgoing US President Donald Trump whose most recent crimes included actively inciting a mob to violently assault the legislative branch of government to overturn the election he lost by seven million votes.
PS leader Jussi Halla-aho, like Trump, suffers from obsessions that are perilous not only to them but to the whole nation.
If Trump is driven by his vanity, Halla-aho’s political message is based on racism and hard-right economic policies in the worst conservative tradition.
Like Trump, Halla-aho’s obsession with so-called “harmful migration,” which is a disguise to spread racist offshoots like Islamophobia, he too as well as his party faces a day of reckoning.
Apart from “digging” Trump and claiming that he is the best thing to happen to the United States and the Western world, Halla-aho shows support for the outgoing US president’s immigration policy.
But that isn’t all.
What about Trump’s Muslim ban? What about his open support for white-supremacists and their violence? And who could forget the tear-gassing of peaceful protestors from Lafayette Square for a photo shoot holding a Bible upside down?
CRITICAL QUOTE
Halla-aho and in the case of Trump was quoted as saying in Ilta-Snomat that too much attention has been given to him for his unorthodox style. Even so, he said the outgoing US president raised critical issues concerning global trade, Chinese dominance, and blocking migration.
When asked about racism towards foreigners in Finland, Finns answer in a culturally approved script: “We Finns are not racist”; “If there is racism in Finland it is not as bad as it is in other countries” and; “Racism is the fault of the foreigners who move to Finland with unrealistic expectations.” Such dismissals require willful ethnic blindness to racism, which is banal and rife in Finland. When compared with other European countries, racism in Finland is more recent, but the point about foreigners arriving there with unrealistic expectations about racism is not something that we can entirely attribute to Finns.
The happiness and well-being industry has mushroomed over the last twenty years or so and is now truly global, funded and well organized. Anyone who doubts that this isn’t a serious industry should consult the numerous books on the subject which provide advice on what countries can do to make their citizens happier. Working across different fields of Psychology, those who research happiness as a career include Martin Seligman, Ed Diener, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Barbara Fredrickson and Sonja Lyubomirsky. However, none of their work adequately explores the relationship between happiness and racism, which partly explains why Finland is given an unfair pass on racism.
Finland often places high in The World Happiness Report – the landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. In 2020, Finland came out as the happiest country in the world. If the report influenced you to relocate to Finland, how would your expectations be anything other than positive?
Surely the happiest country in the world cannot have a problem with racism. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The World Happiness Report and similar surveys do not account for the culture of denial which has congealed and coagulated around racism in Finland, in effect maintaining the ‘natural white’ Finnish hierarchy. Those who are in denial about this, or worse don’t care that it goes on, perceive racism to be nothing more than chatter amongst a small number of people and that racism is a much bigger problem in other countries when compared with Finland.
A number of surveys have shown this not to be true. In 2018, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, painted a dire picture for people of African descent in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It was not surprising to read that racism existed, but the conclusions about the world’s happiest country were not in keeping with the tolerant image that many people (want to) have of Finland. If you are of African descent, you are most likely to experience racial harassment, described as offensive comments and gestures in Finland. At least 63 percent of those surveyed in Finland had experienced some form of harassment motivated by racism. The highest rates of racially motivated violence, 14 percent, were also recorded in Finland. This was just as likely to happen on the street as it was on public transport or in a bar and when it did happen, Finns typically did nothing to help the victim.
Incidents of racial harassment and violence go unchallenged by most Finns because, the white Finnish view of Finland is treated as orthodoxy. Finns have a love affair with statistics and so what hasn’t been measured is not treated as worthy of further attention. Finland’s official institutions are not so keen to keep detailed statistics on racism because they would not be good for the squeaky-clean image that the country likes to project to the world. To find more effective ways of dealing with racism, Finns need to look more closely at themselves and be more honest about it.
Finns are known to be shy and fairly black and white (no pun intended!) in their thinking about society, but also intelligent, so they do not need lessons in race relations for dummies: They know exactly what the problems are and where they are doing the most damage. No need to mention any names, but Finnish politicians are good at giving the impression that they are listening to the concerns of those who have been victims of racism. But very little is being done. The reality is that most Finnish employers don’t want to extend equality of opportunity to all, as this would mean breaking their own ethnic padlock.
But now is the time to break that padlock. Racism is pervasive in Finland and far more needs to be done to tackle it. The city of Helsinki and the other municipalities need to create the new Office of Race Relations to deal with the gamut of concerns; everything from racial harassment in public to discrimination in the job market, especially around well-paid permanent jobs.
A different kind of research is also required – no more wasting time or public funds to conclude that minorities in Finland experience racism and cannot do much about it. The Academy of Finland and other funding bodies need to seriously look at supporting more projects which seek to explore how Finland can better tackle racism. Once the ideas and policies have been established and agreed upon, their effectiveness needs to be monitored by a non-Finnish organisation. The success of this monitoring process would require for everyone living in Finland to be serious about societal change, the sort of societal change which could one day make Finland a genuinely happy place for all of its inhabitants.
Dr. Gareth Rice
A human geographer by trade, Dr. Gareth Rice is an academic and occasional journalist currently based in the UK. His articles have appeared in a number of publications including National Geographic, Times Higher Education, Helsinki Times, The Skinny and. Acatiimi. His academic research focuses on the circumstances of those who live in cities and the challenges facing those who have the power to make things better. Whilst living in Helsinki for six years he worked at various Finnish universities and developed an interest in all things Finnish.
The OD-ED originally appeared in Helsinki Times and was published with permission.
After the historic election of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party in 2011, when it won 39 seats in parliament from 5 previously, two international events have kept in check the PS’ rise: the bloody 22/7 events that left seventy-seven dead in Norway, and Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol building in Washington.
After the historical rise of Islamophobia and anti-EU populism in Finland in the 2011 election, the fanfare suffered a blow when a white Norwegian, who cited PS leader Jussi Halla-aho in his manifesto, committed the worst attack on Norway after World War 2.
Like what happened in Washington this week, the horrific events in Norway served as a wake-up call.
It is no secret that many PS politicians have shown their admiration for US President Donald Trump and worn MAGA, and given thumbs up pictures to their public.
Far-right groups with ties to the PS like the Soldiers of Odin are huge Trump fans.
What happened in Washington on January 6 will impact negatively European radical-right parties like the PS.
KEY ISSUES
Even if the PS has fared well in parliamentary elections during the last decade, it has not increased its lead from about 18% it has received in the 2011, 2015, and 2019 parliamentary elections.
University of Helsinki Professor of legal history Jukka Kekkonen gave his analysis in an interview on MTV.
“The [storming of the Capitol building] events in the United States should be a big warning to us all that we must take lightly what happened,” said Kekkonen. “A more serious attitude is needed by the media and lawmakers concerning right-wing populist hate speech, which is essential to embarking on a new good path.”
Despite the horrific events in Oslo nine years ago and in the US capital less than a week ago, the greatest threat to the PS will be its radical political views that are mostly based on lies and alternate reality.
PS aims to turn Finland into a Hungary or Trump-style banana republic will fail.
Considering the Trump-fueled terrorism in Washington Wednesday, I ask once again the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party the following question: Do you still “love” President Donald Trump?
Source: Twitter
Are we headed in the same direction with the PS leading the charge? Disturbing scenes from Washington DC on Wednesday. The PS’ lobbying for “free speech” would lead to mob rule. Sources: MTV and YouTube, and Washington Post.
KEY BACKGROUND
With the Trump presidency making its rambunctious exit after four years of chaos and moral decay, our attention should shift to Finland. Do we want this type of government in Finland and, if so, which party would promote such a sad state of affairs?
If today’s the United States would be a reality in Finland, we would do away with the welfare state to excuse that it is every person for him or herself with mob rule and intimidation being the norm.
Under such a system like in Trump’s USAmerica, corruption would flourish and, at the cost of social equality, an important cornerstone of the Finnish Nordic welfare state.
Such a situation would flourish because the scapegoats would be the Muslims, people of color, and non-white migrants in general.
As the evil face of Trump’s administration stoops to new lows, we should ask which parties in Finland would like to install a Trumpist political and economic order?
One party that would gladly do this is the Perussuoalaiset (PS)* of Finland. They would not only make way for Trump-style conservatism and racist policies but add icing to it with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, Jaros?aw Kaczy?ski, and other autocrats.
This cartoon by Muhamed Abdimajed Murshid was published seven years ago (18.5.2013) in Otavan Sanomat, a magazine project by the students of Otava Folk High School. The cartoon shows what a lot of migrants face when studying and learning to speak Finnish.
Picture one: Studying Finnish in the beginning.
Picture two: Two years later… Do any of you know basic Finnish grammar?
Picture three: At a job interview…You have learned Finnish but your accent doesn’t sound Finnish.
*The story was originally published in Migrant Tales on May 18, 2013.
Choosing the key figures in the Islamophobic and Afrophobic Hall of Shame wasn’t difficult even during a year ravaged by Covid-19. The task was to choose the most obvious culprits and other ones in the media that fuel and maintain such a toxic environment.
In putting together this year’s Hall of Shame, I was quickly overwhelmed by many politicians and other players of Finland’s Islamophobic and Afrophobic network.
We are looking at Islamophobia and Afrophobia because it is the most common and vile form of racism found in Finland. This has been well documented by The European Islamophobia Report 2019 and The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), and others.
One matter that Islamophobia, Afrophobia, and other forms of racism seek is to exclude others from enjoying their equal rights. Their narrative and actions are based on reinforcing prejudices and placing all types of obstacles.
Source: Islamophobia-definition.com. See also European Islamophobia Report 2019, which states: “When talking about Islamophobia, we mean anti-Muslim racism. […] Islamophobia is about a dominant group of people aiming at seizing, stabilizing and widening their power by means of defining a scapegoat – real or invented – and excluding this scapegoat from the resources/rights/definition of a constructed ‘we’Source: European Network Against Racism.
Thus politicians, political parties, and the media build their racism and stereotypes on the wings of lies, those that cause harm to not only its victims but to society in the erosion of human rights and democracy. The list of the central figures of Finland’s Islamophobic and Afrophobic network is published to challenge their toxic narrative and to never forget who they are.
Central Figures
Political Partiesand Politicians
The most Islamophobic and Afrophobic political grouping in Finland is the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, with the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) and Christian Democrats getting close honorable mentions.
Key parties in Finland’s Islamophobic and Afrophobic network are the PS, National Coalition Party, and Christian Democrats.
Under its former leader, Timo Soini, the PS discovered that there is a lot of potential for growth by capitalizing on racism targeting Muslims and Somalis. It is the only modern party in Finland that has exploited this social ill to gain political power. Their moment came in 2011 when the party gained in the parliamentary election 39 seats from 5 previously.
Even if it would be challenging to find a PS MP who did not use the Islamophobia card to get elected, the same applies to the whole party. The PS gets part of its hate fuel from its ties with far-right and neo-Nazi groups. The few that aren’t Islamophobes in the party are the pins in a haystack.
Migrant Tales will publish on Wednesday, December 30, people, politicians, the media, and political parties that spread Islamophobia and Afrophobia during 2020.
If you would like to participate in the making of this list, please send your suggestions to [email protected].
Who made it to Finland’s Islamophobic and Afrophobic Hall of Shame in 2020.
We believe that social ills like Islamophobia, Afrophobia, and all forms of racism should be a source of scorn and not a feather in one’s cap as MP Ano Turtiainen infamously said in 2019.
The Perussuoalaiset (PS)* party’s tactics are in a desperate mode as the days in office of their US political mentor, President Donald Trump, ends on January 20.
PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari, a staunch Trump supporter who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, is one of Finland’s most representative white supremacist politicians.
Her aide, Olli Kotro, is also well known for his absurd statements and views. The latest one was seen on Saturday when he claimed that the words “Finland Suomi” did not appear on passports issued in Finland.
Kotro, who commonly uses fake news to drive home his extremist views, claimed that the source was a post on Instagram, whose identity he could not reveal for fear that the person would suffer attacks on social media.
Olli Kotro claims that the picture on the left is authentic. When asked (right picture) if it is authentic, he states that the picture is of a private person whose identity he wants to keep a secret.Source: Twitter
Kotro’s narrative is a copy-and-paste job of his boss, Huhtasaari, who in term constantly copy and pastes Islamophobic and alt-right diatribes. The strategy of far-right politicians like Kotro and Huhtasaari is not truth but raising the absurdity level to get attention. Their followers are like chronic fast-food consumers.
Their followers don’t mind since they are gullible if the fake news reinforces their prejudices.
Huhtasaari is such an avid white supremacist that she must spend hours shining her whiteness with the help of hair dye and makeup.
Pictures of showing the distinct phases of Huhtasaari’s “whiteness.”
Laura Huhtasaari in “good” company together (left) with far-right politicians like Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini. With US Vice President Mike Pence and the “nice” members that comprise (right) the EU’s far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) parliamentary bloc. Surprisingly, the Finnish media forgets to mention the PS’ membership in the ID bloc. Source: Facebook
Following on and off news about the repatriation of Finnish citizens from the al-Hol refugee camp raises a lot of questions about our society. The opposition, namely the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (NCP), are working overtime to score brownie points with the voters and fearmongering.
The commotion is now stirred by the repatriation of two women and six children. Considering that Finland is a country that claims to abide by social justice and the rule of law, some politicians’ behavior is shameful, self-centered, and cowardly.
Even if the path to repatriating the women and their children is a winding and difficult road for the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the best matter that could be done is to repatriate all the Finnish citizens.
Why?
According to a statement by the ministry of foreign affairs, “Under section 22 of the Constitution of Finland, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible. The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland.”
Forgetting that in our society, a person is considered innocent before proven guilty, politicians from the PS, NCP, and Supo, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service are busily in lynch-mob mode.
The tweet below by Orpo on Sunday reads: “The repatriated adults [two women] are, according to Supo, a security risk to Finland. The government has the responsibility to ensure that those who committed crimes and involved in terrorist activities face justice and that the safety of the Finns isn’t endangered.”
Has anyone noticed how National Coalition Party head Petteri Orpo changed his look using different glasses and haircut? Orpo before (left), with less hair, and on the right with more har and thicker glasses. What kind of image do the two pictures evoke? Despite these image stunts, the National Coalition Party continues to do poorly in opinion polls. Sources: Yle and Helsingin Sanomat.Continue reading “Mayday, Mayday! Two women and six children entering Finland”
For decades, Finland has been such a far-flung country that it still does not have any good word for inclusion, never mind any willingness to promote it to newcomers. The same happened to the word “integration,” which became part of the Finnish language in the late-1990s.
Those were the good old days when foreigners and minorities were excluded and how white Finnish society monopolized all social, political, and economic power.
In Finland, we too often confuse these two words: equality (yhdenvertaisuus) and equity (oikeudenmukaisuus). Without equity, there is no social equality. Source: MF.
I would go as far as to state that a good Finnish term for inclusion does not exist because outsiders are expected to be indefinite outsiders.
A word like “inclusion” reveals volumes about Finnish society and how we see Others and keep them excluded. If you want people to integrate or be equal members of society, Finland should promote inclusion instead of integration.
But that is a tall order. By promoting inclusion, you are effectively giving real power, whereas, by integration, people accept the status quo.
