Racism Archives - Page 40 of 208

Kokoomus’ Antti Häkkänen vilifies Islam, claims to uphold human rights

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

In a bid to gain voters, the National Coalition Party’s (Kokoomus) MP Antti Häkkänen and possibly the next chairperson of the conservative party spreads his anti-Islamic rhetoric, again.

For those who don’t know Häkkänen, he comes from a small town called Mäntyharju in Eastern Finland and has expressed before his extreme distaste for non-white migration and especially Islam.

During 2011-2013, he was president of the Youth League of the National Coalition Party, which idolizes US capitalism and the Republican Party. His predecessor was Wille Rydman, a well-known anti-immigration hardliner, and his successor was Susanna Koski. Under Koski’s leadership, the Youth League of the National Coalition Party aimed at doing away with legislation that prohibited hate speech and that would make redundant the then Ombudsman for Minorities Office.

As councilperson for Mäntyharju, a small town in Eastern Finland, he is reported to have declined to offer, as a show of solidarity, his small meeting fee to newly-arrived quota refugees.

His tweet below of the horrific deaths in France is no surprise.

He tweets: “The enemies of an open society try to change Europe’s way of life and destroy our values. We should not bow to such pressure. Neither bowing to Islamic terrorism nor to that of an authoritarian state. Human rights and freedom must be defended by a united Europe.”

I’m certain that such a statement gave Häkkänen and Kokoomus a lot of brownie points with voters and, possibly, their future partners in government, the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS).*

Here are some questions that I’d ask Häkkänen about his pugnacious tweet:

Jussi Halla-aho is a fake and his party’s disingenuous and misleading claims

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Anyone who has followed Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho’s political career will easily conclude that it was done on the fuel of racism and bigotry, and generous chunks of it.

Racism had become such a normal matter for the PS that on the same day when Halla-aho claimed on Marja Sannikka’s talk show that he “resents people being treated differently” due to their skin color, the party’s vice president lashes out against people of color.

https://twitter.com/Arskababa/status/1322284775575588869?s=20&fbclid=IwAR2FSaf7gAkHlSwx6fivBYmLfZ-Rt9ECJkxZSJnvXtQgbruejBbnV1rCdl0

On Marja Sannika’s talk show (in Finnish), Halla-aho was incapable of condemning racism.

States Purra (who calls, like Halla-aho on Sannikka’s show, asylum seekers “harmful” migration) stated on the same day of Halla-aho’s interview: “Wouldn’t it be high time to think that the mixing of people, religions, and cultures in the West is such a good matter? The development of mass migration and violent cultures is A PROBLEM. Beheading a person is only one example.”

Sannikka asks Halla-aho in the interview if he resents racism.

His response: “Yes, I resent any thinking that treats people differently because of their skin color. I do resent this.”

**Affirms Riikka Purra:** “Wouldn’t it be high time to think that the mixing of people, religions, cultures in the West [not] IS SUCH A GOOD MATTER? Mass immigration from the developing world and violent cultures ARE A PROBLEM. Beheading is just one example.”

One of the biggest challenges of Finnish journalism is follow-up. You throw a question to the person you are interviewing, and if he tries to wiggle his or her way out of it or speak in code to his followers, you hit the person with another question until you get the answer.

Halla-aho’s response if he resented racism was a half-ass job.

Diagree? Check out one of his tweets:

**Nobody in the Perussuomalaiset [party] wants a multiethnic or culturally [diverse] Finland, which consistently mentioned in our program and in everything that we do.” Source: Twitter**

Halla-aho’s answer could mean anything. It could be seen as a statement against affirmative action, equality but not equity.

Helsinki Times: A rebuttal to Perussuomalaiset* MPs Veikko Vallin and Veijo Meri

Posted on October 25, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Read the original posting here.

The media has power but it prefers driving a moped when confronting racism and the Perussuomalaiset

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Migrant Tales

If there is somebody to blame for Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)* problem, a big part of the blame falls on the media. In that group, you will find politicians and about 17% of Finns who vote for an openly hostile party to Muslims, people of color, and minorities.

A good example of the media’s power was seen on Monday when PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho was questioned about his anti-Semitic blog writings. The question put Halla-aho momentarily in the hot seat, forcing a knee-jerk response. He denied (surprise, surprise!) being an anti-Semite and said that the claim was a popularity stunt by Lauri Nurmi, who recently published an unofficial biography of him.

**Read the original story (in Finnish) here.**

The question took Halla-aho by surprise, and the only defense he could put up was to answer by hitting below the belt.

Halla-aho’s response and anger showed that he is vulnerable and that the media can ask politicians tough questions if it wishes. It is called having teeth or journalistic grit.

Why do we see so little tough questioning by the Finnish media when it comes to topics like racism, Islamophobia, and the PS.

If racism costs the US $16 trillion, how much has it cost Finland?

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Migrant Tales

The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have been quick to point out how much migrants (all?!) are an economic burden to Finland. A new study by Citigroup claims that ethnic inequality and inequity have cost the US a staggering $16 trillion!

While parties like the PS and other ones who follow their racist tune believe that social exclusion and racism are cheap, they should think twice.

“Racial inequality has always had an outsized cost, one that was thought to be paid only by underrepresented groups,” said Citigroup Banking Chair Raymond McGuire in a statement. “What this report underscores is that this tariff is levied on us all.”

The high cost of racism is not only maintained institutionally but through outright lies. One of these is by the PS that talks about migration as one whole when they mean Muslims and people of color.

According to the Finnish Immigration Service, the vast majority (73.3%) of migrants came in 2019 for the following reasons: work (40.8%), family (21.5%), and as students (11%). Asylum seekers and refugees accounted for 7.8%. Source
**e: Twitter (Maria Ohisalo)**

If racism has cost the US trillions of dollars, how much do you think it has cost Finland?

Billions of euros, possibly?

MORE

Why is due justice taking so long in the suspected Teuva hate crime case of Finland?

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Migrant Tales

One case in particular that took place in Teuva on June 6 is still under investigation, and there is no indication when those guilty will face charges. The case involves a Muslim insulted and chased by some townspeople forcing his car off the road into a ditch and assaulted.

If you speak to the victim, whose name is Fares A-O, there is an abundance of evidence that shows that one clear bias motive was his ethnic background.

Here is a simple forumula to determine a hate crime:

Tejuka, a Teuva newspaper, published in June a spread and an editorial about what happened to Fares.

Writes Tejuka: “…soon [the attackers] forced [Fares] on the ground and started to rough him up by hitting and kicking him. Someone held Fares in a chokehold while others continued to hit him. Fares could no longer breathe. Somebody yelled: ‘Kill that mamu (a derogatory term for migrant)!”

Fares ended up taken to the Seinjäjoki and later to the hospital in Vaasa where they conducted tests and treated his wounds.

The police state: “For now there is no information that points to a hate crime but we are not ruling out such a possibility.” No evidence of a hate crime? For one, check out the victim’s car. Source: Poliisi

While what happened in Teuva is a hate crime case, it is also one of the worse to come to public light this year.

Indeed, the police can give a million excuses why this particular case is taking such a long time to investigate. One of these could even be the Covid pandemic, but the police officer in charge of the investigation did not mention it as a reason.

It is clear that a person that goes through such a traumatic event wants justice to move swiftly as opposed to slowly. The incident happened in June, or five months ago.

Apart from dealing with one’s trauma of what happened, Fares said that one of the most challenging matters was the slow pace of the investigation.

Finland is too white to solve its issues with racism. There must be change.

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Migrant Tales

After the bombshell news that one of the suspects arrested Friday who brutally attacked Pekka Kataja of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in July, the new chairperson of the Center Party, Annika Saarikko, said on Ykkösaamu Saturday that she could form a government with the PS.

In light of the PS’ links with far-right groups, Saarikko’s response was inopportune and ill-timed.

**Center Party chairperson Annika Saarikko on *Yle’s Ykkösaamu*.**

In a very white country like Finland, where few minorities wield power, her affirmation is not surprising. It reinforced how white power structures are that there is little political will to challenge them.

Nothing or very little will change as long as people of color and other minorities are kept powerless on short leashes.

Politicians like Saarikko may feel it is ok for several reasons to form a government with a party that is openly hostile to Muslims and ultraconservative. She can see matters this way because she is white. The PS is not a threat to her whiteness per se.

If we look at the rise of the PS since the 2011 parliamentary election, disgrunted and racist white Finns have found in the PS a voice that is anti-immigration, anti-EU and anti-establishment. Even if racism, sexism, and fascism have risen their heads, do politicians like Saarikko naively believe that consensus will work matters out?

As a person who grew up in the United States and who has, as a native Argentinean, followed and lived through the recent history of Latin America marred by violence, injustice, and poverty, it is not difficult to understand why racism and the PS live another day.

**This is the wrong approach. Defend your institutions tooth and nail. Source: Reddit.**

I worte in January that those who believe in Hollywood endings to racism are white people who don’t experience racism and speak on behalf of those that do.

There will not be a Hollywood ending to the racism problem in this country but one that will lead to a Hungarian ending.

As the Kataja case proves that violence and fascism are already here and taking root. It is our call to put an end to them.

Going to bed with the PS will not do it.

Case Pekka Kataja of the PS: I’m surprised that you are surprised

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

It is revealing to read comments from the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party about Friday’s bombshell news: the police detained a former PS politician and a far-right Nazi-spirited activist on suspected attempted murder charges against Pakka Kataja.

Starting from PS chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion, was quoted as saying in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat: “It’s difficult even to believe one’s own eyes when reading this news [about the arrest of the suspects].”

**Read the full story (in Finnish) here.**

And the amazement continues. PS Central Finland region head Jyrki Niittymaa also expresses dismay.

“It is surprising if these [suspects] are guilty [for brutally attacking Kataja], he said.

Citing tabloid Iltalehti, PS-run Suomen Uutiset publishes the name of one of the suspects, Teemu Torssonen, who was sacked by the party in 2019.

MP Veikko Vallin and the Islamophobic PS pull another “fast one” on the media

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset MP Veikko Vallin tweeted an apology for the “mistake” of publishing pictures of children and workers at a nursery school. Even if he is sorry, he stated that his “critical opinion” of women using a chador at nursery schools has not changed.

Vallin’s action of taking pictures of children and workers at a nursing home was unbecoming of an MP. The images not only exposed his racist side, but it also showed how much some politicians, especially from the PS, do to crave their need for media attention.

The PS MP states in the original tweet that the black chador used by a Muslim woman scares him because it reminds him of Isis, which have been pictured in refugee camps in Syria wearing the niqab.

A grown man who is afraid of women wearing a chador?

Give me a break! This Trmp-imitating politician must be even afraid of mosquitos.

Vallin and the PS pulled one of the oldest tricks used by racist politicians:

Make a racist statement or claim;
Say you are sorry or remain quiet if a reporter proves what you said was a lie;
Despite all the commotion, your base will love you for what you said;
The aim is to get media attention and communicate with your base, who does not care if what you said was racist or immoral.

One of the most surprising matters about the story is not what Vallin did, but the deafening silence of other politicians and the media.

Only the tabloids, MTV and a handful of others covered the story.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #73: Stoking and exploiting white suspicion

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Migrant Tales

Few of us will forget the 2011 parliamentary election when an Islamophobic and no-holes-barred racist party saw the number of MPs rise to 39 from 5 in 2007.

Even if the result was a wake-up call for Finland, the reaction to the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) as a major political force. Some shrugged off the election as an anomaly and it would only be a matter of time when the PS would implode, like the Rural Party (SMP) in the 1970s.

It’s been near a decade since 2010 and the PS hasn’t imploded, disappeared but strengthened and influaneced its racist message on other parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus).

Some analysts saw the rise of the PS as a direct answer to mounting social and economic inequality.

It could be a factor, but does growing social inequality turn you into a scapegoating racist?

Certainly not unless you had such issues before.

The most successful party of the 2011 (39 MPs), 2015 (38 MPs), and 2019 (39 MPs) parliamentary elections has been the PS. Even if suffered a hiccup in June 2017, when the party split into two factions, the PS, it has survived and lived to see another day.

FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #73