Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) published Saturday a story about two far-right youths belonging to the openly fascist and racist Blue-and-Black Movement (Sinimusta liike), and one to Suomen Sisu, which the authorities named in 2011 as “a Nazi-spirited association.” Thanks to the Yle article, the reader can read how much these so-called “radical nationalists” hate migrants.
Pyry-Lii Soinio is a twenty-two-year member of the Blue-and-Black Movement. He does not hide his loathing for outsiders. “I don’t think immigration should be restricted,” he said, “but [foreign] people should be deported altogether. I don’t care whether immigrants are good citizens or taxpayers. What matters to me is whether they are Finns.”
This is the third article that Yle has published on far-right members in the last three years. The first one was in 2019 by TV host Sean Ricks on far-right youths, followed by Suomineito in 2022.
Both stories received their fair share of criticism.
After Highland Park shooter Robert E. Crimo III, 22, murdered six people during the July 4th festivities and was apprehended by the police, social media is buzzing with his use of a symbol that is similar to the one used by Suomen Sisu, a far-right neo-Nazi association that used to recommend the works of Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg.
Even if Suomen Sisu likes to call itself a “nationalist movement” that seeks the preservation of European states and white culture, it’s been called by the Finnish secret police Supo an “extremist organization.” Others like the Finnish Criminal Police (KRP), and the Council for Mass Media (JSN) called the association “Nazi spirited.”
Above is the official description of Suomen Sisu in English. Others read it differently: “Suomen Sisu is a Finnish far-right movement which objects to Muslims and people of color and supports the preservation of national states and white European heritage with white supremacy. Through its activities, the organization seeks to protect white Finnish culture, and racist, ethnocentric views, by promoting white Finnish far-right views. Suomen Sisu builds a society in Finns where there are no non-white people and this fact makes us happy.”
Whether the symbol used by the Highland Park killer is a copy or not is like arguing if Suomen Sisu is a far-right white supremacist association or not.
What has happened is that Suomen Sisu’s real face has been exposed thanks to a murderer who is attracted to far-right ideology.
In 2015, when a record number of asylum seekers came to Finland, a number of attacks were carried out against asylum reception centers. One of these was in Niinisalo, located a stone’s throw from Kankaanpää, where over two weeks ago a group of white Finnish terrorist suspects was detained by the police.
While a lot of questions abound about the motives and ideology of the white Finnish terrorist suspects, there is one question that needs an answer.
For those who don’t remember, a building going to house asylum seekers was set alight and razed to the ground in December 2015 in Niinisalo. Perussuomalaiset* MP Juho Mäenpää, elected to parliament in 2019, claimed jubilantly after the arson attack: “Great. There is a god. My prayers have been answered.”
I interviewed Mäenpää and asked him about the arson attack. “Politicians should wake up to the situation [of asylum seekers],” he said, “if they don’t it could spark a civil war.”
The person thanking God for the burning of the future asylum center and threatening a civil war is none other than Mäenpää, who is Southern Ostrobothnia district manager of the far-right and Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association. During a session of parliament in 2019, he labeled asylum seekers “an invasive species.”
Toimittaja Lauri Nurmen tekemä Jussi Halla-ahon epävirallinen elämäkerta -teos auttaa syvemmin ymmärtämään perussuomalaisten puheenjohtajan poliittisia päämääriä.
Tuskinpa kovin moni edes tietää, kuinka tiiviit kytkökset Jussi Halla-aholla on äärioikeistolaisena ja jopa fasistisena pidettyyn Suomen Sisuun. Aluksi keskustelu- ja kirjallisuuspiirinä toimineessa Suomen Sisun perustajien Thule-ryhmässä luettiin monia Natsi-Saksan ja äärioikeistolaisten kuuluvia teoksia.
Lukemistoon kuuluu muun muassa ”Ku Klux Klanin entisen suurvisiirin, antisemitistin ja valkoisen ylivallan kannattajan David Duken omaelämäkerrallinen My Awakening” ja ”Hitlerin johtaman kansallissosialistisen puolueen pääideologin Uutta Eurooppaa kohti” teos, kirjoittaa Lauri Nurmi, (Ks. s. 89. Jussi Halla-aho – epävirallinen elämäkerta, Into).
Äärioikeistolaisen lukemiston takia kirjallisuusryhmän Thule-nimi oli tuskin sattumalta sama kuin Saksassa vuonna 1918 perustettu Thule-seura, jonka jäsenistön egoa paisutettiin propagandalla arjalaisen rodun ylivertaisuudesta. Thulelaiset perustivat vuonna 1920 Saksan kansallissosialistisen työväenpuolueen, josta tuli Hitlerin työkalu valtaan.
Lauri Nurmen mukaan Suomen Sisua voikin ”kirjallisiin lähteisiin tukeutuen luonnehtia kansallissosialistiseksi” (s. 101). Suomen Sisun ääriliikemäinen propaganda alkaa herättää huomiota ja se erotetaan Suomalaisuuden Liitosta vuonna 2000 (s. 90–93).
Pian julkisen erottamiskohun jälkeen Jussi Halla-aho alkaa osallistua Suomen Sisun toimintaan. Halla-aho ei ole tällöin enää nuori vaan jo 29-vuotias maisterivaiheen opiskelija, joten kyseessä on tietoisempi yhteiskunnallinen suunnanvalinta kuin teini-ikäisen nuoren kapinoiva etsiminen. Hallo-aho valitaan peräti kahdesti Suomen Sisun hallitukseen (s. 98).
Jussi Halla-aho vuonna 2020. Kuva:Wikipedia.
Natsi- ja rotupropagandaa
Kansallissosialistien nuorisopropagandaa johtanut Helmut Stellrecht yleni SS-Brigadenführeriksi eli kenraalimajuria vastaavaan arvoon. Hänen vuonna 1938 ilmestyneessä Usko ja teot –teoksessaan ylistetään saksalaisen rodun puhdasta perintöä ja juutalaisten juuriminen ”pois Saksasta on ylin laki.”
Suomen Sisu julkaisee tiivistelmän tästä teoksesta vuonna 2002 ja kirjoittaa verkkosivuillaan olevansa ”iloinen voidessaan tarjota tämän historiallisen harvinaisuuden suomalaisille lukijoille” (ks. s. 101).
In a recent debate with Center Party chairperson Annika Saariko, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party head, Jussi Halla-aho, was put on the hot seat after asked about his anti-Semitic blog writings.
He denied being an anti-Semite and said that the claim was a popularity stunt by Lauri Nurmi, who recently published an unofficial biography of him and made such an observation.
Why didn’t the reporter at the debate ask two questions: “Are you, Halla-aho, an anti-Semite and an Islamophobe.”
The PS and how it treats minorities, especially Muslims, expose the power and privilege white Finns have. It is like living in a near-perfect world. You can eat your racist cake with impunity and have it at the same time.
While Finland’s 100,000-120,000-strong Muslim community has little to no political power and is constantly reminded that they can never be equal members of society, the smaller Jewish community is a different story.
The Jewish community in Finland has historically suffered from anti-Semitism. A characteristic of this form of racism is that you silence the victim and plug your ears to their objections.
Matias Turkkila is the editor of the PS party’s newspaper who confirmed Halla-aho’s anti-Semitism and that of the party’s as well.
Turkkila claims that the “fierce” attack made by Yle against Kärkkäinen is part of a plan to destroy Juha Kärkkäinen’s businesses. He claims that one of the journalists that did the radio program is a member of the Left Alliance. Turkkila asks in the tweet: “@yleuutiset why do you allow a Left Alliance activist to use your platform to aim [at Kärkkäinen]?” He adds that Yle should follow its own rules and not publish material to advance the world view of others. Source: Twitter.
In the tweet, Turkkila overlooks or believes that we do not know who Juha Kärkkäinen is. For starters, he was fined in 2014 for publishing anti-Semitic writings of Adrian Salbuch, Ted Pike, David Duke, and others, as well as cartoons that bear a striking resemblance to the former Nazi tabloid, Der Strümer (1923-45).
The anti-Semitic writings were published in Magneettimedia, a publication of his stores that continues to be rife with anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and Nazi glorification. It is today no longer edited by Kärkkäinen but by neo-Nazis.
The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party decided today to found a new youth association after the previous one, PS Youth, was replaced by a new one called Perussuomalainen nuoriso, or unofficially Young Perusssuomalaiset, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
Last week, the former PS Youth turned down a motion from the parent party to change the bylaws and force its members also to be members of the party.
Six days before the vote on Saturday, former PS Youth second vice president Toni Jalonen admitted he is “an ethnonationalist, traditionalist, and fascist.”
Even if the PS party leadership likes to speak in code to convey to its voters that they support ethnonationalism and fascism, Jalonen’s candid statement was too much for the party.
PS MP Jenna Simula is the chairperson of the new youth association. In the city council elections in Oulu, she told voters that she planned to be a “nazi” after being elected councilperson. She proudly states that she is a PS politician that is against “harmful” migration. Simula’s far-right colors come from her membership in Suomi Sisu, a Nazi-spirited association. She was PS MP and Suomen Sisu chairperson Olli Immonen’s aide.
Surprise, surprise, the new vice president of the youth association is Asseri Kinnun, the former chairperson of PS Youth.
Asseri Kinnunen posing in front of a Suomen Sisu rollup in fascist attire from the 1930s Lapua Movement and Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaalinen kansanliike, IKL).
The new youth association of the PS is a farce. The only thing that changed is the control that the parent party has over the association.
Mauri Peltokangas is an MP for the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and a member of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association. In the hostile video below, the PS MP with close ties to neo-Nazi groups, uses the following terms to cry us a river about bringing to Finland 175 children from the Lesvos refugee camp.
If his invective monologue below lasts 2:36 minutes, it means that around every 20 seconds you hear the following swear words:
Shit (paska): 2 times
Fucked (perseestä): 2 times
What the hell, hell (mitä helevetti, helevetti): 2
The devil (perkele): 2
Are these the “lawmakers” that are supposed to look after our interests and bring security?
Source: Facebook.
Writes Al-Jazeera about the humanitarian crisis in Lesvos: “More than 18,300 asylum seekers currently live in and around Moria camp, a facility built to accommodate 2,200, according to the UNHCR. Tents and ad hoc structures are stacked close by on the hillsides, forming a makeshift city whose population is now the second largest on the island, after the capital Mytilini.”
Migrant Tales recently published a story of a refugee family in Lesvos.
“The toilets are a kilometer from their tent, and the journey there is dangerous because it is downhill and slippery when it rains,” said a relative of the family that now lives on Lesvos. “If you get to the toilet, you’ll find long lines with families with ten children waiting for their turn.”
But Peltokangas is defiant. He states in the video that there is no reason to bring 175 children from Lesbos because Greece “is a warm and secure EU country.”
Believe it or not, Peltokangas is a very popular politician in Finland, a country that tries to prize itself as a champion of human rights, social equality, and one of the best education systems in the world.
Gleb Simanov, the fired bus driver who thought it was a good idea to post racist videos of his customers and published them on a far-right website managed by Paavo Tajukangas (a fake name), is a perfect example of cowardice and bravado.
When the chips are down, racists and their followers run and hide. They rarely come to each other’s rescue.
After Simanov got fired Thursday, the former bus driver has appeared on populist and far-right social media platforms. He gives his account of what happened but conveniently forgets to tell us why the bus company sacked him for “inappropriate and racist behavior.” There is no mention of his ill treatment of Somalis on his bus and that he calls them liars, among other things, without a shred of proof.
He gives his account of events but conveniently forgets to tell us why the bus company sacked him for “inappropriate and racist behavior.” He makes no mention of the ill treatment of Somalis on his bus and that he caleds them liars, among other things, without a shred of proof.
One young Somali woman wanted to pay for the fare, but Simanov kicked her off the bus with her friend calling her a liar.
Simanov’s arguments are nothing more than red herrings. He uses Somalis, who allegedly want to bum a ride without offering any proof of his claims, as a pretext to expose his hatred for them. It is a common far-right strategy.
Who is “Paavo Tajukangas?”
There is another person who is trying to hide for cover by washing his hands of what happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Simanov planned the whole thing that got the bus driver fired. Simanov videotaped and Tajukangas published them – and later took them down – on his blog and YouTube.
The fact that aka “Tajukangas” states that “we” took them down from his blog and YouTube is pretty revealing.
Tajukangas says that he’s not a member of Suomen Sisu, a far right white supremacist association, or belongs to either the political right or left.
Let’s give, if we can, Tajukangas the benefit of the doubt. What do the two pictures and links to a neo-Nazi association below reveal about himself?
You be the judge.
“Paavo Tajukangas” speaking at a Suomen Sisu event. He claims he’s not a member of Suomen Sisu. Note the sunglasses. Source: YouTube.
If the picture and video don’t speak volumes about his far-right ideology, what does the picture below tell us?
Racism is a sickness, and as a disorder, it has consequences for the victim and the perpetrator. We learned about a bus driver and Peurssuomalaiset (PS)* politician called Gleb Simanov, who thought up the “bright” idea to videotape and insult Somalis while at work in three videos that he posted.
On Thursday Simonov’s fortunes changed when he was fired from Nobina, a bus company.
His sacking reminds me of what happened in 2015 to a woman called Martta Petman, who worked at the Tikkurila congregation. She was fired after she wrote on Facebook that she spat in the porridge that she served asylum seekers.
Petman might have raised some attention with her questionable actions, but she was quickly forgotten. Nobody came to her rescue never mind helped her find a new job. Sakari Timonen, one of Finland’s best bloggers, said that racists are the last people to come to another racist’s rescue.
The same is happening to Simonov. He may have caught the attention of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and other xenophobic groups, but he too like Petman will be forgotten and left without a job.
In the Facebook posting below, Simanov thanks his supporters. He even thanks a person for giving him 10 euros.
For a single father with two children, ten euros isn’t going to take you very far.
