Tag: timo soini

Déjà vu: 2011 all over again in 2023?

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An election victory by the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* like in the 2011 election, exposes the same ogre populism and xenophobia. The PS could have never dreamed of joining the major leagues of Finnish politics without the help of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), the Social Democratic party, and the Center Party.

While the latter is true, the most critical support came from the Finnish voter. How do you explain the PS winning 39 seats in 2011 from five in the previous election?

The PS should offer gratitude to its victims: immigrants, refugees, and minorities.

What will Sunday’s election reveal behind the mask that covers the many real faces of Finland?

The leading ideologues of the PS are its former head, Timo Soini, and Jussi Halla-aho, who raised to political fame through his hateful blog posts.

TV personality Maryan Abdulkarim has described Soini in the following words:

Continue reading “Déjà vu: 2011 all over again in 2023?”

Exposing white privilege in Finland #86: Maryan Abdulkarim and Finland’s amnesia

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I can’t remember. It’s not important anyway.

Finland’s political amnesia shrowded in denial and hostility comes in the form of knee-jerk reactions. Those knee-jerk reactions may appear by acting dumb to difficult questions or by destroying your credibility in public.

I met Maryan Abdulkarim many years ago and commended her bravery in the face of continuous suspicion and hostility. Many in this country see her bravery as a positive matter needed in a Finland that suffers from too many Teflon politicians and political amnesia.

Source: Halima

After six years of being a host on the Yle television show Jälkivisaat raati, which discusses topical issues of the day, Abdulkarim decided to leave after the program decided to include former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson (1995-2017), Timo Soini, as its new host.

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The PS was, is, and will be a party with close ties to neo-Nazi and fascist groups

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From the days when Timo Soini headed the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to the present, there’s one denial coming from the party that is an outright lie: The PS is not a far-right party with links to neo-Nazi, fascist and far-right groups. 

I could list several examples, but let’s look at Kansallismielisten liittouma, a perfect example of the PS links with far-right groups. Eight of the 13 persons (61.5%) in the picture below are or were PS members.

Remember when PS MP Juho Eerola’s aide, Ulla Pyysalo, was caught seeking membership in Pohjoismaisen vastarintaliike (PVL), a neo-Nazi association?

There are many, many other shameful examples. You would have to be very susceptible to believe that the PS is not a far-right party set on destroying our democracy and Nordic way of life.

One notable guest of Kansallismielisten liitouma is Antti Niemi, the former head of PVL’s Finnish chapter.

Source: Twitter

How long will Finns put up with these types of politicians and parties and vote them out of power?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: The PS is the party of the nativist racists sprinkled with anti-EU soundbites

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“No matter what the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party does, no matter who it elects as its next chairperson, the shadow of racism will follow it. Even if people like Timo Soini said that the party’s anti-immigration wing was only a minor factor in the 2011 parliamentary election, nothing could be further from the truth. Like a junkie, the PS and its voters need their daily fix of nativist racism sprinkled with anti-EU soundbites.”

“White power” graffiti in Miikkeli. Photo: Enrique Tessieri

Hall of Shame: Finland’s 2020 Islamophobic and Afrophobic network

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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 Parties and 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.

Some of the most “notable” PS politicians who made it to the Hall of Shame list are Juho Mäenpää, Riikka Purra, Ano Turtiainen (former parliamentary member) Veikko Villen. The two PS members that are the dark forces or the enablers behind Finland’s toxic racist environment are Jussi Halla-aho and Matias Turkkila.

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Attacks against Soini, Ahmed and the Muslim community of Finland are symptoms of our silence

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What do the attacks against Blue Reform Foreign Minister Timo Soini in Vantaa Sunday and today against Left Alliance MP candidate Suldaan Said Ahmed tell us about today’s Finland? For one, they tell us of a troubled country that has been asleep to the threat of far-right extremism,  Islamophobia and other forms of racism. 

While we should denounce formally all forms of violence, it is ironic that Soini, who gave xenophobic extremists a political platform, saw a member allegedly of the far-right vigilante gang, Soldiers of Odin, try to attack him.

It is pretty disheartening to see the monster that Soini help created trying to attack him after he had relinquished the PS’ leadership in June 2017 to his foe Jussi Halla-aho.

Ahmed states that the attack against him was by a man in the Itäkeskus metro station.

Ahmed tweets: “I was just attacked at the metro station and the aggressor scolded me for being, among other things, an infidel and pedophile. Don’t dream that you will go to parliament.”

Apart from the far-right violence that has a strong dose of Islamophobia, graffiti was painted on a mosque in Helsinki with the same words that the New Zealand killer wrote on his weapon that took 50 lives: “Remove kebab.”

See original Facebook post here.

The Imam of the Helsinki mosque or prayer room, Abbas Bahmanpour, said that it was the third time the building was recently attacked.

“These types of graffiti show sympathy for terrorists and far-right ideology,” he said.

In Oulu, where another mosque that has been vandalized nine times since September 2017, has now voluntary guards outside the premises after one of the suspects in the sexual assault cases of Oulu was convicted last week.

“Every Friday during prayer time we want to make sure that we are safe,” said Islamic Society of Northern Finland Iman Dr Abul Mannan. “We asked the police to patrol between noon and 1:30 pm when a lot of people at the mosque but they didn’t come. We then decided to take matters in our hands and use our people to guard the mosque.”

See the MTV news story here.

Migrant Tales published a story on Saturday about how Muslims in the northern city of Kemi are especially afraid to walk outdoors alone at night after the Oulu sexual assault cases became public in December.

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Once again politicians and the media show no leadership about the terrorist attack in New Zealand

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THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

…everything we say to try to tear people apart, demonizing particular groups, set them against each other…that all has consequences.

Waleed, a news presenter from TheProjectTV

The atrocity we witnessed through the media of the cold-blooded and calculated killings that left so far 49 dead and many wounded in New Zealand were not mentioned once by some ministers on Facebook. These ministers are the ones who have fueled and nurtured Finland’s hostile environment against Muslims and migrants. Moreover, how many editorials did you find in the Finnish media about what happened in New Zealand and how it is a warning to us too? 

Certainly, many politicians and government ministers were quick to show their moral outrage at the sexual abuse cases of Oulu by “people of foreign origin,” which is code for asylum seeker, Muslim and non-EU citizen.

The head of the National Coalition Party, Economy Minister Petteri Orpo, and Interior Minister Kai Mykkänen, were quick to pin the blame on the Muslim community for what some 20 suspects did. Mykkänen suggested that nationality laws would change and that a naturalized person’s citizenship could be revoked.

In one ad you can hear the voice of Minister for European Affairs, Culture and Sports Sampo Terho, who heads Blue Reform,* one of the three members of the government, stating the “accomplishments” of his party. These are: “residence permits are no longer issued on permanent bases, the asylum process is faster and appeal times shorter for refugees, and tighter family reunification laws.”

Everything that Terho states and which Prime Minister Juha Sipilä approves with his silence, is stoking and fueling the fires of hatred and Islamophobia in Finland.

Last but not least is Foreign Minister Timo Soini, who with his crafty opportunism gave far-right extremist Islamophobes a platform and voice. In the end, Soini got his fingers burned badly because of those forces that h aimed to keep on a short leash. He got bit back by them and brough his political future to tailspin in flames.

Soini’s office did shed a few crocodile tears for the victims in New Zealand by stating that what happened was “a cowardly attack of terrorism.”

Cowardly? I would point to the cowardice of the Sipilä’s government on challenging Islamophobia and anti-migration hatred.

It is clear that National Coalition Party Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen doesn’t like Muslims but is ready to capitalize on such hatred for his political means. He’s all for tougher laws and warns us about Sharia law when that is not even on the table in Finland.

What is lacking in Finland before and today is the moral courage to speak out against racism and fascism.

Disagree? Exaggerating matters?

What about the tweet below by Johannes Sipola, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth leader of the Northern Finnish region of Lapland?

What did Sipola say about the terrorist attack in New Zealand?

“The New Zealand case show ever-convincingly that multicultural society does not work. When other people [of other backgrounds] rape and kill enough [people], it is only a question of time when there will be a reaction from the opposite side. First and foremost, everyone defends their own.

The tweet above and the lack of condemnation [which Sipola would love to get] speaks volumes about the present situation.

I hope that what happened in New Zealand is a wake-up call to all of us and a warning that matters are spinning rapidly out of control. Will the Islamophobic PS, its silent supporters for its anti-Muslim rhetoric in government do well in the April parliamentary elections?

Let’s see what April 14 reveals.

* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Shed an alligator tear for me: Foreign Minister Timo Soini condemns terrorist attack in New Zealand

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After creating a hostile environment against Muslims and migrants in Finland, Blue Reform* Foreign Minister Timo Soini has the audacity to condemn what happened in New Zealand as “cowardly,” according to Yle News. We condemn him and the actions of the Finnish government of cowardice in the face of defending and making every Muslim and migrant feel secure in Finland.

Disagree?

Check out the news coming from Oulu, which is named in the manifesto of the white supremacist that killed in cold blood about 50 Muslims during Friday prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

Read the full story here.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Timo Soini to retire from politics

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Foreign Minister Timo Soini, 56, who inspired Islamophobes, racists and conservative nationalists to have a political voice and platform to lash out at migrants and minorities, announced that he will not seek a new term in parliament, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Soini, who calls himself a devout Catholic, will be remembered as a conservative populist politician who led the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* to national prominence by capitalizing on populist anti-immigration sentiment. 

Soini, who hails from Rauma, led the PS as chairman for twenty years (1997-2017), served as MP during 2001-09 and 2011-2019, EuroMP 2009-2011, Espoo city councillor 2001-2009, minister for European affairs (2015-2017), and foreign minister (2015-2019).

Despite Soini’s long list of political merits, some see him as an anti-immigration populist and nationalist who objected women’s and gay rights and anti-abortionist. His fondness for far-right politicians like Morten Messerschmidt of the Danish People’s Party, which the PS has close ideological ties, have not gone unnoticed.

Soini has shown support against EU plans to put Poland under greater scrutiny of nationalist conservative Polish Law and Justice party and shown support as foreign minister for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He also took part in anti-abortion marches and has participated in the prayer breakfast sessions organized by the US Congress and hosted by the US President Donald Trump.

Soini’s political history is a rise-and-fall tale when he rose to prominence after the 2011 parliamentary elections but came down in flames after his chief rival, Jussi Halla-aho, took over the helm of the PS in June 2017.

It is sweet irony that Soini, who used Islamophobes and far-right voices to opportunistically rise to power, became his downfall.

One of the most important signals to emerge from the end of Soini’s political era is that “moderate populism” has given way to “extremist populism.” After the 2011 parliamentary election, Soini and the PS’ anti-immigration wing debated the main reason for the party’s good showing in the election. Soini claimed it was anti-EU sentiment while politicians like Halla-aho said it was anti-immigration.

Timo Soini gets a grilling on BBC Hardtalk.

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