Politicians like Prime Minister Sanna Marin have offered long-overdue leadership when challenging racism in Finnish politics by stating what many know: The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is a racist party.
“Looking at the speeches of individual [PS] MPs, these speeches have been racist and genuinely hostile to certain minorities,” said Marin in a debate with Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). “There is no denying this; it is a fact. I don’t understand why we politicians should smile and pretend that these speeches are not real.”
Two PS MPs, Vilhelm Junnil and Veikko Vallin, showing off their MAGA caps by former President Urho Kekkonen’s bust. Does a “normal” party cack President Donald Trump after all the revelations of financial crimes and coup plotting? Source: Facebook
Finnish politicians need to be faster to react to the rise of the PS. In the 2011 parliamentary election, when it won 39 seats from 5 seats previously, Finnish political parties like the Social Democrats wanted to capitalize politically on anti-immigration sentiment.
After the leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Alliance announced that they would not form part of a future government with the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS),* Riikka Purra has lashed out against her party’s critics.
The latest racist talking points of the PS is excluding foreigners from getting social welfare and creating a modern Nordic apartheid state where foreigners would be legally second-class citizens.
The knee-jerk reaction by Purra is because the three parties don’t see the PS as “a normal party” and therefore do not wish to sit in the same government as her Islamophobic party.
Purra tweets: “There is nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide about our (party’s) values. We are a nationalist and patriotic party defending Finland and Finnishness. I am very proud of our concept of humanity and our values.”
Being a minority in Finland is being nearly always suspicious of official intentions.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Riikka Purra reiterated her party’s aim to exclude foreign residents from getting social welfare. According to her, the only ones who qualify for social welfare are Finnish citizens.
The radical-right politician added that such plans would not materialize in the next political term but was a long-range plan.
The fact that she can make such a statement reveals a lot about how racism has entered Finnish politics. Her party’s aim is synonymous with what is happening in Afghanistan today with women’s rights.
This Facebook post was made in 2019. Today, the PS is the second-most popular party in a YLEpoll.
But the icing on the racist cake is the silence coming from parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) and others concerning Purra’s statement about disenfranchising foreign residents in Finland. After a second try, Kokoomus’ head of communication, Kirsi Holtta, said that the party not believe that social security should be based on nationality.
“That’s the central issue, people who want to be here need to accept our core values: democracy, equality, human rights and all of that. If they don’t, they can’t stay in Finland.”
During the many years I have written about President Sauli Niinistö, he has always disappointed me. For me, he represents a Finland where time will steamroll over it. If you read many of his comments throughout the years, one matter stands out like a sore thumb: He does not like anti-racism activists, Muslims, and minorities like people of color.
Instead of uniting all the people in this country from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, his populism gets the better of him.
There are many examples, like when he addressed parliament in 2020. Without mentioning radical-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, he warned about the rise of “anti-Semitism and racism.” There is nothing wrong with that, but what was odd was he did not mention a word about Muslims and Islamophobia.
Cartoonist Ville Ranta’s view of President Sauli Niinistö’s two-extremes argument.
Islam is Finland’s second-biggest religion, with 120,000-130,000 followers.
A good example that he does not respect cultural diversity is the following statement he made in 2018, which is the worst of the worst.
He said: “I read in a newspaper about an Iraqi who had lived a long time in Finland, and he said that this [his culture] isn’t any problem. When I leave home for work, go to the store, or anywhere, I behave like a Finn. In this society, [I] follow the rules of the [cultural] game. But when I come home, I have Iraqi culture – truly impressive. And together with acquaintances can practice [my culture] very well, but the starting point is that Finland’s values are respected, democracy, gender equality.”
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest-circulation daily, writes in an editorial about why the country needs labor migrants to secure economic growth and services offered by the welfare state. We are at a critical crossroads: It is the first time in history that more people die than there are newborns.
While the editorial invites debate on Finland’s serious demographic woes, it is misleading because it only highlights the usual talking points by leaving out new arguments offered by brown and black Finn migrant researchers.
The reaction of some Finns can turn violent against migrants and minorities, as we saw after the Turku stabbings in 2017 by a Moroccan asylum seeker. Source: Migrant Tales
The editorial bases its call for more labor migrants on the pension insurance group Varma CEO Risto Murto’s book, Puuttuvat puoli miljoonaa, The missing half a million.
Murto’s book does not reveal anything new about Finland’s demographic woes. Over one-fourth of about 8% of Finland’s foreign population in 2020 lives in Helsinki; in 2035, it will rise to over a third; the low employment levels of people who came to Finland as refugees.
While Murto does not explain why the employment level of Afghans, Iraqis, Somalis, and other people of color is low in Finland, he and Helsingin Sanomat leave out the fact that their employment level rises the longer they live in Finland.
For some odd reason, the Helsingin Sanomat editorial and Murto forget to mention that refugees in Finland comprise about 10% of all foreigners. As we know and have seen, Finland’s hostile environment against visible migrants spread by parties like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Christian Democrats, and others.
When they attack foreigners, such parties speak of this group as one group, “migrants.”
Finland has historically shunned immigrants, even if it is a country of emigrants. In the 1970s, when hundreds of thousands of Finns were moving to Sweden, the country decided against labor immigration to plug the economically active population deficit.
Several questions arise on how Finland could be a magnet for labor migrants. Less bureaucracy, family reunification, child education, Finnish- and Swedish-language lessons.
Of all of the factors Murto believes would attract labor migrants, the most important one is missing: a migrant and minority-friendly society that is inclusive.
The latter is easier said than done. Historically and politically today, Finland has shot itself in the demographic leg by allowing its suspicion of outsiders to overtake the better of them.
How far will right-wing parties like the Moderate Party of Sweden go to make a pact with their political devils? How much populism and empty nationalism led to the demise of UK Prime Minister Liz Truss? These are valid questions for Finland’s National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), which is making similar pacts with populism.
Kokoomus, like the Moderate Party of Sweden, and the rapid downfall of UK Prime Minister Truss must have raised some concerns. An election strategy is needed for April, but peppered with toxic populism and anti-immigration soundbites?
Finland faces a lot of challenges. For one, it needs labor migrants but this is difficult to realize on a grand scale because the Perussuomalaiset, Kokoomus, and other parties that attack and see migrants as a threat.
Politicians make fiery speeches against migrants – note they speak of all migrants – and then expect people to move here. Even for some who live here, the environment looks and feels hostile.
If we continue down the road of populism and exclusive nationalism, it’s clear that our future spells ruin.
Yle’s reported Tuesday building a border fence between Finland and Russia. Reporting from Estonia’s capital Tallinn, Yle reporter Rain Kooli said that the wall between Estonia and Russia was to stop migrants – not asylum seekers – and illegal migrants.
The project, which the Finnish Border Guard is spearheading, will cost hundreds of millions of euros and take 3-4 years to build. The fence will be built by border crossing points and 10%-20% of the border with Russia.
Finland’s parliament passed in summer the border guard act that severely restricts the human rights of refugees to seek asylum. European Union Institute professor of international law and human rights Martin Scheinin said the new law would send Finland back thirty years.
While using terms such as “migrants” and “illegal migrants” and publishing pictures of far-right Perussuomnalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra and National Coalition Party chairperson Petteri Orpo as a lead picture, the state broadcaster editorializes the topic.
Fencing of the Finnish-Russian border will cost hundreds of millions of euros and take 3-4 years to build. Source: YleEven if all the parties approved the decision to build the border fence, Yle News published a picture of the far-right Perussuomnalaiset head, Rikka Purra, and National Coalition Party chief Petteri Orpo as the lead picture.One of his many infamous anti-immigration statements was when he equated asylum seekers coming from the Russian border as water from “a leaking roof.”
Why wasn’t there any analysis of the effectiveness of walls and if they work?
One analysis by Rand stated:” If a border wall provides the political space for addressing these more systemic problems, then it may still be a worthwhile investment. That said, the proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border—like all previous walls—should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than an end unto itself.”
Journalism is a tough job that forces one to stay on its toes. On Thursday on A-Talk we heard the opinions of four MPs of the Left Alliance, Social Democrats, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* if Finland was heading towards a debt crisisand spending cutbacks.
There was nothing new from PS MP VIlle Tavio, who suggested the usual cuts in development aid, which is pictured as “money thrown down the drain,” and billions of euros from “migration,” which he labeled as a security threat.
No pushback, never mind an utter from the host Sakari Sirkkinen. The following comment by Tavio was a sad example of zzz or snooze journalism. Yle is supposed to represent migrants and minorities living in Finland, not permit their demonization.
Said Tavio: “Social welfare based on nationality would revolutionize the [existing] and make the system more dynamic and advantageous for us.”
Ville Tavio has expressed support for France’s Marine Le Pen and other autocrats like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Source: Yle
Again, an eerie silence came from the host, and none of the guests uttered a word.
With parliamentary elections in April, PS Chairperson Riikka Purra reiterated Thursday that social welfare benefits should hinge on nationality.
Here is an example of a discriminatory and spiteful message by the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party head, Riikka Purra. With parliamentary elections in April, she and the PS are ratcheting up their xenophobic message.
“A foreigner is entitled to social welfare when making 716 euros a month. Such a [benchmark] was given the green light by the social welfare act passed by the National Coalition Party, Center Party, and Blue Reform. During this period, one can calculate income requirements to see what a good deal this is for Finland and tax payers. Labor migration only works if it is based on nationality, as required by the PS. In this way, a migrant lives off his salary and not on social welfare.”
As the claim by Purra reveals, the only role of the PS is to poison the atmosphere, lie and keep migrants and minorities as second-class members of society. In other words – it is toxic and racist and unsubstantiated blah blah.
Eikö töihin tulevan maahanmuuttajan pitäisi elää palkallaan eikä sosiaaliturvalla? pic.twitter.com/yCOW2j3wXQ
Watching the parliamentary question-and-answer session between the opposition and government revealed two matters: the opposition’s xenophobic politicking and the government’s sometimes infirm responses.
The debate between the opposition and the government occasionally appears like a shouting match, where the government caves into the opposition.
In a historic government decision on the same day, Finland closed its border to Russian tourists.
If one was to state, in a nutshell, the hostile diatribes of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and Christian Democrat MPs Thursday, it was to tar and feather Russians, asylum seekers from outside the EU, and undocumented migrants.
PS MP Jari Ronkainen parrots his party’s fear-mongering: “Fleeing military service is not grounds for asylum. If it were, up to 20 million Russians would theoretically be entitled to asylum. Despite this, the minister of interior [Kirsta Mikkonen] said yesterday that they are preparing at the border for an influx of asylum seekers and setting up processing centers. For potentially millions?”
“A visa on humanitarian grounds allows a person from Russia or any other country to apply in practice for asylum without even coming to the border of the country,” said PS chairperson Riikka Purra, “and this raises the same security concerns as the right to apply for asylum at the moment.”
