Tag: xenophobia

Are Bush’s Iraq War and Abu Ghraib torture to blame as well for the Charlie Hebdo attack?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When I reflect on what happened this week in Paris my thoughts drift to George W. Bush and his proclamation that the United States is on a crusade against terrorism. Juan Cole, an expert on Middle East politics, asks an important question on his blog: 

Having American troops occupy it [Baghdad]  for 8 years, humiliate its citizens, shoot people at checkpoints, and torture people in military prisons was a very bad idea. Some people treated that way become touchy, and feel put down, and won’t take slights to their culture and civilization any longer. Maybe the staff at Charlie Hebdo would be alive if George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney hadn’t modeled for the Kouashi brothers how you take what you want and rub out people who get in your way.

Certainly nobody is condoning the Charlie Hedbo attack but neither should we lose focus on the big picture: hundreds of years of colonialism, exploitation, rise of Islamophobia, Palestine and recent wars in the Middle East.

And just as worse, there are the opportunists that are aiming to profit from what happened. Some that come to mind are Marine Le Pen, Gert Wilders, from Finland Olli Immonen and Jussi Halla-aho, both members of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

 

US President George W. Bush declaring “this crusade, this war on terrorism” shortly after 9/11. According to Juan Cole, the Charlie Hebdo attack could possibly been avoided if Bush wouldn’t have embarked on a reckless war in Iraq.

Then Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg took a totally different strategy to Bush’s 9/11 response. Stoltenberg said after the 22/7 attacks by Anders Breivik that his country’s response would be “more openness, more democracy and greater political participation.” The Norwegian prime minister is today secretary general of Nato.

 

In Argentina during the 1970s, young people had three choices under a dictatorship: take up arms, remain silent and leave the country.

In Finland in 1904, Eugen Schauman became a national hero when he assassinated Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov. The context was Russification, a powerful-backward empire like Russia that wanted to undermine Finland’s autonomy. From a Russian perspective what Schauman did must have been murder but from our point of view he became a national hero.

I personally am suspicious of violence and war because I’ve seen my fair share of them. I made a promise when I left Argentina in 1977, when it was ruled by a ruthless military dictatorship, to never kill a human being for as long as I live. It wasn’t an easy promise to make at the time.

In a war, the state resolves the moral and ethical issues for you. It gives you the moral answers to justify killing others. When you join a group like al-Qaeda and the likes, however, you have a choice because usually it’s your decision to be a part of such a group.

So what will we learn from what happened in Paris this week? Will we finally learn to sit around a table and negotiate in good faith and with respect to resolve our differences?

Or will the wall that helps our denial get thicker?

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

UPDATE (December 5): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

How does the Finnish media give politicians that spread xenophobia and racism inflated respectability and importance? How can they  spread their prejudices and lies about immigrants and minorities without the help of the media? Migrant Tales will begin to collect stories from January 7 written by careless journalists that have been taken for a ride by such politicians.

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the books used against journalists:  A politician makes an outrageous claim to a journalist, who doesn’t even bother to question its veracity. Eventually the journalist may do some investigating and find out that he or she was fed malarkey. By then it’s too late because the story is already out there.

Migrant Tales will send each story that appears in our Hall of “Fame” to the journalist who wrote the story.

There are so many of these types of stories published by the media that compiling a long list in a short time would be relatively easy. It’s important, however, to reveal media bias when reporting stories about migrants and minorities.

This video clip is one of the best that I’ve seen of how politicians with racist agendas took British journalists for a ride in the 1970s and 1980s. Watch video clip here.
Below is an example of good journalism when HARDtalk host Stephen Sackur grilled Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini.  Two times the same interview has been taken down from YouTube. 

Common mistakes by the Finnish media when reporting on migration and minorities:    

  • White sources are always used as authorities when immigrants and minorities are the topic
  • Editors of Finland’s main dailies are white Finns
  • Immigrant and visible minority voices are rarely if ever permitted to make their case
  • Editors too often ask white experts – rarely if ever migrant or minority experts –  their view of the “immigrant problem”
  • We give inflated respectability and importance to racists because they mirror our attitudes
  • In Finland, the stronger racism became, the more airtime it gets
  • The rise of racism in our society and our coverage of it reveals how unbalanced and uncritical our media is
  • When it comes to fighting racism, the media are part of the problem

Continue reading “UPDATE (December 5): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

Defining white Finnish privilege #15: Case Halla-aho and the PS

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s clear that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are trying to regain their balance as their popularity in the polls continues to plummet. This week MEP Jussi Halla-aho, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, tells his party that a tougher stand on immigration is needed to regain voter confidence. 

“It would be good that the party leadership understands that one of the central pillars of our support hinges on our critical view of immigration,” he was quoted as saying on Kaleva. “This is not a marginal issue for voters.”

A marginal issue?! Would it be ok for me to be sexist and paint all women with a single brush because some voters agree with my prejudices?

That is Halla-aho’s reasoning for his xenophobic attacks on migrants and minorities in this country. He doesn’t care if what he thinks is true or an exaggeration as long as it attracts votes.

 

Näyttökuva 2015-1-6 kello 12.06.42

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

 

Thanks to Finnish white privilege, Halla-aho and the PS can declare war on migrants in Finland. If a Muslim or a migrant made a similar statement about white Finns, he’d be lynched on social media chat sites and platforms.

Migrants and their families who live in this country have every right to respect, equality before the law and security. Halla-aho and the national media erode and make Finland a hostile place for migrants and minorities.

In which way do Halla-aho’s statements and the media, which regurgitate them, foster respect for those who live in Finland and aren’t white Finns? Hostility breeds hostility.

Definition #15

When you have white Finnish privilege, you are permitted to declare war on groups like migrants and minorities. They are only foreigners and therefore it’s perfectly acceptable.

Moreover, the media continues to classify hostile statements by politicians like Halla-aho as someone who is only “critical” of immigration. In our book, this type of language should be labelled as xenophobic and outright racist.

A get-tough stance by Finland’s third-largest party in parliament should not only be seen as a declaration of war against migrants and minorities but against everything that our Nordic welfare state should stand for.

See also:

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Migrant Tales (September 14, 2013): The Finnish and European media still have a lot to learn about racism and intolerance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One matter that is interesting to note when looking at the media before the historic victory of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party in April 2011, is the present controversy surrounding the Youth League of the National Coalition Party’s program. Is the media giving racists, radical anti-immigration groups and voices inflated respectability and importance?

Näyttökuva 2015-1-5 kello 11.20.26

The whole Susanna Koski affair is a case and point. Like poking an angry beehive, there is initial shock that soon subsides after the stings don’t hurt because we’re wearing protective clothing. Our protective clothing to the far right and anti-immigration message of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing program appeared like a knee-jerk reaction, which subsided thanks in part to our prejudice.

In other words, the program of the National Coalition Party’s youth league started to sink in.

Why is the Finnish media swept off its feet and dazzled so often by intolerance, racism and nationalism? Our media has been so generous in the past to these social ills that it was in part responsible for the rise of the PS and the election of a number of far right MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari, both sentenced for ethnic agitation.

Migrant Tales published recently a story where it looked at how the Finnish media gave inflated respectability and importance to racists in this country. This is nothing new in Europe. It happened in Britain about thirty years ago and is happening here in Finland right now before our eyes.

Below are some of  obvious symptoms when the media writes about cultural diversity:

  • White sources are always used as authorities when immigrants and minorities are concerned
  • Editors of Finland’s main dailies are white
  • Immigrant and visible minority voices are rarely if ever permitted to make their case
  • Rarely if ever do editors ask if whites are the source of the”immigrant problem”
  • We give inflated respectability and importance to racists because they mirror our attitudes
  • In Finland, the stronger racism became, the more airtime it gets
  • The rise of racism in our society and our coverage of it reveals how unbalanced and uncritical our media is
  • When it comes to fighting racism, the media are part of the problem

Another important point I would like to add to the list above is conflict of interest. People who are card-carrying members of a political party write and promote their views in the national media.

A good example is columnist Tuomas Enbuske, who is a Helsingin Sanomat columnist and hosts a popular television talk show. He interviewed this week Koski, and gave the youth leader of the National Coalition Party a platform to spread her neoliberal and racist points of view.

Embuske had advertised on Uusi Suomi that he is a member of the National Coalition Party.

No, the show hosted by Enbuske was not outraged by what Koski suggested, that the Ombudsman for Minorities office and laws that govern ethnic agitation should be scrapped.  Why? Because all of them are white.

In my opinion, the Youth League of the National Coalition Party’s program to scrap ethnic agitation laws have the potential to unleash the same hate as the Nuremberg Laws did in 1935 against the Jews.

If the Finnish media wants to bolster its credibility, it should look at dailies like The Guardian. Possibly then our embattled media, which is the victim of Finland’s growing nationalism and intolerance, can start to gain more credibility in the eyes of the public.

It’s odd but those that want to change radically our country, like the Youth League of the National Coalition Party and others, believe that we can “debate” matters like more intolerance. To put it in a white Finnish perspective, can we “debate” watering down women’s rights, lower pay and further sexism?

Can we “debate” greater approval of human rights violations?

I doubt it.

Our Nordic social welfare state has made remarkable gains in the areas of social equality. We should defend these rights instead of “debate” how to further and make social inequality more acceptable.

A media that is critical and independent has a very important role to play in Finland and the rest of Europe today as far right and ultra nationalistic voices gain momentum.

Those voices of intolerance, which never give you any effective solutions except for scapegoating, are the real threat to Europe together with rising social inequality and poverty.

The media plays a crucial role in being the critical watchdog of our democratic system.

Without it we’re doomed.

Sweden Democrats openly attack cultural diversity – will the PS of Finland follow their example?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In a clear attempt to cash in on the anti-immigration sentiment, Sweden Democrat party secretary Björn Söder said that minorities like the Saami could never be Swedes and was willing to pay immigrants to leave the country, reports The Local.

The mere suggestion that Sweden is only a country of white Swedes reveals the racist and exclusive mindset of the Sweden Democrats. In a US context it would be something like encouraging Hispanics, blacks and other minorities to go back to where they came from because white USAmericans rule the country.

“Yes, and that is good,” Söder was quoted as saying on The Local. “We must make it easer for those considering moving back to their country. Then we’ll be in a better condition to create a society of common identity.”

Näyttökuva 2014-12-15 kello 0.17.03

 Read full story here.

In Söder’s views, Jews, Kurds and the Sami are examples of groups that are Swedish citizens but cannot be considered “true” Swedes if they don’t assimilate into Swedish society.

Has anybody asked Söder who is a so-called “true” Swede? Why does he think he is a “true” Swede? Is there any such thing as a “true” Swede?

What Söder is claiming is what is exactly wrong in the Nordic region. White Nordic people think that this land is exclusively theirs. This is malarkey.

The language of the Sweden Democrat party secretary is regurgitated by parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) of Finland, Danish People’s Party and Progress Party of Norway. All four of them believe that only white Nordic people are the right people that should live in this region.

Willy Silberstein, chairperson of the Swedish committee against anti-Semitism disagrees with Söder.

“I am Jewish and born in Sweden,” he said. “I am just as much Swedish as Björn Söder. There is an us and them mentality which I think is a characteristic of the party.”

While the PS in Finland have distanced themselves from the Sweden Democrats, their success in the March elections will be watched closely by the PS. Finland holds parliamentary elections in April 2015.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Homophobic Finland? Thank the Perussuomalaiset

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some weren’t too worried when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won their historic parliamentary election victory in 2011 by raising the number of MPs to 39 from 5. “They’ll implode like the Rural Party did in the 1970s,” and “This is only a passing [political] fad” was what one heard. 

One matter is clear after almost four years of bitter-tasting PS politicking: Attitudes towards migrants, minorities like gays has stiffened; such attitudes have made Finland ever-intolerant and thereby less attractive to skilled migrants and foreign investment.

It’s clear that if the PS ever get into government, they would spearhead and breathe new life in this country to the conservative economic policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who brought us mass unemployment and exacerbated social and economic inequality.

One of the best examples of hardening attitudes in Finland – thanks to the PS – is against gays and the long and winding road of approving same-sex marriage is a good example.

Näyttökuva 2014-11-23 kello 10.07.13

One of the most outspoken voices against same-sex marriage is the Perussuomalaiset party. Read full story here.

 

It’s clear that if the PS wouldn’t have won in 2011, same-sex marriage would have already been legal in this country.

Taking into account that recent polls show the Center Party to be the clear favorite to win the next parliamentary elections in April and the party’s voting record, Friday’s parliamentary vote for or against same-sex marriage will be the last for a very long time.

The PS has tried to pull many fast ones on the public. One of these was a recent claim that migration costs Finland near-2 billion euros. While such claims were conjured by the PS for obvious reasons, has anyone asked how much the populist party has cost Finland in the way of lost skilled migrants, jobs, opportunities and investment?

Finland has a problem: It’s population is aging and we need skilled migrants to fill the gap as well as new jobs. Why would any person in his right mind move to a country that is suspicious of migrants and foreign investment?

One problem with racism and ethnocentrism is that it distorts reality.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

When youth leaders of parties like the NCP of Finland are in the dark about cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It is sad, even unfortunate, that some of our future political leaders of the National Coalition Party (NCP) see Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity as a threat and the adaption of these newcomers and their children as an ethnocentric one-way affair. 

One of the first matters that these youth leaders would learn about the over 1.2 million Finns that emigrated from this country between 1860 and 1999 is that they were keen on maintaining in faraway lands their roots and ties with this country. They did this by establishing newspapers, printing presses, associations and even getting involved in labor movements in countries such as the United States.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-28 kello 16.07.54

Migrant Tales has written a lot about the Susanna Koski and the Youth League of the NCP. Read full story here.

If we look up to those Finnish immigrants for not forgetting their cultural and linguistic roots, why are NCP and Perussuomalaiset (PS)* youth leaders hostile to migrants in this country who want to do the same?

Migrant Tales spoke briefly on the phone with Susanna Koski, the head of the Youth League of the NCP, which listed as two of its political aims in 2014 to do away with ethnic agitation laws and the ombudsman for minorities office. The Youth League of the NCP will meet on November 7-9 to draft a new set of goals for 2015, according to Koski.

“No comment,” she said concerning her stand on the ethnic agitation law and whether it should be included in the 2015 program.

It is surprising that youth leaders of Finland’s largest and third-largest political bloc in parliament, the NCP and PS, respectively, see cultural diversity as a threat.

Both the youth leagues of the NCP and PS lobbied to demote Finland’s second-official language, Swedish, to elective status at schools.

Meanwhile, the ministry of education and culture announced that it will grant the youth leagues of the NCP and PS 650,000 and under 30,000 euros, respectively, in aid, according to YLE.

One of the reasons why the Youth League of the PS was granted such a small sum of money was because their values concerning multiculturalism, or cultural diversity, wasn’t in line with state policy. The same question could be asked of the Youth League of the NCP and if its position on multiculturalism are in conflict with our official values.

The Youth League of the PS will appeal the matter.

If there is a factor that threatens to retard Finland’s progress as a modern Nordic welfare state in this century, it’s the provincial and intolerant world view of youth leagues of the NCP and PS.

Not understanding the role of immigration, integration and the need to integrate and make our society more inclusive to newcomers is like shooting oneself in the leg big time.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Finnish anti-immigration sound bites + near-silence of society = peril

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some soap operas are so sweet and melodramatic that they form cavities in your brain. In the same way, the message of anti-immigration and xenophobic parties is so outrageous that they leave a whole in your head.

 

Timo Soini and the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* which became Finland’s third-largest parliamentary bloc in 2011, are appealing to voters on two crucial issues in next April’s elections: migration and development aid, which they claim are costing Finland 2.7 billion euros, according to the PS. 

While it’s not surprising that a party that promotes xenophobia and has its roots in far-right ideology is targeting migrants and development aid, what is a continuing mystery is how they arrived at such calculations.

The figures were given at a press conference on Friday where PS’ chairman Soini, party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo and Matti Putkonen were present.

While there were other topics discussed at the press conference by the PS members, it is surprising that not one journalist asked how they arrived at such costs (1.5 billion euros for migration and 1.2 billion euros for development aid). The latter figures were given as a solution on how to cut Finland’s budget deficit and spur economic growth.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-25 kello 9.52.24

Read full story here. Eastern European migrants in Britain added 5 billion pounds to the economy, according to another BBC story.

 

With such figures and with such a xenophobic message, the PS is back to its favorite political fix: scapegoating.

What remains unclear is how attacking and scapegoating migrants is going to actually help Finland raise itself from its present economic slump. Some economist claim that it would do just the opposite: deepen our economic woes.

Certainly it’s difficult for a party that still believes in Social Darwinism to see migration and cultural diversity in a positive light. If i would have been present at the press conference, I would have asked Soini or Slunga-Poutsalo to name one country where migration has failed and been costly.

Just like adding 1 + 1 = 2, it’s clear that migration fuels growth as this BBC article shows. There was also a recent study by the OECD that revealed that migration had boosted growth in 2011 by 0.16% including pensions.

So why is the PS saying that migration is a burden for Finland? While in a different historical context, their aim is no different to what the Nazis did in the 1920s. They saw great potential in capitalizing on racial anti-Semitism as a mass political force.

When the PS scapegoats migrants, development aid, the public sector, the Greens and environmental policy, it not only shows its anti-Keynes side, but its similarity to parties like the ultra-conservative Tea Party as well as Thatcherism and Reaganomics.

John Maynard Keynes, who was one of the most influential economists in the past and even the present century, believed that during economic slumps it was the government that should step in and restore confidence in markets even if it meant increasing  budget deficits.  Austerity would only worsen matters.

It’s clear that the PS proposal to lower the cost of migration and development aid is meant for populist public consumption but also to help maintain a climate of suspicion and mistrust of  migrants and minorities. Certainly sensible Finns, who are the majority in this country, don’t want to follow the PS’s xenophobic path.

Finns and especially migrants and minorities should not stand idle in the face of such xenophobic sound bytes by parties like the PS but openly challenge them.

Certainly if we want to go down a ruinous path that will cause extreme hardships on Finland, the PS may be the party you are seeking to vote for in the April 2015 elections.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

 

 

The PS of Finland: When a morally bankrupt party crosses the line

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Tom Packalén case is not only a reminder of what Finland can expect if the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* ever get into government, there is the real threat that we are in danger of forfeiting our successful Nordic welfare state for populism, nativist nationalism and xenophobia. In the face of this threat, it is the near-silence of our society in the face of this threat is a cause for serious concern. 

Where are the moral leaders of this country? The politicians? The Media? Why is President Sauli Niinistö so quiet? And what about the church, the artists and celebrities?

How many editorials have been written by Helsingin Sanomat or other dailies about the Packalén case, where he treats a social problem like youth gangs and marginalization as the “ripening fruits” of immigration policy? That his clarion call has encouraged street patrols by neo-Nazi groups and members of his party?

Why isn’t their outrage in the media about a statement by PS MP Olli Immonen, who warned that “if officials don’t have the will or resources to protect the security of its citizens,” Suomen Sisu will take matters into its hands?

The complacency of the politicians and the media must hinge on the general perception that populism and racism are given the benefit of doubt in this country.

Not taking a stand against a politician who labels whole vulnerable groups, in this case marginalized Finns and Finnish minority youths, is the crux of the problem. The same silence we are witnessing today by the complacent media is what permitted the PS to become the third-largest party in parliament in the 2011 elections.

It’s clear that when an MP from an anti-EU, anti-immigration and homophobic party like the PS mixes immigration policy and marginalized youth you are going to have an explosive brew. The exact purpose of Packalén’s blog was just that: to arouse and fuel suspicion of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Näyttökuva 2014-10-15 kello 9.12.58

Despite what PS MP Tom Packalén claimed, the police said that there aren’t street gangs in Helsinki and there aren’t street gangs that are causing a crime wave. Read full story in Finnish here.

The PS is today a morally bankrupt party that has nothing to offer to Finland except for a polarized society, anti-immigration, nativist nationalistic and xenophobic rhetoric. For some white Finns this may be difficult to comprehend, but for migrants and other minorities the message is clear: the PS is a hostile and dangerous party to them.

The irony of the ongoing one-sided debate on our ever-growing cultural diversity is that the “ripening fruits” of the PS and anti-immigration sentiment are creating the problems that such parties warn us of. Social exclusion is costly to taxpayers.

Considering that about 60% of migrants live in poverty in this country speaks volumes about how we are not dealing with the issue. We are not tackling these problems because it is in the interest of parties like the PS to turn them into worse problems. It’s the way they get votes and forms part of a general scheme to keep Finland white.

Building a Finland based on social inequality, social exclusion and prejudice will end up destroying the very successful society we built after World War 2.

It took Finland about 27 years of bitter strife and devastation in the form of civil war, the rise of fascism in the 1930s and three terrible wars (Winter War, Continuation War and the Lapland War against Nazi German) to finally get it right and build a society based on our Nordic welfare state values like social equality, education and equal opportunity.

The undeclared “war” against our culturally diversity by parties like the PS resembles that Finland before 1945.

The PS is a morally bankrupt party because they have nothing to offer to this country except a ruinous recipe for failure.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

PS MP of Finland ready to patrol streets and take law into his own hands

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Remember what people said when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won their historic election victory in 2011? ”Nothing is going to happen you’ll see…they’ll soon implode like the Rural Party did in the 1970s…” some said playing down the whole matter. After almost four years, the PS continues to polarize society by instilling fear and fueling racism but has now opened a new terrifying chapter in its strategy to gain power: mob rule. 

PS MP Tom Packalén, who falsely claimed on a blog entry that only migrant youth gangs in East Helsinki attack white Finns, has unleashed the darkest and most racist side of Finland.  Not only are MP Pakclaén’s claims false, they have been disproven by the police.

And let’s not forget the publication, Uusi Suomi, where MP Packalén’s blog entry and many others by the PS have been published. They are just as responsible as the PS for spreading racism in Finland.

In this latest bout of xenophobia in Finland, it’s the silence of the political parties and the media that doesn’t surprises us once again.

Making racist claims and victimizing migrants and minorities has become such a “normal” activity in this country that not even the PS leadership cares what some of their members say or will do.

Valkoinen valta-2_edited-1

The aim of parties like the PS and far-right associations like Suomen Sisu is to keep Finland white like the graffiti above that reads “white power.”

 

Suomen Sisu is a far-right association chaired by PS MP Olli Immonen whose aim is to keep Finland white. In a statement, Immonen warned that “if officials don’t have the will or resources to protect the security of its citizens,” Suomen Sisu will take matters into its hands.

Yes, no translation mistake since what you read is correct. A PS MP, a lawmaker, of a far-right association is ready to patrol Helsinki’s streets against real or imagined youth gangs.

While the PS has always shown its ugly and hostile side to migrants and minorities, the suggestion by one of its MPs to patrol streets with others like neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta and other PS members, which MP Packalén’s blog entry has encouraged, is totally unacceptable in a democracy such as Finland and should be condemned.

The blog entry by MP Packalén shows the desperate state of the party, which needs a big boost to come close to their 2011 election victory since the last three elections have been disappointing.

Finland needs the PS, the silence of other parties and a media that is blind because it is white like a hole in the head. The lack of leadership that we are witnessing today in the face of such racism and hostility is shameful.

Far-right and nationalistic parties in Finland, as is Europe, have become a grave threat to democracy and to the right of minorities to live in peace. It’s clear that matters will get worse as these parties, like the PS, get more power since the scapegoating won’t stop but get worse. Such intolerance has the danger of destroying our society.

We must do everything to stop the menace that is placing Finland in harm’s way and that danger is the PS and our shameful silence.

Leadership is needed more than ever now.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.Thank you Pia Grochowski for the heads up!