When it comes to migration policy and treating asylum seekers, the EU has three solutions: It is clear that with global warming and democracy under attack, more people will have to abandon their homes and come to regions like Europe. If I were them, I’d do the same. But the most distressing fact is that…
Tag: xenophobia
The tightening of Finland’s citizenship law is disenfranchisement and sheer hypocrisy by Interior Minister Mari Rantanen
Listening to the anti-immigration rhetoric of Petteri Orpo’s government and especially of its Perussuomalaiset (PS)* interior minister, Mari Rantanen, on tightening citizenship requirements, two matters come to light: racism and hypocrisy. The planned changes in the citizenship law include: Rantanen is not only a multiculturally challenged politician but does not practice what she hatefully preaches….
The Finnish youth gang “problem” is a monster concocted by the radical right
What drives the government, particularly Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen of Perussuomalaiset (PS), to give utmost attention and tackle the issue of youth street gangs? Is it a sincere attempt tosolve such a social problem, or an opportunity to further victimize migrants and minorities in Finland? The assertion isn’t far-fetched. The PS is historically…
Espoo Perussuomalaiset councilperson reveals his and party’s ignorance of migrants
Hannu Järvinen is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* councilperson from the city of Espoo. One of his big pastimes is speaking badly of immigrants. Like many of his party, xenophobic and especially Islamophobic opinions are his pet topics. His advice will scare away people from Finland than keep them here. Järvinen’s solution for migrants: “When you move…
The anti-racism statement has little to do with eradicating the social ill in Finland but all to do with saving the government’s skin
One of the facts about the government’s anti-racism statement is that it has more to do with injecting trust in a government after it was hit by a string of racism and far-right scandals in the summer. At least for the time being, the statement succeeded at keeping the government from dissolving after the Swedish…
Media Monitoring Group of Finland:* In the face of rising far-right nationalism, Yle publishes (again) a story about youths who hate foreigners
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….
Unequal social welfare for forigners: The wettest dream of the Perussuomalaiset and National Coalition Party
Plans to pay migrants less social welfare planned by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government are a wet dream that spans back to 2016, when then Social and Health Minister Hanna Mantylä aimed to pass legislation that would grant migrants less social welfare than native Finns. Fortunately, such a law did not see the light of day since…
Shame on you if you are a Finnish politician and don’t know what racism is!
One clear aspect of Finland’s heated debate about racism is how politicians, especially from the Perussuoomalaiset (PS) party, claim ignorance about what racism is. PS MP Joakim Vigelius went as far as to claim that the term “racism” has suffered from inflation. I wonder if victims of racism and microaggression feel the same way. As…
PM Petteri Opro: “There is nothing racist or discriminatory in the government program”
And that is not all that Orpo said in Helsingin Sanomat: “We are doing everything in our power to eradicate racism and discrimination,” he continued, “We are doing more [on this front] than any government before us.” In light of the scandals that have rocked Orpo’s government from the start, there appear to be an…
Finland is a country that has lost its way and where democracy is now under threat
There are a number of worrying signs that Finland’s democracy and social welfare state are under threat. The threat does not come from abroad but from inside Finland thanks to the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Apart from disenfranchising migrants with strict laws that will make life harder for the country’s most vulnerable…