The Finnish city of Kuopio tragically witnessed the death of a person and 10 others injured at the Savo Vocational College, The Guardian reported, citing the local media and police. Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go to the victims of the incident.
The East Finland Police tweeted earlier today that the suspect is “a native-born Finnish citizen.” Is this the reason why there is silence from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party?
Checking the Facebook pages of Islamophobic PS politicians like Sebastian Tynkyynen, Mauri Peltokangas, Jussi Halla-aho, Riikka Purra, to only name a few, there is absolute silence.
The fact that the PS does not even send condolences to the victims in Kuopio shows and exposes in the raw their hypocrisy.
If the suspect would have been a Muslim, it would be a different story. Using the same narrative of the Islamophobes, should we ask why Finns kill people and why aren’t Finns denouncing this form of violence collectively?
Shouldn’t we treat such a person as a suspected terrorist? Or do the PS see him as a lone wolf?
The PS’ language and rhetoric incite and legitimize violence against migrants, especially people of color. The usage of such violent language resembles a flat tire: You must pump it constantly with hate in order for the tire to have air.
* 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. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.