By Enrique Tessieri
For those who still believe that the mass killings in Norway will not impact parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and hate websites in this country should think twice. Migrant Tales was right: there is already clear evidence that living in a post-22/7 Europe has torn a hole in the argument of the anti-immigrant populists and extremists in Finland.
Sensible people in this country and Europe do not want to identify with the ideology that fuelled Anders Behring Breivik to carry out his outlandish killings. Denying this or playing them down would be a costly miscalculation by PS head Timo Soini because it will hit the party’s popularity and simultaneously heat up the undercurrent between him and the Counter-Jihadist PS MPs led by Jussi Halla-aho.
Soini has, by bringing on board these extremists, created a big problem for himself and the party. Some believe it is one of the biggest mistakes he will regret in the future.
Just like Breivik, the Counter-Jihad movement believes that Europe will be overtaken by Islamists, which is possible thanks to an alliance with the left. Breivik called this imaginary group “Cultural Marxists.”
Some analysts thought that it would be only a question of time before the rift between Soini’s Rural Party and Halla-aho’s faction would tear the PS in two. It is now evident that that threat is coming from outside the party due to what happened in Norway. It will eventually make Soini’s position with Halla-aho’s wing untenable.
When will Soini distance himself from Halla-aho and his followers? When they become bite into the popularity ratings of the PS and become a liability.
One person spearheading these embarrassing revelations about Halla-aho and the PS is historian Jussi Jalonen, who has asked some serious questions that the Criminal Police and Supo should be telling us. He has shown in two blog entries the true face of the Counter-Jihad movement and Halla-aho’s deep involvment in it.
What makes the situation even more embarrassing for Soini and the PS is that the Norwegian mass killer got his inspiration from the Gates of Vienna, a well-known Counter-Jihad site where Halla-aho was its correspondent and translator.
Moreover, one of the recommended links on the Gates of Vienna is Hommaforum.
Halla-aho has, naturally, played down his role on the Gates of Vienna.
Ever heard of the Finnish version of the English Defence League?
Meanwhile, a PS politician from Orimattila, Kalle Pahajoki, accuses me on his Uusi Suomi blog that I want to take all attention from the threat of Islamist terrorism by criticizing the far right and right-wing populist parties for spreading urban myths about immigrants.
I lived in Argentina part of the dirty war (1976-83) where there was far-left, far-right and state-sponsored terrorism. Has Pahajoki ever lived in a country where terrorism is a problem or has he, like many in the PS, only read about it in the papers and on TV?
Even if i definitely dont agree with Jussi Halla-Alo and “most” of the true finns, its too easy to blame them for the mass killing in Norway.
Why dont you write a thread about the violence in the video games like Call of Duty, Age of empires, Warcraft or the law on guns in the nordic states or the impact of the divorce on teenagers.
The terrorist act by this guy is a mix of many many factors, also the influence of far-right parties and online hate speechs but not only that.
Why is is difficult to admit that this guy is a total madman with a huge psychological problem, like the Waco sect guru, the oklahoma bomber and many many others.
Do you really thing that 100 percent of the PS voters are racist, xenophobic, anti-muslim, homophobic? some are but some in the left too…
Some are not the voted for a lot of different reasons.
Now if we speak about Jussi Halla-Alo thats another story. this guy should not exist on the political scene.
So please. you can blame one, 2 or 3 persons but not a whole party with 20 percent of the population who voted for them.
And we can maybe blame Timo Soini to not take enough actions against the assholes in his own party
Because seriously if a foreigner who had problems in his life, who is weak, who reads your blog everyday, plays wargames and so on then we can assume that he will kill 80 finns in a xmas party next winter.
Who we gonna blame then?
correction: 80 true finns
If it was the ideology which fulled the attack in Norway then with the millions that support the likes of the progress party ,DPP, FN, BNP why do we not see this kind of attack taking place more? The answer is simply because it was not the ideology which caused the attacks but the interpretation . We get Eco Terrorism and I do not recall green politics being held to account for those attacks. The reason is like populism they are both based around sensible arguments but in the hands others it possible to take them to the extreme.
Did Vihreat try a propose a law which said if a person is convicted of a race crime then the whole party would be as well but it was roundly rejected as unworkable as a party can not account for the actions of others if its rhetoric does not enough extreme behavior.
Timo has rightly said that immigration should be talked about but not when it has crossed over the line and it does not need to be crossed over the line anyway, populists parties have been able to be successful without needing to cross the line sometimes making comments which shock people buy never extreme.
But where the line is a matter for the party and it members to deiced and not for others, did not people vote for the PS because they would stand up to the EU where others would not.
So if Timo and PS decided where the line and others demand it to be moved then PS sticking to their guns (Not the best quote at the moment I know) show that’s why we voted for them they wont be swayed by others.
But maybe Timo was right. Maybe this is attack is being used for Schadenfreude
I believe that Breivik was really a libertarian, an anti-government terrorist, and of course by definition, against Marxism, as he felt that the Labor party’s children were infested with it.
But we shall see with the passage of time if he really acted alone and what the true intent was. There are no end of theories already about it really being the Mossad,etc.
Considering what the left, i.e. the Communists, have done to millions of their own people, I would be far more afraid of left-wing control or takeover. They have no concept of liberty or private property, and the “means of production” will be stolen, as in USSR. Everyone will be at the mercy of the government, just for housing and employment.
Be afraid. Be really afraid.
What do you think was happening in Europe in the 1930’s?
“But we shall see with the passage of time if he really acted alone and what the true intent was ”
That is a really good point. Should wait until the trail is over before we start accusing people or groups for this. It seems that he was a man of many faces we all know he was motivated by extreme views against Muslims and against immigration even that can be debated does that make him right wing in today’s Europe? look at pim fortuyn for example
Its best to wait to see what else lurks in the shadows
Was Anders Behring Breivik actually right wing ?
Are what we seeing is political parties using the tragedy in Norway for political reasons?
.
Or more worrying a sign that ruling governments are out of touch with it citizens buy using a political description to describe Anders Behring Breivik that may have become invalid over a decade ago?
When do I think the PS will take distance from Halla-aho and his crowd? When he starts to bite into the popularity ratings of the party.
The Norwegian mass-murderer was no less than a sick puppy whose weak and malleable mind was irreversibly destroyed by the poisons of extreme video games and the extremist ideologies of Europe’s right-wing parties, such as the persut. I blame the hatemongers such as Halla-aho not for putting the gun in his hands but for working to warp his thoughts into the sick reality that led to his terrible actions.
Let this be a warning of threat posed by Europes extremists regardless of their ideology. I would welcome emergency laws as well as immediate and firm action against the authors and consumers of extremist material!
Hi Amir, great to hear from you and welcome to Migrant Tales. Agreed, something must be done to stop this hate speech but how can we if PS head Timo Soini won’t do anything. It’s like asking a spoiled kid to stop misbehaving. If we look at 2011 twenty years ahead, I am certain it will reveal itself as one of the dark periods of Finnish history.
Good question Enrique. By courting with the far-right, Timo Soini is playing with fire, and he knows it. What is especially dangerous is that extremists are using the PS as a platform to voice their perversed thoughts in a socially acceptable manner. What is also worrying is that the extremist elements of the PS have been allowed to enjoy parliamentary credibility and have faced no legal repercussions whatsoever for very inflammatory and potentially dangerous statements.
Every step may seem small and insignificant, but when a society takes enough steps in the wrong direction, it can reach a dangerous threshold. Unfortunately, there is either a lack of foresight or the will to take the necessary action, and for the majority it doesn’t really matter. They have nothing to lose except the status quo. That is precisely where Finland’s almost homogeneous ethnic structure is a weakness for those members of society who do not conform to the mould.
Amir, Soini is now in between a rock and a very hard place politically. The old game, good cop bad cap, appears to have put him in quite a bind. In my opinion, he is also the bad cup but disguised as the good one. If he really believed in respect for minorities and immigrants, why does he attract these types of people starting from Tony Halme in the 2003 election? But I am optimistic. What happened in Norway could be a turning point for the PS because people don’t want to be identified with extremists.
With respect to Finland homogeneous ethnic structure, I’d see it is a myth but it’s definitely changing in this century.
So where exactly is hate speech, i would like examples. Halla-ahos texts were looked thoroughly by police and only one worth of sue was “few baits to illmann” what proved that there is no justice.
Of course if definition of hate speech is like enriques definition of racism then world is full of it. (enriques definiton of racism “if someone thinks its racism then it is”)