Living inside an Islamophobic bubble is like pissing in your pants during a freezing day. At first, it may offer relief, but then reality sets in. The PS’ tar-and-feather campaign against migrants and minorities is hitting new lows.
Since the rise of the PS in the major leagues of Finnish politics after 2011, the present parliamentary election in April has a taste of déjà vu.
The last municipal election of 2021 disappointed the party after it had generously invested resources in its copy of Brexit’s “Take Finland back” campaign slogan. Opinion polls predicted that the PS would get about 18% of the votes but could only muster 14.5%.
The PS’ xenophobia has gained strength as the April parliamentary election nears.
Here are some of Purra’s latest policy statements:
- Eight years of residence, speaking near-perfect Finnish, and work, before granting a permanent residence permit;
- Raise the residence requirement for citizenship to 10 years from five years now;
- Tighten further language requirements for the naturalization test;
- Only citizens of OECD countries can have dual citizenship;
- Exclude foreigners from getting social welfare;
- Tighten further already strict family reunification requirements;
- Only people within the EU can apply for asylum;
- End labor immigration from outside the EU;
- Only highly educated people from outside the EU can move to Finland.
Voters will decide in April if they have the stomach for so much racism and populism.
