Sometimes politicians make incredible statements that leave you speechless. The latest one I heard was Thursday on a MEP election television debate on YLE Fem, the Swedish-language television channel.
Said Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini: “Is it morally right to leave one’s homeland during ever-difficult times or should one stay put and fight for justice? Would it have been right to leave the country when Finland was at war? Fighting for the fatherland was the right decision.”
If we look at Nigel Farage of the Ukip, who is Soini’s close ideological ally and who is ratcheting up anti-immigration and anti-EU sentiment to lure voters in the United Kingdom on May 25, there’s very little difference between both politicians. The only difference is the cultural and national context. If Farage lived in Finland he’d speak like Soini and vice versa.
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
To understand what Soini said on YLE Fem, we should turn briefly our attention to Syria and ask refugees there why they’re fleeing to refugee camps.
Soini’s knowledge of history is blurred as well. How many Finns left this country after the 1918 Civil War? Why did so many Reds move to the United States and Canada?
Why did my great grandfather, Dante Tessieri, an anarchist, leave Italy in the 1890s after he was accused of being part of a suspected assassination plot against Humbert I
Soini’s shows the conservative populist politician for what he is: A greedy and opportunistic politician who would care less for the suffering of others, including his own countrymen.