YLE A-Studio had an interesting debate with Perussuomalaisiet (PS) MPs Olli Immonen, Jussi Halla-aho, Left Alliance Helsinki city councilman Dan Koivulaakso and Swedish-language daily HBL journalist Marianne Lydén. Despite assurances by Immonen, Suomen Sisu’s new president, that the extremist anti-immigration association is against racism, they should their same colors by reinforcing over and over again their loathing for cultural diversity.
No matter how much Immonen wants to “renew” Suomen Sisu, it will always be an association that has its roots in racism, which they won’t admit, but in their strong opposition to cultural diversity, which he admitted a number of times on the show. In plain English this means demonizing immigrants and visible immigrants.
Far right researcher Jussi Jalonen was interviewed at the start of the program. He made it very clear that Suomen Sisu is an extremist association that is no different from other European extremist groups.
Such groups, like Suomen Sisu, point out that certain ethnic groups are incompatible with our culture and therefore should not be allowed to live in Western Europe. It is an old argument used over and over again by those who oppose immigration and cultural diversity.
Watch full program here.
While few believe that Suomen Sisu is going to champion for more social equality in Finland, their agenda and their new program will be based on undermining cultural diversity and especially limiting immigration from outside Europe. This reinforces the association’s stand on diversity. What they are saying is that few “dark” people should move to Finland. They are, however, willing to accept white European immigrants because they believe they can integrate faster into our society.
The way that Halla-aho and Immonen spoke about how cultures must not mix (multiculturalism) hinges on myths. People have always moved and mixed with people from other groups.
When I hear what people like Immonen and Halla-aho say about diversity, their deep hatred and disregard shows for who I am and how I identify with Finland. According to them, my father, an Argentinean, should have never married my mother. My Jewish ancestors should have stayed where they came from instead of come to Finland in 1799.
In their Nazi- or far right spirited world, we are the so-called Rheinland bastards.
Finland has tens of thousands of so-called multicultural Finns that Suomen Sisu would like to wipe off the map.
Suomen Sisu’s ideology in a Finnish context is very much like the Ku Klux Klan’s and that of the American Nazi Party. They have the same opinions about cultural diversity as the extremist association headed by Immonen. One of the people Suomen Sisu recommends reading is by by Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg.
Immonen and Halla-aho believe that the Garden of Eden was actually in Finland. According to them, people evolved and never mixed with anyone outside their group.
In their minds there is no such thing as black Finns or Finns from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
You got a fair point there, especially at the end. It is very common in Finland that a person with foreign background is always referred as “a Finn with foreign background” not as “a Finn” even if the person is totally Finnish, whose parents are also Finns.
Main reason for this is that Finland is not very diverse. People with darker skin are so marginal minority that they are always seen as “different”.
This is something that can’t be fixed by actions, it will only be fixed by time. As long as the biography is as it is today, only white Finns are referred to as Finns.
And I think this is what Suomen Sisu wants to prevent. They want Finland to stay white and keep the status of people with darker skin always as an outsider.