Pär Norling, a leader of the populist radical right Sweden Democrats of Bolnäs, located about 250km north of Stockholm, demanded the following on Sveriges Teleivision (SVT): ”Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion.” When will we start to hear similar demands from politicians in Finland?
One matter that populist radical right and Counterjihadist-spirited parties in Europe and Finland don’t tell you is that the fuel they use to fire their arguments comes from abroad. It’s hardly ever homegrown.
MPs of parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) claim as well how incompatible a religion like Islam is with our Finnish way of life. One of their best-kept secrets they will never tell you publicly, however, is that they too wouldn’t have any problems banning Islam from Finland.
Migrant Tales believes it is only a question of time before anti-immigration and Counterjihadist politicians will begin making the same demands about Islam in Finland as Norling, who claims that neo-Nazism is a by-product of immigration.
Writes the Local of Sweden, quoting the Sweden Democrat politician: “’That [Islam] can exist elsewhere but in Sweden it doesn’t fit in.’ When asked what ought to be done with those who still want to believe in the religion, despite it being banned, Norling responded: ’Then the solution is deportation.’”
We don’t need to ask the politician what he thinks about religious freedom. It’s obvious that Norling’s solution suggests embarking on a slippery slope that would not only compromise our civil rights but undermine our Nordic democratic institutions.
Even if politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho and his band of Counterjihadists, populist radical right and anti-immigration followers would never dare make such a statement about Muslims in Finland, it is exactly what they aim to do if it were possible politically.
It’s clear that parties like the PS want to drastically limit immigration especially from Africa and the Muslim world. Didn’t Halla-aho suggest recently that the refugee status of Somali refugees in Finland should be lifted due to the improved situation in Somalia?
One of the big differences between the Sweden Democrats and PS is size. The former is a small party in Sweden, while the latter is the country’s third largest.
One big difference between Islam in Sweden vs. Finland is that in Sweden Islam has a much bigger presence. The Pew Research Center estimates that about 6% of the population of Sweden is Muslim vs. about 1% for Finland. They’ve projected that in about 20 years time (2030), Sweden will be about 10% Muslim while Finland will have a Muslim minority of around 2%.
Out of Sweden’s three largest cities, Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, the first two are about 10% Muslim today while the latter is closer to 20%. Malmö also has the largest Mosque in Scandinavia (I think).
The size of PS may well protect it from becoming too extremist. Anti-islamist might it find the party closest match to their opinions, but they’ll have hard time convincing the rest of the voters to rally against freedom of religion.
That’s actually an interesting point. I’ve read that many on the far-right in Sweden have chosen to distance themselves from the Sweden Democrats because they think the Sweden Democrats are “too moderate.”
When will parties like the PS start banning Islam in Finland? I think around the time when the radical Muslim immigrants start demanding Sharia in Finland and blow themselves up in terror attacks.
I doubt they’ll wait for things like that, after all, as long as those things happen somewhere in the world, then the PS mob can put out a call to the faithful to ‘man the barricades’.
As Sharia has many many facets, many of which are purely administrative (e.g. banking), then it is no surprise to see elements of Sharia operating in local communities. The legal system is open to local interpretation and by-laws and to apply to different individuals differently (e.g. military personnel are subject to different laws and legal process).
Apart from revealing your obvious paranoia and ignorance about Muslims, this comment is very revealing. For example, following the Jokela and Seinäjoki shootings and mass killings, hand guns were not banned in Finland, in spite of the very real and obvious threat they pose to the innocent public. And yet, if it is a Muslim weilding the gun, you are saying that this perfect grounds to demand a ban on Islam?
That pretty much reveals your prejudices, Honrigue.
honrigue
The more I think about this statement, the more shocked I become at your outrageously open bigotry. Religious freedom is an absolute right in Finland, woven into the Constitution and accepted without question for decades – until along come PS, and all of a sudden its on the agenda. Even banning or restricting immigration on the grounds of religious belief is blatantly illegal in a Finnish and European context. It will never happen, unless Finland seeks to ditch literally decades of equality and freedom of religion.
And the other thing that strikes me as completely moronic in this statement is that it is somehow prefaced on the idea of security, that ‘banning Muslims’ would help with security. Have you any idea about the process of radicalisation, religious or otherwise? If you start to treat people as second-class citizens, then they will be ripe candidates for radicalisation. Anger. Pure and simple, feeds radicalisation. Treat people like crap, totally disrespect their basic freedoms, and you can expect that some of them will not take it lying down.
The inevitable outcome of treating Muslims in the way you imply will be to create huge resentment and thereby INCREASE the likelyhood of social conflict and unrest. And it would be quite understandable by the moral standards of the West that until now has opposed the oppression of specific groups on the basis of religion.
I cannot believe that you cannot see this obvious fact? This counter-Jihad rhetoric that permeates PS and its membership is exactly the kind of thing that will undermine security in our communities.
How can this kind of idea hold traction in Finland? I guess people look around and see this militancy in the world and then think the best thing is to keep ‘those people’ out. And there is no more thinking on the issue past that.
Globalisation has brought a backlash against corporate greed both within and without Western countries. Muslims are not the only ones to object to the balance of power in the world. The problems of political Islam are to do with poverty and distributions of power. The Occupy Wall Street movement was built on a very similar radical ideological opposition to greed and rampant capitalism that feeds radical Islam.
It is only when these issues of poverty and development are properly addressed (both within Western countries and in the developing world) that social conditions will stabilise. There are no easy paths, because clearly the collective interest is best served, but countries naturally exercise self-interest.
The current model is unsustainable, most people understand that, but any political model that seeks economic or cultural protectionism has really missed the boat. You cannot turn the clock back on today’s world, whether it’s to achieve an idyllic Finland, white as the driven snow, or an idyllic Islamic caliphate.
Ironic isn’t it that PS offer this kind of cultural protectionism in much the same way that some elements of radical Islam do, harking back at the ‘old the pure’. It’s not an answer, though, and it leads to far bigger problems in the long-run.
Mark
This is what is wrong in mentality like yours. You want to wait until shit hits the fan before acting. People with common sense want to act BEFORE the problems become reality.
tp1
BS. And of course, you take no responsibility for the problems you will create with your xenophobic, ignorant, bigoted, short-term and knee-jerk response!
You have said absolutely nothing that addresses the problem except in terms of segregation, discrimination and actions that would seriously undermine the human rights framework that underlies Finland’s legislation and constitution.
It’s a bit like having someone teach grandmother to suck eggs, mate!
And this is your other problem: You always blame whites for the problems of blacks. That is racist, by the way.
tp1
Straw man, tp1. I didn’t even mention colour. Where did that one come from?