Comment: It certainly looks like troubles are brewing in the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party after far-right MP Jussi Halla-aho took a bigger piece of his foot in his mouth than usual. With total disregard for a troubled EU member state and our European democratic values, Halla-aho suggested on Facebook that Greece should install a military junta and suppress protestors with tanks.
PS head Timo Soini, who is upset by what Halla-aho said, is proposing expelling the MP for a month from the parliamentary group.
The controversial PS MP, who is chairman of the administration committee, has been known to make provocative statements in the past by insulting Muslims and our cultural diversity. He apparently does so to “awaken people” to his distorted view of the world.
For a country like Finland, which prizes itself for defending human rights and promoting social equality, Halla-aho’s statement is a rude slap in the face to this country. It could be seen as a fleeting return to the 1930s, when fascism was on the rise in Finland and most of Europe.
Adding salt to injury, Halla-aho overlooked the painful fact for Greeks that they were ruled by a military junta in 1967-74. Probably this type of a de facto government, which has no respect for basic human rights, is the one that Halla-aho wants immigrants and minorities to live under in Finland.
The row between Soini and Halla-aho is the first of many public cracks that will cause the PS to lose credibility in the coming months. Certainly if the PS can be the PS without its usual dose of xenophobia and conservative nationalism, Soini’s decision may even strengthen the party.
But the jury is out and the problems of the PS are starting to surface. It’s not a pretty picture.
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The leader of the Finns party, Timo Soini, has demanded the temporary expulsion of controversial MP Jussi Halla-aho from the party’s parliamentary group. The move follows a writing on Facebook made on Wednesday by Halla-aho in which he said a military junta could best solve Greek crisis by using tanks to crush protestors.
Just the kind of remark we can expect the Finns to make. Usually the Finns can blame their unguarded remarks on overindulgence in alcohol, but what is Halla-aho’s excuse this time? Of course the Finns are also world famous for their general lack of social finesse and occasionally warped sense of humour.
How long before one of the Finns pops up on this blog to tell us that it was all a joke? Not exactly a joke that will amuse anyone who lived in Greece between 1967 and 1974, but of course the Finns generally don’t know much foreign history…
Or foreign languages for that matter – witness the wonderful name they chose for themselves.
Idiots.
JusticeDemon
Are you now speaking about the party “The Finns” or the nationality “The Finns”? It is so confusing nowadays…
Niko
The epähiket never were much good at languages…
I probably would have answered to my question myself, if I have have read the last sentence carefully 😛 I think it would be more clear if people would talk about either True Finns or Perussuomalainen.
I’m not usually so much against Halla-aho, but I agree that this time he went too far with his statement. Let’s see what the international media will say about this mess…
Now the EU have the Greek government in its pocket do you think they are happy that people are still protesting on the streets of Greece. They want the rescue package of Greece as a sign that the Euro and the EU can work and having the image of riot police still on the streets is not what they really want. We all know that Greece reaming in the Euro is not going to happen and the EU wont admit that they got it wrong so to them desperate times call for desperate measures.
So If Hallo-aho had said this is what Jose Barroso is thinking then would it still be a shocking statement to make as we are all waiting to see the response of the EU when Greece defaults so should we wait to see what happens in Greece before commending what Hallo-aho said.
Mika I am surprised by your knowledge of basic civics. Protesting and voicing objection is a fundamental right of our democratic system. You haven’t lived in a military dictatorship but I have. It’s not fun, especially if you are thrown in jail.
when this is the situation in Greece at the moment even before a default if the government then does defaults and then still carry’s on with their pro euor/eu path then are you telling me they wont consider putting tanks on the street because the public outcry is going to be on a level where the police wont be enough to handle the civil disturbance which could break out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pry5iL4TIa8
” With total disregard for a troubled EU member state and our European democratic values”
What can the EU do to teach the likes of Hallo-aho about democratic values
Mika
I see you are desperately trying to water down what Halla-aho actually said:
He’s not talking about the army assisting the police in restoring public order. He’s talking about a sustained military dictatorship to crush open dissent and force striking workers back to work at gunpoint. He thinks this is necessary because democracy cannot deliver the style of government that he thinks is required.
Leaving aside everything else, this shows the most appalling callousness in relation to Greece in particular.
You obviously feel the need to lie about Halla-aho’s remarks, because the undemocratic and authoritarian aspects of the PS world view have to be kept secret until the time is right for a new night of the long knives.
I think what is said as his own personal opinion was wrong had he changed a it to be the views of the EU I don’t think there would be issue. We all know that the EU commission are fanatical to keep the EU and Euro at all costs so to say they would result in forcing people at gun point how extreme it sounds can not dismissed as such when you see how the EU function.’
But it will be hypocritical for any MP who takes a pro EU line to condemn his comments as being in someway undemocratic.Because if you support the EU then you also supporting a group which has no democratic respect to its citizens especially as we have seen those in Greece
Mika
So you agree with the remarks that Halla-aho posted in facebook? You think that a military junta should take over in Greece and crush dissent in order to enforce a social and economic policy?
Yes or no?
If a pro EU MP tells Timo Soini that in his party he has a MP who is not respecting democracy in Greece.
Timo does have a point of raising the issue that why are they not also supporting democracy in Greece.
If anything Hallo-aho is talking about it they are actually doing it so which one is worse.
No I do not agree with him . But my issue is if you support the EU then you can condemn his words but you can not condemn him for being undemocratic, Because democracy is not being respected in Greece and that is coming from the EU
@Mika
If you think the “as his own personal opinion” defense is gonna work to tone down what was said then you are sadly mistaken. This is what he truly believes and he has shown his true fascistic colours over and over again. If you put yourself out there as a politician representing your country, then the academic trick of speaking hypothetically he used to hide behind is no longer acceptable.
Words have consequences.
I have already i thought what he said was wrong. But if he had said this is the EU plan for Greece then it would be a totally different situation if you look how the EU force their polices and not admit to their failures saying that is the next EU plan for Greece does loss its shock value.What he said was not fascist it was about how far governments will go to force unpopular ideas on people and is that not the issue about Greece on how far they will go before they admit they got it wrong.
Any pro EU MP cannot condemn him for being undemocratic .What the EU are doing at this moment to Greece is undemocratic if it was democratic do you think people would be burning EU flags on the streets of Athens
Timo should not expel Hallo-aho as this is a prefect opportunity for him to put the hypocritical undemocratic nature of the EU under the spotlight. If Jyrki Katainen speaks out against Hallo-aho for being undemocratic then its just another pathetic example of a another pro EU leader who can not speak for himself,
Mika, there is an old saying in English: All good things must come to an end. I think Timo Soini’s reaction to what Jussi Halla-aho wrote is for him an opportune moment to tell the PS who wears the pants in the party. Halla-aho, like his followers (Hirvisaari, Eerola, Immonen and others) have one problem: they think they are invincible. Whenever a person starts thinking like that, or a de facto regime, it is the beginning of the end.
Halla-aho’s statement in FB is undemocratic and that is his view of things in Finland as well. If he had his way, Halla-aho and his cronies would run this country like some tin-pot far-right state. But the positive matter is that opposition in Finland to these people is stronger than they ever imagined. People, the media and politicians are waking up and saying: Stop!
Dont forget the government supports bailouts which under the EU constitution where illegal until countries started to need bailouts when a German court then suddenly found them legal.
This government and other EU countries can condemn the likes of Hallo-aho or PS or other populist parties as being undemocratic but who is not giving the right to the people of Greece to choose how they want their country run is its the likes of PS or the EU ?
But do MPS who support the EU have a right to call the PS as undemocratic when its the EU who are at the moment the most undemocratic political group in Europe.
If Finland is turning their back on PS then what political party will Finns go to to air their anti EU concerns which are very strong in Finland , When every party seems to be pro EU and PS is the exception for what reason would Finns reject PS because if we do not have a strong anti EU party other parties will not address EU concerns as their is no threat from another political party .With the dangerous route the EU is going PS are the only party in Finland who are as a party are standing up against this madness so until that madness stops Finland does still need PS.
You are also forgetting as PS made their election breakthrough this year and they are still seen as a new party so people will give them around a year to find their feet so anything which is said or done with that year generally is seen as learning the rules And Timo putting his MPs into line will be seen as a sign of a strong leader which we seem to sadly lack in Europe today
Mika, you have no idea what undemocratic means. It’s like when Halla-aho speaks of Muslims and immigrants. All he exposes is crude ignorance.
Mika
And so you move on to the need for a strong leader in Europe.
lol
The EU is only considered “democratic” because the shamans of the managerial-therapeutic regime sprinkle their own special brew of Holy Water on it. The Bankers-Social Workers state of endless bailouts, reckless immigration policies, radical feminism, nanny-state neo-Puritanism and contradictory policies of globalisation and antiglobalism defines itself as “democratic” in the same way the Bolsheviks in their self-appointed vanguard role declared themselves to be democratic.
Halla-Alo has made countless derogatory and very insulting statements about immigrants in this country. Why has Soini never seen it fit then to “expel ” him from the party before?
The implicit message I am getting here is that Soini considers Greeks to be higher up HIS social hierarchy than immigrants.Were that not the case, he would have “expelled” H-A from the party a long time ago.
All men are created equal Soini !!!
I know this a chance to attack PS and like I said at this moment with the EU crisis Finland and even Europe can not afford not to have PS involved in politics. But trying to say Halla-aho comments are worse or in the same league as a group who are at this moment are activity removing democracy from its people is frankly ridiculousness. The remove of democracy in Greece is the best example you have to show people this is the Europe Hallo-Aho wants so why have you not put that on your blog? .
You are right about the comments Hallo-aho made. But if you do support the EU then you have the same respect from democracy which you think he has. Or if you do support democracy and support the EU then you need to makes a choice because you can not have it both ways
icr
Didn’t you just quote from Breivik’s manifesto?
Enough to get your firearms licence revoked, anyway.
Mika
For someone who disagrees with Halla-aho’s remarks, you are certainly spending a lot of time trying to justify them by the common hommaforum strategy of “it’s not as bad as…”
Downplaying vicious remarks demands a mirror for some people here in this dialogue.
Some Finnish dialogues do not want to realize their own past. It’s very sad to read that PS members suggest the “military regime of the 60-70s” as a solution for the current problems. Are PS members suggestiing that Finland should implement the Swedish or Russian governmental rule because they can’t solve their internal problems??
Or are PS members suggesting that Finland should install a NS type of government? Including concentration camps for “non-Finns”, “stupid people” etc. In that case you can start with the Kokoomus Youth Director.
When Finland became member of the EU the country received an enormous support for “not-so-good” operating regions like Lapland. NOBODY ever complainted about these fundings. Neither about their spending.
A whole lot of butter on the heads of Finnish criticasters. BOEBOEBOE!!
I am a person who always want to look at the future because that’s where we are heading. In contrast: very many participants (including the PS and supporters) in this blog seem to want to stay in the past and bring back the past.
What PAST?? are you looking for??
Mika!! Tell me what Finland you want!!
Hi Mika. And don’t come up with the usual BLABLA. Give me an argumented outline of your vision of Finlöand 2013 ongoing??
No questions asked: just your Manifesto!!