White Finnish supremacy is not only limited to the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* It is found in other mainstream Finnish parties as well.
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
This is how a far-right white supremacist like Jussi Halla-aho attempt, like in a Yle interview in February, argue why people of color and other minorities can never be Finns: “If I would for some reason go to Somalia and become a Somali citizen, would that make me a Somali?”
Even if the host Kirsi Heikel stood silent while the head of the PS made the statement, the example is another hallow defense of how Halla-aho attempts to exclude migrants and minorities in Finnish society.
The answer by Halla-aho is what I call a yes-but-no response. It may sound at first logical but you soon notice that it is full of holes. It is like an apple that is shiny from the outside but rotten from the core.
Many people who aren’t white don’t want to be white like Halla-aho, PS Vice President Riikka Purra never mind party secretary Simo Grönroos. For me, that would be horrible. What we want, instead, is to be treated with respect, enjoy equal rights and stop hearing near-constantly toxic othering so common to Finland’s hostile environment.
Take a good look at Halla-aho, Purra, Grönroos and others like them and ask yourself the following question: Do I want to look and be like them?
Never!
Certainly, it would also be difficult, if not impossible for some, to change their skin color and ethnic background to appear as white as them.
The surge of racism, hate speech and crime in Finland during this decade is so dire that some children of color learn at an early age to feel inferior and ashamed of their dark skins. Some, even try hiding from the sun because it tans their skins.
What kind of a country and society do we live in where children, yes children, don’t feel at ease with who they are?
In an attempt to keep Finland an imaginary 99% white and Christian country in the future, Halla-aho and his trusty right-hand woman, Purra, turn to the supernatural to define who is a Finn. According to them, you can tell who is a Finn by intuition.
Both Halla-aho and Purra don’t tell you if that Finn they claim to see by intuition is a black person, a person of color or a visible migrant and minority.
Both of them are so white-Finn centric that they most likely mean a white person.
They call it intuition, I call it bullshit.
Parties like the PS, with the help of other mainstream parties, are trying to normalize racism. We must do everything in our power to stop this type of social ill from spreading more.
What makes the PS a far-right Islamophobic party that is a threat to this country?
- It supports ethnonationalism;
- Even if it the party’s leadership claims that it does not support ethnonationalism, it does nothing to ban it from the party;
- PS party secretary Grönroos is an ethnonationalism;
- The PS supports the social exclusion of Muslims;
- It requires groups like Muslims to give up their culture and identity;
- It copies and pastes far-right Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric used by such parties in Europe,
- It openly aims to make naturalization laws stricter for migrants thus retarding their participation as equal members of society;
- It supports one-way adaption (assimilation) not two-way integration of migrants;
- Cultural and ethnic diversity are four-letter words for the PS;
- It fears that white Finns will become a minority in their own country and makes a big deal about this;
- Without reading European history, it believes that Europe is only white and Christian and should stay that way;
- It aligns itself in the EU parliament with similar far-right parties like Italy’s Lega and National Rally of France that are pro-Moscow;
- It is a member of the far-right EU parliament Identity and Democracy political group;
- It supports policies that make and keep migrants and minorities as second- or third-class members of society;
- All of its EU candidates didn’t mind if asylum seekers drown in the Mediterranean;
- It is a homophobic party that supports neo-liberal economic policies.
* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.