By Enrique Tessieri
It seems incredible that a populist, anti-immigration and anti-EU party can appeal to some Finns. Apart from not having any workable model for the demographic and economic challenges facing Finland, what is unacceptable of the True Finns is the party’s wholesale blacklisting of immigrants to drive home their populist agenda.
A recent example of how some True Finns fuel anti-immigrant sentiment was reported by Helsingin Sanomat. A True Finns’ candidate had placed a sign at a construction site in Helsinki claiming that a mosque would be built.
Even though these types of pranks in Helsinki reveal the opportunism of the candidate to get votes, it is surprising that nobody in the True Finns’ leadership condemns these types of shenanigans.
While the True Finns may think they are in an envious position due to their rising popularity in the polls, the big challenge that it faces is how to turn its popularity into votes and new MPs. This will be easier said than done.
Some have for good reason pictured the True Finns as a volatile bubble ready to burst at any moment. Will its bubble pop after a disappointing election or after it is clear that the party cannot deliver on its empty promises?
Immigrants are not worried about the True Finns per say. What annoys some is the negative message, xenophobic rhetoric and flagrant political opportunism: It’s ok to bash freely hard-working immigrants in Finland since it translates into votes.
The only way to deal with populism and xenophobia is to challenge it head on. The big three parties in Finland, Kokoomus, Social Democrats and the Center, have learned the hard way that silence is the most ineffectual way of combating the rise of xenophobia and racism in Finland.
True Finns: enough is enough.
For someone who claims to be unconcerned about the True Finns in the upcoming elections you sure do give them a lot of coverage and thought. If they are a ‘volatile bubble ready to burst’ as you claim then allow that to happen and reap the rewards without giving them any press. Or is it that your worried that your little wish and dream of turning Turku into another Malmo and Tampere into another Leceister is just that a dream, as the main parties have started to finally wake up in terms of immigration courtesy of the True Finns rising popularity. It’s a shame that this didn’t happen in other countries namely Britain and France decades ago as they would be much places now, not infested with numerous ghettos in any large urban area.
The reason why we speak out against the True Finns is because, in my opinion, not too many in this country are. Moreover, to have this group lead Finland’s immigration policy would be like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. There so-called “experts” are nothing more than a merry band of Islamophobes. I also challenge you to read something on Finnish history and look at the SMP in the 1970s, the predecessor party of the True Finns.
Klay
Your ignorance of Finland is always amusing to read.
Obviously Tampere will be the new favoured destination for Commonwealth immigration as the sun finally sets on the Finnish Empire, ffs.
lol
“Moreover, to have this group lead Finland’s immigration policy would be like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. “
Ridiculous, letting the immigration policy as it’s is like putting a bomb (literally) on our streets and let a crazy Muslim blow it up.
lol@Tony the Toby
Tony the Toby would not recognise Finnish immigration policy if it bit him in the bottom.
And according to “experts”, illiterate Somalis fail in Finland because racism.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finns+overwhelming+EU+champions+in+literacy+among+15-year-olds+/1135263499060
–And according to “experts”, illiterate Somalis fail in Finland because racism.
I personally think that racism is a sickness. As I told you before, whenever you want, I will introduce you to my Somali and Muslim friends. Great people whom I respect and enjoy their company immensely. Since you are not a teacher, you probably wouldn’t know that many of these types of student who come from different backgrounds and are refugees study really hard and want to succeed. That is why when I hear your wrath I wonder whom you are speaking of.
“As I told you before, whenever you want, I will introduce you to my Somali and Muslim friends.”
I have already the “pleasure”, so, thanks but… not thanks.
Ricky,
Tony the Toby has an idée fixe that the world divides into those who were born to rule and those who were born to be governed, between those who are inherently deserving and those who are inherently undeserving, between those who are genetically predetermined to achieve and those who must necessarily and always fail at any worthwhile endeavour.
This is a product of his privileged background. People like you or I, Ricky, could not “succeed” (in the narrow sense of accumulating great material wealth) in a place like São Paulo, because we would not be able to tolerate the surrounding extreme social injustice and inequality of opportunity. The mindset of people like Tony the Toby is a necessary mechanism drilled into everyone from his background at a very early age. It is vital to teach such children that they somehow deserve their privileges and that the poor and dispossessed are some kind of untermensch that either cannot or will not be helped. Once this categorical distinction has been established, it can be projected onto any enemy. Tony the Toby currently projects it onto Moslems, and African Moslems in particular.
So JusticeDemon if someone is against multiculturalism that also implies that they are elitist and an extreme captialist too?
Klay
I don’t know what multicultural-ism means. I do know that Finland is multicultural and has been for centuries. Finland is also very largely a forested region, but what would be meant by forest-ism?
Tony the Toby is quite evidently the product of a privileged background in surroundings of public squalor and extreme poverty. Examine the mindset of someone who can make such sweeping claims about entire population groups (“Somalis fail wherever they go”). Ponder the contribution that had to be deleted from this site because it falsely claimed that the President of the Finnish Somali League had committed a criminal offence. Consider how someone can continue repeating claims that have been shown to be false (“Ground Zero mosque”). Reflect on the repeated badmouthing of human rights in general, while refusing to say which of those rights is supposedly unnecessary and even arguing in favour of certain human rights such as freedom of expression. What kind of thought patterns recommend a “vote for them, but don’t elect them” view of electoral choice? Think about the logical acumen of a contributor who repeated cites redtops and the American Taliban as authoritative commentary. Consider the consistency of someone who criticises the patriarchal character of some Islamic communities, but then fails to consult the Finnish members of his own family before announcing that “if I can’t get a job then I’ll leave Finland”. Apply your grey matter to the view that insists that immigrants must assimilate, coming from someone who failed to learn any Finnish during several years in Tampere and who promptly decamped with children to Ireland purely for money. What kind of person advocates an official policy of discrimination on grounds of religion? What standard of expertise is demonstrated in the remark that “Islam has just changed from the moderate Sufism to the extreme Wahabism” and is that standard adequate to lend credibility to any general claims made by the Toby about the character of a religious tradition with more than a billion adherents?
-“The reason why we speak out against the True Finns is because, in my opinion, not too many in this country are.”
This shows how little you pay attention to Finnish media, instead coming up with your own fantasies and then using this blog to air them as “truth”.
PS party is actually favorite beating bag of whole media. No other party has same amount of negative attention given to it, despite many deserving it far more.
-“Moreover, to have this group lead Finland’s immigration policy would be like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger.”
Actually, multiculturalism is putting gun to your head and pulling trigger. It WILL kill your society.
-“There so-called “experts” are nothing more than a merry band of Islamophobes.”
Because people from islamic cultures being way overrepresented in rape statistics for example is result of Finnish racism, not fact that these groups refuse to integrate and adjust to community they move into.
-“I personally think that racism is a sickness.”
You should know. Your attitude towards Finns and Finnish culture reveal that you are seriously suffering from it.
-“As I told you before, whenever you want, I will introduce you to my Somali and Muslim friends. Great people whom I respect and enjoy their company immensely.”
Which has nothing to do with what Tony asked.
-“Since you are not a teacher, you probably wouldn’t know that many of these types of student who come from different backgrounds and are refugees study really hard and want to succeed. That is why when I hear your wrath I wonder whom you are speaking of.”
Good for them. But you are still avoiding the real issue.
Is it fault of Finns if immigrants/refugees do not have essential work skills?
Basic ones being:
1) Being literate
2) Being fluent in Finnish language
3) Understanding and acting according to Finnish culture
As for the second part…
You are here whining how Finns use their language to “exclude” people.
GET A GRIP!
Do you honestly think it is anything but racism to expect Finns to forfeit their native language in their NATIVE LAND?
It is same as me going to UK, France, USA or Argentina and demanding they must adjust to me and arrange me to have a job where I do not need to speak any language but Finnish.
And if they fail to do so, it is their fault for being racists and trying to exclude me!
Why should anyone believe your Nazi propaganda, Tiwaz?
Substitute Jew for immigrant/refugee in your postings and this stuff could be quoted from Mein Kampf.
How much of this fascist agenda do you dispute? These people use your symbol, after all.
I’m with Indiana.
Tiwaz, you old Nazi
Still smarting from the experience of discovering that your English was inadequate for work and social interaction in the UK, even after several years in our much-vaunted public education system?
Now you come scampering back to Finland like a whipped puppy and you just can’t stand the fact that so many immigrants do in fact manage perfectly well in Finnish after only a couple of years learning the language.
My crystal ball tells me that one day an immigrant will overtake you for promotion, and that the main reason for this will be greater suitability to work in a multilingual and multicultural setting. Perhaps this has already happened.
lol@Tiwaz
Profile of Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), the third-leading political party in the Netherlands. The Dutch equivalent of Jussi Halla-aho.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SfkCwtKxUM&feature=watch_response_rev
The other 3 parts can be found on youtube.
You are all nuts.
–You are all nuts.
Welcome to the club, Ihan baasikki finni vaan.