neo nazi groups Archives

The Soldiers of Odin threaten to take over and defend by force the northern Finnish border checkpoint of Tornio

Posted on October 22, 2019 by Migrant Tales

The head of the far-right Nazi-spirited vigilante group Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, threatened in a statement to take over the Tornio border checkpoint and defend it by force if the Swedish authorities let in asylum seekers as in 2015.

Center Party MP Mikko Kärnä states in the Center Party newspaper Suomenmaa that he has asked the police to investigate if the far-right group, which has ties with the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, broke the law by stating that it would take over the Tornio border checkpoint and defend it by violence.

**The lion’s share of the over 32,000 asylum seekers that came to Finland in 2015 did so through the northern city of Tornio, located 737 km north of Helsinki. Source:** **Yle**.

Kärnä also said that if the Soldiers of Odin’s association broke the law, they should be banned.

**Soldiers of Odin founder Mika Ranta, who promises to pay 1,000 euros to anyone who knock a woman’s teeth down her throat. Source: Twitter.**

What has overtaken this country if we have violent far-right public figures spread hatred with relative ease? Finland was slow to react and is still reacting. National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and then Minister of Employment Jari Lindström openly supported in 2016 vigilante gangs like the Soldiers of Odin while then-Interior Minister Petteri Orpo was skeptical.

“If the Swedish border guards plan to slide from their responsibilities and imagines that it can let in people without appropriate travel documents to cross the Finnish side of the border, we will organize in Tornio to protect our people.
If the Finnish government does not before that take responsibility for the country’s internal security and initiate effective border controls to curb organized crime and prevent undocumented aliens from entering [our country], it is the task of brave Finns with their iron determination to take over the border checkpoint in Tornio. If we face after that violence from aliens, we will meet in The Hague [court of justice]. It is the same if we face violence from the authorities. We will use force if necessary.
This nonsense must stop.
Bring back respect for legality and bring the traitors to justice.
MRanta

Sticking one’s head in the snow will not make the far-right threat disappear.

That is why we need a concerted effort to challenge such groups in order to defend our Nordic democratic institutions.

*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.

Neo-Nazi Kansallinen vapaustaistelu before and after

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Migrant Tales

On my daily walk, I saw a number of far-right vigilante group Soldiers of Odin stickers last week on lampposts. This evening, I encountered two neo-Nazi Kansallinen vapaustaistelu* stickers in Mikkeli. They ended up having the same fate as the Soldiers of Odin stickers.

**Neo-Nazi Kansallinen vapaustaistelu stickers before and after. Photo: Enrique Tessieri.**

*Unofficial translation: National Struggle for Freedom.

Soldiers of Odin expand to Finland’s Åland Islands

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Migrant Tales

I ran across a story in Seura about the far-right vigilante group, Soldiers of Odin, starting a chapter in Finland’s Åland Islands. Migrant Tales has wondered in a number of stories the Finnish media’s fascination with far-right and racist groups like the Soldiers of Odin.

But it’s not only the media that gives space and exposure to such Nazi- sympathizing groups, some police representatives don’t see any problems with them either.

“In my opinion, it’s positive that we have more ears and eyes in [Åland] society, which inform the police,” Maria Hoikkala, Åland chief of police, was quoted as saying in Ålandstidningenille.

Read the full story (in Swedish) here.

In light of the police’s continued mixed response to far-right vigilante groups and the media’s apparent fascination with them, one may correctly ask why was the story about this group published in a Åland newspaper? The story doesn’t tell us, but we may be talking about a “taxi organization,” or that all of its members can fit in the back seat of a car.

Why is this a story in the first place and why does the chief of police not have any issues with this far-right group that marches and has sympathies with neo-Nazi groups?

Is it because they are white?

The fact that a group identifies with neo-Nazis raises a lot of questions about Hoikkala’s knowledge about the horrors of World War 2.

Vigilante extremist groups in Finland are on the way out but they are a sad mirror of who we are

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Migrant Tales

The life-and-death story of anti-immigration vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin or political parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is simple: create imagined threats to our society, like migrants and asylum seekers, and then set out to “protect” others from the presumed hazard.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, which interviewed representatives of the police service, vigilante groups in different cities of Finland are either disappearing or don’t exist any longer.

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An Estonian Soldier of Odin interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat earlier this spring.

All of this is great news, but it leaves a lingering question: How come these group captured our attention in the first place? Why didn’t our politicians and the media oppose and question more strongly the rise of such groups in the first place?

The answer to the latter is, in my opinion, pretty obvious: Like a mirror, we saw ourselves. In that image our worst fears, prejudices and bigotry were crudely exposed.

Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat brings us additional good news: The vigilante group in Asikkala, a small town near Lahti, no longer exists.

Even if groups like the Soldiers of Odin are on their way out in Finland, their example has been copied in countries like the United States.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a USAmerican anti-Semitism and anti-bigotry group founded in 1913, describes the US chapter of the Soldiers of Odin as a white supremacist, anti-Muslim bigoted and extremist group.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”

Soldiers of Odin: Finland now “exports” hate and white supremacist ideology to the world

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Alongside our world-famous education system, Finland now becomes known for things that some would consider shameful but was never challenged enough like the Soldiers of Odin, a white (Finnish) supremacists hate group that has caught the attention of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a USAmerican anti-Semitism and anti-bigotry group founded in 1913.

Hatred, racism, and bigotry have a way of biting back at you if you don’t challenge it hard enough. In Finland, like in many parts of Europe, politicians, and the media have been too slow to react and lacked the courage to challenge racism and groups like the Soldiers of Odin.

In plain English, our lack of resolve on this front is our failure as a society to defend our Nordic values from hate groups like the Soldiers of Odin.

When we speak of Nordic ideals of social equality we must, however, ask a further key question: Which group is entitled to these privileges?

When reporting about extremist groups like the Soldiers of Odin, the media and politicians should keep in mind the following matters that the ADL points out in a statement below about the vigilante group. They spell it out pretty clearly. The Soldiers of Odin is an anti-Muslim, white (Finnish) supremacist neo-Nazi extremist group.

Writes ADL:

FROM FINLAND WITH HATE

The Soldiers of Odin originated in the tiny Scandinavian country of Finland in late 2015, but the group’s formation and rise are tied to the larger refugee problem that countries across Europe have experienced in recent years. Conflicts in places such as Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have created large numbers of asylum-seekers fearing persecution in their home countries, as well as refugees seeking better economic conditions than the ones in their war-torn nations.

The fact that we now “export” bigotry on such a scale should set alarm bells ringing.

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Read full ADL statement here.

Continue reading “Soldiers of Odin: Finland now “exports” hate and white supremacist ideology to the world”

What Finland lacks to become a successful culturally diverse country like Canada

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Anti-immigration populists and ultranationalist use the code term “immigration policy” to mean that they don’t want non-EU nationals especially Muslims from the Middle East and Africa to move to their country. Finland is no exception and some point to Canada as a good example we could copy when it comes to immigration policy.

Those that make such claims have no idea that Finland’s immigration policy is one of the strictest in Europe and they rarely if ever mention that Canada’s recipe for success is based on how Canadians perceive multiculturalism or cultural diversity.

Read full story here.

Continue reading “What Finland lacks to become a successful culturally diverse country like Canada”

Roble Bashir: Do we need vigilante gangs in Finland?

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

When I read the news about the vigilante gangs whose aim is to “protect” civilians from asylum seekers, I was naturally shocked. What surprised me, even more, was that the police hasn’t done much to discourage these types of street patrols.

These streets patrols by groups like the Soldiers of Odin do more harm than good because they are dangerous and the real culprits.

Their presence in public and the media is an act of violence, especially if you’re not a white Finn. Whatever their name may be, Soldiers of Odin or Asikkala-Turva, what they are promoting is white supremacist crimes never mind hindering the police in offering security.

Apart from the potential of harassing asylum seekers and migrants in Finland, they are a risk to people like myself and are a threat.

The other matter that surprised me was how the rise of racism in Finland has provoked attacks against asylum seekers and migrants. I wouldn’t be surprised if these types of groups would be behind some of recent and future arson attacks against asylum reception centers.

Discrimination and prejudice will not go away but worsen in Finland as long as these groups are allowed to roam our streets freely and take, even if they claim not to, the law in their hands.

Apart from fuelling more insecurity, there is no security crisis in Finland or the need for such vigilante gangs.

Neo-Nazi group now claims to carry out street patrols in as many as eleven Finnish cities

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Neo-Nazi groups like Suomen Vastarintaliike (SVL) and the Solidiers of Odin are carrying out street patrols in a number of Finnish cities, reports Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa. Migrant Tales reported Saturday that SVL started street patrols in Pori, which have now expanded to three neighborhoods of that southwestern Finnish city.

The founder of The Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, has admitted being a nationalist socialist, according to MTV3.

SVL states on its website that it carries out street patrols in the cities of Pori, Lahti, Tampere, Hyvinkää and Oulu. Likewise, the Solidiers of Odin claim on their Facebook page to carry out street patrols in Kemi, Rovaniemi, Tornio, Oulu Kajaani, Ylivieska, Pori, Joensuu, Helsinki, Tampere and Hämeenlinna.

The immediate question that arises concerning these neo-Nazi street patrols is what are they doing patrolling our streets. What’s the reaction of the police service and politicians?

Are non-white people safe and could they be attacked by such neo-Nazis who are openly hostile to them?

It appears that not too many are worried. It’s a bit like the rise of far right nationalists in the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who are just “letting off some racist steam” in parliament and municipal councils. White Finns aren’t too worried since they aren’t the target of their hateful anti-immigration rhetoric.

Western Finland deputy police chief, Timo Vuola, had nothing else to state in YLE except that such street patrols aren’t allowed to keep order.

If a Soldiers of Odin Facebook post is true, some Finns wouldn’t care less what the deputy chief said:

“I caught two of them and the rest escaped…I sat on top of one and held the other one with a hand-lock after a couple of minutes until man came to help me. The police arrived and thanked me stating that these types [asylum seekers] are a real problem…I nodded and stated: You don’t damn say! I was surprised that I didn’t get charged [by the police] for assault. I don’t care if I did. The grandmother’s and grandfather’s words [of gratitude] and expressions = priceless…?”

Continue reading “Neo-Nazi group now claims to carry out street patrols in as many as eleven Finnish cities”

Neo-Nazis now patrol the streets of Pori in southwestern Finland

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Neo-Nazis are today patrolling the streets of the city of Pori, the home of Islamophobe Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Laura Huhtasaari, according to YLE News, which cites Pori-based daily Satakunnan Kansa.

Writes YLE News: “Satakunnan Kansa reported that the SVL had started the patrols on Independence Day, and it has already extended those activities to other towns in the Satakunta region that host reception centers for asylum seekers.”

Here’s the catch and the reason why neo-Nazis are patrolling the streets of Pori now after before patrolling the streets of the northern Finnish city of Kemi. Too many white Finns, politicians, the media and police service, aren’t too outraged about this. They’re just a few young lads letting off some steam they probably reason.

We know that Huhtasaari, the PS MP with the kindergarten-teacher smile, probably thinks these types of patrols are justified because asylum seekers are mostly criminals and “illegal refugees (sic!).”

Read full story here.

Continue reading “Neo-Nazis now patrol the streets of Pori in southwestern Finland”

UPDATE (August 30): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

August 30

Suomen Sisun jäsenmäärä räjähti – päivittää monitulkintaisena pidetyn periaateohjelmansa – (MTV3)

What’s wrong with this story? Let’s begin with the headline, which claims that membership of Suomen Sisu, a far right white Finnish supremacist association, has “soared.” What do they mean by “soared” anyway? The story claims that the association got 390 new members after Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen, who is chairman of Suomen Sisu, made his declaration of war in Facebook against “the nightmare of multiculturalism.” In my book 390 isn’t much unless you compare it with 100 members. Is that the case? Even so, 390 is a small amount that looks bigger and more sensational thanks to the term “soared.” Another problem with the story is the MTV3 reporter, who interviews Teemu Lahtinen, a former chairman and vice chairman of the association well known for his links with far right and neo-Nazi groups like Kansallinen Vastarintaliike, is that nowhere in the story does the journalist bother to question these facts critically never mind get in touch with other sources that could give some context concerning Suomen Sisu, Lehtinen and Immonen. This story is in my opinion an unfortunate example because it offers Suomen Sisu the opportunity to showcase itself as something “normal” when in fact its agenda is racist, far right and white Finnish supremacist. Lazy and uncritical journalism at its worst.

Some good advice to journalists: When interviewing people like Lahtinen and far right associations like Suomen Sisu, it’s important to be critical. Critical means asking uncomfortable questions and publishing them. It also means using other sources to balance the story. If you rubber stamp what the person says then you become a mouthpiece of these politicians and groups. You help spread their message of hate.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.