One of the most interesting matters to watch about the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party is how their explanations and arguments change to hide their hostile and xenophobic stances against migrants and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity. PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo was quoted as saying on YLE that Finland should stop development aid and end welfare to refugees and migrants.
Once again the PS’ hostile stance to migrants and minorities in this country is exposed in the raw. The statement by Slunga-Poutsalo, one of the signers of the anti-immigration Nuiva Manifesto, reveals as well how much out of touch the party is with migrants and migration.
While the Nuiva Manifesto favours assimilation, or one-way adaption, Finland’s constitution and its laws support integration, or two-way adaption.
The proximity of next year’s parliamentary elections is one of the reasons why the PS’ party secretary is making these types of xenophobic statements. The other reason is that she, like her party, loathe migrants and cultural diversity.
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
We’ve heard similar statements by the PS in the past. If the PS doesn’t want refugees in Finland, why would it want to stop development aid? Doesn’t development aid discourage migrants from coming to this country?
The most distressing matter about Slunga-Poutsalo’s comments is that it wants she wants to stop offering welfare to migrants that cannot support themselves upon moving to Finland. Even if it isn’t clear what this actually implies, the context of the statement reveals that the PS wants migrants to be second-class members of society.
* 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.