The anti-immigration True Finns will make public their official stand on immigration on Saturday, July 24. Should we now hold our collective breaths?
According to Verkkouutiset, the True Finns’ immigration policy has been drafted by Jussi Halla-aho, who enjoys bashing Muslims for fun and political profit, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala, the True Finn’s youth leader and Vantaa city council member, Johannes Nieminen.
I had the opportunity to sit next to Saarakkala at a panel in October on immigration. The first matter he mentioned about immigrants in Finland was that Muslims were “demanding” that mosques be built without paying any taxes.
I asked Saarakkala if he Finns were protected by one set of laws and that these did not apply to immigrants? I asked him if he wanted to change the Constitution and the Non-Discrimination Act. He never answered my questions.
Nieminen said that the aim of the document is to “speak out on the problems of immigration” because present policy will prove “fatal for Finland.”
One of the biggest flaws of parties like the True Finns is that they see immigration as a threat. Leaving immigration policy to these people would be like allowing a child to play with nuclear weapons.
Taking into account Saarakkala’s and Halla-aho’s past statements on immigration tell me that nothing constructive will come out of the announcement on Saturday.
It will be nothing more than an opportunistic statement to lure votes with the April 2011 elections in mind.