I still remember April 2011, when the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) party opened a gloomy chapter in Finland’s history by getting 39 MPs elected to parliament. The election was impressive to say the least considering that only 5 PS MPs got elected in 2007.
Source: www.youthventure.org
While some were surprised by the election result, some played it down. They felt that the PS would blow over and that it’s only a question of time when the party would implode, like the Rural Party of the 1970s, due to internal differences.
While the PS does well in opinion polls, the presidential and municipal elections were a far cry from the historic result that the right-wing populist party gained in the 2011 parliamentary elections.
With two crucial make-or-break elections in May and April 2015, the million-euro question is how well will the PS fare.
Certainly a lot of things can happen from here to May and April of next year, there are signs that the public is getting tired of the PS political scandals and the racism that continues to plague the party.
While there was a definite honeymoon with the PS’ chairman, Timo Soini, the media and public have started to lose interest in the charismatic leader.
And this is quite understandable considering that the PS have not given one credible solution to put the Finnish economy back on a healthy path of growth. It’s MPs are more interested in whining and machismo, which has a heavy dose of intolerance, nationalism and bravado, instead of offering credible solutions.
One of the biggest mistakes that the PS is making at this moment is that it believes its election good fortunes of 2011 are eternal, which reveals why the party has become arrogant and power-hungry.
I believe that we’ll see big surprises in the following MEP and parliamentary elections and that the election of PS MP Jussi Halla-aho is still undecided. Certainly the misfortunes of the PS rest on themselves and how well Finland’s traditional parties can expose Soini’s political antics and double-talk.
Finland took a clear swing to the populist and far-right three years ago. Finnish voters in 2012 gave an inconclusive show of support to the PS in the presidential and municipal elections.
The next two elections will decide whether the PS will be sent or not back to the minor political leagues.
I think you should read the recent blog entry by Abdirahim Hussein Mohamed titled: “Somalit eivät kaipaa pelastusta persuilta”. In that blog post he opposes white knighting against Perussuomalaiset by opportunistic outsiders in order to help Somalians. He also says that he is arranging series of meetings between immigration critics and immigrants and the first meeting will probably take place in this month.
What he is suggesting is quite similar to what I have suggested and argued for long time and I have seen signs that many other Perussuomalaiset or immigration critics have shown interest to similar things as well. While it is too early to say how things will go on in those meetings, I raise my “hat” to him and his endeavour. And I hope that the participants to those meetings on both sides try to see things from the other perspective as well and behave in civilized manner.
I would like to promote other interesting article about a Somalian man/Somalians in most recent Yhteishyvä magazine (February 2014, page 60) titled “Tulevaisuuden työntekijät”. While the magazine is created to promote HOK-Elanto, I found that article was intriguing and worth read to both immigration critics and by proponents of immigration.
While dialogue is always a health thing, it is another question if you can agree with an anti-immigration party about its racism. If you look at the United States’ civil rights movement, the answer is a clear no. You cannot agree about anything and I’m certain that any dialogue with the country’s worst racists won’t lead anywhere. If you disagree, why not speak about doing away with systemic racism.
Another important matter that has to be kept in mind in the debate is that nobody speaks and represents for the whole community.
If the PS took Abdirahim’s proposal seriously, why did Jussi Halla-aho go to Lieksa and continue to incite people with his racist diatribe?
Here are links to those writings I recommended in my message which for some reason doesn’t show up:
Somalit eivät kaipaa pelastusta persuilta
Tulevaisuuden työntekijät