Do you think that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman and foreign minister, Timo Soini, never mind his party, would care less about refugees if most of their energy goes into finding arguments on how to stop Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity?
Soini attempts in his latest blog to raise awareness of refugees of Christian and Yazidi origin by throwing mud at Syrian Muslims and why we shouldn’t open our arms and hearts to such people fleeing war.
Even if Soini wants Europe to give priority to Christian and Yzidi refugees isn’t that what we’re doing? Aren’t refugees being accepted in Europe irrespective of their religious, ethnic or national background?
Soini gets caught again with his hand in the red herring jar.
As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, Soini and the PS are trying their hardest to steer Finland in the direction of Eastern European countries like Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Baltic States.
Prime Minister Juho Sipilä’s pledge to offer his home to refugees Satursday was a clear snub at Soini and his view of how the refugee crisis should be handled, which would mean closing our borders and letting tens of thousands of people out in the cold.
But what does Soini want and what does he really say in his latest blog entry?
The answer is clear: We don’t want Muslims to come to Europe.
It’s the same language that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is using to keep Muslims out of his country.
Read full opinion piece here.
Claire Fernandez of the NGO European Network Against Racism gave us a taste of what to expect in a recent blog entry if Finland followed the path of Eastern Europe:
Slovakia is not alone in this respect. British, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch and Hungarian government representatives and politicians have recently made xenophobic comments about migrants. Poland took in some 60 Christian-only families from Syria in July. The Baltic States are also becoming increasingly anti-Muslim, and in Lithuania there is a discussion about banning the wearing of the burka to prevent Muslim migrants from coming to the country.
Under no circumstances should Finland follow the path of Eastern Europe in its handling of the refugee crisis.
* 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.