The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is the most Trumpian party in Finland’s parliament. Its parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio, who has spoken highly in the past of similar far-right politicians like France’s Marine Le Pen of France, is happy that former President Donald Trump is back on Twitter. Twitter banned Trump after he incited an insurrection
Read on »Posts Tagged: Far-right parties
Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: Don’t cry Finland if you don’t like migrants
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest-circulation daily, writes in an editorial about why the country needs labor migrants to secure economic growth and services offered by the welfare state. We are at a critical crossroads: It is the first time in history that more people die than there are newborns. While the editorial invites debate on Finland’s
Read on »Migrant Tales Media Monitoring: An example of Yle zzz journalism
Journalism is a tough job that forces one to stay on its toes. On Thursday on A-Talk we heard the opinions of four MPs of the Left Alliance, Social Democrats, National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* if Finland was heading towards a debt crisis and spending cutbacks. There was nothing new from PS
Read on »The PS and Riikka Purra pile it high and deep
Here is an example of a discriminatory and spiteful message by the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party head, Riikka Purra. With parliamentary elections in April, she and the PS are ratcheting up their xenophobic message. “A foreigner is entitled to social welfare when making 716 euros a month. Such a [benchmark] was given the green light
Read on »QUOTE OF THE DAY: Francis Fukuyama on Putin and Europe’s far right
In an interview with the Washington Post, political scientist Francis Fukuyama, who authored The End of History and the Last Man (1992), gives his views on the Ukraine War and what it may imply for Russia and Vladimir Putin. He argues that the rise of far-right parties in Europe and Donald Trump in the United States
Read on »MT Media Monitoring: HS interview with Riikka Purra and the PS’ pet topic, migration
Helsingin Sanomat published (paywall) Sunday an interview with Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. Helsingin Sanomat‘s veteran reporter, Marko Junkkari, did the interview. In general, Junkkari did a good job in handling Purra’s comments with facts and in no place in the interview did the PS chairperson dominate the interview with
Read on »Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin’s invasion “genius and savvy.” Why are the Perussuomalaiset hiding their faces in shame?
While the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* are scrambling to prop up their dismal poll numbers, they are also changing their tune on Vladimir Putin and Russia. One of the best ways to understand the PS’ admiration of Putin and the tragedy in Ukraine is through former President Donald Trump. We can cite Jussi Halla-aho’s praise of
Read on »Russian aggression against Ukraine threatens Finland and exposes hypocrisy
It finally happened. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign country like Ukraine. Apart from former President Donald Trump, who admires Vladimir Putin like many of the far-right Republicans, in Europe, we have racists and populists who are rooting for Russian aggression openly and silently. Caught with their hypocrisy and political pants down, populist
Read on »The far-right PS 1984 logic: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, defended Jussi Halla-aho’s blog writings that are full of racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-democratic worldviews. In one of Halla-aho’s writings, he hopes foreigners rape MPs like Eva Biaudet and Tarja Filatov. The former PS chairperson’s blog writings were under scrutiny again after he was named
Read on »Keep it up, Riikka Purra, don’t stop now. Kick out all the migrants and “let God sort ’em out.”
There are a lot of baffled faces at the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. “Did you see our regional election result?!” one asks while the other states: “A Yle poll saw us nosedive by 3.3 percentage points to 15%. and now Helsingin Sanomat reinforces the latter.” In our opinion, the PS is a far-right party that
Read on »Convicted PS MP of ethnic agitation voted to chair parliament’s foreign affairs committee
THE STORY WAS UPDATED The new chairperson of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Jussi Halla-aho, did not get such a warm reception. In a highly unprecedented move by the committee members, 11 voted in a secret ballot in favor of Halla-aho while six abstained. Halla-aho took over the committee’s chair Mika Niikko, its former chairperson,
Read on »The far-right Perussuomalaiset head south in the opinion polls
THE STORY WAS UPDATED There’s good news and bad news. Depending on your perspective, bad news can be good news and vice-versa. In the latest opinion poll published by Yle, the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party saw its support nosedive by three percentage points to 15%. While it would be simplistic only to blame the regional
Read on »The sources of Finland’s far-right problem: downplaying and denial
“The main agents of ideological violence are not isolated ‘lone wolves’ but are usually interconnected with communities, non-violent agents and legal entities, at times even including connections to law enforcement personnel.” Mihai Varga Over two weeks have elapsed since the police announced the detention of five white-Finn terrorist suspects in the Western Finnish city of Kankaanpää.
Read on »Downplaying and whitewashing the far-right threat in Finland
It is disappointing to note that it took Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, five days to write an editorial on the threat posed by the far-right after the detention of five white Finns on Friday. Considering the media attention and general outrage in general that Abderrahman Mechkah knife attack caused in Turku in 2017, a
Read on »The PS was, is, and will be a party with close ties to neo-Nazi and fascist groups
From the days when Timo Soini headed the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to the present, there’s one denial coming from the party that is an outright lie: The PS is not a far-right party with links to neo-Nazi, fascist and far-right groups. I could list several examples, but let’s look at Kansallismielisten liittouma, a perfect example of the
Read on »A trail of xenophobic and far-right violence in Finland and yet no suspects
The detention of five far-right terrorist suspects in the western Finnish city of Kankaanpää Friday raises many questions. One of these is the collaboration of this group and others in the burning down of an asylum reception center in December 2015. The asylum reception center in Kankaanpää wasn’t the only one that suffered arson attacks.
Read on »A Finnish Islamophobic party’s recipe for inclusion and ethnic understanding
Since the 2011 parliamentary elections, which saw the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party win 39 starts from 5 seats previously, it has systematically tarred and feathered migrants, especially Muslims, people of color, and specific minorities. Should you be surprised that all PS MPs elected in 2019 based their campaign on an anti-immigration message. The PS demands
Read on »The cracks are beginning to show
Islamophobia and other forms of racism are for some politicians their gateway to power and infamy. Watching part of the firey debate Wednesday in parliament that led to a vote of confidence for the government, one wonders what some politicians, especially with the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, have in their heads. The saddest matter was the
Read on »How Finland’s biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat loses its teeth and watchdog role
For the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, Helsingin Sanomat gives the country’s largest opposition party the kid-glove treatment. Are fear, agreement, or hopeful naivety the driving forces behind Helsingin Sanomat’s recent articles about the PS? Over the weekend, the daily published in its Kuukausiliite a big story about PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari, who is trying to make a
Read on »The Perussuomalaiset are dismantling our Nordic welfare state for iliberal democracy (Part II)
Kristian Sheikki Laakso, or Sheikki Laakso, is a Finnish MP for the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party who is, as with his 38 PS MP colleagues, is filibustering the EU rescue package. One of the most “interesting” speeches before parliament was by Laakso, who read excerpts of Little Red Riding Hood. Laakso begins his speech: “Once
Read on »Covid-19 is the oxygen that the PS breathes to grow in Finland
How much is the Covid-19 pandemic impacting in a positive manner the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party? This is not a trivial question considering that the party, which has built its voter base and message on racism, leads in the polls. What future does the PS have when the Covid-19 pandemic subsides? Will it be a
Read on »Exposing white Finnish privilege #78: the spread and acceptance of white nationalism
THE STORY WAS UPDATED Events after the storming of the Capitol building in Washington on January 6 exposed white nationalist terrorism as the biggest threat facing the United States. Since the events that took place at the Capitol did not happen spontaneously, are we going to see something similar in Finland’s ever-hostile far-right groups like
Read on »Former PS MP Ano Turtiainen gets sacked from the party
It took a while, but, in the end, it came: MP Ano Turtiainen got sacked Friday from the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party after being expelled in June from the PS parliamentary group. The interesting question that the PS board’s decision offers is what it means for the party and Turtiainen’s political future. An incident between PS
Read on »Our incapacity to feel for others, our indifference to their suffering is what is causing our moral downfall in the EU
Some studies claim that vote share for Eurosceptic parties has more than doubled in two decades, according to the Guardian. This problem has many answers. One of these is that Europeans have not done enough to root out all forms of racism. Our colonial legacy still hangs as an onerous shadow that encourages us to
Read on »Exposing white Finnish privilege #69: Spreading racism and hatred the Iltalehti and PS way
Any sensible person, irrespective of his cultural and religious background, does not condone sexual harassment. Even so, the police and Iltalehti continue full steam ahead to blame Muslims for these types of crimes. The blame game is so potent that we forget that most of the sexual harassment cases are committed by Finns. It is
Read on »DPP, Golden Dawn, FPÖ…chalk up another loss for the far right in Europe
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED The snap elections in Austria saw the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) suffer a blistering defeat with the number of MPs plummeting by 37.3% to 32 from 51. Sebastian Kurz of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) was the biggest winner getting 38.4% of the popular vote and gaining 11 MPs to
Read on »Halla-aho’s anti-immigration soundbites and why we should not relax hate speech laws
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Jussi Halla-aho gave us on Yle Ykkösaamu his usual anti-immigration blah blah and why Finland should relax its hate speech laws. In the interview, Halla-aho, who was convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012, defended the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association and played down PS MP Juha Mäenpää’s
Read on »Yle opinion poll: PS support surges, about 20% of Finns suffer from social ills like racism
Migrant Tales does not usually publish opinion polls. However, the latest one published by Yle warrants a quick response. White Finnish newspapers headlined the news as, “Support for the Perussuomalaiset* party surpasses 20%.” I and many of my friends see it differently: “Support for the PS shows that Finland has a serious untreated racism problem.
Read on »Finland should have more police monitoring hate speech on the Internet, not less
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED The Finnish police have at the most 10 Internet police officers who monitor hate speech, reports Yle, citing police inspector Måns Enqvist of the National Board of Police of Finland. The news was published after the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party claimed that too many police resources are being wasted to monitor
Read on »Perussuomalaiset a racist party? You bet!
A racist is an individual, always an individual, who does not like people based on race – must be conscious – and who intentionally seems to be mean to them. Robin DiAngelo, sociologist THIS STORY WAS UPDATED Using DiAngelo’s definition, the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* their politicians, their voters, and followers are racists because through such a party
Read on »QUOTE OF THE DAY: When the PS reaches the end of the political line
“No party is immortal and there are clear signs of the Perussuomalaiset* party’s vulnerability. Their success hinges on how much they can scapegoat migrants and play down global warming. The fact that migrants are not a threat to Finland and that global warming is a very serious threat ensure an eventual fall from political grace
Read on »We will not forget who is Halla-aho, Huhtasaari, Salvini, Le Pen, Farage and other past and present far-right politicians
Even if far-right parties made some gains in the European elections, their party was crashed by the Green wave that swept Europe.
Read on »Case PS Youth: Another racist ad, another provocation, another attempt to get attention
The racism that originates from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and their youth chapter is no surprise. The latest posting by the PS Youth is just another example of how they get attention.
Read on »Austria’s far-right scandal and Laura Huhtasaari selfies with Matteo Salvini
What a Saturday! Austria’s far-right FPÖ vice chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache resigns after a video published by two German newspapers offered damaging evidence of him allegedly offering government contracts in return for political support from Moscow, reports The Guardian.
Read on »The Social Democrats should not form government with far-right parties like the PS
Sweden Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in Yle said that just because a far-right party like the Sweden Democrats get 17.5% of the votes in an election, it does not mean an automatic ticket to government.
Read on »When will we start seeing politicians giving white power signs at Finland’s parliament?
When will we start seeing politicians and, possibly government ministers, doing this in Finland? Hopefully never.
Read on »Timo Soini’s fall from grace and the legacy of planting the political seeds of bigotry and racism in Finland
One lesson we could learn from former Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini is that the right balance between flattery and speaking in code will get you everywhere, well, almost everywhere. You can win big elections like in 2011 and ride, albeit momentarily, the crest of the popularity wave until you hit the wall in disgrace with your fingers badly burned.
Read on »How the Finnish government, institutions and President Sauli Niinistö pander to anti-immigration sentiment and groups
Just the way Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government can give a tacit pat on the back to far-right groups like Suomi Ensin (Finland First), the police give the green light to extremist vigilante groups, or President Sauli Niinistö give the thumbs up to the Finnish version of the Okie from Muskogee, all of them if they wanted could land a big blow to such racist groups by stating that they are unacceptable and out of touch with our Nordic values.
Read on »Migrants are “scum” and should be erased from the map say Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and other far-right politicians
Some are asking with manifest unease if this will be the year of the far-right populists like Dutch Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen of France and Frauke Petry of the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The first test will be in Holland on March 15 followed by another nail-biter in France on April 23 and May 7.
Read on »Perussuomalaiset woes deepen as Sebastian Tynkkynen reelected chairman of the Finnish party’s youth league
The problems of the nationalist populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party got worse Sunday after its third vice president, Sebastian Tynkkynen, got reelected by a clear majority to head the party’s youth league.
Read on »YLE poll: PS sees its support nosedive to 10.7%
The latest poll published by YLE shows that support for the populist anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has plummeted, diving in one month by 4.3 percentage points to 10.7% and since the April parliamentary elections by as much as 7 percentage points.
Read on »UPDATE (August 30): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism
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
Read on »A letter from a Finn to a Swede
Dear friend, you probably read about the elections in Denmark and how xenophobia raised its head yet again in another Nordic country. The elections in Denmark didn’t surprise me. Two months earlier we had elections in Finland. Here too the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* became the second-biggest party in parliament and are now in government.
Read on »Close your eyes and repeat (again): The PS of Finland isn’t a neo-Nazi party…
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen, who is chairman of the white Finnish supremacist Suomen Sisu, was joined by members of a neo-Nazi group at the grave of Eugen Schauman, who took his life on June 16, 1904 after assassinating Russian Governor General Nikolai Bobrikov, reports YLE in English.
Read on »Facebook: Does “Finnish labor” include migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities?
One of the members of the new government, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, said that jobs will be created for Finnish labor. In the present anti-immigration environment in Finland, such statements have a hostile ring to migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities since they don’t promote inclusion and fair hiring practices.
Read on »Get ready for even harder times in Finland if you are a migrant or minority
I remember right after the 2011 parliamentary elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) won 39 from 5 MPs previously, that some weren’t worried. “You’ll see,” one person said. “It’s only a matter of time before they implode.”
Read on »Facebook: Dear Little Girl at sea…
The picture below and the comment that follows on Facebook is dedicated to the all those anti-immigration parties and politicians throughout Europe. Since I live in Finland, I’ll dedicate this tragic picture of the girl to our most anti-immigration and anti-EU party in the country: the Perussuomalaiset (PS).*
Read on »Facebook: Racism and the horse’s ass
Christian Thibault, an anti-racism activist, asks a good question: Will those that have a racist political agenda look like a horse’s ass in the future? Excellent question. This Facebook posting was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.
Read on »Michael McEachrane: Seeing Sweden’s race problem for what it is
Michael McEachrane* Two things seem abundantly clear regarding the rise of ultranationalism in Europe today. First, it is symptomatic of a broader form of nationalism which all European states are steeped in. Second, it is this broader nationalism that ultimately needs to be confronted if equality is ever to become a reality in Europe. Read
Read on »Sweden Democrats openly attack cultural diversity – will the PS of Finland follow their example?
In a clear attempt to cash in on the anti-immigration sentiment, Sweden Democrat party secretary Björn Söder said that minorities like the Saami could never be Swedes and was willing to pay immigrants to leave the country, reports The Local. The mere suggestion that Sweden is only a country of white Swedes reveals the racist
Read on »An effective way of putting racism in context in Finland
There are many ways to understand ethnic hatred and racism in Finland. One of these is by substituting the word ‘migrant’ for your ethnic group and/or ‘woman’ in a text that’s aimed at fueling ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Let’s take the recent claims of two politicians, MPs Tom Packalén and Pia Kauma, to see how passions are
Read on »PS MP of Finland ready to patrol streets and take law into his own hands
Remember what people said when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* won their historic election victory in 2011? ”Nothing is going to happen you’ll see…they’ll soon implode like the Rural Party did in the 1970s…” some said playing down the whole matter. After almost four years, the PS continues to polarize society by instilling fear and fueling racism
Read on »What will the April 2015 elections of Finland reveal about ourselves as a country?
It’s clear that the parliamentary elections of April 2015 in Finland will reveal a lot of matters about this country. In many respects it’s like strip tease joint where women or men, disguised as political parties, take off their clothes. Sexuality isn’t being shown in bare flesh but in political ideologies such as racism, whiteness,
Read on »Close your eyes and repeat: The PS of Finland isn’t a racist and fascist party…
Harri Tauriainen, a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* councilman of the northern city of Kemi, is a good example of how racism and fascism have found fertile ground in the PS. Taurianen was elected by the region of Lappi as a PS candidate for the April 2015 parliamentary elections, according to Rovaniemi-based daily Lapin Kansa. Tauriainen, a councilman of Kemi, got
Read on »Marine Le Pen fails to form the far-right European Alliance for Freedom
There was great news today when we read that far-right Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders failed to form a European Parliamentary group called the European Alliance for Freedom (EAF)., reports the euobserver. After the gains that the far-right made in the Euro elections of May, Migrant Tales welcomes Le Pen’s and Wilders’ failure to form
Read on »The political record and chicanery of the PS of Finland is what has estranged so many voters from politics
While some are still scratching their heads about the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* joining the European parliament’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group this week, it shows why so many voters have become estranged from politics. Read full story here. Before the historic 2011 parliamentary elections for the PS, when 39 of its MPs got elected
Read on »The PS of Finland is named again on a list with other far-right and neo-Nazi European parties
On Monday the Huffington Post listed the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* as one of the nine scariest parties to be elected to the European parliament in the “good” company of xenophobic and neo-Nazi parties like the National Front of France and Golden Dawn of Greece, respectively. On Tuesday, PolicyMic listed the PS as “one of the reasons we should
Read on »Disingenuous Finnish PS MEP-elect Jussi Halla-aho fears image would suffer with parties like far-right National Front
In an interview on YLE, Perussuomalaiset (PS) newly elected MEP Jussi Halla-aho said that it was doubtful that the anti-immigration party would form part of a parliamentary group with far-right parties like the National Front of France “because the party’s image would suffer.” What a disingenuous statement by a politician who has based his career
Read on »The anti-immigration menace in Europe and Finland is real and we must do something to challenge it
Migrants were very active in the early 1980s and on October 19, 1982 we marched for the first time since a group of East Pakistanis, today Bangladesh, marched from Helsinki to Turku in the early 1970s demanding work. The march by the East Pakistanis may have been the first by foreigners in Finland. Migrants and
Read on »Why do we consider Timo Soini to be “a good cop” if he brought all these “bad cops” to power?
Doesn’t Perussuomalaiset (PS) leader Timo Soini bear responsibility for giving people like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Olli Immonen and a very long list of others a platform to spread their hatred and intolerance? Why does the media let Soini get off the hook so easily? Is Soini the culprit for anti-immigration sentiment and
Read on »Anti-immigration populist parties are a menace to democracy, ethnic and cultural diversity
Migrant Tales has never hid its criticism of parties that base their message on populism, scapegoating minorities and nationalism. If such political parties ever got power, it’s doubtful that they’d know what to do with it except polarize our society more than before. Anti-immigration and nationalistic parties are masters at scapegoating because they are incompetent at doing
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: How the Swedish media bought into the myth-making of the far Right
Maria Tjader The leader of the far-Right Sweden Democrats wants to portray himself as the victim of anti-white racism. Read full story here. A televised interview on 23 February with Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the far-Right Sweden Democrats (SD), has generated much controversy over the alleged claims made by Åkesson with regards to his
Read on »Why are Europe’s Islamophobic politicians and parties so “pro-Israel?”
Are you sometimes surprised to read about how many far-right anti-immigration groups are so pro-Israel? Some, like anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Juho Eerola of Finland, may go as far as to draft a written question to parliament demanding that Muslims renounce publicly their hatred of gays and Jews. A posting by Migrant Tales reposted on
Read on »We can do it and send Halla-aho and the PS to where they came from
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
Read on »Alleged white Finn attacks Helsinki church dressed as a Muslim
What would you say if a white Finn dressed like a Muslim attacked a Lutheran church in Helsinki by breaking its windows, yelling and obstructing window repairmen from repairing the damage he caused? What would you say if this happened on Tuesday night, when YLE aired A2 Islam debate on television? Would you say it was
Read on »The Perussuomalaiset plan to sack MP Hirvisaari from the party
Inviting Seppo Lehto to parliament, where a picture of him making a Nazi salute, was the last straw for Perussuomalaiset(PS) chairman Timo Soini, who was quoted as saying on MTV3 that PS MP James Hirvisaari will be sacked from the party. Read full story here. The decision to expel Hirvisaari was made by the five-member
Read on »Are Finns conservatives by nature?
Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini was interviewed on YLE Saturday morning. Commenting on a recent opinion poll commissioned by YLE, Soini claimed that the good showing of the PS and Center Party proved that Finns are by nature conservatives. The YLE poll, which was published Friday, showed big gains by the opposition Center Party (23.8%)
Read on »When will the PS sack MP James Hirvisaari?
Recent tweets and Facebook comments by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari reveal how racism, fascism and right-wing populism have spread like a cancer in Finnish society. Hirvisaari now praises Seppo Lehto and claims the ultimate far right narcissist, like him, is a nice person. Would you praise a man who gives Nazi salutes, likes swastikas, insults immigrants and
Read on »Confessions of a recovering racist
Society has achieved at least one significant victory in the fight against racism – it has succeeded in making open racism a dirty concept. The power of stigma that worked so effectively to reinforce racism has been harnessed to turn the tide against open discrimination – at least in polite society. Today, in most public
Read on »Former SMP leader links Immonen’s writing to Nazis
The former chairman (1979-89) of the Rural Party (SMP), Pekka Vennamo, linked Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen’s recent column to Nazis, according to tabloid Iltalehti. The far right PS MP wrote in his most recent blog entry about how nationalism should play a central role in Finnish politics. Vennamo, who is the son of Veikko
Read on »The biggest threat to Europe are those who claim to be afraid on our behalf
I’m neither afraid of cultural diversity nor terrorism. Being against different cultures in a globalized world is like being against sex. Cultural diversity, interculturalism and sex are part of the human condition. You cannot make them illegal in any way, shape or form. If we’d embrace far right and mainstream anti-immigration ideologies so common in today’s
Read on »Blood strawberries from Nea Manolada, Greece
As Europe’s far right raises its head, the more violent things become. Some 30 migrant workers were injured in a shooting on a strawberry farm in Nea Manolada, Greece, after requesting salaries that had not been paid. Thanks to @ritorikaxalikia for the heads-up and the poster below. Writes the BBC: “The Council of Europe – the main
Read on »Whiteness and white privilege speak European languages
As we hold our collective breaths and await to know the identity of the bombings in Boston Monday, too many don’t see a suspect but a whole ethnicity or religious group. Tim Wise put it very well in an opinion piece where he makes some distributing revelations about the power of whiteness. If we understand
Read on »Finland’s response to extremism should be more openess and democracy
An editorial on Thursday’s Helsingin Sanomat comments about Anjem Choudary’s visit to Finland last week. It points out correctly that hate speech should be condemned irrespective who makes it. Living in a culturally diverse society requires more mutual acceptance, not less acceptance and respect. Some of the controversial statements made by the cleric was that
Read on »Timo Soini and Olli Immonen, the foxes in the chicken coop
Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini was asked Tuesday by YLE what he thought about PS MP Olli Immonen being elected as the new chairman of Suomen Sisu, an extremist anti-immigration association. Soini offered his usual cock-and-bull answer by comparing Suomen Sisu to a harmless hunting, farming or youth association. It appears that YLE has learned a
Read on »Far right and anti-immigration quotes in English by the PS
There’s a new site that publishes quotes by your favorite Perussuomalaiset (PS) politician in English. Those PS politicians are none other than Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and Juho Eerola. You can visit the site at truefinns.tumblr.com The editors state the following: “Quotes by some leading politicians of the True Finns party. Note that we do
Read on »PS MP Hirvisaari now says he was “pressured” to resign from Suomen Sisu
Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari, who was convicted for ethnic agitation in December, announced Saturday on Twitter that he was “pressured” to resign from the extremist Suomen Sisu association. He announced on Friday that he was resigning from Suomen Sisu because he was too old to belong to “a youth organization.” Hirvisaari tweets, “The truth:
Read on »How far has the PS beachhead spread in twenty-two months?
Migrant Tales wrote the following day after the historic April 17, 2011 election had sent shock waves throughout Finland and Europe: “Far-right populism is an illness inflicting Europe at present and it now has a beachhead in Finland.” Back then, our blog got got cited by Time Magazine. The above quote was a response to
Read on »Jyväskylä may turn into another blow to Finland’s Counterjihadist -anti-immigration hardliners
If the Counterjihadist-anti-immigration tide turned in Finland and the Nordic region after 22/7, when Anders Breivik went on the rampage killing 77 innocent people, the attack in Jyväskylä on Wednesday by suspected far-right thugs could be a serious blow to anti-immigration and far right groups in Finland. Whenever hatred metamorphoses into violence, like in the case
Read on »Post-Jyväskylä: Where do we go from here?
Considering how the media treated before the April 2011 election racism and far right ideology and how social media sites were teeming with racist online lynch mobs, we are today waking up from the hangover of our state of social inebriation. The aftereffect will not go away in a day, week, or month but will
Read on »PS’ second vice president doesn’t condemn but “gives advice”to Jyväskylä’s neo-Nazi attackers
Perussuomalaiset (PS) second vice president, MP Juho Eerola, did not condemn the attacks in Jyväskylä by suspected neo-Nazi thugs but advised them how to do it more effectively, reports National Coalition Party’s online Verkkouutiset. Writes Eerola: “The next time don’t look like “patriots” when you plan to enter such an event. Don’t go as a group
Read on »Interior minister: Far right isn’t “a big threat” despite what happened in Jyväskylä
Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen condemned the attack by three suspected neo-Nazi thugs in Jyväskylä as an assault against freedom of speech and the right to assembly, reports YLE. She didn’t consider, however, the far right to be a threat to Finland but said that the authorities aim to do more work to address social
Read on »Timo Soini and his pact with the devil
The cracks in the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party are widening as the latest Kai Haavisto-James Hirvisaari scandal proves. The PS has reached a dead end with its present band of politicians. With the complicity of the near-silence of other parties, no other political group in modern Finnish times has created so much resentment and hatred towards
Read on »The PS cannot rid itself of its racists because it would commit political hara-kiri
It’s been interesting to read how some Perussuomalaiset (PS) party members suddenly feel overwhelmed by the most recent racism scandal to rock the party. PS MP Tom Packalén asks in tabloid Iltalehti what should be done? Answer: For a start, why not sack them? The other option is to defect from the PS like Kontiolahti councilwoman
Read on »Migrant Tales in Greek
Blog entries that are published on Migrant Tales get sometimes mentioned in some major publications like Time, Sveriges Radio, YLE’s Suora linja and others. One of the most recent reposts was by UNHCR in Greece, located in one of Europe’s hotbeds of xenophobia. The work we do on this blog got mentioned (in Finnish) on Re Vera
Read on »Journalists should question instead of spread racism and prejudice
Journalists are one group that have helped to spread and reinforce our prejudices and racism of other groups. There’s nothing surprising about this considering that journalists, like the media that employs them, mirror in part what the public feels. Ilta-Sanomat is one tabloid resonsible for spreading racism in Finland during the 1990s. This billboard tells
Read on »Why was Finland “tolerant” of Jews when it was an ally of Nazi Germany?
Finns claim proudly – followed by an obvious sigh of relief – that even if we were an ally of Nazi Germany during World War 2, anti-Semitism never reached the same levels as in Hungary, Romania and in other parts of Nazi-dominated Europe. While Finland offers an interesting case with respect to anti-Semitism in war-ravaged
Read on »Slandering immigrants and visible minorities is disgraceful
A politician of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has come under fire today for claiming on Facebook that all refugees and asylum seekers are social bums and rapists, reports YLE. Migrant Tales published on Sunday a blog entry citing a ministry of justice researcher, who claimed that certain anti-immigration groups in Finland distort crime statistics in
Read on »Promoting tolerance now and tomorrow
In Migrant Tales’ Finland & Cultural Diversity 2012 review, it’s clear that a lot more work needs to be done to promote tolerance. Thanks to Umayya Abu-Hanna’s column on Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat,* our collective complacency was once again shamefully revealed. Racism, or the lack of acceptance of other ethnic groups as equals in our society,
Read on »Finland & Cultural Diversity 2012*
If 2011 was a watershed year for Finland with the historic rise of a hostile party against immigrants and visible minorities in last year’s parliamentary elections, 2012 will be seen as a bittersweet turning point for the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The year will be remembered as a very violent one for immigrants as well. During “Black
Read on »The same face of intolerance lives amongst us today
When I was growing up in the 1970s, one of the matters that followed me around was the constant news of the mass murder and cemetery silence imposed by ruthless Latin American dictatorships. If you lived in one of those countries where human rights violations were the rule, you were confronted by two options: take
Read on »The PS’ anti-immigration message suffers a hard blow
Despite the fact that the debate in Finland on immigrants and immigration has taken a turn for the worse in some respects, it’s not as bad as it used to be before the April 2011 parliamentary elections and when Anders Breivik went on his murderous rampage on July 22, 2011. While anti-immigration politicians still want
Read on »Turun Sanomat: Finland Democrats eye PS’ anti-immigration vote
The Finland Democrats, which bases its political agenda on the far-right Sweden Democrats, aims to become a new party and compete for the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s anti-immigration vote, reports Turun Sanomat. The creation of a new anti-immigration party reveals the ever-negative debate in Finland surrounding immigrants and immigration. The PS is the only party that
Read on »The SD (and PS) are far-right anti-immigration parties
There’s an interesting opinion piece on Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter about the Swedish Democrats (SD) and the spread of fascism or neofascism in the Scandinavian country. While classifying a party as “fascist” may be problematic, there are certain ideological characteristics that expose its true political colors. Historian and journalist Henrik Arnstad writes: “Fascism is a deeply
Read on »Paavo Lipponen does not see far right threatening Finland
There are few politicians in Finland who speak out against the far-right threat in Finland. One of these is former Social Democrat Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, who expressed concern about the issue in a seminar in Helsinki on deportation of Jews to Germany in World War 2, reports Iltalehti. Lipponen expressed surprise that some parties use
Read on »More Mamukriit-Looks candidates of Finland
How long could the ever-growing list of anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) candidates be on Mamukriit-Looks? Too long for a good country like Finland to be overrun by candidates who spread prejudice and hatred. Below are some new Mamukriit-Looks candidates. Jan Igor Hirvimäki of Salo suggests that social welfare to blacks (he uses the n-work on his
Read on »The majority of Mamukriit-Looks candidates got elected to office in Finland
Migrant Tales published earlier this month Mamukriit-Looks: The who’s who of anti-immigration Finland, which was a continuation of Per-Looks, a blog entry than caused outrage among some Perussuomalaiset (PS) candidates running for city council. Even if both blog entries were published with a dose of satire, the election of many PS anti-immigration candidates to city council
Read on »PS anti-immigration candidates did well in the Finnish municipal elections
What do Sunday’s municipal elections tell us about where Finland is heading politically? Even if the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party won 12.3% of the votes, which was a disappointment for Timo Soini, it reinforces Finland’s anti-EU and anti-immigration stance. The biggest winner of the election was the Center Party (18.7%), which had lost a lot
Read on »Immigrants that look down on other immigrants
The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow. William Blake Some immigrants who have lived in Finland for many decades have adapted so well to this country that even their prejudices and stereotypes are just like those of the locals. Some, like Alain Chiaroni or Freddy Van Wonterghem, however, go beyond the call
Read on »The lack of cultural diversity is impoverishing Finland
Jussi Jalonen, a Tampere University history researcher, asked recently why a populist party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) continues to grow in popularity despite the numerous scandals that have riddled the group. There is an answer: Finland’s lack of cultural diversity. How is it possible that a party like the PS can win 39 seats in
Read on »New World Finn: Open the doors
Twenty-five years ago, when I worked briefly for the Buenos Aires Herald as a young reporter, I wrote a column about how Argentina’s past could come to haunt it in the future. The last military regime (1976-83) that ruled the country was one of the most ruthless that Latin America had seen during the last
Read on »An interesting blog that follows far-right candidates in Finland’s municipal elections
I bumped into a blog called Kunnollisvaalit 2012 (in Finnish), which aims to expose far-right candidates running for office in the Finnish municipal elections of October 28. The blog cites 11 Perussuomalaiset, 2 Center Party and one Muutos 2011 candidates as “far right.” The blog aims to expose what these candidates are posting on the Internet. Kunnollisvaalit 2012
Read on »PS Counterjihadists: Live and die politically by the sword
The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is at a crucial juncture concerning its strange-bedfellow relationship with Counterjihadist and populist radical right members. What kind of links do some members of the PS have with far-right groups like the Finnish Defense League (FDL)? The FDL is nothing more than a mouthpiece of the English Defense League, a violent
Read on »When will parties like the PS start banning Islam in Finland?
Pär Norling, a leader of the populist radical right Sweden Democrats of Bolnäs, located about 250km north of Stockholm, demanded the following on Sveriges Teleivision (SVT): ”Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion.” When will we start to hear similar demands from politicians in Finland? One matter that
Read on »Finland’s demographic landscape is changing (again)
Finland is presently in the midst of one of its biggest demographic changes in its history due to the rapid growth of its immigrant community. Our ever-growing cultural diversity as a nation has brought out the best in many of us but has encouraged some of us to throw in the towel on sanity. Is
Read on »Breivik, Europe’s Counter-Jihadist mass killer, gets at least 21 years
Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer who shocked Europe and the world on July 22, 2011, was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison. The sentence by the Oslo district court is not only a relief to the loved ones of the 77 victims, but sends an important political message as well. The court
Read on »(Migrant Tales, August 19, 2012): Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming, the super immigrant
Migrant Tales insight: Even if the op-ed was published about 10 years ago, too many politicians and officials continue to falsely believe that “super immigrants” will save the country from its low birth rates, aging population, and ever-present racism. See also: The world’s happiest country faces a labor and talent crunch THIS OP-ED PIECE WAS
Read on »Somali-Finn Abdulah: Living in no-man’s land (Part 2)
When Abdulah*, 30, talks to you about his twenty-two years in Finland, one of the first questions that arises is how has so much suffering escaped our attention. For Abdulah, acceptance isn’t only virtually impossible from white Finns, but can be just as hard to get from the Somali community. “I have decided to
Read on »Somali-Finn Abdulah: Living in no-man’s land (Part I)
Even if I have never met Abdulah* in person but only by phone and through his comments on Migrant Tales, it’s as if we’ve known each other for a long time. Abdulah moved to Finland from Somalia in 1990 with his parents and six sisters. He was eight at the time. When Abdulah came to
Read on »A question begs an answer: Who are the Perussuomalaiset?
The million-dollar question after the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s historic election victory was what kind of party had entered the Finnish political stage. After over a year in parliament and numerous scandals that have rocked the PS, a question still begs an answer: Who are they? If you seek an answer directly from the party, the response
Read on »Business Insider: Timo Soini’s “threat” to the world economy
Not only must have Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini been swept off his feet with delight for being named by Business Insider as the seventh-most dangerous person to the global economy, but Finland as well for such a dubious recognition. Who ever heard of Business Insider anyway? For starters, somebody could inform the online publication that the official
Read on »Far-right violence spreads across Europe – what about Finland?
As the euro financial crisis deepens so does the rise of far-right violence across Europe, according to a report by the Institute of Race Relations. Finland stands out as one of the 100 cases documented by the report. It states that academics studying immigration in this country are forced to withdraw from public discussion rather
Read on »Pirkko Mattila is the clear line that now separates Timo Soini and Suomen Sisu
The decision by the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary group to choose Pirkko Mattila to be the new chairwoman of the administration committee of parliament is welcome news. Considering that her challengers, Juho Eerola and Ismo Soukola, lost by wide margins bolsters PS chairman Timo Soini’s influence in the party. It shows as well that an ever-growing
Read on »Finnish Supreme Court upholds hate speech conviction against Hirvisaari
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not grant Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari permission to appeal a conviction for hate speech handed down in December by the Kouvola Court of Appeal, reports Helsingin Sanomat. Last week, the PS suffered another blow when its MP Jussi Halla-aho was forced to resign as chairman of the administration
Read on »The wrong Finnish identity for all the wrong reasons
In many respects, Finland is a fortunate country when it comes to a social construct like national identity. We are still a young nation actively searching for our roots. We have learned many things about ourselves as a society thanks to the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS). One of the matters
Read on »Halla-aho wants Juho Eerola to be his successor
The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party never ceases to surprise us. Former administration committee chairman MP Jussi Halla-aho said he wants Juho Eerola to be his successor. The MP, who is second vice president of the PS, is Halla-aho’s close ideological ally and a member of the far-right Suomen Sisu association. Appointing Eerola as the new chairman
Read on »Finnish politicians should smell the coffee of far-right extremism
After over a year of following countless scandals, fines for hate speech, racism and exposures of their far-right ideology, a question begs an answer of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party: Who is Timo Soini? If we asked Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, a social democrat, his answer would be moral weakness and opportunism. Tuomioja writes a day after
Read on »Abagond: What this blog has taught me about white people
Comment: Abagond is a very successful blog that debates issues like racism in the United States. We at Migrant Tales like to ask serious question about such a social ill as well. What about if we asked that same question as Abagond did in the headline? For me personally, Migrant Tales has taught me that
Read on »Greed, narcissism, apathy and fascism are the greatest threats to Finland today
One of the matters I have admired most about Finland is its underdog spirit. When I grew up part of the year as a child and adolescent in Finland with my grandparents, that fighting spirit was ever-present. It was the fuel that led the country forward and turned it into a model society today. Despite our
Read on »Finland’s mini Breivik: gunman kills two and wounds seven
What motivates a young man to take the law in his own hands and kill indiscriminately defenseless people? While we still don’t know the motives behind the killings in Hyvinkää, the suspect’s “likes” on Facebook may offer us some clues. Writes YLE in English: ”Police in the town of Hyvinkää, some 50km north of Helsinki, say
Read on »PS MP Olli Immonen plans to boycott YLE “for a short while”
By Enrique Tessieri Far-right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP, Olli Immonen, said Monday he will boycott YLE “for a short while” since the state-owned radio and television company reports unfairly about the PS. According to him, there is a systematic propaganda campaign against the PS by YLE I doubt that many will lose sleep over Immonen’s
Read on »Undermining the anti-immigration ideology of populist parties in the Nordic region
It is a tragedy that 77 people had to die at the hands of Anders Breivik. Ironically the mass killer did more on July 22 than anyone to undermine the ideology of anti-immigration populist parties and hate groups in the Nordic region and Europe.
Read on »Will the PS succeed at its vicious campaign against immigrants and visible minorities?
Will Matias Turkkila, the new Perussuomalaiset (PS) editor-in-chief that aims to jump start the party’s website into a Hommaforum phenonmenon, succeed? In order to answer that question we’d have to rephrase the question in to the following way: Will Turkkila and the PS succeed at luring Finland’s biggest nationalist and multiculturally challenged crowd to the party’s cause whatever that may be?
Read on »Anti-immigration Hommaforum editor to head PS’ party newspaper
What kind of message does the Perussuomalaiset (PS) give when it names Matias Turkkila as the new editor-in-chief of the party’s newspaper and web page? It reinforces what Migrant Tales has been saying all along: the PS will step up their nationalistic and anti-immigration campaign up to the do-or-die municipal election in October.
Read on »Anti-immigration groups in Finland care less about immigrants and visible minorities
Behind all the rhetoric spread by anti-immigration groups in Finland and elsewhere a fact emerges:they are out to destroy the lives of as many immigrants as possible with their prejudice and racism. When a justice ministry official hands over rape statistics of different immigrant groups he gives a power weapon to slander and victimize people from different countries.
Read on »Migrant Tales to celebrate its fifth anniversary in May
Migrant Tales will celebrate its fifth year in existence on May 30. By then we’ll have passed the 1,000 posts mark and have received and responded to well over 30,000 comments, the lion’s share of which we have got in the past two years. Migrant Tales is a community of writers: JusticeDemon, Mark, Peter, eyeopener, Jonas, D4R, Sasu, BlandaUpp, Foreigner and many, many others.
Read on »Migrant Tales May 16, 2011: Xenophobia and racism are the poverty of Finland today
Some claim that ever-growing poverty and social inequality in Finland were the reasons why the Perussuomalaiset (PS) scored such a big election victory in April. We read in the media about ever-growing bread lines and how it has become more difficult for some people to make ends meet. Even so, it justify growing xenophobia and racism in our society?
Read on »YLE poll: The Perussuomalaiset party suffers a new blow in the polls
The many problems of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party deepened today after a poll published by YLE showed the popularity of the party slipped further by 1.7 percentage points to 14.1%. The biggest party was Kokoomus (22.6%), followed by the Social Democrats (up 1.8% to 19.1%) and the Center Party (16.4%).
Read on »Why is the Perussuomalaiset party riling mad at the Finnish media?
You know that there is something terribly wrong whenever a group never mind a major political party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) start blaming the media for their problems. This is exactly what Matti Putkonen and MP Jussi Halla-aho did Wednesday on YLE, blaming that the media treats the PS unfairly when compared with other parties.
Read on »PS anti-immigration wing: “a new [Cadillac] model every year”
Helena Eronen, the parliamentary aide that suggested armbands for foreigners, is what Malcolm X said about racism and Cadillacs: They make a new model every year. The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s far-right anti-immigration wing led by MP Jussi Halla-aho have a new model: Helena Eronen.
Read on »Anti-immigration sentiment in Finland hinges in great part on the PS
The atmosphere for some immigrants in Finland has been an ever-worsening slippery slope. First the historic victory of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party last year and then the near-constant racist gaffes and foot-in-the-mouth shows.
Read on »The PS and the municipal election: Vicious campaign against immigrants and minorities
There are already clear signs that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has kicked off its vicious campaign and instigated social-media lynch mobs against immigrants and minorities as the October 28 municipal election nears. The Eronen-Hirvisaari scandal as well as publishing the names of two minors found guilty of rape are some recent examples of who the PS hopes to boost its depressing poll results.
Read on »JSN to announce by May or June its ruling on Kirkko&Kaupunki PS cartoon
Remember the cartoon that got some members of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party so riled that they filed a complaint to the Council for Mass Media in Finland (JSN)? A ruling on the cartoon by Kirkko&Kaupunki, a Helsinki Lutheran Church weekly, will be made by May or June, a JSN official, told Migrant Tales.
Read on »More Finns oppose anti-immigration groups and racism than before
Matters have changed for the better with respect to the ongoing debate on immigrants, immigration to Finland and our ever-growing cultural diversity, reports Turun Sanomat, quoting researcher Suvi Keskinen of Turku University. She warns, however, that making strong distinctions between “us Finns” and “them immigrants” can have dire consequences for the person and society.
Read on »PS MP Hakkarainen instigates social-media lynch mob from Singapore
Scandal-ridden Perussuomalaliset (PS) party MP, Teuvo Hakkarainen, has stuck his foot in his mouth again. This time he has taken the law in his hands and instigated a social-media lynch mob against two minors found guilty of rape, according to Keskisuomalainen. The Jyväskylä-based daily reports that Hakkarainen published on his Facebook page link to court documents that give the accused names, social security numbers, addresses and even their parents’ names.
Read on »The Eronen-Hirvisaari scandal reveals their contempt for press freedom, immigrants and minorities
Helena Eronen , the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary aide who suggested in a satirically intended blog entry that foreigners and minorities should start wearing armbands, appeared on two talk shows Friday. One of the most disturbing matters that is reinforced in both interviews is Eronen’s Hirvisaari-spirited view of immigrants and contempt for press freedom.
Read on »Are Hirvisaari and Eronen a mean Finnish version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza?
If I had to draw a cartoon about suspended Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari and his aide Helena Eronen, I’d draw them as the legendary Spanish literary icons Don Quixote and Sancho Panza that chased after windmills. If Hirvisaari were Don Quixote, would his windmills be “multiculturalism,” “Islamization” and the media?
Read on »PS MP Hirvisaari gets suspended for five months for not sacking Eronen
The Helena Eronen scandal, the parliamentary aide that infamously suggested in Finland that foreigners should start wearing armbands to help police in profiling ethnic groups, took a new turn Tuesday when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary group decided to suspend MP James Hirvisaari until September 15 for not sacking his aide. The whole affair, which is far from over and could escalate into something bigger, has revealed the internal party struggles within the PS.
Read on »Halla-aho says ghettoization spreading in Finland’s major cities
Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho said on a popular talk show that he stands by everything he said and doesn’t regret anything. He does, however, admit that sometimes the timing of what he said was wrong. He then tells us that ghettoization is taking place ” full steam ahead” in Finland’s biggest cities.
Read on »The Eronen “armband” scandal reveals healthy accountability by the media
The Helena Eronen scandal exposes an important watershed in Finland. It is a similar turning point we saw on July 22 with the mass killings in Norway and in February when Tommi Rautio suggested decoarating a white Finn for killing a Muslim in February in Oulu. The latest scandal reveals that those who bashed and spread racism and Nazi-spirited writings freely are now held accountable for what they write.
Read on »Eronen strikes back in order not to strike out
The Helena Eronen scandal, Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP James Hirvisaari’s aide who suggested with bad satire that foreigners should start wearing armbands, struck back today with a new column in order not to strike out.
Read on »Eronen asked for trouble when she wrote her column about armbands
Finland has been inflicted for a number of years by people who think they can say and write anything they please about immigrants and visible minorities in Finland. It’s only natural that when you let out racism and prejudice to roam freely in society unchecked, things will eventually snap as we saw in Norway in July. What did Helena Eronen, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari’s aide, do wrong?
Read on »What PS MP aide Helena Eronen wrote about armbands for foreigners in Finland (part 2)
Even if Helena Eronen’s boss, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari wants to play down the impact of his aide’s blog entry by claiming that we do not know what satire is, the whole affair exposes something far worrying: It is a new dive into the depths of these shameful political times.
Read on »What PS MP aide Helena Eronen wrote about armbands for foreigners in Finland
Every month we’ve seen some sort of scandal coming from the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. In April, which is only eleven days old, we already got another one by an aide who suggested in a blog entry that foreigners should start using armbands to help police distinguish who is an immigrant and who is a Finn.
Read on »Far-right groups and anti-immigration extremists in Finland and Europe flirt with fascism
When far-right groups and anti-immigration extremists flirt with fascism nothing good can ever come out of it. Even if it sounds incredible, we have in Finland our own holocaust deniers or those who claim the Nuremberg Trials were a farce.
Read on »Let’s stop fooling ourselves about the Romany minority in Finland and Europe
I’ve been following with disappointment the stories published in the Finnish media about the East European Romany minority beggars coming to Finland. If politicians don’t get it, it’s pretty clear that a part of the media never mind the public won’t either. Social ills like xenophobia, prejudice and racism are not “fixed” in a few days, months or years but take generations for the wounds to heal.
Read on »Being a bystander is being part of the problem that has inflicted Finland
Would it be correct to claim that if we put prejudice, discrimination, racism and social exclusion on the defensive in our society we’d become stronger? How would it impact homophobia gender violence and violence in general?
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat poll shows Greens leading PS in municipal election
A poll commissioned by Ilta-Sanomat gave the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party a big surprise. If the October municipal election took place today, the Greens would get 11% of the votes compared with 10% by the PS. The previous setback that the PS got from the Greens was in the presidential election, when an openly gay candidate beat two conservative anti-EU hopefuls, Timo Soini of the PS and Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party.
Read on »Don’t give racism a platform!
I’m fed up. I’m fed up of certain commentators visiting us here on Migrant Tales to spread lies and personal insults and to disrespect other cultures. Those that ONLY have terrible things to say about specific peoples (as opposed to cultural criticism) really are practicing extremism. How could it be otherwise? When we condemn totalitarianism,
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from November 16, 1995
Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.
Read on »Kotka PS councilman gets slapped with 420-euro fine for inciting ethnic hatred
Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman for Kotka, Freddy Van Wonterghem got slapped with a 420-euro fine for inciting ethnic hatred against a group, according to Kymen Sanomat. While the fine is small compared with PS MP James Hirvisaari’s 1,424 euros in December, it is symbolic and reveals, albeit modestly, that Finland has the teeth to stand up against hate speech.
Read on »Trolls come in many sizes and shapes in Finland
I read an interesting blog entry on Iowa State Daily that gave a very good suggestion to the vicious racist stuff you find in the blogsphere: “Require identification for comments and monitor, monitor, monitor the trolls,” said Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. “The blogosphere is full of trolls, and some write the most vicious things. Keep them out of mainstream media, and ignore them whenever you can.”
Read on »Finnish PS hardcore far-right MP gives a kick in the gut to the Romany minority
Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen represents the worst of the worst when it comes to the acceptance of our ever-growing culturally diverse society. Apart from predicting a war between Islam and white Christian Europe, Immonen never loses the opportunity to kick the most vulnerable members of society in the guts.
Read on »Hommaforum stoops to new depths by “defaming” adolescent
Hommaforum is a forum closely linked to Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Jussi Halla-aho’s blog, Scripta, and to Suomen Sisu, a far-right extremist association. Even if Hommaforum and Scripta are only smears of hatred that splash on Finland’s good name, they don’t care whom they tar and feather as long as they have a good time. But to attack and defame publicly a brave adolescent, Rebecca Holm, who spoke out against racism, shows how low they will go to make their point.
Read on »Hommaforum stoops to new depths by "defaming" adolescent
Hommaforum is a forum closely linked to Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Jussi Halla-aho’s blog, Scripta, and to Suomen Sisu, a far-right extremist association. Even if Hommaforum and Scripta are only smears of hatred that splash on Finland’s good name, they don’t care whom they tar and feather as long as they have a good time. But to attack and defame publicly a brave adolescent, Rebecca Holm, who spoke out against racism, shows how low they will go to make their point.
Read on »Migrant Tales is a blog that accepts who we are where we are
I sometimes wonder where I get the strength and inspiration to write at least one blog entry a day on Migrant Tales. It’s not that I have the luxury of giving 100% of my time to this blog because I have a job and a life as well. Migrant Tales is a powerful voice because it is a hand-on-heart operation running on the fuel of passion for social justice and equality.
Read on »Who is allowed to debate a social ill like racism and exclusion in Finland?
After being the editor of Migrant Tales for about five years, I get the message: Finns with international backgrounds, immigrants never mind Muslims are not allowed to take part in the ongoing debate on Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity. The reason that we doing exactly that, debating openly issues like racism, exclusion and Finnish identity openly explains why we are no longer such a faint voice in this country.
Read on »Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet (Part 2)
Since Wednesday Migrant Tales and I personally have been harassed by persons from a website called Ylilauta that made it a point to defame and insult me publicly. When I got in touch with the administrator, Tuomas Siitonen, and told him that I was being attacked again, he pleaded the First Amendment (freedom of speech).
Read on »Hijacking my picture and defaming me and Migrant Tales on the Internet
I was pretty surprised Thursday that a blogger from a forum called Ylilauta had hijacked my Facebook picture and started defaming me and our blog, Migrant Tales. I got in touch with the administrator of the site, who took the offensive content off the site the following day. Fortunately I took a snapshot of what was written.
Read on »Coming out of the stuffy Finnish cultural closet
I would like to thank those bloggers for reading my previous blog entry in which I wrote about the international background of my Finnish family. I must confess, however, that I thought about writing such a blog entry for months but could not find the right approach to tackle the topic. The answer appeared when I decided to come out.
Read on »Our Finnish national identity in the new century
For some anti-immigration groups, my background as a Finn must be a nightmare. The bad dream these groups dread to see is nothing more than the present and future staring back at them. It is the new Finland of the twenty-first century looking, together with others from our ever-culturally diverse society, confidently at the future.
Read on »Why are Finland’s politicians still so silent?
Have you heard anything from any government official or even a politician being outraged by what happened in Oulu and Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman Tommi Rautio’s infamous suggestion that the killer of a cold-blooded death should be decorated? It took thirteen days for Rautio to get sacked from the PS. Silence, everywhere, again.
Read on »Why are Finland's politicians still so silent?
Have you heard anything from any government official or even a politician being outraged by what happened in Oulu and Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman Tommi Rautio’s infamous suggestion that the killer of a cold-blooded death should be decorated? It took thirteen days for Rautio to get sacked from the PS. Silence, everywhere, again.
Read on »Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity is an opportunity to overcome past fears
One of the matters that Finnish academics, politicians, policy makers never mind the general public missed out completely about our ever-growing cultural diversity is that our history and myths are hindering us to see the big picture. The official and unofficial response to our culturally diverse society appears to be a subtle “no.”
Read on »Finland's ever-growing cultural diversity is an opportunity to overcome past fears
One of the matters that Finnish academics, politicians, policy makers never mind the general public missed out completely about our ever-growing cultural diversity is that our history and myths are hindering us to see the big picture. The official and unofficial response to our culturally diverse society appears to be a subtle “no.”
Read on »Three anti-immigration PS MPs will pay Hirvisaari's fine for hate speech
Three far-right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs, Juho Eerola, Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen, announced today in a statement that they will pay PS MP James Hirvisaari’s 1,424-euro fine slapped for hate speech by a Kouvola court in December. The statement, which was signed the three PS MPs, states that the fine was politically motivated.
Read on »Three anti-immigration PS MPs will pay Hirvisaari’s fine for hate speech
Three far-right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs, Juho Eerola, Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen, announced today in a statement that they will pay PS MP James Hirvisaari’s 1,424-euro fine slapped for hate speech by a Kouvola court in December. The statement, which was signed the three PS MPs, states that the fine was politically motivated.
Read on »Another scandal is brewing thanks to the Perussuomalaiset
Another scandal involving the Perussuomalaisete (PS) party is brewing on the net after councilman Tommi Rautio and MP Teuvo Hakkarainen. At the eye of the political storm is Jani Viinikainen, a PS Pirkamaan region board member, who has now founded an anti-Roma Facebook page called Mannat kuriin (Let’s put Gypsies in line)!
Read on »Wikileaks document warns of neo-Nazi (far-right) anti-immigration groups in Finland
A Wikileaks document reveals a disturbing perception that Migrant Tales has expressed concern: the threat of far-right anti-immigration groups in Finland like the Suomen Sisu faction in the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. In the presidential election, all of the candidates except for PS’ Timo Soini, Sauli Niinstö of Kokoomus and Christian Democrat (KD) hopeful Sari Essayah, stated in an MTV3 poll that the far right does not pose a threat to Finland.
Read on »The "us"-and-"them" smoking-gun statement that once justified mass murder in Europe
One of the matters that surprises me about some Finnish politicians is how they continue to flirt with ideologies that led Europe to its destruction in the 1940s. The younger they are, and the further they are in time from fascism, the more some flirt and idolize this ideology. To them I would like to give them a quote by Rudolf Hoess, the notorious commandant of the Aushcwitz concentration camp during 1940-43.
Read on »Soini and the PS to ban "racists" from running for office
In light of the recent scandal that has rocked the Perussuomalaiset (PS), party chairman Timo Soini now promises to banish “racist” candidates from taking part in the municipal election of October 28, according to Helsingin Sanomat, citing Swedish-language daily HBL. Can we and should we believe Soini’s latest promise?
Read on »Facebook PS killer "medal" scandal: Shame on Timo Soini and the police
Thanks to exemplary action of some Finns, who are shocked by the tolerance for racism, is what led to the downfall of Perussuomalaiset (PS) city councilman Tommi Rautio. If blogger Ossi Mäntylahti would not have pasted on his Facebook pages what Rautio had said, the PS politician wouldn’t have dug his own political grave.
Read on »Populist PS of Finland: Living and dying by the political sword
The chairman of the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS), Timo Soini, has stated publicly on numerous occasions how racism and hate speech should have no role in his party. He has said that those who wander down such a questionable path will end up being devoured by their hatred.
Read on »Somali death in Finland: The problem that constantly mocks at us
Migrant Tales was saddened to be tipped off that apparently another Somali national had died violently now in Espoo after it reported the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu. The shock and outrage of the Somali community of the death of one of its members reveal their mistrust for white Finnish society and the authorities.
Read on »"Real" Finns were, are and will be culturally diverse Finns
People who think that only white Finns are “real” Finns are, in my opinion, seriously mistaken. They represent a modern segregated view of society we saw in the United States before the 1960s and in worst cases in South Africa before 1994. The “Only Whites” sign isn’t posted on doors these days but shines constantly in their minds.
Read on »Demand your right to be a Finn on your own cultural and ethnic terms
One of my biggest problems in understanding institutional racism in Finland was that I accepted being a member of such a social ill. Even if I had every right to claim Finnish identity from my mother’s side, I did not do so because I reinforced with my silence the stereotypical and even racist views that some Finns held about non-Finns.
Read on »There is hope if racism thrives on ignorance and isolation
If racism thrives on ignorance and isolation, then there is hope but a lot has to be done. Instead of lowering oneself to the diatribe and hatred of anti-immigration groups, we must strive to find solutions. People who spread racism are by no means infallible. Racism is like Dracula. Not only does it live on by infecting the person, it cannot stand the light of day.
Read on »Politicians in Finland who "shop" for your anti-immigration vote
The level of debate in Finland concerning immigrants and cultural diversity is still far from Freidman’s quote. Politicians who denigrate and insult immigrants and refugees as “welfare shoppers” hide the real motive behind their ludicrous claim: They are shopping for your vote.
Read on »Harassment and abuse of Somalis in Finland picked up after the election
In many respects, the treatment of Somalis in Finland sadly reminds me of how blacks in the United States were excluded from society in the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was in full swing. Like in the United States, racism in Finland not only threatens our values as a society but questions who we are as a nation and people.
Read on »Finns vote today for their next president
While the biggest victor of today’s presidential election in Finland is democracy, I cannot help but look way past the awaiting fanfare of Sunday evening , when we’ll be hearing the victory speech of either Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party or Kokoomus’ Sauli Niinistö.
Read on »Irish Examiner: Anti-immigrant or racist political rhetoric ‘must not go unchecked’
An example needs to be made of politicians who make negative comments about immigrants if Ireland is to avoid going down a route of an “accepted rhetoric or racism”, Integration Ireland has warned.
Read on »Finland's growing image abroad now hinges on racism and intolerance
The lead story in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat is about how racism and intolerance have tarnished Finland’s image abroad, according to a survey of Finnish expats living in different countries. Even if the daily blames the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party for our country’s questionable image abroad, the real culprits are none other than us.
Read on »We must fight for greater cultural diversity representation in our democracy and society
When I grew up in the United States, most if not all of our most popular television series kept us doped in a fantasy world where the only people that counted were white Europeans who spoke English. We read history as well but there was too little about the “other” USAmerican: immigrants, Hispanics, blacks, Native Americans and a long list of other groups that built the United States.
Read on »Who remembers Ulla Pyysalo and her links to the neo-Nazi PVL?
Remember Ulla Pyysalo, Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Juho Eerola’s aide? She’s the one who got her fingers burned when her name appeared on a hacked membership list of the neo-Nazi Kansalinen vastarintaliike (SVL). Pyysalo said that she would resign if she found a new job by the end of last year. Well, folks, surprise, surprise… My sources in parliament tell me that Pyysalo is still working for Eerola.
Read on »Is full integration and ethnic equality possible in Finland?
What would happen if different ethnic groups switched their roles in society and promoted their history and justification of the domination of other groups? Below is a satirical video clip about that switched view of white Australia’s ongoing program of racisim and oppression of black indigenous people.
Read on »Finland and the far-right threat posed by Halla-aho and Niinistö
Social Democrat Party presidential hopeful, Paavo Lipponen, has been the most outspoken candidate about the threat of the far right in Finland. On a television debate Thursday, he accused Perussuomalaiset (PS) party far-right MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and Jussi Niinistö of hiding behind Timo Soini and swelling him and the party’s popularity.
Read on »The question that exposed Timo Soini’s good-cop-bad-cop strategy on racism
The televised presidential debate on Thursday is probably one of the first time when Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini’s lie was uncovered to the tee. His usual response, “I don’t support racism and hate speech,” didn’t work because it was unconvincing. We should thank again the high school students of the city of Järvenpää for their question that brought Soini’s political house of cards down.
Read on »Is Finland's path that of Hungary's?
This is not a far-fetched question taking into account what is happening in Hungary and the rise of populism in Finland. How many in Hungary ten years ago could have envisioned what is happening today in that country?
Read on »We can contain the PS' populist threat to Finland
The more I read about Timo Soini the more I am convinced that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is a threat to this country, especially to those who do not fit the PS’ narrow view of the world. I am not contesting the election result, which I respect, but what the cat has brought in from the back door.
Read on »Coming out into an identity: gay, lesbian, pariah…
There is one line of a film review of Pariah on Colorlines that really caught me: “The film hinges on the belief that there’s no one way to be young, or black, or queer. And while it’s a struggle to come into any identity, those fights are always punctuated by moments of resilience and triumph.”
Read on »Timo Soini: The beast behind the sugar-coated words
What does Perussuomalaiset (PS) party presidential hopeful, Timo Soini, really think about immigration and cultural diversity? A column he wrote in the latest Suomen Soini Presidentiksi [Soini for Finnish president] publication exposes what the leader of the PS thinks about such important issues.
Read on »Finland & Cultural Diversity 2011
In many respects 2011 was a watershed year for Finland and Europe concerning the rise of anti-immigration parties and xenophobia. The biggest news to hit Finland this year was without a doubt the April 17 election, which saw the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party win 39 seats compared with only 5 in 2007. On July 22 Anders Breivik gunned down most of his 77 victims in Norway.
Read on »Immigration laws reveal what kind of a society we are
Tell me what your immigration laws are and I will tell you what kind of society you live in. Show me how those laws defend minorities and encourage cultural diversity and I will show you hypocrisy.
Read on »Nationalism, Fascism, Populism and Racism – a family of Kings or Thieves?
So, nationalism, fascism, populism and racism – ‘who’ are they are and do they share anything in common with each other? Here, I’m going to give a brief but hopefully pertinent overview. Are they Kings or Thieves? Maybe my conclusions will surprise you.
Read on »Argentina’s dirty war: A couple I never met but always knew
It’s a long story how I ended up conscripted in the Argentinean army during the dirty war (1976-83). Being part of a country that was at war with itself was like taking a one-way stroll down the ally of hatred with a sack over your head. Even if no sack was placed over your head your eyes couldn’t see nor your ears hear what was happening. Terror has a way of numbing your senses.
Read on »guardian.co.uk: Tory MP Aidan Burley sacked over ‘Nazi’ stag party attendance
A Conservative MP who attended a stag party where guests dressed as Nazis has been sacked as a Commons aide for “offensive” behaviour and placed under investigation by David Cameron.
Read on »A bad week for the PS and Timo Soini
Three cartoons that appeared in the Finnish and Swedish media this week gave the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party a taste of its own medicine. The Helsinki Lutheran Church’s newspaper, Kirkko ja Kaupunki, published on Wednesday a cartoon where Soini and the PS wished all those who weren’t white, conservative and heterosexual Finns a shitty Christmas.
Read on »Fairy tale worlds with the help of hate speech in Finland and elsewhere
The recent anti-immigration killings in Norway at the hands of Anders Breivik and this week in Italy by Gianluca Casseri show how xenophobic fairy tales can turn a person into a killer. As populist and far-right parties in Europe continue to throw petrol at the flames of their hate speech, it is only a question of time when new Breiviks and Casseris will appear on the scene.
Read on »Spiegel International Online: Italy Killings Underscore European Extremism Problem
The murders of African street vendors by a right-wing extremist writer in Florence have shocked Italy. Questions are now emerging about whether the gunman acted alone. But one thing seems certain, he was close to a right-wing radical group that has a pop culture appeal admired even by Germany’s neo-Nazis.
Read on »YLE in English: Supo looks into possible Finnish connection to Florence shooter
The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) is taking an interest in the racist shooting in Florence. The shooter, who killed two African immigrant street traders, belonged to a far-right organisation that also has Finnish members.
Read on »Finland’s PS Soini plays down racism in his party to “one, two or three” cases
Perussuomalaiset (PS) party presidential hopeful Timo Soini’s excuses about the issue of racism in his party and in Finland are getting more surreal every day. At a presidential debate Wednesday on MTV3, Soini played down racism in his party to “one, two or three” cases compared with a half a million people who voted for the PS in April.
Read on »Finland’s ignorance of racism and fascism
One of the political dramas that Finland is suffering today is that it does not know what racism and fascism is. The Finnish media up to the April 17 election not only lost its teeth and forgot the important role it plays in defending our civil rights it helped the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS).
Read on »Far-right anti-immigration killing in Italy
A far-right anti-immigration sympathizer of neo-fascist association CasaPound shocked Italy today when he shot dead two Senegalese street vendors in Florence before taking his life, according to the guardian.co.uk.
Read on »The PS is the PS of Finland no matter how you slice it
Perussuomaliaset (PS) party head Timo Soini reitereated plans on MTV3 to establish a new party that would be politically center-right. He said that in five years the PS would be a similar populist party like the Progress Party (FrP) of Norway and Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ). Both of these parties are anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim.
Read on »Urban Faith: Why We Can’t Ignore Racism
As a white man in America, I’ve been guilty of rolling my eyes when someone would raise the subject of racism. “Why can’t everyone just get over it,” I’d think. But ignoring wounds from the past can be as damaging as the initial offense.
Read on »Fueling “harmful stereotypes, discrimination and xenophobia” in Finland and elsewhere
The recently published report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) rightfully warns about how misinformation about migration fuels “harmful stereotypes, discrimination and xenophobia.” A New York Times article states that such perceptions are so distorted that citizens believe that there are three times more immigrants living in some countries than is the case.
Read on »Good questions about the PS by the Vallan Vahtikoira blog
Vallan Vahtikoira is an interesting blog that asks all the right questions that some media should be asking the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. His latest blog entry (in Finnish), Perussuomalista normimenoa, asks about some of the embarrassing revelations that become public about some PS members belonging to neo-Nazi associations like the SKV.
Read on »Five MLK quotes that are relevant to Finland today
U.S. Civil Rights Movement champion, Martin Luther King Jr. (1928-68), is still a source of guiding inspiration for many victims of discrimination and oppression throughout the world. Below are five MLK quotes that are relevant to Finland.
Read on »Making racism shameful in Finland and Europe
While the US Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. did not eradicate racism in the United States, it was singled out as a threat to society and challenged. Landmark laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were not the only matters that changed things. Racism became shameful in many parts of the United States.
Read on »Should Finland adopt a citizenship test?
What would an anti-immigration hardliner like MP Olli Immonen of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party seek when he believes that Finland should adopt a citizenship test like Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship? Immonen offered an written question Thursday on the matter to the speaker of the house.
Read on »Spiegel Online International: Racism in Germany – A Story of Death Threats and Casual Insults
Germany was shocked to learn the extent of the crimes committed by a recently uncovered right-wing extremist group. But racism is hardly an anomaly in Germany. One family’s experience shows just how widespread prejudice and hate really is.
Read on »The snow job of the far right in Finland
The shocking revelations in Germany, whereby 140 people have died since 1990 as a result of far-right violence, is a wake-up call for us in Finland as well. How is it possible that so many people are killed by a far-right terror cell without anyone raising a question?
Read on »Further momentum against racism in Finland
Here is a story published Sunday on Savon Sanomat of Kuopio that shows members in the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) party giving the thumbs down to racism. Jukka Kotimäki, PS organization secretary of Siilimäki near Kuopio, states that he does not want openly racist people to be a part of his party.
Read on »When racism attacks its eager keeper in Finland
Racism is a serious social ill that festers in all societies. Some parties, like the Persussuomalaiset (PS), appear to be dazzled by the political opportunities it offers in the way of votes and public attention. What they forget, however, is that racism has no master and can attack its supposed keepers.
Read on »Spiegel Online International: Neo-Nazi Killings Expose Broad German Xenophobia
The discovery of a neo-Nazi terror cell in Germany has many concerned about the country’s reputation. With good reason. Racism and xenophobia have deep roots in German society — and the vocabulary used to describe the right-wing extremist crime spree is telling.
Read on »KU Verkkolehti: Rasistinen äärioikeisto hivuttautuu valtavirtaan
Euroopassa on pitkään suhtauduttu aivan liian huolettomasti äärioikeistosta tulevaan uhkaan, sanoo aiheesta kirjan kirjoittanut ruotsalainen toimittaja Lisa Bjurwald.
Read on »The ever-embattled Soini of the PS of Finland
Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairman, Timo Soini, appears more embattled every day as he watches with weary eyes polls. The latest one published by Helsingin Sanomat Saturdayshows racism to be more acceptable among PS supporters.
Read on »PS of Finland: Giving racism a new respectable face
A number of far right anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MPs have seen an image facelift after they were elected. PS MP Juho Eerola has seen the biggest transformation.
Read on »eWeek Europe: Anonymous Implicated In Finnish Web Hacks
Neo-Nazi politicians were exposed in Finland – but was Anonymous really responsible? In the largest ever breach of its kind, Finnish websites were hacked last week and personal data leaked onto a file sharing website, it has been reported.
Read on »HS in English: Europe’s true populists
The True Finns’ victory in Finland’s general elections gives Sweden and the entire European Union a lot to digest, says journalist Lisa Bjurwald from Stockholm, who watches the populist far-right parties.
Read on »How to confront anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region
The societies of the Nordic countries are still models for the rest of Europe and the world when it comes to social justice, equality, and inclusion. Slower economic growth is not the only threat that they face today, but an ever-growing minority that believes that exclusion of certain groups is acceptable.
Read on »Supo: Suomen Sisu is an extremist group
Kari Harju, Finnish secret police Supo regional security chief, classified Suomen Sisu as an extremist organization. He made the statement Monday in Ylen A-studio.
Read on »A-studio 7.11.2011 TV1 klo 21:00: Onko perussuomalaisilla yhteyksiä äärijärjestöihin?
It would be interesting to have a debate on Migrant Tales after the A-studio report today at 9pm that asks if the PS has connections to far right groups.
Read on »guardian.co.uk: Far right on rise in Europe, says report
The far right is on the rise across Europe as a new generation of young, web-based supporters embrace hardline nationalist and anti-immigrant groups, a study has revealed ahead of a meeting of politicians and academics in Brussels to examine the phenomenon.
Read on »Multilingual Mania: Dehumanizing Immigrants-Lies and More Distorted Lies
It’s a classic trick of the racists to paint a portrait of a people so horrible that it makes anything that is done to them to be justifiable. It’s quite a brilliant idea, really, to be able to paint such a nasty picture of someone in the mind of the public without many people hardly even catching on to the trick. This strategy serves to dehumanize people, stripping them of their humanity and making them into objects that deserve to be tamed, oppressed, and controlled.
Read on »The PS’ lame stance on neo-Nazism
The resignation of Perussuomalaiset (PS) party aide, Ulla Pyysalo, didn’t come as a surprise. One of the most incredible characteristic of the Pyysalo case is how PS MP Juho Eerola has played down the whole affair. Has Eerola and the PS made it clear that the party does not want anything to do with a neo-Nazi organization.
Read on »YLE Kymeenlakso: Juho Eerola ei tue Pyysalon erottamista
Kotkalaisen kansanedustajan Juho Eerolan lappeenrantalainen avustaja Ulla Pyysalo haki 2 vuotta sitten kansallissosialistisen Suomen vastarintaliike -järjestön jäsenyyttä. Juho Eerolan sanojen mukaan olisi mieletöntä erottaa Pyysalo puolueesta vain sen vuoksi, että hän on tullut järkiinsä ja jättänyt liittymättä natseihin.
Read on »Using Finnish “fatherland” patriotism to justify neo-Nazism
The Ulla Pyysalo case has turned some Perussuomalaiset (PS) party faces red. Her name came up on a membership list of a neo-Nazi organization Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta (SVL) after hackers broke into the www.patriootti.com website over the weekend.
Read on »Hackers get far-right Kansallinen Vastarinta membership-request list
The growing face of far-right Finland exposed itself Monday when some hackers succeeded at breaking into patriootti.com’s membership-request list. One of the red faces to appear was Tuomas Uokkonen, a Perussuomalaiset (PS) party board vice president in Oulu. He states that when he sought membership in the far-right group said on his Facebook page that he did not know what he was doing because he was drunk.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat: Homot ja somalit Ahvenanmaalle asumaan
Kansanedustajan Teuvo Hakkaraisen (ps.) Ilta-Sanomille antamat lausunnot herättivät tuoreeltaan vilkasta kommentointia lauantaina muun muassa netin keskustelupalstoilla. Ilta-Sanomien mukaan Hakkarainen ehdotti, että homot, lesbot ja somalit pitäisi laittaa Ahvenanmaalle keskenään asumaan.
Read on »HBL: Lipponen tar ställning mot svenskfientlighet och slutenhet
– Jag stämplar inte Sannfinländarna som parti, men det finns högerextremister i partiet och Timo Soini måste vara tydlig mot dem, sade Lipponen på FSD-kongressen i går.
Read on »Timo Soini: “The PS do not hate anybody – not anybody”
Do you agree and can Perussuomalaiset (PS) party head Timo Soini claim that his party does not “hate” anyone? I wonder if Soini, who made such a claim on Saturday when he was chosen to be the PS’ presidential candidate, ever heard of Freddy van Wonterghem, James Hirvisaari, Olli Immonen, Teuvo Harkkarainen, Juho Eerola, Reijo Tossavainen never mind Jussi Halla-aho and others.
Read on »Why the PS are a threat to immigrants and Finland
Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, a member of Suomen Sisu and well-known for his anti-immigration views, wants to do away with the Ombudsman for Minorities office, according to Oulu-based daily Kaleva. Apart from slashing the budget by 50%, Immonen plans to draft a law that will make the Ombudsman for Minorities redundant.
Read on »Brain drain from Finland set to get worse as anti-immigration sentiment grows
Think tank Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) states in a report that Finland already suffers from brain drain “to some extent.” With the backdrop of the April 17 election and a more negative atmosphere towards immigrants, coupled with the cooling of the economy, suggest that brain drain will continue to get worse.
Read on »An “honest police debate” about rape with the help of an Islamophobist PS MP
What would you say about a policeman who wants to begin an open debate on Facebook about rape crimes committed by immigrants? He uses as one of his sources Islamophoibist Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, who believes that it is only a question of time when there will be a “war of cultures” in Europe.
Read on »Phantoms that haunt us from history in Finland
When I moved to Finland over thirty years ago I left behind a troubled world: the scars of the Vietnam War, Watergate, dog-eat-dog capitalism, and the dirty war in Argentina (1976-83) that destroyed the country spiritually beyond recognition.
Read on »The language of “keeping Finland white”
The ongoing debate on the role of immigrants in Finnish society boils down to one big issue for the right-wing populists: How to keep Finland white and curtail non-European immigration. The view, that Finland must remain white, is as racist as a white man’s claim in the United States during the Civil Rights era that blacks don’t have a place in society.
Read on »Finnish far-right thinking for dummies: The Wave
This true movie below took place in 1967 Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California. The experiment shows how easy it was to convert the class of high school students to become far-right followers that supported the Nazi régime in Germany during 1933-45. What would happen to our country if we embraced the ideology of associations like Suomen Sisu, Suomalaisuuden Liitto or allowed the worldview of far-right politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari to be taught at our schools?
Read on »Extremism in Finland and elsewhere grows on the same soil of hatred
The video clip blow is a frightening example of how far-right groups like the Nazi Party of the United States use the First Amendment (freedom of speech) to justify their hate speech. While it’s unlikely that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party or even Muutos 2011 and Vapauspuolue will have summer camps with Nazi flags and members dressed in SS-like gear, they do believe in racial purity and loathe Muslims.
Read on »Ten matters that ignite the debating spirit of Migrant Tales
Migrant Tales will never censor opinions that aren’t racist. One of the strengths of this blog has been its diversity of opinions on immigration, Finnish identity and other topics. Even so, some matters get our adrenalin circulating faster than others. Here are the top 10:
Read on »The meaning of the veil and why some want to ban it
Switzerland’s lower house of parliament voted Wednesday 101-77 to outlaw veils like the burqa when using public transport or visiting authorities, reports AP. The measure, which is being spearheaded by the Swiss People’s Party, will go for a vote in the upper house before federal elections next month.
Read on »Violence and racism are always in the eye of the victim
Are the Perussuomalaiset (PS) a violent party? Despite a story that was published widely by the media last week, there were no conclusions made by an ongoing study that a part of the PS approves violence, according to think tank Demos. The British-based think tank will publish the results of a wider study on online populism in Europe later this year.
Read on »guardian.co.uk: English Defence League filling vacuum left by mainstream politics, says report
Mainstream political parties must tackle far-right groups through doorstep hearts and minds campaigns that tackle anti-Muslim sentiments at local level, according to two reports on challenging extremists.
Read on »PS’ Hirvisaari and his overkill of the media
Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari went on the rampage today by calling journalists “bloodthirsty hyenas” as well as “arrogant and lying scum.” He equated persu, the shortened term for Perussuomalaiset which is now a forbidden word in parliament, to nekru, or the n-word.
Read on »Le Monde Diplomatique: Lessons from Norway
What do the tragic events in Utoya and Oslo tell us about the status of far-right, anti-immigrant or Islamophobic politics in Norway, Scandinavia and the rest of Europe? Commentators and “security experts” — many of whom were initially convinced of the Islamic nature of the attacks — have spent the past month speculating.
Read on »PS’ far right threatens our society and values
The sooner we comprehend as a society that the far-right wing of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party led by MP Jussi Halla-aho and his cronies are a threat to our Nordic way of life the better. There are already clear signs that this group of MPs in the PS has not only become a thorn in Timo Soini’s side but is being shunned by other political parties and the public.
Read on »Verkkolehti: Maahanmuuttokielteisyys on Suomessa vasta alullaan
Tanskan kokemusten pohjalta erikoistutkija Pertti Joenniemi ennustaa, että maahanmuuttokielteisyys on Suomessa vasta alullaan. Pahempaa on tulossa.
Read on »Spiegel Online International: Denmark To Get First Female Prime Minister
The Social Democrats have created election history in Denmark Thursday. They not only ended ten years of right-wing rule in Denmark and the role of the right-wing populist and xenophobic Danish People’s Party’s (DPP) in the passage of anti-immigration legislation, but will give the country their first woman prime minister.
Read on »Elections in Nordic Region send clear message to Finland’s PS
Anti-immigration populist parties in Norway and Denmark have suffered defeats in recent elections after mass-killer Anders Breivik went on the rampage on July 22. Both blows came this month. The first one was in the Norwegian municipal election, where the Progress Party (FrP) saw its support plunge by 6.1 percentage points to 11.5%. The second one happened Thursday in Denmark.
Read on »Newsday: Danish exit polls show opposition winning election
Danish voters appeared set to elect their first female prime minister Thursday and end 10 years of pro-market reforms and a hardening of immigration laws.
Read on »Der Spiegel International: Right-Wing Populists Face Test in Denmark
Just two months after the politically inspired massacre in Norway, a right-wing populist party, one of Europe’s most influential, will face a test of voter sentiment at the ballot box. The Danish People’s Party has been instrumental in tightening at least 20 laws pertaining to immigration and migration.
Read on »Finnish hate blogs’ toilet graffiti attack (or toilet democracy)
It is a positive sign that more politicians and organizations like the Council for Mass Media (JSN) are finally taking a strong stance against hate speech and racism that is rife on the net. These types of opinions, usually done anonymously and on sites like Hommaforum, Scripta and others, resemble racist peeping Toms writing graffiti on public toilet walls.
Read on »Politiken.dk: Opposition well ahead in Denmark –bad news for anti-immigration DPP party
With widespread rumours that the prime minister will be calling an election next week, the latest Megafon opinion poll for Politiken and TV2 puts the opposition alliance firmly ahead.
Read on »The far right and the PS should know there is no such thing as selective hatred
Even if some anti-immigration groups try to make their message more digestible to voters, it should be clear after the tragic events in Norway that hate speech affects everyone. Selective hatred is a myth. If you loathe one group that poison spills over on other ones and eventually to all of society.
Read on »Exposing the language of anti-immigration groups in Finland and Europe
One of the most surprising factors behind the hate speech of anti-immigration groups is that it is never portrayed as hatred. Racists never admit in public they are racists nor do far-right groups claim that they are extremists.
Read on »Far-right thinking and the cold war in Finland and the PS
The rise of far-right thinking and nationalism in Finland seen through the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is nothing new in the face of Finland’s long cold war isolation. Finnish-Soviet relations were not the only one that were under close scrutiny by the state, but how we interpreted our history and ourselves as a nation. That is now changing thanks to the reemergence of our ever-growing diversity as a nation.
Read on »PS stands for perkele saatanas – damn everything!
The biggest shock on April 17 was that Finns woke up to the reality that a large minority (19.1%) had radical views on issues like the EU, immigration and nationalism. A poll published on Friday showed that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party continues to be the biggest in Finland. What does it say about the present state of Finland?
Read on »The New York Review of Books: Toleration and the Future of Europe
In Anders Breivik’s manifesto, the ostensibly Christian defeat of the Ottoman armies at Vienna in 1683 is the central historical event. He imagines a European rebirth in 2083, four hundred years later, and names the Polish king Jan Sobieski, whose troops were crucial to raising the Ottoman siege, as one of his heroes: “John III Sobieski and the Holy League successfully defended Europe against an army of more than 150,000 Muslims.” Breivik thinks Europe today is again under siege from Muslims, and that Europeans must resort to “atrocious, but necessary” violence to defend it. It is unsurprising that what Breivik has to say about European history is trivial. The plagiarism of his manifesto recalls Hannah Arendt’s point that those who do great evil may themselves be incapable of cultural creation. The superficiality of his worldview recalls her notion that the greatest of evils has no roots, and therefore has no bounds. But since the reference to Vienna has largely passed without criticism, it is worth recalling for a moment what actually happened in 1683.
Read on »Halonen cites the economy and racism as threats to Finland
President Tarja Halonen was quoted as saying on YLE that the government is facing two challenges after it returns from its summer holiday: the economy and racism. Her advice was calm, patience and not allowing hate speech to overtake our worst fears.
Read on »AFP & YLE: Halla-aho claims being victim of “witch-hunt”
True Finns Party MP Jussi Halla-aho says that he feels that a witch-hunt has started against him and free speech after the Norway tragedy. In an interview with AFP, he said that things are completely out of control.
Read on »Living in post-22/7 Europe: “Fjordman” bows out
As Migrant Tales correctly predicted shortly after the mass killings in Norway, the impact on the sabre-rattling European chorus warning us of the danger of Islam is now on the defensive and on the run. “Fjordman,” Anders Behring Breivik’s mentor, said he would go underground for his own safety and never publish again with the infamous pseudonym, according to tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
Read on »Spiegel Online International: Can Europe’s Populists Be Blamed for Anders Breivik’s Crusade?
Norway and the world are still struggling to understand the ghastly deeds of Anders Breivik, who was driven to kill by his hatred of Muslims. His confused worldview, which Breivik describes in a 1,500-word manifesto, was influenced by European right-wing populists. Do politicians and writers share some of the blame for his terrible crimes? By SPIEGEL Staff.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat: Kansanedustaja: Tiedossa sisällissotia ja terrori-iskuja
Perussuomalaisten kansanedustaja Olli Immonen uskoo monikultturisen kehityksen Euroopassa johtavan tulevaisuudessa väkivaltaan.
Read on »Europe’s and Finland’s radical right: toning down diatribe rhetoric
We are seeing today how the impact of the killings in Norway have placed the far right and right-wing populist parties under greater scrutiny. If these parties are now forced to tone down their anti-immigration message that fueled their rise, will greater scrutiny dull their message and weaken them in the end?
Read on »Chicago Tribune: Muhammad Ali writes letter to people of Norway
Muhammad Ali has expressed his sadness about the bombing and massacre in Norway.
Read on »YLE: Parties consider Halla-aho’s position
Jussi Halla-aho, a critic of immigration and multiculturalism, is facing pressure to stand down as chair of parliament’s Administration committee in the wake of the Norwegian terror attacks. The Administration Committee deals with matters that include immigration policy and gun legislation.
Read on »Tino Singhin puhe mielenosoituksessa – Tinos tal på Demo – Tino’s speech at the demonstration
Kiitos kaikille, jotka olette tulleet paikalle.
Norjan tapahtumat ovat järkyttäneet meitä kaikkia ja haluamme ilmaista surumme ja tukemme uhrien omaisille ja kunnioittaa uhrien muistoa tulemalla tänne tänään rauhanomaisen solidaarisuuden osoituksen, väkivallattomuuden ja rauhan puolesta sekä ääriryhmien vihaa ja väkivaltaa vastaan.
Read on »Waging a war of “total words” in Finland and Europe
The Age of Chivalry died in the 2008 municipal election in Finland with the advent of “total words.” The ongoing war of words bring near memories of the former German concept of “total war,” which meant attacking undefended shipping, helpless civilians and breaking all the rules of wars prior to WW I.
Read on »tygodnik.onet.pl: Psychopaci są wśród nas
Ku oburzeniu dobrych chrześcijan policja poinformowała, że Breivik jest „chrześcijańskim fundamentalistą”. Trzeba się pogodzić i z tym, że „chrześcijański fundamentalizm” istnieje, że jest równie, a może bardziej groźny aniżeli fundamentalizmy laickie.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat: SDP tahtoo Halla-ahon eroa
Sdp aikoo kyseenalaistaa perussuomalaisten kansanedustaja Jussi Halla-Ahon aseman eduskunnan hallintovaliokunnan puheenjohtajana. Asiasta kertoo Ilta-Sanomat.
Read on »Living in post 22/7 for Finland’s PS: Better late than never?
It is clear that matters are no longer the same for the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party after the horrific events that shook Norway and the world on July 22. Migrant Tales predicted a couple of days after the mass killings that they would cast a critical light on far right and right-wing populist parties like the PS, which have been riding the crest of the popularity wave thanks to their anti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric.
Read on »HS.fi: Hirvittävä teko, mutta . . .
Perussuomalaisten kansanedustaja James Hirvisaari löytää syitä Norjan verilöylyyn ja tappaja Anders Breivikin toimintaan. Hirvisaari kirjoittaa ajatuksistaan Uuden Suomen Puheenvuoro-palstalla 24. 7. aloittamassaan keskustelussa.
Read on »The PS Counter-Jihadists are Soini’s biggest threat
For those who still believe that the mass killings in Norway will not impact parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and hate websites in this country should think twice. Migrant Tales was right: there is already clear evidence that living in a post-22/7 Europe has torn a hole in the argument of the anti-immigrant populists and extremists in Finland.
Read on »YLE: Soini: Suomen poliitikot käyttävät hyväkseen Norjan tragediaa
Ylen Päivän kasvo -ohjelmassa vieraillut perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Timo Soini sanoo, että Suomen poliitikot ovat käyttäneet hyväkseen Norjan murhenäytelmää yhdistämällä kaikki perussuomalaiset äärimielipiteisiin ja vihapuheeseen. Soini haluaa tehdä selväksi, että hän ei hyväksy väkivaltaa, ja katsoo, että viha on tuhoava voima.
Read on »Living in post-22/7 Europe: The tide has turned
One of the biggest blows to the far right and right-wing populist parties in Europe and the Nordic Region after the horrific events in Norway has been to seriously question their raison d’être: their provocative anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam discourse.
Read on »HS.fi: Tutkija: Äärioikeistolla jopa kymmeniätuhansia kannattajia Suomessa
Äärioikeiston kannattajien määrää Suomessa on hyvin hankalaa arvioida. Rasismintutkija Vesa Puuronen Itä-Suomen yliopiston sanoo, että nettifoorumeille kirjoittavien aktiivien ydinjoukkoon lukeutunee ennemmin satoja kuin tuhansia suomalaisia. Jos puhutaan vain äärioikeistolaisen ideologian kannattajista, pääluku voi nousta tuhansiin tai kymmeniintuhansiin.
Read on »YLE: Halonen calls for resistance to hatred
President Tarja Halonen says that now is the time to let Norwegians grieve for the victims of last Friday’s attacks. At the same time, this is the right moment to think of ways to prevent such a tragedy from striking any country again, according to Halonen.
Read on »guardian.co.uk: Anders Behring Breivik had no legitimate grievance
Despite the fact that Anders Behring Breivik was not permitted to publicly justify his actions in public on Monday, a scrambling defence of his repertoire of prejudice is already in full swing. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Bruce Bawer, who is quoted by Breivik in his manifesto 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, emphasises his repeated warnings that a rightwing extremist may use violence to address “legitimate concerns about genuine problems”. Bawer blames mainstream politics for failing to address the corrosion of Europe by Islamicisation and multiculturalism, meanwhile The Jerusalem Post cautions that “Oslo’s devastating tragedy should not be allowed to be manipulated by those who would cover up the abject failure of multiculturalism”.
Read on »Suomen Kuvalehti.fi: Terrorismintutkija: Breivik selittää tekonsa vasta-jihadilla – tästä on kyse
Kun uhrit on laskettu, alkaa syiden pohdinta. Millaisella ajatusmaailmalla Anders Behring Breivik perusteli tekonsa itselleen ja yrittää tehdä niin myös muille?
Breivik julkaisi perjantaina noin 1500-sivuisen manifestin, jossa hän muun muassa kuvailee valmistautumista terrori-iskuun. Hän kertoo vastustavansa islamia ja marxismia. Terrorismintutkija Toby Archer sanoo, että Breivik ei ole vain hullu. Hän on selvästi mielenvikainen, mutta hänellä on myös poliittinen viesti.
Read on »guardian.co.uk: The news coverage of the Norway mass-killings was fact-free conjecture
I went to bed in a terrible world and awoke inside a worse one. At the time of writing, details of the Norwegian atrocity are still emerging, although the identity of the perpetrator has now been confirmed and his motivation seems increasingly clear: a far-right anti-Muslim extremist who despised the ruling party.
Read on »Living in post-22/7 Europe
It is ironic that those right-wing populist and far-right parties that have gone out of their way to warn us about the threat of multiculturalism and religions like Islam have become the threat and Trojan Horses in our societies. In one horrific blow, Anders Behring Breivik did not only strike at Norway’s liberal democracy, but tore a hole in the argument of the anti-immigrant populists and fanatics.
Read on »HS.fi: Hommaforum suljettiin Norja-keskustelun takia
Maahanmuuttokriittinen keskustelupalsta Hommaforum suljettiin sunnuntaina. Sulkemisen syynä oli Norjan terrori-iskuista käyty kiivas keskustelu. Hommaforum aukeaa sunnuntai-iltana kymmeneltä.
Read on »Norway is a watershed for Finland and the Nordic region
The horrific carneage that took place in Norway on Friday at the hands of a far-right extremist is an watershed for our societies. Even if the mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik, is in police custody his outlandish deeds continue to provoke us.
Read on »Crossing a line in Norway and condemning it in Finland
When does a person or group cross the magic line from right-wing populism to far-right? The tragic events that struck Norway on Friday should help us to distinguish better where that magic line is and what our reaction to it should be.
Read on »Reuters: Analysis: Questions over far-right link in Norwegian attacks
A report that Norway’s bomb and gun rampage may be the work of a far-right militant confronts Europe with the possibility that a new paramilitary threat is emerging, a decade after al Qaeda’s September 11 attacks.
Read on »Right-wing populist parties want Europeans to live in their news blackout
The job of autocratic regimes is still made easy today thanks to faulty technology and infrastructure. If a military regime usurped power from a democratically elected government, it can literally “turn off the lights” and keep the population in a news and information blackout.
Read on »Am I a carrier of European right-wing populist rhetoric?
We all know that right-wing populism is on the rise in Europe. By the same token, many us without knowing it, may carry the same seeds of intolerance that these groups spread without ever knowing it. Certainly our democratic society must be able to debate a wide range of issues that affect us like immigration. We must, however, be able to distinguish what are inaccurate claims and facts.
Read on »“Living together:” Council of Europe Eminent Persons’ report
On behalf of the Council of Europe Group of Eminent Persons, Javier Solana Madariaga presented the report “Living Together:” Combining diversity and freedom in 21st-century Europe to the Committee of Ministers session meeting in Istanbul. Taking stock of the challenges arising from the resurgence of intolerance and discrimination in Europe, the report analyses “the threat” and proposes “the response” for “living together” in open European societies.
Read on »The New York Review of Books: A New Approach to the Holocaust
It is fruitless to reduce the manifold evil of the Holocaust to a single cause. Ideology, charisma, conformism, hatred, greed, and war were all very important, but each was related to the others and all mattered within rapidly changing historical circumstances. In his profound study Holocaust, Peter Longerich puts forward an analysis that includes all these factors and shows how politics or, as he puts it, Politik, set them all in motion. In this amplified English edition of his Politik der Vernichtung (1998), Longerich preserves the German term Judenpolitik, and with good reason. In German Politik means both “politics” and “policy,” and the compound noun (Juden + Politik) gives a sense of a joining of concepts that English cannot quite convey.
Read on »Helsingin Yliopisto: Populismin juuret ovat kaukana historiassa
“On selvää, että äärioikeiston kannatuksen kasvu on yleiseurooppalainen ilmiö”, sanoo Suomen Akatemian tuore tutkijatohtori Inari Sakki. Monien muiden Euroopan maiden tavoin populistipuolueet ovat moninkertaistaneet kannatuksensa viime vuoden aikana myös Suomessa ja Ruotsissa. Vaikka ilmiö on näkyvä, Inari Sakin mielestä uutta tietoa aiheeseen tuo sosiaalipsykologinen näkökulma.
Read on »The role of nationalist populism in Finland
Like a new chapter of history book, each decade brings out its unique personality for the foreign correspondent. In the 1980s it was Helsinki’s special relationship with Moscow and in the 1990s the country’s full political and economic integration with Western Europe. The first decade of the present century was a lull where the country reaped the fruits of the right decisions made in the previous two decades. What kind of a child will the 2010s be?
Read on »Nelonen: Lipponen: Äärioikeisto asettunut perussuomalaisiin
Entisen pääministerin Paavo Lipposen mukaan perussuomalaisten äärioikeistolaiset on eristettävä, eikä heille saa antaa tuumaakaan periksi. Paavo Lipposen mukaan nykyiseen eduskuntaan on nyt asettunut äärioikeisto.
Read on »El País: El ocaso de la tolerancia nórdica
La victoria electoral de los Auténticos Finlandeses ha supuesto una pequeña revolución en el país nórdico, pero sobre todo ha hecho saltar todas las alarmas en una región en la que hasta hace bien poco era casi impensable escuchar argumentos tan extremistas como los que ahora circulan por los Parlamentos nacionales de la zona. Los partidos de extrema derecha y populistas nórdicos ya no pueden ser ignorados porque les respalda una parte del electorado nada despreciable. En Finlandia y en Dinamarca han sido la tercera fuerza más votada. En Suecia han aflorado de la semioscuridad y han entrado en la cámara parlamentaria.
Read on »HS: Perussuomalaisten ohjelmajohtaja haluaa puolueet päättämään taiteesta
Perussuomalaisten eduskuntavaaliohjelmassa on poliittiseksi ohjelmaksi harvinaisen pitkä kulttuuripoliittinen osio. Kulttuuri on 14-osaisen ohjelman alussa heti aatelinjausten jälkeen – siis paljon ennen talous- tai sosiaalipoliittisia osioita. Kulttuurista kirjassa kirjoitetaan yhtä paljon kuin veropolitiikasta.
Read on »CNN: Burqa ban turns a right into a crime
London, England (CNN) — The ban imposed by French President Sarkozy on wearing a face-covering veil, or niqab, is simply dangerous gesture politics, representing little more than pandering to the far right in France.
Read on »Iltalehti: Perussuomalaisten ehdokas: Holokaustia on liioiteltu
Eduskuntaan pyrkii holokaustin kyseenalaistaja ja rotujen sekoittumista vastustava. Kansanedustajuutta tavoittelee useita perussuomalaisia ehdokkaita, jotka ovat allekirjoittaneet maahanmuuttovastaisen ns. nuivan manifestin. Osalla ehdokkaista on läheiset suhteet äärikansalliseen Suomen Sisuun.
Read on »Helsingin Sanomat: Rotuajattelu elää täälläkin
Tutkija Vesa Puurosen johtopäätös on karu: “Suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa vallitsee rotujärjestelmä, ja rasismi tarkoittaa rotujärjestelmän ylläpitämistä”. Kirjassaan Rasistinen Suomi Puuronen etsii suomalaisen rasismin juuria ja tämän ajan rasismia.
Read on »Magma Media: Populismin nousu Euroopassa
Ääriliikkeet ja poliittinen populismi ovat lisänneet kannatustaan eri maissa. Kyse on rajat ylittävästä ilmiöstä. Populismin alla on selvästi toisistaan poikkeavia liikkeitä ja puolueita. Ideologioissa, tavoitteissa, toimintatavoissa ja ääriliikkeiden esittämissä uhkakuvissa on eroja, mutta myös yhtäläisyyksiä.
Read on »HS: Perussuomalaisten ehdokkaina useita Suomen sisun jäseniä
Perussuomalaisten eduskuntavaaliehdokkaina on useita kansallismielisen Suomen sisu -yhdistyksen jäseniä. Heitä ovat muun muassa Olli Immonen Oulusta, James Hirvisaari Asikkalasta, Teemu Lahtinen Espoosta, Johannes Nieminen Vantaalta ja Jussi Halla-aho Helsingistä.
Read on »Tunisia and Egypt are a blow to Islamophobia
The joy and the historic day celebrated this evening in Egypt after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak can be felt everywhere. The emancipation of the Egyptians, after thirty years of rule by an autocratic and corrupt regime supported by the West, is contagious and will certainly spread to other parts of the region. People power in the Arab world will also be a long-term blow to the pet topic of far-right parties: Islamophobia.
Read on »Suomen Kuvalehti: Totuuspuntari: Onko turvapaikanhakijoiden määrä nelinkertaistunut nykyisen hallituksen aikana?
Väite:
Turvapaikanhakijoiden määrä on nelinkertaistunut nykyisen hallituksen aikana.
Perussuomalaisten helsinkiläinen kansanedustajaehdokas Jussi Halla-aho on väittänyt blogissaan otsikolla Tiedote eduskuntavaaleihin 2011 liittyen, että turvapaikanhakijoiden määrä on nelinkertaistunut vuodesta 2007, jolloin nykyinen hallitus aloitti toimintansa.
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Read on »Vihreä Lanka: Suomalainen puolue järjestää Muhammed-hevitapahtuman: ”Mautonta!”
Suomen islamilaisen neuvoston tiedottaja Isra Lehtinen pitää ”Crushing The Balls of Muhammad” -hevi-iltaa mauttomana.
Read on »Those who give freedom of expression a bad name in Finland
One of the most incredible claims by anti-immigration groups like the True Finns is that they are not allowed to criticize immigrants in general and Muslims in particular. They argue that all they are doing is exercising their freedom of expression.
Read on »The True Finns and their red herrings
A red herring is something intended to divert attention from the real issue. When it comes to immigration, the True Finns do not have one but many red herrings on their plate.
Read on »The tale of two racist spray paintings in an eastern Finnish city
A new association called Kansavinvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) was registered on September 23. One of its most important aims is to serve as a forum where Finns and immigrants can openly debate topics that affect each other and create a greater sense of community.
Read on »Immigration debate in Finland and Europe: Turning the lights off
I remember a long time ago reading an editorial by the Buenos Aires Herald on how the military coup of 1976 was able to shut off information lights of Argentina. It argued that since outdated infrastructure such as telephones and telecommunications were in a wretched state, it was easy for the junta leaders to literally turn off the lights and keep the country in an information bubble.
Read on »The far right strikes at immigrants in Finland and elsewhere
There is an interesting (long) article in a recent issue of Time that writes about the rise of the far-right in Europe. One of the favorite shooting grounds of these parties are immigrants in general and Muslims in particular.
Read on »Finland also locks up asylum seeker children
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- A child in the Joutseno Immigration Removal Center.
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