Who spreads hatred in Finland: YLE or the PS?

Attempting to gain the maximum political mileage from the act of vandalism against the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* office in Helsinki on Thursday, party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, is pointing the finger at the “green-left alliance” (a favorite catchword that the party uses to describe its enemies) and YLE for comparing it to the anti-immigration far-right Sweden Democrats.

Another ludicrous claim made by the party at the same press conference Friday is that the PS has sacked all of its racists and fascists.

Matti Putkonen, who made the claim, hasn’t apparently heard of Harri Tauriainen, a city of Kemi councilman, who used to have “white power” emblems on his Facebook page and who said: “…it’s odd that we can’t put in line in Finland this colored human group of trash. Just put a stamp on their ass and deport them for good from Finland.”

PS councilman Harri Tauriainen’s Facebook page. He will be running for MP in the April.

Putkonen hasn’t heard as well of Suomen Sisu, a far-right association whose chairman is PS MP Olli Immonen.

Suomen Sisi believes, among other fascist ideas, in “racial hygiene” and that white Finns shouldn’t marry foreigners.

Putkonen and the party appear to have conveniently forgotten about how its third vice president MP Juho Eerola is attracted to Benito Mussolini’s fascism.

There are many cases that clearly prove that the PS is rife with racists and fascists.

Gathering by these sound bites by Slunga-Poutsalo and Putkonen, it’s clear that there is manifest unease in the party. After getting 39 MPs elected in the 2011 parliamentary elections and becoming Finland’s third-largest party like the Sweden Democrats today in the Riksdagen (Swedish parliament), it’s clear that they won’t match that historic victory in 2015.

In the last presidential, municipal and EU elections, the PS has lagged far behind their best result so far.

We don’t hide the fact at Migrant Tales that the PS are for the above and many other reasons a menace to Finland and especially to migrants and minorities. We won’t vandalize their offices but we’ll fight them at the ballot boxes in April to send them back to the minor political leagues after the April 2015 elections.

Four years of the PS in the opposition has not only polarized our society, it has undermined our democratic institutions with its hostility towards migrants and minorities.

Read full story here.

And here’s what we should be asking in light of what happened and what the PS wants us to believe: Who spreads more hatred in Finland – YLE or the PS?

Slunga-Poutsalo could ask the Somali and Muslim community, which have been a near-constant target of the party, what they think about much of the anti-immigration hostility against them. How has the spread of such hatred made their lives easier in Finland? Has it helped migrants in general to integrate and become equal members of this society?

The PS party secretary should ask as well how their intolerance has rubbed off on others like the National Coalition Party, whose MP, Pia Kauma, has spread outright lies about migrants buying new baby carriages with social aid.

Why does the PS continue to attack migrants and minorities? Why does the party continue to support Hommaforum, a racist website that is like a peep show where anonymous racists can see hate comments instead of naked women?

At the same time, Slunga-Poutsalo could ask Finland the same question: How have MPs like Teuvo Hakkarainen, Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola, former PS MP James Hirvisaari and many, many others reinforced our Nordic way of life by promoting respect and social equality to everyone?

Slunga-Poutsalo could take a long look at the mirror herself and ask about the Nuiva Manifesto, which she signed. If the anti-immigration manifesto ever came into force, it would bolster racism and white privilege to new heights.

While acts of vandalism against a party should be condemned, so should the violence and hostility of parties like the PS against migrants and minorities.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.