Suppressing Free Speech in Finnish Local Government

Stories about the suppression of political speech throughout the West have grown so numerous that I can no longer report them all. I could dedicate every moment of my day to chronicling the illiberal enforcement of PC Multiculturalism, but it would still be impossible to cover all the incidents.

In many countries — Sweden, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the USA, just to name a few — a naked power play has emerged that persecutes any and all opposition. Its actions are covered by various legal fig leaves: hate speech, racism, discrimination, racial incitement, hets mot folkgrupp, etc. But underneath it is the desire of the ruling oligarchs to maintain their monopoly on power by enforcing the orthodoxy that undergirds it.

Recent elections in Europe indicate a nascent awareness of the coming discontinuity, and a resistance is awakening. Electoral results in Italy, Britain, Denmark, and Austria, among others, demonstrate that a healthy sense of national identity is alive and well and intends to express itself. In response we can expect an even tougher crackdown by the elites of the EU and its member states, who will attempt to suppress these rebellious trends using whatever means are necessary.

The latest example comes from Finland. Local elections last weekend resulted in a strong showing by a Finnish nationalist party, the True Finns. Since then, the Finnish chapter of The Powers That Be has mobilized against what it considers politically unacceptable speech. Below is a report by our Finnish correspondent Sludge:

Some brief background information first:

• The largest parties in Finland are the Social Democrats, the Center Party and the National Coalition Party. Combined, the muster approximately 70-75% support in all elections.
  
• The party called the True Finns had 0.9% support in the last municipal elections on 2004.
  
• Immigration politics has not been discussed in Finland either, on a local or national level, not in the political arena, not in the media.

Municipal elections were held in Finland last Sunday. The biggest winners of the elections were the True Finns, who raised their support from 0.9% to 5.4%. This means that where they previously had representatives in about 40 municipalities, they are now represented in more than 150 municipalities. Their victory was also notably high in the largest cities like Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa.

One of the leading themes of the True Finns has been immigration. The party has been the only party that has been addressing this issue at all.

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The True Finns’ victory has caused widespread discussion in the media and on bulletin boards. The top newspaper of Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, was very willing to point out that this was a victory for “right populists”, although the True Finns’ economic politics are known to be quite leftist. There were also, of course, a few mentions of Austria’s example, Haider, etc.

But the real new comes from the Ministry of Justice. The Minister of Justice, Ms, Tuija Brax, told us last night in YLE (the Finnish BBC) channel news that the Ministry of Justice is launching a programme to train local government leaders on how to handle racist speech. Justice Minister Brax says xenophobia is a real problem in Finland and local leaders will be trained to stop any slanderous speech that may occur during council meetings.

Complete news in English may be found at YLE.

The Finnish constitution provides for freedom of speech for all Finns. Hate speech and inciting racial hatred are punishable according Finnish law. But if someone were to commit this kind of crime, shouldn’t he be prosecuted and punished after the crime occurs? Is the Ministry of Justice committing a crime against constitution here, since it is engaging in prior censorship of speech in local governments?

Tundra Tabloids has more:

Folks, the Finnish political elite are dumbstruck that the average Finn has voted into power, in sweeping numbers, politicians who will address the peoples’ concerns about mass immigration.

It’s also important to understand the thinking that drives the supporters of the multicultural project. Though the political elite refuses to say it out loud, they deem anyone who has a serious doubt, or raises a serious complaint about mass immigration, as either being a racist, or entertaining ‘racist thoughts’.

Right now the mandarins of the utopian multicultural project are in shock that their wisdom has been called into question, and they now seek to stanch any further erosion of their base by labeling all critics of mass immigration, as possible ‘spreaders of hate speech’ or ‘incitement of a national group’.

The person being vilified in the interview transcribed below, is none other than Jussi Halla-aho [see Jussi’s posts at GoV here and here — BB], the second largest vote getter for the PS party in Helsinki. He is slandered in the YLE interview as having been openly ‘anti-immigrant’, instead of being described as just a critic of mass immigration. Halla-aho is not a racist, is not against immigrants or immigrant groups, but against the current governments policies in regards to mass immigration as being the only solution in solving the supposed crisis in the work market, as well as the Govt’s turning a blind eye to the criminal activity amongst Finland’s immigrant community.

Both YLE and the political elite know fully well that to black ball a politician in such a way, is to automatically sideline both him and his message…

And in another post:

The Left is totally clueless as to why people are upset with the thought that they will soon become a minority within the areas they call home. Anyone caught bucking that thought is immediately to be dragged before the Ministry of Justice for re-education lessons on what it means to be a good citizen.

People are pissed off that they have spent their life’s hard work in building a society that they can be proud of, only to see mass immigration spoil their dream of what Finnish society should be, or what they were promised it would be. Denial is in the air.

Islam is indeed a threat to a liberal, pluralistic democratic society, and the fact that the Leftists still have problems figuring out why that is so, is disturbing. In EVERY COUNTRY where Islam has washed up on its shores, after a certain demographic percentage is achieved, the demands by the many different Muslim groups begins. The trend is repeated over and over again. How much longer before the Left… finally gets it?

Actually, in a way the Left does get it. Their eagerness to persecute anyone who dares to transgress the boundaries of orthodoxy indicates that they are at least subliminally aware of the deep anger that is growing within the native populations of the “regions” of Europe.

Nations are stubborn things.

The longer the lid is kept on, the bigger the explosion when it finally pops. That’s why the screws have to be turned ever tighter. It’s a futile attempt to prevent the inevitable.