Cogadh dearg na gciníochaithe
Nuair a d’iontráil radacaigh chiníocha na heite deise Páirtí na bhFíor-Fhionlan-nach roinnt blianta ó shin, ba é an rud nua a thug siad isteach i saol polaitiúil na Fionlainne ná an ciníochas intleachtúil. Go nuige sin ní bhíodh cluas éisteachta ar fáil do na ciníochaithe sa tír seo, agus bhí an tsochaí go léir ar aon fhocal nach bhféadfadh ach tuathaláin gan oideachas gan oiliúint dul le ciníochas ná le faisisteachas. Mar sin, ní raibh muid in ann ag ciníochaithe a raibh céim ollscoile acu – céim an dochtúra, fiú.
Ar ndóigh, áfach, ní dhéanann céim ollscoile duine deas den ruifíneach. Duine de na ‘Fíor-Fhionlannaigh’ a vótáladh isteach sna holltoghcháin dheireanacha ab ea James Hirvisaari, fear a raibh staidéar diagachta déanta aige, cé gur shaothraigh sé a chuid ag tiomáint inneall traenach. Thug sé le fios ó thús gur fear macánta diaga a bhí ann, ach nuair a d’éirigh leis neadú a dhéanamh sa tsaol pholaitiúil thabhaigh sé dintiúirí an chiníochaí mhór dó féin.
An chuid ba mhó de thuathghríosóireacht Hirvisaari ní raibh ann ach na gnáthscéalta faoin dóigh a raibh fir ghorma ón Afraic ag éigniú rompu gan stad gan staonadh, mar shampla. Uair amháin áfach chum sé blagmhír faoin teideal ‘Brisigí pus an fhir chataigh’. Bhí sé tar éis scéal beag nuachta a léamh ar pháipéar an lae faoin ionsaí a rinne dornán d’fhir Fhionlannacha faoi Afracánach éigin ar stáisiún na mearthraenach cathrach i Heilsincí. Thug sé le fios nach raibh ciníochas ar bith i gceist, agus dúirt sé gurbh fhéidir go raibh an fear gorm tar éis é féin a chur chun tosaigh ar bhean Fhionlannach agus go raibh sé sothuigthe somhaite má rith le baicle éigin pionós cóir a imirt ar an nGormach a rinne a leithéid, ní raibh leid ar bith dá leithéid sa scéal nuachta a bhí á phlé ag Hirvisaari, ar ndóigh. Ansin chrom sé ar a ghnáthóráidíocht ag áitiú nach bhfuil ciníochas ar bith san Fhionlainn, ach amháin go bhfuil fuath ciníoch na ndaol ag na Muslamaigh ar na Fionlannaigh. Ní féidir a rá go mbeadh an bhlagmhír ródhifriúil leis an gcineál scéalta a bhíodh Hirvisaari a insint dúinn ag ócáidí eile, ach ó ba léir ón scéal go raibh sé ag áitiú ar lucht a leanúna daoine gorma a ionsaí agus sheas sé an dlí agus fíneáladh é as an gcoir ar a dtugtar ”gríosú in aghaidh grúpa eitneach” san Fhionlainn. Ar ndóigh ní dhearna breith na cúirte ach tuilleadh a chur le cuthach mo dhuine, agus lucht a leanúna ag breathnú air mar mhairtíreach agus é ag troid ar son cead cainte.
Anois d’imigh sin agus tháinig seo. Thug Timo Soini, cathaoirleach Pháirtí na bhFíor-Fhionlannach, bata agus bóthar do Hirvisaari as a pháirtí ar fad. Ba é ba spreagadh don bheart seo ná gur fháiltigh Hirvisaari roimh chuairteoir neamhghnách chuig parlaimint na Fionlainne: fear míchlúiteach darb ainm Seppo Lehto. Ainm é sin a aithnítear go forleathan in idirlíon na Fionlainne, nó chaith Lehto an chuid ab fhearr de ré an idirlín ag bunú blaganna bréige faoi ainmneacha polaiteoirí, ag cur Cumannachas agus homaighnéasachas i leith aon duine nár aontaigh lena chuid tuairimí radacacha eite deise féin agus ag maslú daoine go ginearálta, daoine gorma ach go háirithe. Nuair a d’ardaigh Lehto leathlámh ar nós na Naitsithe os comhair fheisirí na parlaiminte, tháinig deireadh le ré Hirvisaari sa pháirtí.
Ábhar cainte, caidéise agus cabaireachta é sacáil Hirvisaari go ceann tamaill fhada fós. Ba mhinic a chuirtí an cheist roimhe seo ná cé chomh cairdiúil a bhí an cathaoirleach Timo Soini leis na radacaigh Fhaisisteacha ina pháirtí i ndáiríre. Bhí a lán ag déanamh nach raibh ‘deachtóir’ an pháirtí in ann na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh a choinneáil faoi smacht a thuilleadh, cé gur léir le fada an lá go raibh na radacaigh ag cur chun cinn a gcuid cuspóirí féin taobh istigh den pháirtí. Anois, tá an chuma ag teacht ar an scéal go bhfuil Soini ag iarraidh a pháirtí a athshealbhú agus a athghabháil.
Scríbhneoir Gaeilge ón bhFionlainn é Panu Höglund.
War in the party of racists
When racist right-wing radicals entered the True Finns party a couple of years ago, they introduced a new kind of intellectual racism in Finnish political life. Until then racists were hardly listened to in society, with everybody basically agreeing that only uneducated louts could become racists or fascists. Thus, we weren’t able to copy with racists with university degrees – even with doctoral degrees.
However, ruffians are ruffians, even with university degrees. One of the new ‘True Finn’ members of the Finnish Parliament was James Hirvisaari, who had studied theology, although he made his money driving a locomotive. He gave himself the air of a sincere religious person, but when he established himself in politics, he soon acquired the name and infamy of a great racist.
Most of Hirvisaari’s demagoguery is just the plain old stuff about, for instance, how black men from Africa are raping every woman in sight. Once, though, he published a blog post with the caption ‘Smash the face of the curly-head’. He had read a news item about how a gang of Finnish men had assaulted an African at a Helsinki metro station. He suggested that it was not about racism at all, but about a black man sexually harassing a Finnish woman, and that it was understandable and excusable if some gang then gave the African his just deserts (of course nothing like that was as much as hinted at in the original news item). The rest of the blog post was the usual diatribe about how there was no racism in Finland at all, with the exception of the Muslims’ racist hatred of Finns. The blog post was not exactly different from what you usually get from Hirvisaari, but as it could be inferred that he was inciting his acolytes to attack black men, and he was eventually fined for the crime known as ”incitement against an ethnic group” in Finland. Of course the verdict did nothing to stymie his rage, and his followers even started to honour him as a martyr to the cause of the freedom of expression.
Now things have changed. Timo Soini, chairman of the True Finns, expelled Hirvisaari from the party. This move was above all due to the extraordinary guest whom Hirvisaari invited to parliament: Seppo Lehto, a man of rather ill repute in Finland. His name is all too well known to internet users in the country, because he has spent most of the time since the advent of the internet starting identity-theft blogs purportedly written by politicians, accusing everybody disagreeing with his radically right-wing views and abusing people generally, but black people especially. When Lehto raised his hand to a Nazi salute in front of the members of parliament, Hirvisaari’s days in the True Finns party were numbered.
Hirvisaari’s sacking will be much talked about for some time yet. It has been one of the great unknowns in Finnish politics, how friendly Timo Soini, the party leader, actually is with the fascist radicals in his party. Many have been suggesting that the ‘dictator’ of the party can’t control the True Finns anymore, although it has been obvious for some time that radicals are just exploiting the party to further their own purposes. Now it seems Soini is trying to reclaim the party as his own.
Panu Höglund is an Irish-language writer from Finland.
