Le cúig bliana anuas, ar a laghad, bíonn scríbhneoirí, staraithe agus polai-teoirí san Fhionlainn ag fáil bagairtí ó antoiscigh na heite deise. Bíonn na hantoiscigh seo difriúil le chéile: cuid acu is daoine iad a chaitheas a gcuid vótaí ar mhaithe le Páirtí na bhFhionlannach (ar a dtugtaí na bhFíor-Fhionlannach), cuid eile tá baint acu le dreamanna is fíochmhaire ná sin. Ar dtús ní raibh ann i ndáiríre ach bagairtí.
I Mí na Samhna 2013 áfach d’athraigh an scéal ó bhonn nuair a d’ionsaigh dornán Fíor-Fhionlannach polaiteoir áitiúil Jarmo Laitinen agus a bhean chéile Minna i gcathair bheag Heinola. Chaith an bhean an oíche sin san ospidéal áitiúil chomh dona is a threascair na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh í.
Polaiteoir de chuid an Aontais Chlé é Laitinen, agus é díreach ag filleadh abhaile ó chruinniú an cheardchumainn áitiúil nuair a hionsaíodh é. Is é an chúis a bhí ag na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh le mo dhuine a ionsaí ná gur ‘cumannach’ a bhí ann; le fírinne áfach is ar éigean is féidir páirtí cumannach a thabhairt ar an Aontas Clé i gciall cheart an fhocail. Páirtí é a tháinig i gcomharbas ar Aontas Daonlathach Mhuintir na Fionlainne i dtús na nóchaidí.
Comheagraíocht dá lán fórsaí ón eite chlé ab ea an t-aontas seo a raibh an Páirtí Cumannach ina bhalleagraíocht di, agus bhíodh sé ina scéal magaidh ag na comhaimsearthaigh an dóigh a mbíodh na cumannaigh Stailíneacha agus neamh-Stailíneacha agus na hidéalaigh neamh-chumannacha ag easaontú le chéile san Aontas seo.
Mar sin, nuair a thugas na ‘Fíor-Fhionlannaigh’ le tuiscint go bhfuil siad ag ionsaí ‘cumannaigh’, ní hionann sin is a rá nach bhfuil dainséar ar bith ag bagairt orthu siúd nach n-aithníonn iad féin ina gCumannaigh d’aon chineál. Le fírinne bíonn lucht leanúna an pháirtí chomh dall ar thraidisiún polaitiúil na Fionlainne agus go dtugann siad cumannach ar aon duine nach bhfuil sásta tacaíocht a léiriú don chiníochas ghránna atá á chraobhscaoileadh ag an bpáirtí i saol na Fionlainne.
Díol iontais é an polarú polaitiúil a chuaigh i bhfeidhm ar an tír leis na blianta beaga anuas. Níl aon ghá ceart leis – is rud é a spreag na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh as a stuaim féin. Tá an chuma ag teacht ar na cúrsaí anois go raibh siad in ann foréigean polaitiúil a spreagadh freisin – gan aon chúis ach an fuath atá ag an bpáirtí ar na Muslamaigh, ar na Gormaigh agus ar aon duine nach nglacann an col céanna leis an dá dhream sin.
Scríbhneoir Gaeilge ón bhFionlainn é Panu Höglund.
or at least five years now, writers, historians and politicians in Finland have been forced to put up with threats from right-wing radicals. There are several kinds of them: some are simply people voting for the Finns Party (formerly known as True Finns); others are affiliated with more furious groupings.
To start with there were only threats. In November 2012, though, this changed entirely, when a handful of True Finns supporters attacked local politician Jarmo Laitinen and his wife Minna in the small town of Heinola. Minna was beaten so badly that she had to spend the night in the local hospital.
Jarmo Laitinen is a member of the Left Union, and he was attacked on his way home from the meeting of a local trade union. The reason the True Finns supporters gave for assaulting him was his being an alleged ‘communist’, though it’s hardly possible to call the Left Union a communist party. It came into being as a successor organisation of the Democratic Union of the Finnish People at the beginning of the nineties, this being a joint organisation of leftist forces in Finland.
The Communist Party was a member organisation of the Democratic Union, and back then the internal discord between Stalinist and non-Stalinist communists and non-communist idealists was a standing joke in Finnish politics.
So when these ‘True Finns’ have us understand they are assaulting ‘communists’, this does not mean that those who do not see themselves as any kind of communists should not be afraid. In fact the followers of the party are so ignorant of the political tradition of their own country that they are happy to call a communist anyone who does not support the kind of brutal racism their party is propagating in Finnish life.
The recent political polarisation of the country is a puzzling phenomenon. There is no real need for it; it is basically something the True Finns have provoked into being. Things are now looking such a way that its supporters are even able to create political violence out of nothing – without any other reason than the party’s own hatred of Muslims, Africans and anybody who does not detest those minority groups.
Panu Höglund is an Irish language writer from Finland.
