Is é an scéala a bhíos le léamh sna nuachtáin Fhionlannacha le déanaí ná go bhfuil na coireanna ciníocha ag dul i méadaíocht in aghaidh an lae, ach ba é an dúnmharú i bpizzeria in Oulu ar an 18 lá de Mhí Feabhra an t-ainghníomh ba mheasa le tamall maith anuas. The usual news in the Finnish press is that racist crime is increasing every day, but the pizzeria murder in Oulu on 18 February was the worst deed of this kind for a long time.
Bhuail fear ceithre bliana fichead isteach i dteach itheacháin sa chathair úd in iarthuaisceart na Fionlainne le píotsa a ordú. Direach nuair a bhí an freastalaí óg ag glacadh leis an ordú, tharraing an custaiméir piostal agus thosaigh sé ag loscadh ina thimpeall. Fuair an freastalaí óg bás sa teagmháil, agus gortaíodh fear meánaosta a bhí ag obair san áit go dona. Sa deireadh, chuir fear an phiostail lámh ina bhás féin.
Daoine as an Afraic Thuaidh iad an triúr, an fear óg a fuair bás, an fear eile a gortaíodh, agus an t-úinéir a theith lena anam. Mar sin, is follasach go raibh an tír ar coipeadh le buillí faoi thuairim maidir le tucaidí ciníocha an dúnmharfóra.
Ní féidir ceastóireacht a chur ar fhear mharbh, agus mar sin, tá an dá bh'fhéidir ann agus beidh go deo. An fear óg a rinne an t-ainghníomh, bhí cúlra foréigin aige, agus é i ndiaidh cúpla bliain a chaitheamh i dtóin phríosúin i ndiaidh dó cara leis a mharú de spadhar. Taghdaire fir a bhí ann, de réir chosúlachta, a d'ionsódh daoine de réir mar a rithfeadh leis, agus mar sin, is deacair a rá arbh é an ciníochas an tucaid ba tábhachtaí. Bhí sé ag maíomh ar a leathanach Facebook go raibh sé ”ag obair do” cheann de na dronga ciontóireachta ba mhó a chuireanns eagla ar na Fionlannaigh, ach is dócha nach raibh ann ach cúlaistín.
Scéal eile áfach go raibh lúcháir an domhain ar lucht an chiníochais i ndiaidh an ”ruathair fhéinmharfaigh” seo. Dúirt Tommi Rautio, polaiteoir cúigiúil de chuid Pháirtí na bhFíor-Fhionlannach gur chóir bonn óir a bhronnadh ar an dúnmharfóir, ó mharaigh sé Arabach a tháinig ó thír Mhuslamach. Tá an tIarthar ag cur cogaidh ar na Muslamaigh, a thug sé le fios, agus a bhonn óir tuillte ag gach laoch cogaidh.
Maidir leis na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh, is páirtí é a gcuirtear ciníochas agus Faisisteachas ina leith go minic, ach dealraíonn sé nach bhfuil ach faicsean áirithe sa pháirtí i ndáiríre ag tacú le hidé-eolaíocht an ‘fhrith-jioháid’, ar tharraing Anders Behring Breivik, slua-mharfóir na hIorua, súil an tsaoil mhóir uirthi.
An chaint a tháinig ó bhéal Rautio, is léir go bhfuil blas an Bhréivíceachais uirthi. Cúpla lá roimh an dúnmharú in Oulu d'fhógair Breivik féin don phreas go raibh gníomh gaisce déanta aige nuair a mharaigh sé na daoine óga san oileán taobh amuigh d'Oslo agus gur chóir don stát Ioruach bonn óir a dheonú dó as a chuid laochais. Is deacair gan ráiteas Rautio a chur i gcomparáid lena ndúirt Breivik.
I ndiaidh do Rautio an dúnmharfóir a mholadh dúirt Timo Soini, cathaoirleach na bhFíor-Fhionlannach, nach foláir Rautio a chaitheamh amach as an bpáirtí scun scan. Níltear cinnte áfach an gcuirfidh Soini beart lena bhriathar. Roimhe seo, bhí caint beagnach chomh gránna céanna le cloisteáil óna lán polaiteoirí eile de chuid an pháirtí, agus cuid acu sáite go domhain i ngréasáin idirnáisiúnta na bhfrith-jiohádaithe. Níor thug Soini bata ná bóthar dóibh siúd riamh, cé gur bhagair sé ar dtús pionós dian a ghearradh dóibh. Sa deireadh, dealraíonn sé go raibh sé an iomarca i dtuilleamaí na bpolaiteoirí ciníocha le haghaidh vótaí.
Scéal eile é Rautio, ós rud é nach bhfuil ann ach polaiteoir paróisteach nach raibh mórán cumhachta aige sa pháirtí riamh. Is iomaí tráchtaire a deir gur ceithearnach é den chineál is féidir a íobairt. Bhí Soini riamh ag áitiú nach raibh fáilte sa pháirtí roimh lucht ciníochais, ráiteas a bhain draothgháire ciniciúil as a lán Fionlannach i rith na mblianta beaga, ach anois, d'fhéadfadh sé ruaigeadh a chur ar Rautio le buille feiceálach a bhualadh in aghaidh an chiníochais.
Bhí na hidé-eolaithe frith-jioháid sa pháirtí in ann riamh duilleog fige a chur ar a gcuid tuairimí ciníocha leis an gcúldoras a fhágáil ag Soini nuair a bhí na nuachtáin ag cur ina leith go raibh sé ag tabhairt tearmainn do na ciníochaithe radacacha. Is é an seanfhreagra smolchaite a thuganns sé do na líomhaintí faoi chiníochas ná nach raibh a pháirtí ag cur in aghaidh na n-eachtrannach ar chúiseanna ciníochais, gurbh iad na heachtrannaigh a bhí ar an deolchaire ba mhó a chuir isteach orthu, agus nach raibh ach fearadh na fáilte acu roimh an duine ón gcoigríoch a bheadh sásta a chuid a shaothrú ag obair go fónta ionraic.
Is éard a thaispeáin ráiteas Rautio – agus níorbh é an chéad ráiteas den chineál seo é dár chuala muid ó bhéal na bhFíor-Fhionlannach – ná nach bhfuil bunús ar bith leis an gcur ó dhoras sin. An Maracach óg a maraíodh in Oulu, ni ar an bparóiste a bhí sé ag maireachtáil. Fuair sé bás díreach nuair a bhí sé i mbun oibre.
Tá Panu Höglund scríbhneoir Fionlannach ar líne agus aistritheoir.
A 24-year-old man entered an eatery in that city in northwestern Finland to order a pizza. When the waiter was accepting his order, the customer pulled a pistol and started to shoot wildly all around. The young waiter was killed immediately, and a middle-aged man also employed by the restaurant was badly hurt. Finally, the pistol man killed himself.
The young man killed, the other man hurt, and the restaurant owner (who escaped) were all from North Africa. Thus, Finland is now ripe with guessing about racist motives behind the murder.
The dead culprit won't answer any questions, so the role of racism in this particular crime will be an unresolved enigma. What can be said is that the killer had a history of impulsive violence, and that he had done some time in prison after unexpectedly killing a friend. He was, it seems, a fitful person who would attack people according to his taste and fancy, and it is difficult to say whether racism was a very important factor. On his Facebook page, he was boasting about ”working for” one of the most dreaded gangs in Finland, but he was hardly much more than a wannabe.
It is another story that Finnish racists were bubbling with exultation after this ”suicide attack”. Tommi Rautio, a provincial politician of the True Finns party – now styling themselves officially just ‘The Finns’ in English – said that the killer should be given a medal because he killed a Muslim Arab. The west is at war with Muslims, he suggested, and a war hero must be decorated.
True Finns are a party often accused of racism and Fascism, but it seems only a particular faction of the party is seriously embracing the ideology of ‘counter-jihad’ that became visible when Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, brought it to public attention.
What Rautio said sounds disturbingly Breivikist. A couple of days before the murder in Oulu, Breivik had himself declared to the press that he had accomplished a heroic feat by killing the young people on the island outside Oslo, and that he was entitled to be decorated for his heroism. It is difficult not to compare Rautio’s words with Breivik’s.
After Rautio's praise for the murderer, Timo Soini, the chairman of True Finns, said that Rautio must be thrown out of the party entirely. It isn't sure, however, if he will be as good as his word. Earlier, statements almost as ugly as this have been made by other politicians in the party, among them several who have strong connections with the international counter-jihad network. Soini never dismissed those politicians, although he did threaten them with punishment. At the end of the day it seems he depends too much on them for votes.
Rautio is another story, as he is just a parochial politician who never had a particularly important position in the party. Many commentators say he is just a pawn. Soini always stated that racists were not welcome in his party, a statement that elicited a lot of cynical laughter from Finns in recent years, but now he could chase Rautio out of the party as a demonstration of his own anti-racism.
The counter-jihad ideologues of the party have always been able to cover the racist content of their ideas with a fig leaf so as to leave the backdoor open to Soini when challenged by the oress for having apparently made his party a safe haven for radical racists. His usual answer to such allegations is the old cliché that his party is not opposed to foreigners on racist grounds, that it is the foreigners living off the dole money that they dislike, and that they warmly welcome those foreigners who are happy to work for their living.
What Rautio's statement showed – and it wasn't the first statement of its kind from the ranks of True Finns – is that the usual evasive answer does not hold water. The young Moroccan who was killed in Oulu was not on the dole. He was murdered while working.
Panu Höglund is a Finnish online writer and translator.
