Policy|Basic Finns
In his recent book, Markku Jokisipilä, director of the Center for Parliamentary Research, defends basic Finns as a party operating according to the rules of the democratic game, among others. For him, the party has even been demonized in the Finnish debate.
Basic Finns has taken 300,000–400,000 voters from major Finnish parties and activated sleepers.
It has consolidated its position among the major parties and fundamentally changed the structure of the Finnish party field.
Despite this, the reasons for the growth of basic Finns have not yet been fully opened up satisfactorily.
This is what the director of the Center for Parliamentary Research, assistant professor, thinks Markku Jokisipilä by book Basic Finns on the Halla-aho and Purra line (Otava), to be published today.
“In my opinion, the study has not fully succeeded in explaining why more than half a million Finns have voted for the party in three consecutive parliamentary elections,” says Jokisipilä.
“Attention has been paid to the verdicts received by the party leadership, what part racism plays in the party and whether it is far-right. Of course, it is important to talk about these, but I think the debate has focused too much on that. ”
River urchin in his book, he strongly defends the basic Finns as a party operating according to the rules of the democratic game, among others.
At the same time, he thinks that the party has even been “demonized” in the Finnish debate, when, for example, the former chairman Jussi Halla-ahon old blog posts have received repeated attention over the years.
Read more: Writings on immigration, Islam and rape – such opinions have been published over the years by Jussi Halla-aho, who caused the government crisis
Jokisipilä says he was hesitant to write the book because of the atmosphere surrounding the party and possible reputational damage.
“I have tried to treat their activities as any other party and I have noticed that even treating basic Finns as a normal political party is too much for some people.”
However, the support of basic Finns cannot be understood for Jokisipil if the discussion about the party focuses too strongly on, for example, the presumed racism of it or its representatives.
“The idea that more than half a million Finns would support racial discrimination is in stark contrast to the symbols of legality, equality and democracy that have defined our political culture for more than a century,” he says.
In support of his book Jokisipilä has interviewed both Halla-aho and the new chairman Riikka Purraakin as well as, for example, experienced politicians from other parties.
In Jokisipilä’s opinion, the main reason for the growth of basic Finns is nationalism and how other large Finnish parties have gradually distanced themselves from it.
In his book, he goes through the programs of three traditional major parties, the Coalition Party, the SDP and the Center Party. In light of them, back in the 1980s, nationalism was a kind of political self-evident in Finland, he concludes.
A vacuum arose in the political field as the three great began to distance themselves from the nationalist world of thought. The basic Finns filled that vacuum.
Jokisipilä calls for a historical perspective in the discussion about basic Finns.
“I would like to see the fact that some of the themes that the Basic Finns present are long-standing traditional Finnish themes of political struggle, which at some point were quite smooth in the program of the Social Democratic Party, for example.”
River urchin in his book, he also assesses that the development of the EU has created room for a critical movement in the EU. Naturally, he also sees the sharp criticism of immigration as one of the drivers of the popularity of basic Finns.
At the same time, he strongly opposes the inclusion of basic Finns in, for example, the far right.
In the book, Jokisipilä quotes scholars, cultural figures, politicians and the media who have used harsh formulations from basic Finns, some also considered the party to be far-right or linked it in some way to fascism or Nazism.
Jokisipilä himself has studied both the Finnish far right of the 1930s and 1940s and Hitler’s Germany. Characterizations similar to him are difficult to regard as anything other than “sensational, overbearing, and politically motivated.”
The far right wants to repeal democracy and replace it with an authoritarian system, Jokisipilä emphasizes. It cannot be credibly drawn from the programs of basic Finns or their appearance in parliament that the party would seek to overthrow the democratic system, he estimates.
“On the outskirts of basic Finns, like other parties, there is a lot of thinking, but the party’s line is not defined from there.”
What comes to discussion of the supposed racism of basic Finns, it is justified from Jokisipilä, up to a certain point.
So the former chairman of the party Jussi Halla-aho than the current third vice-chairman Sebastian Tynkkynen has been convicted of incitement against a group of people. Second Vice – President Mauri Peltokangas is charged with the same.
“As far as these judgments have come, the debate is quite fully justified. But whether the party’s ideology is empty and whether it is at all a central part of the ideological tip of the basic Finns, I have wanted to discuss it. ”
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source https://pledgetimes.com/basic-finns-new-book-treats-basic-finns-as-a-normal-political-party-according-to-the-researcher-that-too-is-too-much-for-some-people/
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