(Left to right) Helsinki politicians Suldaan Said Ahmed of the Left Alliance and Ozan Yanar of the Greens are candidates in Finland’s local elections. Image: Yle
If they have been targets of racism, then it’s unfortunate and shouldn’t have happened.
That said, I do have an issue with their destructive ideologies, the two totalitarian twins of Leftism and Islam.
Migrant candidates face racism, death threats in local election campaign
Last week two candidates running in Finland’s municipal elections reported that they’ve both faced racist comments and threats of violence throughout their campaigns. They also say they’ve been on the receiving end of racial slurs from people who tell them to leave Finland on a daily basis.
Helsinki politicians Suldaan Said Ahmed of the Left Alliance and Ozan Yanar of the Greens are both running in Finland’s local elections. They both say they’ve suffered death threats and racial abuse since they became politically active.
The taunts and violent threats are made on city centre streets as well as on social media, Ahmed said, explaining that he received a death threat via a text message right after answering an unsettling phone call from the same number.
“I answered and asked who was calling, but the caller’s tone quickly became aggressive and then he began to threaten me with violence. At that point I realised there wasn’t any point to continue the conversation. I wished the caller a good day and hung up. Then the death threat came by text message,” Ahmed said, explaining that he reported the incident to police.
Racist hate speech on a daily basis
He said he’s been threatened so many times that he feels he cannot safely walk around in Helsinki or campaign on city streets alone anymore. He said that while he’s been on the campaign trail he’s been on the receiving end of racist attacks several times a day, on a daily basis.
The Greens’ Ozan Yanar says that because he’s an MP he is able to directly notify Supo, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, about such threats, but says he’s concerned about other citizens who receive similar threats.
One of the epithets Yanar says he’s been called is the Finnish word ‘mutiainen,’ which roughly translates in English to ‘darkie.’
“They tell me to ‘go back to your country, you are not Finnish.’ It’s also hurtful to people who’re voting for me. I’m not an outsider, this is my country,” Yanar said.
“If someone has something against (me running for office) they just have to get used to it. Immigrants will become ministers and business leaders and it’s something they’ll have to get used to. This is my country,” Yanar said.
