Long hot summers of their discontent

Finland: still a place for those of a nervous disposition?

Finland has a reputation for being a civilized, safe and, frankly, a slightly boring place to live. And to a certain extent it is, but this summer some people have been trying to make that less the case for immigrants here. Last night some fine, upstanding, storm trooper of the Übermensch decided to show their racial and intellectual superiority to those foreign hoards by trying to burn down a still under construction Buddhist temple. You’ve got to watch those Buddhists; if you don’t before you know it they will be imposing their totalitarian laws of peace, love and and karma on everyone. Trying not to hurt anyone is just not our way; if they want to live here they should respect our culture: binge drinking, internet porn and pointless late night punch ups. If they want to live in harmony so much they can bugger off back to Karmastan or where ever they come from.

"Kill [immigration minister] Thors" downtown Helsinki graffiti summer 2010

Obviously the best way to deal with globalization and the increasing need for migrant labour is to solicit the assassination of a democratically elected politician, burn down the houses of worship of the least offensive religious group anyone can think off, throw bombs at refugees (because after all, those Afghans, Somalis and Iraqis probably only feel at home with shit exploding around them). And whilst we’re at it, let’s set fire to a few late-night eateries as well. That will show ‘em! Those… those… foreigners.

And so there we are; Finland 2010 – where the most openly anti-immigrant political party is rocketing to new levels of success. Where the Gay Pride parade gets attacked by people using CS gas. Where one of the country’s leading neurosurgeons publicly states that he now worries about encouraging students from other countries to come and study under him because of the new levels of violence he has seen aimed at foreigners in racist attacks. And where hate crimes are aimed at Buddhists.