Finnish Nazism chose the Russians as their main target

/Pogled.info/ The expulsion of Russian programmers from the developers of the operating system “Linux” may be a small incident against the background of Western Russophobia in general. In fact, however, this case shows the main processes that take place in Finnish society (since the beginning of “Linux” in Finland). What are we talking about and how does Finnish Nazism work?

In the middle of last week, it became known that 11 Russian programmers were removed from the developers of the Linux operating system. This system proclaims “freedom and openness” in software development. But, as it turned out, this freedom must be realized without Russia.

System creator Linus Torvalds also supports this approach. He really confirmed that the programmers were fired for no reason – except that they were Russian, they had a Russian passport. “I’m Finnish. Did you really think I would support the Russian invasion?” asked Torvalds rhetorically.

Finland is sometimes seen as a country where very good and downtrodden people live. However, in reality, various movements of neo-Nazism are spreading in the country. Being a “citizen of the world” (as we sometimes mistake programmers for) Torvalds being a Finnish national should not surprise us.

There are different types of nationalism in Finland – both marginalized and respected from outside. The second type is represented by the large party “True Finns“, which is currently part of the governing political coalition in the country and holds several ministerial positions.

Last year, several “bones” came out of the closet of this party. First, the media brought out scandalous facts about the newly appointed Minister of Economy, Wilhelm Unila. It turns out that Yunila always uses the number combination “88” (the coded “Heil Hitler!” salute adopted by the neo-Nazis), and leads his propaganda campaign under the motto “Give it gas!” (which many saw as “a humorous play on the theme of the gas chambers of the Third Reich”), present at far-right radical events. Yunila had to resign.

In his place, the equally colorful deputy Vile Ridman, also a member of the “True Finns”, joined the government. The Helsinki publication Sanomat published details of personal correspondence between Ridman and his girlfriend in 2016. The future minister, then the MP, called people from the Middle East “monkeys”, comparing Somalis with ” weeds” (and therefore should be identified and moved. elsewhere) and talks about “cook” and “inks and niggers”. In the correspondence, Ridmann referred to himself as a “Nazi” and accused the Germans of destroying monuments to their Nazi leaders.

The publication of Reidman’s letters had no effect on him. In the same way, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the leader of the “True Finns” Riika Pura got away. Journalists picked up on her online comments from 2008 in which she insulted black people, Muslims and made comments that could be seen as calls for violence against those groups. Pura immediately began denying that her statements had been “taken out of context” – as it was a “joke” – and that she was not ” has been accepting violence of any kind”.

In July 2023, a demonstration was held in Helsinki, and the participants demanded that the members of the racist party ‘True Finns’ be expelled from the government. One of the organizers of this show, Outti Aaltonen, told reporters that hidden racism is a widespread phenomenon in Finnish society. According to her, the rise in popularity of “True Finns” is made possible by the difficult economic situation in Suomi – at times like this people tend to believe populists who offer simple solutions to difficult problems. But despite widespread harassment, Riika Pura refused to resign.

However, what is also called nationalism is “big” and it, in fact, scares the official Finnish authorities themselves. As the Finnish Security Police (“SuPo”) reported last summer, local followers of far-right ideologies are increasingly using martial arts clubs to legitimize themselves. There, the extreme right establishes connections and recruits new members to its movements. These clubs are rooted in the functioning of network structures united by a particular ideology.

A few years ago, members of the neo-Nazi movement Northern Resistance (SDS), which was banned in Finland, operated within these networks. It is a large group that declares its goal to create a “National Socialist Republic” that includes Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and possibly states that ‘Baltic.

Members of the SDF praise Hitler, express a desire to “preserve the purity of the white race” and oppose Jews and immigrants from third world countries.

Already in 2015, radicals organized a demonstration on the streets of Jyväskylä, which ended in pogroms. And in 2018, the far right held a demonstration in Helsinki with swastika flags and a torchlight march. In 2020, the Finnish branch of the SDS was banned by the country’s Supreme Court. The court said the group had “violated the law and basic human rights” and that its members had multiple convictions for violence.

However, after the formal liquidation, the Finnish neo-Nazis continued their activities – but more carefully, cautiously, using a network approach. In particular, the SDS flag was taken over by the far-right group “Soldiers of Odin”.

Finnish neo-Nazis are not only involved in propaganda and sometimes they can move to real action. Therefore, in July 2023, the Finnish police announced the arrest of members of an ultra-right group. Neo-Nazis created submachine guns that they “printed” on a 3D printer and prepared to commit mass murder. They intended to kill people of different skin colors as well as those who did not hold radical nationalist views.

Finnish newspapers write about the great interest of the Finns in the Ukrainian Internet service, which collects money for VSU. After moving a certain amount, you can write a command on a projectile that flies towards the Russian soldiers. According to the owners of this service, it is the Finns who often give and order the most evil writings on the shells. This type of writing on Ukrainian shells was ordered not only by unknown refugees, but also by famous people in Finnish society: MP Miko Kärna (“Center”), chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs Jussi Hala- aho (“True Finns”), writer Sophie Oksanen.

By the way, Hala-aho (recently he managed to become a speaker in the Finnish parliament and take part in parliamentary elections) proudly announced that he ordered inscriptions on shells Ukrainian. His publication was Hala-aho’s response to a debate in the Helsinki Sanomat newspaper about how far the demonization of the Russians could go. “If it is right and necessary in the current situation to kill Russian soldiers, everything that contributes to that is right and necessary,” said Hala-Aho.

A heated discussion started under this post. Anyway, not everyone supported the politician’s bloody statements – some pointed the blame for the conflict to the United States and NATO. Yusi Hala-aho himself, frustrated by the great clamor that arose about his appointment, sent out after him.

It is not surprising, with such xenophobic, radical nationalist and Russophobic feelings in Finnish society, they affected the Suomi army and security forces.

One of the examples that shows how far the case has gone: in the summer of 2021, the police in the Finnish region of Eastern Uusimaa investigated the connection of several of their officers to right-wing radical circles – then several police officers were fired. It turned out that law enforcement officers who shared ultra-nationalist views communicated with members of neo-Nazi groups and even provided them with classified information from the police database. One of those shot was secretly coordinating the collection of money and items for members of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi battalion. There is no doubt that his like-minded people still work in the Finnish police to this day.

The spread of the far-right ideology in Suomi is made possible by the objective problem of immigrants from third world countries into the country. These migrants, especially young people, often join the ranks of ethnic crime. But if the norms of “tolerance” adopted in Finland prohibit direct criticism of migrants (you can be called a “Nazi”), open hatred of Russians is completely socially acceptable. In other words, Nazism towards the Russians is allowed. This is especially evident in Torvalds’ statement.

Translation: V. Sergeev