Panu Höglund

Cé gur éirigh le páirtí na bhFíor-Fhionlannach cúpla suíochán a bhaint amach sa rialtas nua, níor tháinig deireadh leis na scannail is dual don pháirtí a tharraingt anuas air féin. An iarracht seo ba é an feisire óg Olli Immonen a bhí i súil na stoirme.

Cé nach raibh in Immonen riamh ach rac-cheoltóir ón tuath nach raibh mórán cur amach aige ar stair náisiúnaíoch na Fionlainne, rith leis le déanaí próifíl idé-eolaíoch an pháirtí a ardú. Mar sin chonacthas ag ceiliúradh cuimhme Eugen Schauman é cothrom lá bhás an fhir mhóir seo. Duine de laochra stairiúla na Fionlainne é, ó mharaigh sé fear ionaid an impire Nikolay Bobrikov nuair a bhí an Fhionlainn ina cuid d’Impireacht na Rúise.

Ní drochrud a bhí ann féin ar ndóigh, cé nach bhfuil Schauman ró-oiriúnach mar laoch d’Immonen: ní raibh Fionlainnis aige ach ar éigean, agus bhí blas na Rúisise ar a chuid Sualainnise féin.

Is é fíor-oighear an scéil ná an chuideachta a bhí ag Immonen chois uaigh Schauman. Bhí sé á thionlacan ag fir ó Ghluaiseacht na Frithbheartaíochta Náisiúnta, grúpa atá aicmithe mar dhream foréigneach antoisceach ag an Roinn Gnóthaí Inmheánacha féin, agus baill de tar éis ionsaithe a dhéanamh ar dhaoine easaontacha. Cé gur féidir a mhaíomh nach páirtí Naitsíoch amach is amach iad na Fíor-Fhionlannaigh, ní dhearna an Gluaiseacht Frithbheartaíochta iarracnt riamh a dhatb eile ach dream Naitsíoch a thabhairt orthu féin, ná a bhfrith-Ghiúdachas a cheilt.

Beidh sé suimiúil a fheiceáil conas a thiocfas Timo Soini, cathaoirleach an pháirtí, slán as an gcruachás áirithe seo. A lán de lucht tacaíochta a pháirtí is Críostaithe Soiscéalacha iad nach bhfaighfeá an locht is lú ar Iosrael, agus iad féin faoi ionsaí ag blagadóirí na Gluaiseachta Frithbheartaíochta go minic ar an ábhar seo.

Tá Panu Petteri Höglund ina scríbhneoir Gaeilge san Fhionlainn. Is é an leabhar deireanach a tháinig óna pheann ná An Fhondúireacht, aistriúchán Gaeilge ar an úrscéal Foundation le hIsaac Asimov.

Although the True Finns party did acquire a couple of seats in the new coalition government, new scandals are still following in the party’s wake. This time it was the young MP Olli Immonen who was in the eye of the storm.

Although Immonen is just a countryside rock musician who never had much idea of Finland’s nationalist history, he recently had this great idea of raising the party’s ideological profile. Thus he was seen honouring the memory of Eugen Schauman, one of Finland’s historical heroes, who assassinated governor-general of Finland Nikolay Bobrikov back when Finland was part of the Russian Empire.

Honouring him was not an entirely bad thing, although Schauman, who was hardly conversant in Finnish and whose Swedish was marred by a Russian accent, is rather an unlikely hero for Immonen to admire.

The real point of the story is the company Immonen was keeping at Schauman’s grave. He was accompanied by members of the Finnish Resistance Movement, a group that has been classified as extremist and violent even by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some of its activists have even physically assaulted dissenting people. Although it is still possible to say that the True Finns are not a neo-Nazi party in their entirety, the Resistance Movement has never even tried to deny their neo-Nazi roots or their anti-Semitism.

It will be interesting to see how Timo Soini, the chairman of the party, will talk himself out of this. Many of his party’s followers are the kind of evangelical Christians who would never find any fault with Israel, and this has made them one of the popular targets of the Resistance Movement’s poison-pen bloggers.

Panu Petteri Höglund is an Irish-language writer in Finland. His most recent book is his Irish translation of the novel Foundation by Isaac Asimov.