Election ad denouncing “welfare bum immigrants” too much for party leader Katainen
HS editor-in-chief defends decision to allow advertisement to run
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National Coalition Party Chairman, Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen, has told fellow party member and European Parliament candidate Kai Pöntinen to stop running an election advertisement that lends itself to accusations of racism.
In the ad, which was placed on the front page of Helsingin Sanomat on Friday, Pöntinen calls for a “stop to welfare bum immigrants”. Katainen said that the advertisement is to be dropped because it can be misconstrued.
“I didn’t like the ad, because it gives the wrong impression of Pöntinen’s thinking. I have asked Pöntinen to stop using the advertisement”, Katainen said on the morning.
Katainen emphasised that Finland will need more immigrants in the future, as the members of the postwar baby boom generation retire. However, he added that open and critical debate is also needed on the immigration question.
He said that open debate is especially important to avoid the spread of a racist mentality.
“Immigration is one of the biggest questions of the future. It needs to be taken seriously, because it involves people and their lives.”
Katainen noted that the immigration question has not escalated in Finland to the point of rioting, as has happened in Sweden. “We must see to it that it does not happen in the future, either”, Jyrki Katainen said.
The running of Pöntinen’s ad brought a good deal of negative feedback to Helsingin Sanomat from people alleging that the message it contains is racist.
Helsingin Sanomat defended the decision to allow the advertisement to run, appealing to the principle of freedom of expression.
Editor-in-chief Janne Virkkunen says that tough language is permissible in politics, and he saw no reason to block the advertisement.
Virkkunen adds that immigration policy is one of the key themes of the European Parliament elections, and therefore, issues related to the policy need to be discussed.
“It is my principle that if something is to be banned, there has to be a weighty reason to do so. Now there was not. In my opinion the advertisement was distasteful, but evil cannot be made to go away by shutting one’s eyes”, Virkkunen says.
He added that Pöntinen may have wanted his ad to be banned so that he might be able to portray himself as a martyr for freedom of speech.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 29.5.2009 - TODAY |
 Election ad denouncing “welfare bum immigrants” too much for party leader Katainen |
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