Blue-and-Black Movement

Blue-and-Black Movement Sinimusta Liike
Abbreviation	SML
Chairperson	Tuukka Kuru
Secretary	Terhi Kiemunki
Vice-chair	Olavi Saarelainen[1]
Founded	13 January 2021 (2021-01-13)
Registered	NO
Split from	Finns Party
Headquarters	Hämeenlinna[2]
Ideology	Neo-fascism Euroscepticism Green politics
Political position	Far-right
Colours	Black   Dark blue
Website
sinimustaliike.fi
Politics of Finland Political parties Elections

The Blue-and-Black Movement (Finnish: Sinimusta Liike, abbr. SML^[3]) is a neo-fascist de-registered political party in Finland.

The party was born out of row over ethnonationalism in the Finns Party, which led into the Finns Party Youth disintegrating and representatives being expelled from the party. The party's name and colors have been inspired by the far-right Lapua Movement and Patriotic People's Movement.^[4] By April 2022, the party had received the 5,000 signatures needed to register as a political party.^[5][6]

The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (KHO) de-registered the Blue-and-Black Movement as a party on 23 April 2024. The court found that the party program is anti-democratic and disrespects human rights, and thus is contrary to the Finnish Constitution and the European Union's charter on human rights. The party had modified its party program after registration, restoring objectionable content that had previously been removed.^[7]

On 14 May 2024, the Blue-and-Black Movement re-applied for the party register, and is preparing to collect the necessary 5,000 signatures.^[8]

The Blue-and-Black Movement can be described as a neo-fascist party,^[9] the party defines itself also as radical and traditionalist.^[10] According to the Helsingin Sanomat election compass, the party is left-wing and national conservative, which according to chairman Tuukka Kuru is accurate.^[11]

According to historian Oula Silvennoinen, who is also known for his work on Finnish co-operation with the Nazis during World War Two, the party is ideologically neo-fascist.^[12]

The Blue-and-Black Movement in relation to foreign policy, stands for what it describes as "the principle of state independence" and anti-globalism, the party wishes for Finland to exit the European Union and for Finland to strive for neutrality in foreign conflicts that are not vital to Finland's national interests.^[13] The Blue-and-Black Movement also wishes for Finland to exit the United Nations, and for Finland to leave multinational military alliances, such as NATO.^[13]

The Blue-and-Black Movement staunchly positions itself as being opposed to Russia and it's foreign policy objectives. They seek for more cooperation with the Baltic countries, Sweden and Poland, instead of commitments to the United States in relation to foreign policy.^[13] The Blue-and-Black Movement especially wishes to promote closer ties with Estonia, due to shared Baltic Finnic heritage between Finland and Estonia, this can be seen as Pan-Finnicism to an extent.^[13] The party is in favour of cooperation with Ukraine, in its opposition to the Russian Federation.^[14]

The party actively supports the political recognition of the State of Palestine,^[15] and is opposed to and condemns European politicians that support Israel. The Blue-and-Black Movement claims that Israel is the biggest promoter of migration from developing countries to the Western World, and blames Israel for promoting and causing Islamic extremism and various movements such as Jihadism to become more popular and radical.^[16]

The Blue-and-Black Movement wishes to promote the domestic defense industry, and the party is in favour of military conscription for men.^[17]

The Blue-and-Black Movement is sympathetic to religion, especially to Christianity, which it sees as "preventing nihilism stemming from materialism and people-centeredness", it states that it respects both the integrity of the Orthodox Church of Finland and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The Blue-and-Black Movement also wishes to support the study, interpretation and practice of Finnic paganism. The party states that it is in favour for the criminalization of circumcisions for religious reasoning, and for the criminalization of ritual slaughter of animals.^[18] The Blue-and-Black Movement is also against the building of mosques and minarets, as the party views them to be foreign religions in public spaces.^[18]

The Blue-and-Black Movement is against bilingualism, and therefore wishes to abandon Pakkoruotsi as well.^[17] However, minorities such as the Finland Swedes and the Sami would still be able to get services in municipalities where they form a sizable population, even if a minority.^[19] They wish to remove the status of Åland having its official language as only Swedish-speaking. The Blue-and-Black Movement wishes to redirect subsidies from minority languages, to promoting Finnish language in educational and cultural activities.^[19]

The Blue-and-Black Movement wishes to combat the fertility crisis in Finland by promoting families to have children, the party proposes granting a zero-interest loan which gets paid off as the number of children increases.^[20] The party also proposes income-tax reductions with more children. The Blue-and-Black Movement opposes artificial insemination and adoption rights for same-sex couples.^[20] The Blue-and-Black Movement also wishes to ban the production, distribution and advertising of pornographic material and to limit access to abortions and hormonal contraception.^[20] The Blue-and-Black Movement also wishes to limit the need for immigration, the party wishes to not accept humanitarian migrants and to leave "harmful international agreements" relating to migration.^[20] The Blue-and-Black Movement also wishes to re-examine permits and citizenships granted since 1990, limit residence permits to a maximum of five years and to introduce a register which monitors the development of the foreign-originated populations.^[20]

The Blue-and-Black Movement wishes to abandon the Euro as the currency and instead re-adopt the Markka.^[17] The Blue-and-Black Movement wishes to promote self-suffiency in relation to energy and food production, the party also wishes to curb unemployment and poverty, and wishes to make part-time employment profitable for citizens.^[21] The party supports a mixed economy, the party opposes equalization of incomes and centralization of jobs and services around cities.^[21] The Blue-and-Black Movement supports tripartism, in which "the government will negotiate together with employers' and workers' unions and organizations in separate strategies for economic and social policy."^[21]

The Blue-and-Black Movement supports the preservation and protection of the Finnish environment, and seeks measures that aim to influence people's spending habits as a way to preserve the environment.^[22] The party is not opposed to renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, and sees them as viable in a global economy where sanctions are prevalent against nationalist governments.^[22]

The Ministry of Justice considered the party program so radical and anti-democratic it had to be partially rewritten to be accepted for registration. For example, the party wanted an ethnic register of people living in Finland, to outlaw advocating for a non-traditional family, and to reconsider the citizenship of everyone made a citizen after 1990.^[23][24] These controversial planks were later re-added to the party program, which has caused the Ministry of Justice to request a court to revoke the Blue-and-Black Movement's status as a registered political party.^[25]

The party immediately caused controversy when chairman Tuukka Kuru stated that the SML opposes the visible presence of non-Christian religions and that the interests and genetics of the Jews are separate and "in total conflict with those of the European native population". The comments were condemned by chairman of the Helsinki Jewish Congregation [fi] Yaron Nadbornik.^[26][27]