The Threat of Islamist and Far-right Extremism in Finland
Author(s): EMAN Staff
The European jihadist landscape has undergone significant changes since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and the subsequent rise of Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The so-called Arab Spring, particularly in Syria, has paved the way for jihadist organisations to mobilise and establish roots in some Western countries that remain on the periphery of the broader European jihadist landscape such as Finland. Until the early 2010s, Finland’s jihadist threat remained relatively low. However, the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) claims that Daesh’s emergence has been a significant contributor to the rise in jihadist activities among Finns.
Although the extremism landscape and terrorism threats to Finnish national security have not changed much over the past decade, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) revealed that the number of counterterrorism targets has doubled and that “radical Islamist terrorism in Finland currently focuses primarily on support measures, such as recruiting, disseminating propaganda and fundraising.” The 2022 threat assessment further mentioned that the “lone supporters of ideologies remain the most likely source of a terrorist attack.” Lone wolf Islamist extremist attackers have long been considered the primary terror threat across Europe, due to the ease with which a single individual can carry out an attack without the risk of that attack being foiled – a reality that organised terror cells face. As of 2012, the number of Finnish individuals with terrorist connections surged from “dozens” to around 200. According to the Council of Europe, this number grew for several subsequent years to reach 390 as of 2019 and “the links of the target individuals to terrorist activity are more direct and more serious than before.” It is also worth mentioning that some of the foreign fighters who departed from Finland occupied critical positions within Daesh and had broad networks of connections within the organisation.
What is interesting is that the former communications director of the SUPO, Jyri Rantala, determined earlier that the recruitment activities in Finland were not coordinated by the management of likely locations where extremists can be radicalised such as mosques or even in shopping centres, however, they were all part of the casual discussions between like-minded people. This intriguing fact contradicts the strategies adopted by the majority of Western Islamist hardline preachers who have turned a small number of mosques in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and many other countries into epicentres from which they deliberately promote extremist ideologies, whether in Friday sermons or on other religious occasions.
The Christmas season of 2021 also highlighted that Islamist extremists were not the only actors who posed a national threat to Finland. It was reported that five men suspected of planning a far-right motivated bomb and gun attack were arrested on 21 December 2021, marking Finland’s first case of suspected far-right terrorism. According to the local authorities, the group did not appear to belong to an extremist organisation: “a small group like this which idealises terrorist violence works in secret and their activity does not appear to belong to an extremist organisation.”
SUPO claims that the far-rights have become a greater concern in Finland and that they have actively utilised the internet to disseminate propaganda materials, recruit, and network globally. Additionally, it disclosed that it had located several far-right individuals who had the capacity and motive to carry out terrorist attacks. The recent intensification of the danger posed by far-right extremists is partly because Finland has welcomed tens of thousands of Middle Eastern refugees in the past couple of years. Such facilities were considered provocative by multiple neo-Nazi groups such as Soldiers of Odin, which vowed to stand firm against what they called ‘Islamic intruders’. The former interior minister, Petteri Orpo, warned about the far-right extremist groups by clearly stating that they promoted nothing but domestic instability.
The upcoming SUPO threat assessments are likely to conclude that Islamist extremism remains a threat to Finland’s national security, however, the recent triggering shooting events, which were carried out by far-right extremists in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are likely to instigate widespread and long-lasting fear among the Finnish general public. Such incidents will act as a catalyst and increase the appetite of lone wolves from both ideologies to create domestic instability. Based on that, the main question will not be if this is likely to happen, but rather when it would happen.
