The Eastern Finnish cities of Joensuu, Imatra and Lappeenranta are aiming to shut down Russian-language schools which has led to an intense debate about the future of such institutions. While some argue about economic factors and lack of demand for the closure of such schools, others point the finger at anti-Russian and anti-foreign sentiment.
Katja Marova, a local politician of Lappeenranta for the Left Alliance who has lived in Finland for 14 years, is concerned by the rising anti-Russian atmosphere in Finland.
Katja Marova speaking at a recent Aleksanteriliitto event.
“Of course, I am concerned about the [xenophobia] situation [in Finland],” she said. “What will our situation be [in the future] as a minority in Finland?”
Russian speakers, who number about 72,000, are by far the biggest language group in Finland after Finnish- and Swedish-speakers.
The war in Ukraine and the Finnish-Russian border crisis have not only fueled discrimination of Russians but have led to calls to question dual Finnish citizenship rights. President Aleksander Stubb, who recently visited Eatern Finland, did not mention once about the rising hostility against Finland’s Russian community.
President Stubb did, however, give his support for the so-called pushback law that would allow Finland to breach the human rights of asylum seekers.
A recent article published by Yle is a case in point on how some of the media writes about the Russian minority. For one, not one member of the Russian-speaking community is interviewed in the story. Marova said that there were mistakes in the reporting that Yle corrected.
“If the parents had not asked for the corrections, nothing would have happened,” she said. “The article gives the impression that Russian-language schools are not needed and are a waste of money, especially during these difficult economic times.”
“The article states that Russian-language schools are no longer needed [in Joensuu, Imatra and Lappeenranta] and therefore such schools should be closed,” she explained. “On the contrary! Many researchers and professionals disagree: Russian-language schools are needed.”
Read the full story (in Finnish) here.
In addition to lower numbers, the western city of Turku has justified the scaling back Finnish-Russian language classes to reduce segregation. The school board claims that the aim of education should be to reduce segregation.
Some may disagree with the school board’s reasoning. Taking away the right of a child to learn his mother tongue may increase the risk of exclusion.
Marova states that Russian speakers in Finland have started to speak out for their rights.
“Only now are people starting to understand what his happening,” she said. “If we don’t defend our rights, nobody will do it for us.”
Some minorities of the Russian and Muslim communities in Finland have blamed Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government for the growing hostile environment that targets asylum seekers and minorities.