Further evidence of the National Coalition Party’s (NCP) swing to undemocratic xenophobism was the recent proposal by Foreign Minister Elina Valtoen to ban Russian tourists from Europe, ostensibly because of the Ukraine war. This would amount to an administrative reconstruction of the Iron Curtain, something Finland once famously sought to bring down or at least lower in the spirit of the Helsinki Conference of 1975 which championed freedom of movement and family reunification. To ban travel by hundreds of millions for fear that some of them might be spies is the diproportionate sort of administrative overoppression that most human rights legislation is intended to prevent. It is likely also that among many Russians who travel to the West are people who are not endeared with their coutry’s militarism and are looking for life chances elsewhere. I does little to serve the Ukrainian cause to embitter these people by shutting the borders to them and seperate them from friends and family in the West.
Now Trump is telling the Norwegian government he has lost interest in peace because he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize!
This should be a signal, even to those slow to catch on, to get off his team.
He just invaded Venezuela, may bomb Iran again soon, possibly even Mexico in addition to annexing Canada. Now, which one of these is Finland as eager NATO newcomer, keen to go to war with if called upon under the alliance’s charter by its most powerful member, the USA? I don’t have to ask around much to know the average Finn’s answer in “none of the above” and many will add “are you crazy?”
Then there is the matter of Trump’s threat to annex Greenland which is most of the territory of our Nordic ally and friend, Denmark, by military force if necessary. In this case Finland would have to choose between its most powerful ally, the USA or it’s neighbour, Denmark- if push came to shove. If it came to a conflict it would be almost impossible for us to keep out of it the way things stand now.
The chaos in world politics created by Trump’s tariff-wielding in magnified manifold in the crises NATO is now in.
But as the Chinese proverb said, crises also creates opportunity. The opportunity provided for us by Trump’s bluster is to get out of a sinking NATO before all hell breaks loose. We could also still cancel the F 35 fighters like Spain, Portugal and possibly Canada and save ourselves millions. Does anybody in the Finnish leadership still believe Trump will be generous enough to supply spare parts to keep those F 35s flying if there is the slightest disagreement with him when we may be defending ourselves? After this Greenland spat it’s hard to believe such gullibility still survives in any serious degree. There is every reason to believe that even now Trump is installing secret incapacitating technology in the planes yet to be delivered. It is hard to imagine he is not capable of just that after inserting his egotistical whine about not getting the Prize into his military strategy. He has show his cards, we just need to read them.
It is time for us, I mean Finland, to get out while the getting is good. While at it we also need to cancel the Defence Cooperation Agreement which would make it easy for Trump to occupy Finland if he gets it into his head to do so. A likely scenario for that is not hard to imagine in this conflicted state of the world.
Getting out would take us back to 2022 when we in Finland were living in a peaceful and non-aligned country refusing to get mixed up in wars or sending weapons to anyone fighting them.
We could also eventually rearrange peaceful trading relations with and through Russia and using the Saimaa canal to help pull ourselves out of a recession. The rest of the EU and Europe would soon learn to accept this as they did before in other troubled times. Even if returning to the old status quo took awhile, we would still be in a better position than the mess we are now heading for.
Itsenäisyyspäivän sateisena iltana kuljin Töölöntorin ohitse klo. 17.30 jota jossa seiseoi muutama tusina 612 mielenosoittajaa satojen poliisien ja poliisiautojen ympäröimänä. Uutuutena tänä vuona myös Rajavartiolaitoksen ja Puolutusvoimien henkilöstöä ja kalustoa.
Kuva: Ahti Tolvanen
Trumppilainen “sisäinen maanpuolustus” myös rajojen sisällä omia kansalaisia vastaan jotka uskaltautuvat olemaan eri mieltä maan viranomaisten ja politiikkojen kanssa, oli saapunut Suomeen. Tänävuonna kuten parina edeltävänäkin viranomaisten päätarkoitus näytti olevan rasistien ja natsien ja heidän kanssakulkevien suojaaminen kansalaisilta jotka vastustivat rasismia ja natseja. Tämä viranomaispolitiikka on jotenkin juurtunut Itssenäisyyspäivän mielenosoitusiin ja ristiriita sen kanssa mitä Suomi oli sopinut Pariisin rauhansopimuksessa jolla palautettiin maan valtiolliset oikeudet v. 1946 tuntuu vaan syvenevän. EU:n hiljattain julkaistu tutkimus rasistisen vihapuheen hillitsemättömyydestä Suomen mediassa osoitti myös saman kehityksen jatkuvan. Linnassa hilpeä juhliminen jatkui ja maan “hyvät ihmiset” tuntuivat olevan täysin välinpitämättömiä tästä pimeyden laskeutumisesta maan päälle.
During meetings July 31st to August 1st to observe the 50th Anniversary of the Helsinki Conference on Peace and Security I was glad to act as Finnish ngo host for Bruce Knotts, director of the NGO Committee of Disarmament, Peace and Security at the United Nations. He had an outspoken message to the convenors, the Finnish government about its arms trade with Israel:
“Sending of money and weapons to Israel should be stopped. Germany has just done this, and Finland and the USA should do the same.”
Adding:
” The current Israeli government does not want to end this war; they want to enhance it to take all of Gaza. They are also in the process using Israeli settlers removing and killing all Palestinians in the West Bank. The more radical members of the Israeli cabinet have been clear that they believe that God has given all this land to the Jews of Israel. Not only is Israel killing Palestinians, but they have also attacked without provocation Iran, Syria, Lebanon with threats to other neighbouring nations.”
Migrant Tales’ eitorial board member Ahti Tolvanen (left) with Bruce Knotts, director of the NGO Committee of Disarmament, Peace and Security at the United Nations.
Remember, people thought that Hitler would be satisfied with Czechoslovakia, but he went on to take Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, France and more,” he added.
Bruce Knotts went on the address the ngo gathering on the day of the anniversary of the Helsinki Conference, August 1st .
The careful screening of civil society members allowed to attend the Helsinki+50 conference by the Finnish Foreign Ministry almost succeed in steering away conversation from topic the Finnish Chairpersonship wanted to avoid.
Fortunately Finnish Foreign Scholars were able to schedule a pre-event July 30th at Helsinki University Library where the undersigned was able to lay out how extensive military spending by OSCE countries was diverting the funds to address a looming global climate catastrophe on behalf Climate Reality Leaders Finland. There seemed no room for agenda for organizations like ours nor for Bruce Knotts who represented the NGO Committee for Disarmament, Peace and Security at the UN. He was likely too outspoken in his condemnation of countries like Finland engaging in arms trade with Israel. Heidi Meinzolt of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom managed to get in an intervention on the dangerous comeback of the nuclear arms race in a July 31st side event, obviously a topic the organizers were having trouble keeping the lid on. This echoed Kati Juva’s warning of how even a limited nuclear exchange could trigger a civilization-destroying nuclear winter when she spoke on behalf of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War at the university.
The elephant in the room was of course the ever more dictatorial behaviour of the Trump administration. Perhaps journalist and BBC interviewer Stephen Sackur forgot his briefing notes when he brought up how Trump had cut the funds for Radio Free Europe when questioning its CEO, Steve Capers about the imperilled state of the free media in parts of Europe?
Then there was the matter of the closure of Finland’s eastern border. Nothing on that of course much to the chagrin of the young Romanian woman, I met at a break, working for the UNHCR in Belorus with imprisoned migrant workers keep in dangerous and unhealthy cells after being pushed back for seeking the freedoms promised in the Helsinki Final Act. I mention her now because she never got a hearing of her experiences that day although travelling hundreds of kilometers to attend.
In the news today we hear that Trump is planning to make Greenland part of the USA “one way or another.” Greenland is part of Denmark, our Nordic ally. We in Finland recognize a special duty to protect our Nordic allies. That’s part of why we joined NATO. The problem is that the United States controls the command of NATO and Trump is the commander-in-chief of the US military. If the US invades Greenland, we will have to figure out quickly which side we are on. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen reminded everybody in a speech in London that Russia is our most dangerous threat. She was probably referring to damage to pipelines and electric cables by “the dark fleet” trading wit Russia via the Gulf of Finland. The problem is there is to date no evidence that this damage is being caused by Russia. The only pipeline damage we have any evidence on regarding sabotage is Nordstream- and all the evidence points to to blowing up the pipeline being a Ukraine-CIA joint operation. Also in the news today is that Trump and Putin are planning to fix the pipeline and sell the gas to Europeans at a huge profit. This fits in with Trump’s announced plans to normalise relations between the US and Russia. Meanwhile we keep sending weapons from Finland to fight and kill Russians in the Ukraine. We are keeping this up although Trump has cancelled all weapons shipments and intelligence sharing with Ukrainians. It is clear to any layman, but not the Finnish government that the US has changed sides. The government’s big accomplishment for our security was to sign a treaty with the USA giving them free access to 15 military bases so they can occupy Finland any time. We are holding our breaths waiting to see when the Finnish government realizes we are on the wrong side against two superpowers. Expect more news from secret Finnish intelligence reports of a “hybrid threat” at the border to keep us confused of the big picture.
*Ahti Tolavanen is a regular Migrant Tales contributor and a member of the editorial board.
Writer and director Ahti Tolvanen, who is a member of the Migrant Tales board, has written a play that reflects hard and uncertain times for Finland. When Ahti came to Finland in the 1970s, it was a very different country. For one, its foreign policy, which some criticized as Finlandization, attempted to coexist with its giant eastern neighbor.
But matters have chaned from those cold war years. Some Finnish politicians regularly beat their chests at Russia and believe that NATO will save the day if Finland is ever invaded by Russia.
“Before, Finland’s foreign policy wa dicttd by the Soviet Union and now we are prostrate towards the United States,” said Tolvanen. “Finland seems to be adrift and nobody can see where it is heading.”
The play offers a different narrative and take on things. Geopolitics, politics, immigration policy and other factors come to light and offer the viewer a chance to reflect where the country is heading.
Helsinki Noir, which has showed in Helsinki and London, has received some rave reviews:
“Satirizing ultra-conservative politicians…raising public awareness, and empowering the disempowered” – Yuko Kurahashi, a vising reviewer and professor of drama, Kent State University.
“A wonderful show” said Laura Killeen, director of Rosemary Branch, London
It is also obvious the non-action of the government on what their plan for the Finnish-Riussian border needs to be addressed.
Just keepiing the Saimaa Canal closed costs the Finnish economy millions, now even billions if road transport is added to it. Not to mention the disrupted family lives from which the largest immigrant community in Finland, its Russian speakers, are suffering due to the government’s, in security terms dubious, and indefinate border closure.
The government refers to secret intelligence that there is a security threat at the border. This has gone on for over a year now and the reasons remain secret. One can only conclude that the continued secrecy is really because there is no real evidence and the embarrassment potential-if that is revealed- keeps mounting. Some day the government will have a lot of explaining to do.
SDP leader Antti Lindtman’s incapacity as a leader is stunning, matched only by his cowardly whipping of his MPs to vote for the ridiculous Pushback Law- ridiculous because it throws into question the whole idea that Finland is a champion of human rights or even the basic tenants of its own constitution. All because of the same undefined fantasy of a border threat.
Lindtman’s past behaviour explains why Kiljunen had to step down because the SDP leader has made it clear his own party would not back him if the SDP leader had anything to say about it.
In fact its unclear if the SDP is nowadays willing to do anything significant to provide the kind of opposition politics the parliament needs and the Finnish people deserve in these troubled times.
The problem with this law is that it calls into question the whole idea of the rule of law. It allows the Finnish government to declare that there is a threat at the border of a “hybrid invasion”. This declaration can be made based on secret security information the government may claim to have and no court can examine and rule on the validity of the information. The declaration of a hybrid invasion will allow the border authorities to turn away anyone and everyone no matter what danger they are facing. This can include both foreigners and Finnish citizens as the authorities have emergency powers to forgo examination of documents and identities. In fact as Minister Mari Rantanen has stated, the persons crossing the border may not even know themselves that they are involved in a hybrid invasion. So there is no real way of knowing who the government is “pushing back” at the border or why or what will happen to them outside Finland. In fact, if there are people the government does not like, the government now has the powers to expel, beat up or even shoot dead persons they do not like without legal accountability. All they have to do is wait until these unlikeable people are at a border point and then enact this new so-called law which can be done in very short order.
“Pushbacks” carried out under this law are not appealable or open to judicial review. Backers of the law argue that it will only be applied in rare and unusual situations.
They said the same about the Valtalaki when it was adopted. It was enacted for the first time during the Corona epidemic to close off Uusimaa from the rest of the country. The problem is that when such laws for rare powers are adopted, the government soon finds ways to use them to extend their power, The Valtalaki was challenged in Parliament and eventually ended by a vote by MPs. The “Pushback Law” is special in that it has no provision for parliamentary review. The EU human rights court may yet weigh in on the law but there are forces at work to also erode the rule of law in the EU with a similar law EU wide. And you thought the rule of law was sometning Finland champions in the world?
*Ahti Tolavanen is a regular Migrant Tales contributor and a member of the editorial board.
The Finnish government has called for comment on its proposed six-million-euro action program against racism by June 10th. The program’s development began last year when then President Sauli Niinistö was questioned at an international press conference about racist remarks made by ministers in the Petteri Orpo government.
Announced in May, the program calls for anti-racist programs in ministries, schools, and volunteer organizations. It highlights the adoption of a national holocaust remembrance day and promises to make holocaust denial illegal. Other welcome issues, though modest in substance, is a reference to Islamophobia, but nothing on specific measures.
There is also no mention of intended legal reforms in response to charges against Finland by the EU Commission (ECRI) regarding weak legal protections against racism. It would be a systemic change isf such measures were adopted but there is little in the program outline of that nature.
That is likely because such changes could get ministers like Riikka Purra- who recently reiterated her view that there was a conspiracy to replace white Europeans with immigrants- in trouble.
Her social media remarks about fantasizing shooting immigrant kids on a commuter train, as well as Minister for Economic Affairs Wille Rydman’s emails about wanting to ban Muslim women rather than their hijabs, was what got the government in trouble to begin with.
There is no specific mention of Africans, although an EU study recently found that group to be more discriminated against in Finland than in any country in Western Europe. Finland’s largest immigrant minority, its Russian community, is also totally ignored although in other recent legislation, their travel and relations with families in their home country have been seriously hampered.
