Suomi oli ensimmäinen maa Euroopassa ja kolmas maailmassa, joka myönsi naisille äänioikeuden vuonna 1906. Tämä pitää paikkansa, mutta se on vain puolet tarinasta: suomalaisille naisille annettiin oikeus siirtää (jus sanguinis)kansalaisuus lapselleen vasta vuonna 1984, eli 66 vuotta itsenäistymisen jälkeen.
Kansalaisuuslain muutos (HE 43/1984) tuli voimaan 1. syyskuuta 1984 eduskunnan tuella sekä presidentti Mauno Koiviston ja sisäasiainministeri Matti Luttinenn, molemmat sosialidemokraateja, myötävaikutuksella.
Sen lisäksi, että naispuolisia kansanedustajia oli tuolloin 63, mikä vastasi 31,5 % kaikista kansanedustajista, miespuoliset kansanedustajat ajoivat lain muuttamista.
“Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year.”
Malcolm X
Even if far-right politicians of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) were yelling victory because the city of Vantaa had prohibited – according to them – the niqab and burqa, it was a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t moment.
Even if PS politicians said the prohibition was aimed at the niqab and burqa, the Vantaa school district denies this. “The policy applies to covering the face during the school day, meaning that students are not allowed to cover their faces with any type of clothing or mask,” said Tua Tähkapää, a communications specialists for the city of Vantaa, who replied to Migrant Tales’ questions sixteen days later.
Tähkäpää continues: “The city of Vantaa has not banned the wearing of any specific type of clothing. It would be against the law to ban, for example, specifically the niqab or burqa. The policy applies to covering the face during the school day, meaning a student may not cover their face with any type of clothing or mask. We are not aware of any complaints.”
If the measure by the city of Vantaa was not singling out Muslims, why wasn’t this mentioned in the first stories?
PS Finance Minister Riikka Purra exposes the final aim of the prohibition”…the PS wants to prohibit the niqab and burqa in Finland and everyone.”
The policy in Vantaa, which is epxected to be adapted in Espoo and Tampere comprhensive schools, follows a debate about face-covering clothing in public schools. The imatter got national attention last year when some politicians especially from the PS and National Coalition Party raised the possibility of in broader restrictions on the usage of the burqa and niqab.
If you want a shameful example of appeasement to the Trump administration’s and Israel’s war crimes, Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen is a terrible example. In the face of the ethnic cleansing in Gaza by Israel, her most infamous quote is that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
But what could you expect when the prime minister and president are members of the National Coalition Party?
Foreign Minister Valtonen was on A-Talk Monday and she was asked by the reporter her opinion about the illegal war waged by the US and Israel against Iran.
“For us Finns, it is important that international law works,” she said, and then the reporter asked her if he thought it was politically ok that the US and Israel have waged an illegal war against Iran. Her answer revealed her ideological bankruptcy: “I cannot give you a straight answer.”
Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen. Link and Yle
Former US intelligence oficer, Josephine Guilbeau, says in a moving speech how the attack by the US on the Minab elementary school in southern Iran, which caused the death of some 170 children, was an act of terrorism.
The recent parliamentary election in Denmark, one of Europe’s most Islmophobic countries, was a rude awakening to its Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who thought she could capitalize with the row over Greenland with the United States. Her party lost 12 MPs to receive only 21.85% of the vote compared to 27.54% in 2022.
Even if Federikson is a Social Democrat, her immigration policy is Islamophobic.
It is a sweet irony that while she has warned about Islamization, it was actually a white supremacist US adminitration that posed the greater threat to national security by wanting to take over Greenland.
“Media and politicians, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Frederik Vad, and Ida Auken, contributed to a public discourse in which Muslims’ motives and loy- alties were openly questioned. Key figures such as Eva Gregersen and Thomas Hoff- mann played central roles in monitoring and casting suspicion on Muslims and their civic engagement.”
If anything, the result proves that there is a certain saturation point for Islamophobic policies and campaigns.
It will be interesting to see how much the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* capitalize on their aggressive and hostile campaign against Muslims and other migrants.
On selvää, että hallituksen maahanmuuttopolitiikka on epäonnistunut, jos esimerkiksi Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto (EK) toteaa Ylellä, että Suomen pitäisi poistaa saatavuusharkinta sekä vaatimus maasta poistumisesta, jos työntekijä irtisanotaan eikä löydä työtä kolmen kuukauden kuluessa. Jälkimmäistä määräaikaa tulisi pidentää kahdeksaan kuukauteen, EK mukaan.
Yksityinen, voittoa tavoittelematon taloustutkimuslaitos ETLA totesi, että Suomi tarvitsisi vuosittain nettomääräisesti 44 000 ulkomaalaista työvoimapulan kattamiseksi.
Näiden tietojen jälkeen Yle esitti videon, jossa nähtiin, kuinka työttömät ulkomaalaiset Tanskassa – joka on yksi EU:n islamofobisimmista maista – joutuvat tekemään vapaaehtoistyötä saadakseen sosiaalietuuksia.
Ylen tanskalaisessa videossa on se ongelma, että siinä oletetaan, että ulkomaalaiset ovat rodullistettuja ja työttömiä. Maahanmuuttajat ovat monimuotoinen ryhmä, joka koostuu monenlaisista ihmisistä.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* -puolueen valtiovarainministeri Riikka Purra ehdotti äskettäin, että myös Suomessa työttömät ulkomaalaiset pitäisi pakottaa tekemään vapaaehtoistyötä saadakseen sosiaalietuuksia.
Tällaisia ehdotuksia on tarkasteltava varovasti, kun otetaan huomioon, että vuoden 2027 eduskuntavaalit ovat noin vuoden päässä.
PS-poliitikkojen vihamielisiä viestejä lukiessa on selvää, että he herättelevät Suomen rasistisia virtauksia saadakseen äänestäjiä.
Aivan kuten monet PS:n ehdottamat syrjivät ja rasistiset toimet ovat olleet perustuslain vastaisia. Perustuslain 6 § kieltää etuuskohtelun.
Alla on jälleen yksi Purran kepponen, jolla hän yrittää perustella jo kumottua väitettä, että maahanmuuttajat ovat pahoja ja uhka Suomelle.
Tämä blogikirjoitus on omistettu edesmenneelle Donald Fieldsille, joka toimi BBC:n, The Guardianin ja Politikenin Helsingin-kirjeenvaihtajana vuoteen 1988 asti ja kirjoitti kriittisesti suomettumisesta.
Ralf Friberg on toiminut useissa tehtävissä suurlähettiläästä ulkoministeriön lehdistöosaston johtoon. Hän valvoi tarkasti sitä, mitä Suomesta kirjoitettiin kylmän sodan aikana. Hänen keinonsa vaientaa kriitikot olivat kovia. Hän oli niin armoton, että yksi hänen entisistä kollegoistaan antoi hänelle lempinimen ”Leonid.”
Eräällä lounaalla Helsingin Savoy-ravintolassa Friberg ehdotti, että ennen kuin kirjoitan arkaluonteisesta suomettumisen aiheesta, minun tulisi ottaa häneen yhteyttä. Pidin tätä suoranaisena sensuurina.
Lahde: Facebook
Lounastapaamisemme yksityiskohdat julkaistiin Suomen suurimmassa aikakauslehdessä Apu.
Seuraavana päivänä jutun julkaisemisen jälkeen sain puheluita joiltakin Fribergin entisiltä alaisilta, jotka kiittivät minua tekemästäni ja sanoivat Fribergin olleen kauhea ihminen, joka oli valmis tekemään mitä tahansa tuhotakseen ihmisen uran.
Paljastus toi esiin myös Fribergin avoimen suhteen Financial Timesiin. Hän valitti suoraan lehden toimittajille kirjoituksistani.
Financial Timesilla ei ollut ongelmaa siinä, että Finnfacts maksoi heidän toimittajiensa matkat Suomeen, kunhan he julkaisivat jotakin positiivista.
Finnfactsin kaltaiset ryhmät, Matti Kohvan johdolla, seurasivat myös ulkomaista mediaa. Muistan artikkelin, jonka Kohva kirjoitti Finn Niche -julkaisuun (päätoimittajana Olli Virtanen), jossa hän totesi, että hänen verensä kiehui aina, kun hän kuuli ulkomaisten toimittajien viittaavan suomettumiseen.
Toinen henkilö, joka tuki äärimmäistä sensuuria kylmän sodan aikana, oli Pekka Karhuvaara.
This blog entry is dedicated to the late Donald Fields, Helsinki correspondent of the BBC, The Guardian, and Politiken to 1988, who wrote critically about Finlandisation.
Ralf Friberg held several roles, from ambassador to the head of the foreign ministry’s press section, which closely watched what was written about Finland during the Cold War. His methods to shut them up. He was so ruthless that even one of his former colleagues gave him the nickname “Leonid.”
At one lunch meeting at Helsinki’s Savoy restaurant, Friberg suggested that before I write on the sensitive topic of Finlandisation, I should get in touch with him. I considered this outright censorship.
Details of our lunch date were published in Finland’s biggest daily, Apu magazine.
The following day after the story was published, I got phone calls from some of Friberg’s former employees who thanked me for what I did and said that Friberg was a terrible person who would go to any lengths to destroy a person’s career.
The revelation also exposed the open relationship that Friberg had with the Financial Times. He would directly complain to the editors about my writing.
The Financial Times had no problems with Finnfacts paying for their journalists’ visit to Finland as long as they published something positivve.
Groups like Finnfacts, under Matti Kohva, also monitored the foreign media. I remember an article Kohva wrote in Finn Niche, a publication edited by Olli Virtanen, in which he said his blood boiled whenever he heard foreign journalists cite Finlandisation.
Oheneba “Ohe” Poku-Marboah, a software developer with an international background, has launched a project to help immigrants learn Finnish by sharing the real experiences of people who have successfully learned to speak the language.
Oheneba “Ohe” Poku-Marboah. Photo by Olga Kryuchkova
The project was created by a developer who moved to Finland as a child and later realized how crucial the Finnish language is for integration and career opportunities.
Although he arrived at age 11 and completed most of his education in English-language schools, he said the importance of learning Finnish only became clear after graduation.
“I suddenly realized that in the real world, many opportunities require Finnish,” he told Migrant Tales. “That’s when I decided I had to take the language seriously.”
The idea for the project began in 2022 when he started reflecting on why some immigrants succeed in learning Finnish while others struggle. Conversations in everyday settings — including a chance discussion in a barbershop — helped spark the concept.
“I realized I’m not the only one who has managed to do this,” he said. “So I thought: why not let people share their stories about how they learned Finnish?”
The website, How I Learned Finnish – with Ohe, features inspiring success stories of immigrants who arrived in Finland as adults and eventually achieved a high level of fluency. The interviews are available on the website as well as on YouTube and podcast platforms.
While creator Poku-Marboah says he appreciates all the stories, three stand out for him: the language-learning journeys of Deborah Laajanen, Kseniia, and Jamie McDonald.
Those featured in the project include people who have gone on to study at Finnish-language universities, work professionally in Finnish, and even perform stand-up comedy in the language.
Laajanen, for example, entered law school at the University of Helsinki after learning Finnish in just a few years. McDonald began performing stand-up comedy in Finnish despite starting from zero as an adult learner. Kseniia describes discomfort as the engine of language learning, not an obstacle.
Poku-Marboah himself took a similar approach. At times, he told people he did not speak English, forcing conversations to happen in Finnish.
A recurring theme in the interviews is the role of identity in language learning. According to Poku-Marboah, many successful learners first made a conscious decision to see Finland as their home.
“For many people, it’s identity-based,” he said. “Once they decide they belong here and want to be part of society, learning the language becomes much easier.”
He also stresses the importance of consistent practice and immersion.
The project currently includes around a dozen interviews and has been entirely self-funded. Poku-Marboah hopes the stories will inspire newcomers navigating life in Finland.
“I felt something like this should exist,” he continued. “If someone is trying to learn Finnish, they can see how others in similar situations managed to do it.”
Despite receiving little response so far from the media he contacted, he plans to keep the project online so immigrants and students can continue learning from others’ experiences.
His message to newcomers is simple: aim high — and commit fully to life in Finland.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today. “I know nothing about a desalination plant. They’re complaining about a desalination plant. We complain about the fact that they shouldn’t be chopping babies’ heads off.”
We have witnessed with sadness for the past two weeks destruction and carnage peppered with generous quantities of hubris and ignorance. Much of this destructive behavior has come from the Trump administration.
The imperialistic attitude of the US and Israel has baly miscalculated Iran. They believed that a quick decapitation strike would put an end to the government in Teheran. Instead of causing an uprising, Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s death did not weaken Iran’s resolve but strengthened it.
The idea that Iran would follow the war call of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu proves their little preparation and knowledge they have of Iran and its dynamics.
It’s not going the way that the US wanted with the global economy being hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of oil passes.
“You may have a different opinion about Iran, but the racism of the West against Persians and Muslims feeds the hubris and ignorance. It explains why coverage of the war is usually biased, hypocritical, even racist.”
