If there was a disgraceful period on how Finland treated foreigners, that period would be the cold war era. Even though Russian troops never took control of Finland such as countries like Poland, Hungary and others, the shadow of the for former Soviet Union hung deep in Finland. This period, 1945 to the early or mid-1990s, should never be allowed to happen again.
Foreigners in Finland: Integration or conversation?
I recently had a very interesting chat with a colleague of mine over how much foreigners should integrate or assimilate into Finnish society. He felt that it was definitely not a matter of assimilation and that integration should only apply to the workplace. “Integration is important if you want to take part in the Finnish…
The Anti-Finland League in Canada
This is a funny story I read in The Hammer, a Canadian satirical magazine that tells about how the Finns have taken over the maritime provinces.
The building of Finnish national identity within a multicultural society
One of the matters that some Finns who read the many comments in this blog should try to understand is that cultural diversity or multiculturalism should not be perceived as a threat but as an opportunity. For some Finns, who see foreigners as a threat to our culture, this fear can be best explained through…
What does Obama’s victory mean for Finland?
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Martin Luther King One of the surprising matters of the US presidential elections was not that a black American was…
A Muslim for president of the United States
Whenever a country because of war is gripped by hysteria, we should always be careful about jumping on bandwagons that fuel hatred for other faiths and people. Real leadership, like being a good parent, does not always mean saying yes or agreeing with everything. Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions because you consider it…
A futuristic solution to the integration of foreigners in Finland
Owing to the recalcitrant attitude of some readers of this blog that foreigners are a threat to Finland and that they should throw away their culture and embrace Finnish ways and life, for them I would like to propose a futuristic model of integration. Finnish technology firms should start thinking about investing time in building…
Global financial turmoil and the United States
Owing to the financial turmoil that has unsettled global markets and put a squeeze on credit, a valid question arises: who will be the winners and the losers? I do not believe that we are going to head for a 1930-type depression. However, I cannot fail to recognize a parallel with what happened with the…
Does Finland and Europe need a civil rights movement?
One of the things that has surprised me about this blog are the overtly racist comments. These types of opinions resemble how some whites saw blacks in the United States before the civil rights movement. I do not think it has anything to do with expressing one’s opinions freely nor that some Finns and Europeans…
Sarah Palin fought with empty soundbites against Joe Biden
Both vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, sqared off their only debate on Thursday night. If you were expecting Palin to cave in and cry you were going to be disappointed. However, even though the Republican candidate held her own against Biden, her answers were without substance. She used an old trick when…