Hollywood Boulevard is a place where you could eat 44 years ago breakfast for 99 cents.
Migrant Tales Literary: Hollywood Blvd 1978
A fateful June: The future of the environment, millions of refugees and even world peace hung in the balance
Ahti Tolvanen*
At last there has been a decision of the world’s nations to put an end to the burning of fossil fuels. It took the world at least 50 years to arrive at this point which happened in Stockholm June 3rd, 2022 in the closing statement of a conference to observe the 50th anniversary of the UN’s first Environmental Conference in 1972.
In 1972 the US was waging a cruel war in Vietnam against an enemy supplied with weapons from Soviet Russia. Critics were saying it was a farce to have talks about the environment and make no mention of the
US´s destructive military intervention. Olaf Palme was famously outspoken on the theme.
Now the shoe was on the other foot. Russia had invaded Ukraine in February and the US was shipping weapons to repel the attackers.
NGOs led by the Climate Action Network lobbied and demonstrated energetically to have an end to fossil fuels renounced in Glasgow at COP 26 but were stymied in the last hours, mainly by the fossil fuel lobby. It took another International conference to get there.
Scientists have been warning the world about fossil fuels as the main driver of the climate crises for years, but the way climate politics works, we needed to have fossil phase-out on the books or we will never get it done.
In 1972 when the first Stockholm conference convened acid rain and a loss of ozone were serious environmental concerns. Measures were put into place to alleviate these in the following years. But in 1972 the human biological footprint was at approximately the level of natural replacement. Since then we have lost about 60% of living creatures and are consuming renewable resources at nearly twice their rate of renewal.
Continue reading “A fateful June: The future of the environment, millions of refugees and even world peace hung in the balance”Highland Park shooter raises far-right Suomen Sisu to international notoriety
After Highland Park shooter Robert E. Crimo III, 22, murdered six people during the July 4th festivities and was apprehended by the police, social media is buzzing with his use of a symbol that is similar to the one used by Suomen Sisu, a far-right neo-Nazi association that used to recommend the works of Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg.
Even if Suomen Sisu likes to call itself a “nationalist movement” that seeks the preservation of European states and white culture, it’s been called by the Finnish secret police Supo an “extremist organization.” Others like the Finnish Criminal Police (KRP), and the Council for Mass Media (JSN) called the association “Nazi spirited.”
Whether the symbol used by the Highland Park killer is a copy or not is like arguing if Suomen Sisu is a far-right white supremacist association or not.
What has happened is that Suomen Sisu’s real face has been exposed thanks to a murderer who is attracted to far-right ideology.
War in Ukraine forces Finland to lurch to a dark place where human rights must eventually take a backseat
The polarized debate in parliament Monday on renewing the Border Guard Act and Emergency Powers Act is just another example of how Finland has lurched into a dark place where human rights are a nuisance and should not take presedence The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS), with the helping hand of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), and other minor parties like the Christian Democrats and Liike Nyt, are picking on their favorite target: asylum seekers.
According to some, the new laws are not in conflict with the EU, which does not allow member states to stop people from seeking asylum. Others, like European Union Institute professor of international law and human rights Martin Scheinin, believe the new laws will send Finland back thirty years.
Here’s the question: Are the draft Border Guard Act and Emergency Powers Act in conflict with EU laws? Looking at parties like the PS and Kokoomus, who speak of asylum seekers as a threat to Finland, would be the first parties to trash human rights or severely water them down.
Denmark shooter is allegedly white and has ties with the far-right
It was about 11 years ago on 22/7 when Norwegian Anders Breivik shocked us by murdering 77 victims. His motive? Anti-Muslim racism. Yesterday, there was a hint of déjà-vu when a 22-year-old “ethnic Dane,” a term used to mean white Dane, went on the rampage in the Fields shopping center of Copenhagen killing at least three and wounding a number of victims.
While the police have not ruled out terrorism, unverified reports allege that the shooter had ties to the far right. Some eyewitnesses even heard the man shout at the scene of the crime, “Get out of my country!”
Why does the evidence point toward a deranged white Dane committing these heinous acts? For one, no Perussuomalaiset (PS)* politician has posted anything about the attack. PS chair Riikka Purra hasn’t even sent condolences to the victims.
Contrary to how far-right groups react to such a shooting, one important matter to remember is that we cannot generalize. For example, if the suspect is a white Dane and was motivated by racism, we should not label all white Danes as terrorists. The act at the shopping center was by a sick person who is a danger to society irrespective of his background.
If these accounts are true, that the suspect has ties to the far right and whose motive was anti-Muslim racism, it should be another stark reminder of how words and racism have deadly consequences.
A country like Denmark, which has a reputation for being one of the most Islamophobic countries in the EU, has not toned down its anti-Muslim rhetoric. The hardline anti-immigration policy comes straight from the government.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the country had been hit by a “cruel attack,” according to CBS News. “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”
This story will be updated.
Cold war journalism in Finland: Ghostbusting the past (City in English 3/1990)
Migrant Tales will launch stories about how the cold war, or Finlandization, encouraged self-censorship and censorship. My journalism career began in 1986, when I made a living from writing. As a journalist writing for the Finnish and foreign media, the foreign ministry warned me several times about questioning Finland’s foreign policy and human rights violations in the former USSR. One official said if I didn’t stop writing negative things about the Soviet Union, I’d be blacklisted by the foreign ministry. It was a shameful period that we must never repeat.
Since September 19, 1944, just after Finland signed an armistice with the USSR, which concluded the so-called Continuation War, the lights of that period of turmoil were turned off. Those who turned off the lights did so in the hope that no-one would ever find his way back into that era characterized by so much irrationality and rivers of blood.
Two years previous, in April 1942m a book on Field Marshall Carl Gustaf Mannerheim had been published by one of the country’s leading publishers, WSOY. Field Marshall Mannerheim is a leading figure in Finnish history; he was one of the main architects in keeping Finland free from the communists.
The Continuation War should not be mistaken for the Winter War (1939-40) when, for over a period of 105 grueling days, the vastly outnumbered Finns miraculously kept the Red Army in check. During the Continuation War, Finland fought side by side with Nazi Germany against a common enemy – the Soviet Union.
Continue reading “Cold war journalism in Finland: Ghostbusting the past (City in English 3/1990)”Avoid turning Finland into a United States
In a thousand years, if there’s History, America will be remembered as a nasty little Country. Full of Pricks…
Allen Ginsberg, Epilogue from “The Fall of America poems of these states 1965-1971”
Following the dysfunctionality and cultural war raging in US politics, any sensible person can conclude that the present situation is due to several factors. As a Latin American who has seen how US foreign policy has ruled and destroyed the region for its selfish benefit, it’s clear that the US is getting a bitter taste of its own medicine.
What is happening in the United States, how it is lurching into becoming an autocratic country, is nothing new. Money, greed, gullibility, and fairy tale exceptionalism are some culprits.
What is happening in the US will not end well. Even so, what is transpiring now in that country is a warning that we must avoid the same mistakes: unchecked capitalism, greed, and our misguided belief that money talks and has the last word.
Finland has succeeded in building a model society where the state attempts to take care of its own. In recent years, however, parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Center Party, Christian Democrats, Liike nyt have started to dismantle our welfare state piece by piece.
Politicians like Petteri Orpo, Elina Lepomäki, Heikki Vestman, Wille Rydman, Kai Mykkänen, Hjallis Harkimo, Päivi Räsänen, Jussi Halla-aho, and scores of others, would not think twice about selling out our welfare state for the USAmerican model based on extreme social inequality.
Even if we have one of the best education systems in the world and the highest standards of living in the world, about 18% of the population votes for a racist far-right party.
Watch and follow what is happening in the United States and cringe.
The recent decision by the US Supreme Court to strike down Roe and Wade and abortion rights for millions of women is an example of the lunacy that has inflicted USAmerica.
Certainly, one factor that has polarized the United States is racism and white supremacy.
Below is Republican Congressperson Mary Miller of Ohio, who thanks Trump for the Roe and Wade decision.
She said: “I would like to thank Trump on behalf of all the MAGA [Makke America Great Again] patriots in America. I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday.”
Continue reading “Avoid turning Finland into a United States”If that wasn’t enough, check the speech below where she quotes and thanks Adolf Hitler. “Hitler was right on one thing, he said whoever has the youth has the future,” said Miller. “Our children are being propagandized. I want to encourage you to do two things: tell your children’s minds what is true, right, and noble, and then they can overcome evil because then they can discern what is evil and what is good. ”
What does Finland’s far-right Perussuomalaiset think of the overturning of Roe and Wade and attack of a gay bar in Oslo?
Setting aside the US Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe and Wade, which effectively took away women’s rights to have an abortion, we saw the cold-blooded attack at a gay bar by a man in Oslo that left two dead and 21 wounded.
Meanwhile, in Finland, Yle reported some MPs’ reaction to the Supreme Court decision.
A staunch anti-abortionist, Päivi Räsänen of the Christian Democratic Party, hailed the Supreme Court decision as good news that would have a global impact on the abortion debate.
Yle approached other MPs from parties like the National Coalition Party, Center Party, Swedish People’s Party, and Green League, who expressed disappointment at the decision.
Center Party MP Jouni Ovaska echoed US President Joe Biden’s words, ”It’s a sad day for the court and for the country.”
Considering that the Supreme Court ruling passed thanks to three President Donald Trump appointed judges and that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* has been the most outspoken supporters of the Trump administration, the silence coming now from the far-right party is defeating.
What are the party’s opinions about the J6 Commission?
Continue reading “What does Finland’s far-right Perussuomalaiset think of the overturning of Roe and Wade and attack of a gay bar in Oslo?”Sexual harassment scandal takes a political toll on Kokoomus MP Wille Rydman
The scandal that embroiled National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman, has forced him to resign “indefinitely” from the Kokoomus parliamentary and Helsinki city council groups.
A Helsingin Sanomat investigative story exposed MP Rydman’s sexual harassment of underage girls to whom he sometimes offered alcohol. The police, who investigated the case, did not bring any charges against the MP.
Rydman, who has denied any wrongdoing, has built his political career by spreading anti-Muslim hatred and conspiracy theories like the great replacement theory. He has also pushed for closer ties with the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and asked, among other matters, to do away with hate speech laws.
One tweet suggested that apart from Rydman leaving the Kokoomus party, he could join the PS. PS MP Sanna Antikainen, in a tweet below, wished Rydman welcome to join her party.
The shift from Kokoomus to the PS would be a perfect fit for the likes of Rydman.
In the latest development, the police said they would not open the case again because there was no new evidence. Moreover, Helsingin Sanomat said it would write a new story about the scandal.
What’s all the commotion about Wille Rydman? Why is Kokoomus now shocked?
A big question remains after a Helsingin Sanomat investigative journalism piece exposed how National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) MP Wille Rydman treated women – even underaged ones – inappropriately. Some of these women, who were minors then, claimed that Rydman forced them to drink alcohol.
A question remains: Why does Kokoomus appear so shocked today, even after the police decided not to press charges in 2020 against the MP?
Several Kokoomus politicians like Nea Nättinen, the chairperson of the party’s student wing, expressed shock by the news.
Continue reading “What’s all the commotion about Wille Rydman? Why is Kokoomus now shocked?”