Comment: The one-sided debate in Finland on immigrants, refugees and immigration to Finland has been an exercise in finding suitable scapegoats by anti-immigration groups like Hommaforum and parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS). In the column by Mikko Heikka below, the bishop of the Lutheran Church argues how Finland’s poor have been driven against immigrants.
“One of the key topics that arose after the election was immigration,” he writes. “…Immigrants are seen as enemies that eat from the tables of Finns.”
One of the biggest problems in the ongoing debate in Finland is the lack of leadership by politicians of the mainstream parties. Since public figures are not speaking out strongly enought against racism, it makes it more acceptable among some Finns.
It is, however, a good matter that the Lutheran Church is standing up to this social ill that is threatening the country.
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Mikko Heikka
Köyhyys nousi huhtikuussa pidettyjen eduskuntavaalien tärkeäksi teemaksi. Myös hallitusneuvotteluissa asia on nähty keskeiseksi. Köyhyys ei kuitenkaan ole uusi ongelma. Jo vuosia kirkon tutkimukset ja piispojen puheenvuorot ovat tuoneet esille kasvavan köyhyyden seuraukset erityisesti pitkäaikaistyöttömien, lapsiperheiden ja yksinelävien arjessa. Näitä puheenvuoroja ei ole kuultu.
If we momentarily dismiss that one-off sentence about how sad it is to see poor Finns being driven against poor immigrants, that article actually discusses issues that concern everyone living in this counry, Finn or not. Personally, if both this crowd and the Homma Forum crowd would have enough wisdom to set assides the issue of who gets help and instead focused on sharing constructive ideas to bring this country’s social security’s base level (about 500eur/month) back up to the rest of the Nordic level (about 800eur/month in Sweden and 1500eur/month in Danemark and Norway), we might finally notice that we have more in common than we think, plus, we might actually at putting just a tad of brains into Arcadia Hill, for a change. Oh well… I can always dream, can’t I?