Tag: Cultural diversity
Finland’s winning identity of the twenty-first century
When Finland gained its independence in 1917, an extensive Finnicization program began. Those that had foreign or non-Lutheran backgrounds were encouraged to throw away their history and amalgamate. In seven years, Finland will celebrate its centenary as an independent nation. What will be its winning identity in this century?
If we were able to forge a national identity in the 1920s by amalgamation and Finnicizing surnames, the same method would probably not work today because diversity is seen in a totally different light than back then.
Contrary to the first three decades of independence, Finland is in no threat of being overtaken by another country as was the case with the former Soviet Union.
Finland faces today different types of threats like aging, attracting skilled professionals, financing our comprehensive social welfare system, global warming and ever-competitive global markets. Even populism has poked its head from the undercurrent of discontent as one of the threats to our future growth as a vibrant and dynamic nation.
What type of a Finnish identity do we need to pull us through this century if in the previous one it was highly exclusive and amalgamated?
I believe that the key word is diversity. We are all “us” in such a society irrespective of our backgrounds. All of us work together for the common good of society that has the ability to accept others in a spirit of equality as is enshrined in our laws.
One of the matters that has always impressed me about Finns is that we shun arrogance. Our offer of treating others in a spirit of equality offers a good springboard to build a society that will not be overcome by greed.
Our greatest enemy that can put in jeopardy our society of this century are the old culprits of exclusion and very selective pathways to incorporation.
Acceptance, opportunity and inclusion will be the trademarks of success of our society in the twenty-first century. Without them we are doomed.
The multicultural society of the future
It seems odd that in today’s technologically advanced societies in Europe and elsewhere our views of other groups continue to pose major challenges. If I had to picture the situation in a cartoon, I would draw a picture of one of our first primates, Australopithecus africanus, which existed 2-3 million years before present sitting in front of a computer and speaking to the future with a Skype time machine.
Even though an image of an Australopithecus africanus may shock some of us, we could, if we learned how to communicate with this ancestor, find common opinions on how diversity can jeopardize the social integrity of the group.
Even though the picture suggests that Australopithecus africanus was monogamous, what values would we share in common with this primate ancestor? Source: Mendelianblogs.files.wordpress.com
If there is a new watershed that the Internet and globalization has brought it could be the chance to be more independent from some of the more adverse values (like those that fuel racism and discrimination) of society. Thus we could, so to speak, eat our cultural cake and have it at the same time.
The problem, I believe, is that traditional modern societies and some of its different members, especially the seats of power, are reticent to such change because it would undermine their economic, political and social power. Race or ethnicity is only a pretext to identify and exclude others from society’s pot of gold.
The modern society of the future (unless we end up destroying ourselves) will be built on diversity inside a hybrid cultural existence. We accept this form of society because we profit from it economically, environmentally and socially. If, however, we resist this change in a bellicose fashion, we will continue to be regulated by wars and petty and not-so-petty conflicts.
The new society that sees diversity as normal will be a huge step from classifying our world from the suspicious and hostile “us” and “them.”