Tag: Multiculturalism

The New York Review of Books: A New Approach to the Holocaust

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: The New York Review of Books  offers some of the best analysis around on history and contemporary affairs. If you are going to subscribe to this excellent journal, you have to set aside a lot of time to read the lengthy and well-written reviews.

The Holocaust will always live by us like an ugly reminder of our savagery, or in particular of a regime that based its existence on racism and ethnic homogeneity. Some have asked on Migrant Tales what does the adjective “Nazi-spirited” mean before an association like Suomen Sisu? The answer is in its racial views and, like the Nazis, to the idea that ethnic homogeneity is an important value that society should strive to maintain.

This idea is not only shared openly by PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho who are emembers of Suomen Sisu, but by many far-right populist parties in Europe like the Sweden Democrats and others. In other words, their reason for being and aim is based on their objection to multiculturalism, or cultural diversity, which is a threat to  ethnic homogeneity. 

One matter that these parties and associations don’t tell you is how they plan to preserve never mind return their countries back to some “ethnically homogeneous” society. Taking into account that over a million Finns emigrated from here in the last 150 years and that Finland has always been a part of Europe, we can even argue if we’ve ever been ethnically homogeneous. 

Ethnic homogeneity as an ideal of society has its roots in racism and most recently to the rise of fascism in the 1930s.

This explains as well why PS MPs like Halla-aho and Suomen Sisu don’t openly condemn the works of Alfred Rosenberg and David Duke. Halla-aho even plays down the Nuremberg Trials.  “It is quite justifiable to see the Nuremberg trials as a farce,” he wrote. “Sure, the guilty had been condemned in advance and their convictions carried out on absurd grounds.”

Peter Longereich’s Holocaust not only tells us how misguided Nazi Germany was concerning their pathological ethnic policies but how it led to mass murder when they tried to implement them and make their country and occupied territories ethnically homogeneous. If the Nazi ideology failed in this task and caused as a result the systematic murder and social engineering through death camps and deportation of millions of Europeans, it is doubtful that far-right parties will ever succeed in the task today.

Do you agree?

__________

It is fruitless to reduce the manifold evil of the Holocaust to a single cause. Ideology, charisma, conformism, hatred, greed, and war were all very important, but each was related to the others and all mattered within rapidly changing historical circumstances. In his profound study Holocaust, Peter Longerich puts forward an analysis that includes all these factors and shows how politics or, as he puts it, Politik, set them all in motion. In this amplified English edition of his Politik der Vernichtung (1998), Longerich preserves the German term Judenpolitik, and with good reason. In German Politik means both “politics” and “policy,” and the compound noun (Juden + Politik) gives a sense of a joining of concepts that English cannot quite convey.

Read whole story.

Ten fallacies of the PS’ anti-immigration arguments

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

When I was a kid growing up in California we used to say phony baloney when a fellow classmate exaggerated or lied. If we look at the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s mindset and claims on immigration, I would certainly be one of the first to let out a vociferous cry: “Phony baloney!”

Here are ten common phony why-we-should-not-trust-the-anti-immigrant arguments by the PS:

1. The people voted for us because they want tighter immigration laws.

Counterargument: Eighty-one percent of Finns voted for traditional parties. Anti-immigration PS candidates like Jussi Halla-aho and others got a fraction of the total votes. When the PS states that it is the “will of the voters” to punish immigrants they are really pushing it. A minority (19.1%) voted for them. They speak, however, as if the majority of Finns have the same opinions as the PS.

2. Tighter immigration laws will solve the problem.

Counterargument: Talk of tighter immigration laws is a red herring used by the PS to hide their contempt for groups like the Somalis. When they bash one group it ends up spilling over on all the rest of us. It poisons the air.  Tightening family reunification rules are one underhanded attempt to make life as difficult as possible for certain immigrant groups living in Finland. A 150 years ago when Finns emigrated to the United States, they brought their families and friends. Building social networks is vital for immigrants.

3. Our integration program is a failure.

Counterargument: Is it a failure or do too few have access to Finnish-language courses? A Mipex survey (www.mipex.eu) showed that Finland’s integration program was the fourth best after Sweden, Portugal and Canada. Anti-immigration groups are unimaginative. They use the same arguments in every country they churn public opinion. Some of their favorite adjectives before the word immigrant or immigration include: uncontrolled, mass, unadapted, illiterate, barbaric etc.  They are, however, making the following argument: Since this group of people are so different from us they can never live in our country. Our hatred and racism is therefore justified.

4. Islam is a religion of violence.

Counterargument: As mentioned, anti-immigration groups are intellectually lazy. One of the things they like to do is over-generalize about groups. Even though they claim that they have individuality and freewill, people from other groups supposedly don’t, according to them. They just walk around and receive orders from their culture like zombies. They even stay that way for generations!

5. I can insult any ethnic group I please. I would never speak this way to my people. I am exercising my right to freedom of speech.

Counterargument: Since when was insulting and acting rudely exemplary behavior never mind protecting freedom of speech? Anti-immigration groups hide their racism with this argument. What they are not telling you is that if they were ever in power, they’d be the first ones to silence you by force or with the help of social- media lynch mobs that roam the net today.

6. We are against multiculturalism.

Counterargument: What does multiculturalism mean to the PS? Does it mean that they are against our cultural diversity? If they are what do they plan to replace it with? All you hear is whining but no concrete proposals. Why? Because they have none to offer or because their proposal(s) if ever known to the public would frighten sensible people.

7. We must stop the growth of cultural diversity. There is no racism in Finland.

Counterargument: Here is the mother of all arguments used by some anti-immigration MPs like Jussi Halla-aho. They are not only denying who we are but encouraging hostility towards people who are immigrants or multicultural Finns. They read people like Alfred Rosenberg and David Duke because they are the antithesis of cultural diversity.  Since Finland isn’t culturally diverse there can’t be any racism, right?

8. We are not racists!

Counterargument: Just like anti-immigration groups don’t recognize that Finland is already culturally diverse, they similarly deny that they are racists. Behind their destructive ideology you will find a person who is challenged on many fronts, especially living in a culturally diverse society.

9. Racism is patriotism.

Counterargument: Racism and insulting behavior towards immigrants and minorities has nothing to do with patriotism never mind showing our respect to our fallen veterans. Their racism, which is dressed up with the help of quaint words and arguments, is nothing more than nationalism. For some, patriotism means a sense of community and acceptance. Nationalism, on the other hand, is a hostile ethnocentric view of the world.

10. We are natives and immigrants the colonizers.

Counterargument: Believe it or not, this is one argument used by some Finns in 2011 Finland. What they don’t know is that every time they speak of themselves as a tribe they are flirting with racism. Finns are not a tribe!

Who is responsible for the rise in hate crimes in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri

Apart from the usual social-media lynch mobs roaming the net, we have now seen since the April 17 election a worrying rise in hate crimes in Finland. The matter has escalated to such proportions that President Tarja Halonen expressed concern this week over the problem.

One important matter to keep in mind when battling a foe like racism is that we can never underestimate its devastating power never mind run away from its challenge.

Finland must do the same. It is pretty clear that we cannot any longer pretend that racism isn’t a problem in our society.

An important question to ask is what is fuelling it.

Even if we cannot blame a single party or group we can, however, demand parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) as well as others to address the menace with much greater resolve.

The same worrisome trend we are seeing in Finland is also present throughout Europe. Right-wing populist parties have grown in size in past years and are pointing the finger at immigrants for all of the country’s problems. This questionable style of politicking is unacceptable and should be strongly condemned by sensible people.

Another indication that matters may be spiralling out of hand was an attack this week of the speaker of the house, Ben Zyskowicz. The assailant tried to hit the Kokoomus MP before calling him a dirty Jew.

What can be done? Is their enough political will to tackle this problem? Would a party like the PS, which bases much of support on anti-immigration rhetoric, openly condemn racism and isolate MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and others that are members of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association?

Would the PS be the same party if it abandoned its strong anti-immigration stance?

Despite these serious challenges for Timo Soini’s party, it is pretty clear that the PS does not consider racism a big enough problem to condemn without conditions. The party lost a good opportunity to set the record straight in their statement against racism. Instead of condemning racism and discrimination, the PS preferred to make a case against so-called positive discrimination.

It would be naive to suggest that only the PS is responsible for the escalation of hate crimes in Finland. We should look at parties like Kokoomus and Social Democrats. A definite sore spot for Kokoomus has been Wille Rydman. Eero Heinäluoma has claimed, among other things, that hundreds of thousands of Estonian workers will invade and steal jobs from Finns.

The PS’ statement against racism, Rydman’s toughened stance against the treatment of immigrants and Heinäluoma’s scare tactics are not racist but they fuel a climate of suspicion and resentment of immigrants in Finland.

But who is the culprit for the recent spate in hate crimes in Finland?

One of these is poor economic growth and rising unemployment. Even so, an even bigger one are public officials who fuel it directly or indirectly with their statments and actions.

If we don’t nip racism in the bud in Finland it will end up nipping us.

Skilled labor, foreign investment and innovation rarely flourishes in hostile and bigoted environments.

MRN: 10 years after the race riots, Britain’s ‘patchwork heritage’ is not the problem

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Comment: It’s always the same story in every European country: multiculturalism is a failure, immigrants don’t integrate and immigration policy is in shambles. The blog by Ruth Grove-White below published on Migration Rights Network (MRN) attempts to look at how Britain’s ever-growing cultural diversity has evolved since the 2001 Oldham race riots broke out.

The Oldham race riots were the worst in the United Kingdom in fifteen years  that sparked similar confrontations in Bradford, Leeds and Burnley.

Grove-White asks were Britain is in 2011 after a decade when the riots took place. During that period, Britain’s foreign-born population rose to 7% in 2011 from 4.5% in 2001.

“It is the effects of this diversity that are under dispute,” she writes. “With rising net immigration, we are told by politicians and media that it is an inevitable symptom of diversity, that these problems are worsening, that migrants should be made to do more to integrate, and that multiculturalism has failed. But are we really facing a crisis of this sort?”

Evidence, however, shows the contrary, according to Grove-White. “Research summarised in Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson’s excellent book, ‘Sleepwalking to Segregation?’ reports an increase in ethnic mixing, greater tolerance in social attitudes and more mixed-ethnicity friendship groups among diverse communities in Britain since 2001.”

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Ruth Grove-White

As the anniversary of the 2001 Oldham race riots comes around and fresh stats show that net immigration has leapt up once again, we need to rebut claims that our society is divided along ethnic lines.

Read whole story.

HS: Maahanmuuttajakin voi rakastaa Suomea

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Comment: Here is a moving letter to the editor published in Helsingin Sanomat by  Somali-born Finn, Wali Hashi, who tells about his appreciation and love for his second homeland, Finland.  Even if some people are trying to destroy this bond in parliament, there is nothing that can erase memories and love for your home. Hashi’s story is that of many tens of thousands multicultural Finns that live in this country today.

If I had the opportunity to live 50-80 years more and had to look back on this period and the last century, I’d notice that there were two Finlands: one that was predominately white in the twentieth century and a new one that is now culturally diverse. I do not, however, have to live that long to see that day because it will happen no matter how many Perussuomalaiset MPs get elected to parliament. 

Hashi agrees and states rightly at the end of the letter:”The Finnish flag is no longer the property of the white (Finns), but to all those that love and respect Finland.”

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Herjaaminen ei saanut minua vihaamaan maata, joka on antanut kaiken, mistä olen aina haaveillut: rauhaa, ruokaa, lääkkeitä ja asunnon.

Ruotsissa asuva pikkuveljeni soitti 16. toukokuuta kello 0.20. Ennen kuin hän onnitteli minua jääkiekon maailmanmestaruudesta, hän kysyi, mikä äänessäni on vikana ja onko minulla kenties flunssa. Vastasin, ettei minulla ole flunssaa vaan olin laulanut joka maalin jälkeen “ihanaa, Leijonat, ihanaa”. Se ei kuulostanut kivalta veljeni korviin, sillä hän on henkeen ja vereen Tre Kronor -joukkueen kannattaja.

Samaan aikaan nuori juopunut suomalaismies tuli sanomaan minulle, että minun on ihan turha pitää Suomen paitaa päällä, koska olen somali ja sellaisena aina pysyn.

Puhuin nuoren miehen kanssa siitä, miksi hän on suomalaisempi kun minä. Pitkän keskustelun jälkeen me molemmat huomasimme, että ainoa asia, joka meidän suomalaisuuttamme erottaa, on se, että hän on valkoinen ja syö makkaraa ja juo kaljaa, mitä minä taas en harrasta. Kaikki muut asiat, jotka hän määritteli suomalaisuudeksi, olivat minunkin ajattelumaailmassani. Mies on 21-vuotias, ja minä olen asunut Suomessa 22 vuotta. Se oli hänelle pieni herätys.

Kun sota syttyi Somaliassa, nuorten miesten kohtalona oli sotia joko hallituksen tai kapinallisten joukoissa. Sen välttääkseen vanhemmat halusivat lähettää poikansa turvaan maasta. Enoni lykkäsi käteeni rahaa, passin ja lipun ja sanoi, että mene nyt jonnekin.

Tulin nuorena poikana pakolaisena Suomeen. Muistan, että oli toukokuu ja katsoin ulos Venäjältä Helsinkiin saapuvan junan ikkunasta. Oli kauniin vihreää, ja maa oli siisti. Ensimmäinen reaktioni oli: “Vau, mikä maa!”

Sitten alkoi mustan miehen arki. Sain kuulla usein rasistisia huuteluja. Melkein joka viikonloppu ihmiset tulivat haastamaan riitaa, vaikka yritin välttää sellaisia tilanteita viimeiseen asti. Ensimmäiset oppimani suomenkieliset sanat olivat “neekeri”, “saatana”, “kusipää” ja niin edelleen.

Herjaaminen ei kuitenkaan saanut minua vihaamaan maata, joka on antanut kaiken, mistä olen aina haaveillut: rauhaa, ruokaa, lääkkeitä ja asunnon. Somaliassa olin ollut katulapsi. Aloitin työt kengänkiillottajana yhdeksänvuotiaana. Kun sain rahaa, lähetin yksinhuoltajaäidilleni maissia ja sokeria. Jouduin yhdeksänvuotiaasta asti pitämään huolta siitä, että äitini ja sisarukseni saisivat ruokaa.

Yksi niistä lapsista, joista pidin huolta, on pikkuveljeni Mohamed, jonka kohtalo vei Ruotsiin. Hän on siis Ruotsin kansalainen, ja olemme aina eri mieltä siitä, kumpi maa on parempi, Suomi vai Ruotsi. Kinastelu alkoi vuonna 1995, kun Suomi löi Ruotsin jääkiekon MM-finaalissa. Vuoden 2003 ottelun jälkeen veljeni taas muistutti aina siitä, kuinka Mats Sundin oli tehnyt viimeisellä minuutilla maalin.

Yksi asia, josta olemme veljeni kanssa samaa mieltä, on se, että me molemmat rakastamme ja kunnioitamme maita, jotka ovat ottaneet meidät vastaan.

Se, että yhdestä perheestä voi tulla eri maiden kansalaisia, kertoo tragediasta, joka on kohdannut entistä kotimaatani Somaliaa. Somalialaiset ovat lähteneet ympäri maailmaa, ja uusi sukupolvi on saanut uudet identiteetit, kun he ovat ruotsalaisia, suomalaisia, tanskalaisia, norjalaisia, yhdysvaltalaisia ja niin edelleen. Yhdestä Afrikan yhtenäisimpinä pidetyistä yhteiskunnista on tullut eri kulttuurien jakama joukko ihmisiä. Kansasta tai valtiosta voi tuskin enää puhua.

Suomen valtaväestön kasvu on nykyään kaksi prosenttia ja meidän maahanmuuttajien kahdeksan prosenttia. Tulevaisuudessa ei siis enää ihmetellä, kun värilliset maahanmuuttajat heiluttavat Suomen lippua ja ovat ylpeitä suomalaisuudestaan.  Suomen lippu ei ole vain valkoihoisille, vaan niille, jotka rakastavat ja kunnioittavat Suomea.

Wali Hashi, toimittaja

Turku

Denying racism is rejecting Finland’s cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

When one looks at some topical issues being debated in Finland, like the role of cultural diversity and tries to understand them, it is essential to dig deeper behind words. What do the most anti-immigration voices of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) say when they are against multiculturalism?

Anyone who has attempted to understand what multiculturalism is knows that it isn’t an easy concept to grasp. If we are speaking of the Canadian social policy that came about in the 1980s, there are only three countries in the world (Canada, Britain and Australia) that are officially multicultural, according to researcher Peter Kivisto.

Multiculturalism as a social policy works differently in all three of the above-mentioned countries. There is no same-size-fits-all when it comes to multiculturalism as a social policy.

What do anti-immigration groups like the PS tell us when they express their loathing for multiculturalism? Is it a last-ditch attempt to keep Finland white and hinder the development or, worse, deny our cultural diversity as a society?

What do anti-immigration groups like Suomen Sisu and PS MP Jussi Halla-aho reveal to us when state that they are against multiculturalism and find some basis for their arguments in the writings of  Alfred Rosenberg, David Duke and Michael Levin?

All of these persons have one matter in common: they are against cultural diversity, or are the antithesis of multiculturalism. Rosenberg, a Nazi war criminal who went to the gallows after the Nuremberg trials, believed that the ”Aryan race” would find greatness after it kicked out the Jews from Germany.

David Duke is a former Klu Klux Klan leader who believes whites should live separated from blacks. Levin is another controversial figure who sees whites at the top and blacks at the bottom of the ethnic totem pole.

When anti-immigration representatives in Finland tell us that they are only against certain groups moving to this country, they are stating us the same thing: we loathe people who strengthen cultural diversity.

The present debate taking place in Finland goes much deeper than what meets the eye because it is about the inevitable future of our society. One group, like some in the PS, are denying it by living in a Finland of the past century, while others have already accepted it.

What, then, is a person telling us when he claims there is no racism in Finland?

It’s the same side of the sinister coin: denial that Finland is already culturally diverse.

guardian.co.uk: This multiculturalism debate is not about culture

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Comment: The story below is a good attempt to dissect the “state-multiculturalism-has-failed” affirmation in February by Prime Minister David Cameron. Certainly when a prominent political figure like Cameron or German Chancellor  Angela Merkel claim that multiculturalism has failed, it emboldens those in Finland who believe the same despite our underwhelming immigrant population compared with the latter two countries. 

The problem with such arguments, as the Guardian story correctly highlights, is that they are based on an assumption that the host society is not multicultural.

The Guardian writes: “In all the fevered comment, the assumption seems to be that British culture should be counterposed with other alien cultures, which are problematically separate from, and should be assimilated into, it. Unfortunately for this assumption, it is a truism of anthropology that cultures vary as much within themselves as between each other. Very few are homogenous.”

If multiculturalism has failed, according to Cameron and Merkel, with what do they want to replace it with?

You will never get a comprehensive answer to that question, especially from politicians.

_______________

By Peter Guillam

The idea that there is a distinct set of British values is a myth. All cultures are multi-cultures – this debate is being used as a proxy. The debate about multiculturalism is hotting up. It also clearly splits the coalition, as the contrasting speeches of David Cameron and Nick Clegg have shown.

Read whole story.

Diversity and Finland: One and the same

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By Enrique Tessieri

There are many ways to face diversity. You can try to quash it with nationalism as is happening in many parts of Europe, or make it work for as many as possible for everyone’s benefit. 

Unless we end up killing each other with the sword of indifference, it is only natural that humanity must learn one day to live with its diversity. It has to because if we fail in the task it will mean resurrecting those two dark riders of the apocalypse: war and squalor.

The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe is not only an unfortunate sign of the times but a dangerous warning because they are stoking the fires of hatred and divisions in society.

Populist parties like the Perussuomalaiset believe that their main job is to fuel more nationalism at the cost of those minorities they suspect or loathe. The nationalism that they are handing wholesale to the public with their rhetoric is hazardous to society.

Racism should not find an ever-growing foothold in this country but are parties like the PS concerned? When Teuvo Hakkarainen’s racist outbursts hit the public fan not one PS MP expressed condemnation or remorse.

As far as politicians and groups like the PS continue to use bigotry as a tool to secure votes and to increase their popularity, Timo Soini’s party can never be considered normal but a passing fad that will retreat back to single-digit percentage figures.

Diversity and Finland are one and the same. It should be defended and respected by everyone in this country, even by parties like the PS.

Finland election: A message that goes much deeper

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By Enrique Tessieri

After the election victory of the True Finns on Sunday, sensible Finns are asking Timo Soini’s party to bite the bullet and leave behind the rhetoric and racism that has tainted his party. This may be easier said than done.

Nobody is denying the True Finns their victory but there is great concern that the rise of such a party will fuel hatred, racism, division in society and social inequality.

Such an argument is not out-of-place nor is it alarmist. What kind of Finland do you expect to create if you start attacking the Swedish-speakers, minorities,  immigrants, refugees and all those who do not fit under the “good-fatherland” category?

When a Jussi Halla-aho openly praises the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party and its policies, he is not speaking only about restricting a certain group of immigrants from a country but changing our values as a nation. Such a message poisons the atmosphere stressing differences between people.

What is tragic is that its victims are not the future immigrants and refugees that want to come here but those who have embraced Finland as their home. They are the ones who contribute to this society, work hard and pay taxes.

If you spread the message of hatred and suspicion of other cultures it spills over to the whole immigrant community and, worse, tells their children that Finland is not their home and then claim that people don’t integrate rapidly enough. What kind of society will you build when you instil hostility, racism and exclusion? The answer is obvious.

Such a populist-xenophobic message is also an insult to the over million Finns that live abroad who still have bonds to this nation. The message is a slap in their faces with a rude message: This is our country, not yours.

Is this the type of Finland we want to build in this century? Is it what our grandparents and great grandparents fought for? Didn’t they sacrifice their lives in the Winter War to spare Finland from becoming a totalitarian nation where everyone looks and thinks alike?

The rise of nationalism and racism is like pissing in one pants in the freezing winter. At first the warmth feels fine but then a terrible sensation sets in when the urine cools. You blame others for your shortsightedness and predicament.

New World Finn: My Finnish identity is fine

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By Enrique Tessieri

A reader recently surprised me on my blog, Migrant Tales, affirming that Finnish Americans are not Finns. “They weren’t born, raised in Finland nor do they speak Finnish; some of them have never visited Finland,” he wrote. “I wonder how many could point to Finland on a map.”

His comment was not only rude but was full of holes. I challenged the blogger to visit a future FinnFest festival and make such a provocative statement publicly. I recommended that he’d take, just in case, a few body guards along.

It was the last time he brought up the subject.

Even if most Finnish Americans are legally from the United States, many of us still retain strong cultural, spiritual and family bonds to Finland. What identity we choose to use depends on ourselves. We are the only ones who decide what identity we feel comfortable with.

No matter how you express your Finnish identity, we all come from the same family because we are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of immigrants.

From Hollywood to Finland

When I was thirteen, my multicultural background was too difficult for me to grasp since the three cultures that claimed me, Argentinean, Finnish and Californian, demanded all of my attention.

I wrote about my cultural predicament in a book published in Finland in 1994: “Belonging to three cultures is like having three hungry children to feed. All three of them have expensive tastes. I must have spent a fortune on plane tickets during my lifetime. I am certain that I would be a millionaire today if I could turn the hours I’ve spent pampering these children into dollars.”

Using hindsight, my mistake back then was seeing these three cultures as separate when, in fact, they were all one.

Even if Argentina, Finland and California appeared like distant worlds, I never felt like an outsider in any of them. When I visited my grandparents in Finland, I felt perfectly at home in my world and identity.

Being in Finland was like “switching on a culture” and then turning it off when I returned to Los Angeles in fall. For two to three months and without Southern Californian life and culture constantly bombarding me, I was momentarily a child of the rural landscapes of eastern Finland.

One of my favorite pastimes during those times was to explore with my vintage World War 2 bike and a topographic map the woods near our summerhouse. If I did this in Hollywood, people would think that I was crazy. It would have been dangerous as well for a youngster to speak to strangers let alone enter their homes in Los Angeles.

This wasn’t the case in Finland. Some of the people I met during those short travels into the woods became lifelong friends.

I still long occasionally for those lazy late-afternoon summer days and those short travels with my vintage bike, which was not really a bike but a crude eastern Finnish version of Aladdin’s magic lamp. Instead of rubbing I peddled. The more I peddled the greater chance I had of encountering new adventures.

The adventures I took part in were not like James Bond movies but humble aspirations like visiting the woods, lakes and inhabitants of that region of Finland. I was especially fascinated by lakes. They were like islands or enclaves on land. They brought me great joy when I discovered new ones of different sizes and shapes tucked deep in the woods.

I was especially fond of ponds. For me they had more magic than lakes, which were vulnerable to human encroachment and appeared more conceited due to their size.

Eden’s fate

My presence in the woods was paradoxically a prelude to the end of those old-growth forests. Edward O. Wilson describes eloquently in his book, The Future of Life, how destructive humans are. Wherever we lay our feet, nature and biodiversity are eventually put on the defensive.

According to the biologist, there was no such thing as the “noble savage;” Eden occupied was a slaughterhouse and paradise found by humans is paradise lost. Wilson was, unfortunately, right. Sadness fills me today when I imagine those near-untouched forests I visited over three decades ago. Even the forest that stood on our land has been clear-cut beyond recognition.

Fortunately there are other modes of travel to revisit such places of beauty. I can still travel spiritually and in time to those forests. They still stand there in my mind and heart with a few magic trails leading me deeper into their unforgettable humbleness and generosity.

This column was published in the Sprin 2011 issue of New World Finn