An interview published today in The Guardian of Prime Minister Sanna Marin reveals that countries like Finland have not caved into populism, xenophobia, and toxic nationalism. Her leadership is a direct snub at those forces in Finland trying to bring down her government. Marin said in the interview that she believed future governments would continue to promote…
Tag: Nordic welfare state
Ilari Kaila & Tuomas Kaila: Finland, we hardly knew
The Finnish welfare state is being eroded, and the far right has gained momentum. As the country turns one hundred, what’s happened to Finland?
Is Finland swapping Nordic values like social equality for social inequality?
Social Democratic Party (SDP) MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari gives a good interview to Helsingin Sanomat about the government’s 80-point plan to tighten immigration policy that not only targets asylum seekers but impacts negatively the whole migrant and minority community of Finland.
Finland 2015 is a sinking ship: Throw overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and our Nordic values
What destiny can befall a country or a political party that retreats into its own fears and scapegoats migrants for its own blunders and inaction? As one friend pointed out, Finland resembles today a sinking ship that is throwing overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and Nordic values. The situation is dire, very dire….
Michael McEachrane: Seeing Sweden’s race problem for what it is
Michael McEachrane* Two things seem abundantly clear regarding the rise of ultranationalism in Europe today. First, it is symptomatic of a broader form of nationalism which all European states are steeped in. Second, it is this broader nationalism that ultimately needs to be confronted if equality is ever to become a reality in Europe. Read…
Healthy advice: Don’t flirt with racism, include don’t exclude, involve and we’ll learn to live together
One of the matters one learns after answering thousands of comments on Migrant Tales and posting near daily on this humble site is the language and arguments used by anti-immigration groups, which are openly against a Finland that is international, multicultural and open. By multicultural I mean treating everyone in this country, irrespective of their background, with…
Two Finlands will be celebrating our country’s first centennial in 2017
When Finland celebrates its first centennial on December 6, 2017, what will we be commemorating? Independence? Our Nordic way of life? Social equality? Will there be two Finlands, one that is socially included and another one that is not, celebrating on that special day? Source: Cornerstone News and Information. People who aren’t socially excluded…
Sweden riots: People cannot live off football, crumbs and destitute pity
In the face of the riots in Huusby, Sweden, which have now spread outside the northern Stockholm suburb, there’s one culprit we should pay close attention to especially here in Finland: The erosion of Sweden’s comprehensive welfare state system. Faced with a seven-billion-euro budget deficit, it isn’t surprising that few if any politicians in this…
Finland’s future recipe for success is based on social equality, mutual acceptance, respect and equal opportunities
Why would any political party seriously care about immigrants and their children if these newcomers form part of a fragmented group that has little political and economic power? Should they be concerned about high unemployment and ever-growing social inequality among such groups in Finland? Our success story as a society was never based on social…