There are many surprising factors about Finland’s parliamentary election result in April. One of these is how a progressive government with an internationally acclaimed politician, Sanna Marin, who became the world’s youngest prime minister in 2019 at 34, shifted to a possible conservative and radical right government. Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s speech upon receiving an…
Tag: Sanna Marin
Media Monitoring Group of Finland [1]: The right adjective for the Perussuomalaiset should be populist, Eurosceptic, and far-right
It is surprising how the foreign and local media treat the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*differently, even if The Guardian and El País of Madrid refer to the party as far right. Other adjectives are used, like Eurosceptic, nationalistic, and right-wing populist. In Finland, we rarely, if ever, see such descriptions of the PS. Yle News, for example,…
Finnish election 2023: Kokoomus wins with the far right only a short distance behind
One headline on Yle caught my eye: Finns voted to oust Sanna Marin’s government. Or was it something like this that the New York Times headlined: “Finland’s prime minister toppled in tight election.“ Headlines Madrid’s El País: “The conservatives win the election in Finland, a short distance from the far right [PS].” Here’s my headline suggestion: “Finland continues to deny and…
Finland is a country swept once again off its feet by xenophobia
Watching the parliamentary question-and-answer session between the opposition and government revealed two matters: the opposition’s xenophobic politicking and the government’s sometimes infirm responses. The debate between the opposition and the government occasionally appears like a shouting match, where the government caves into the opposition. In a historic government decision on the same day, Finland closed its…
PM Sanna Marin is a true leader
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…
Finnish government to ease (alas) strict family reunification law
The Finnish government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin plans to overturn the country tightened immigration law and family reunification requirements, which came into force a year later after a record 32,477 asylum seekers came to Finland in 2015. The then government of Center Party Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party was a…
Finland’s PM Sanna Marin is the target of fierce misogynistic attack by online users
A story published Wednesday in Politico exposed the misogyny against Finland’s woman prime minister, Sanna Marin, and the women members of her cabinet. Considering that Finland’s biggest opposition party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* which is also leading in opinion polls, hate speech has raised its head for many years. Hate speech and the PS are like…
When will Finland have a black or gay prime minister?
The hostility that Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government has faced is a good example of the misogyny that still exists in Finland. While Finland has made important strides in gender equality, women still make, on average, 20% less than men. Even if women in Finland became the first to have the right to vote in…
Leadership in promoting social equality and challenging racism will strengthen Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government
I, if anyone, wishes Finland’s new prime minister, Sanna Marin, the best of luck and success. Someone asked me a while back what I thought about former Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s government and if it signalled major improvements and changes in immigration policy and in fighting racism. My answer was short: It all depends on…