Plan Finland’s failed campaign against unwanted pregnancies in Africa is an example of a broader, more serious problem: white exceptionalism. In looking at the campaign by Plan Finland, one can only wonder what these people thought when they launched it.
To grasp the full extent of the problem and how disrespectful the campaign is, what would white Finns think if blacks from Africa launched a campaign with white Finnish pregnant twelve-year-olds wearing suggestively African clothes?
Newspapers and blogs in Zambia and elsewhere have picked up the story.
Writes Mainstream Humanitarian:
“Later, they found a 12-year-old pregnant Zambian child, (Whose name we can not disclouse due to media ethics protecting children), made her wear the clothes and had a Finnish photographer; Meeri Koutaniemi take her pictures. Subsequently, they produced romanticized pictures of child pregnancy, which was stated by the designer herself in a video, and made her pose in a sexually suggestive way in the name of fashion photography. The girl and her family did not receive any form of compensation.”
Indeed, such a campaign would never happen in Europe and Finland because black Africans do not have such power and privilege over white Europeans, who still support their colonial privilege as white saviors.
Two pictures of Fridah, the 12-year-old Zambian girl used by Plan Finland’s campaign. Photo: Plan Finland.
Dr. Faith Mkwesha, who is the founder and executive director of Sahwira Africa International (SahWira Africa International), an anon-government organization that organizes cultural activities and consultancy on African culture and development issues, is one of Plan Finland campaign’s most outspoken critics.
“I think our campaign has exposed the racism in the campaign and the white savior complex,” she said. “The white savior is the idea that white people are better, progressive and exceptional and [that] black people and people of Africa or Asia etc are uncivilized and barbaric and need white people to save them from their ignorance.”
According to Dr. Mkwesha, it is precisely this type of white-savior mentality that gave European colonial powers the justification to enslave and pillage whole continents and regions.
“It [the white savior mentaility] is maintained because white people build their identity in relation to others,” she continued. “So now, when they do charity [work], they feel they are better and keep in place white superiority. That is why they use people in distress to appeal to their emotions.”
Dr. Mkwesha said that the campaign against Plan Finland has also exposed the hypocrisy that Plan is a child advocacy organization but instead exploits a traumatized child for profit. Thanks to the efforts of the campaign against Plan, many Finns are now aware that they failed o see the child behind the camera, according to her.
White Finnish privilege #53
In the face of the outrage at Plan Finland’s campaign in Zambia, is white Finnish privilege generally, or white savior privilege, in particular, the factors that will protect Plan International from offering an apology?
SahWira Africa International is demanding that Plan International offer a public apology, return the prizes that they got from the campaign, and pay the twelve-year-old Fridah for child labor.
You can sign SahWira’s petition here.
One matter that the campaign against Plan Finland has raised awareness.
Most likely, the NGO will think twice about using children in its controversial campaigns.
See also:
- Defining white Finnish privilege #1: I have it and you don’t
- Defining white Finnish privilege #2: Third culture children versus “pupil with immigrant background”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #3 No history, no doctrine, no heroes and no martyrs
- Defining white Finnish privilege #4 Holding the short end of the stick
- Defining white Finnish privilege #5 It’s ok to be a racist
- Defining white Finnish privilege #6 Not having a voice and the media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #7 A definitive guide
- Defining white Finnish privilege #8 Underrated and less intelligent
- Defining white Finnish privilege #9 Mohammad Ali’s insight
- Defining white Finnish privilege #10 I can victimize and make up any story I like about migrants because I’m white
- Defining white Finnish privilege #11: Case Teuvo Hakkarainen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #12: Case Tom Packalén
- Defining white Finnish privilege #13: Case Matti Putkonen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #14: Losing sight of the real issue
- Defining white Finnish privilege #15: Case Halla-ago on the PS
- Defining white Finnish privilege #16: Rosa Emilia Clay and my history versus yours
- Defining white Finnish privilege #17: The Perussuomalaiset and our civil rights
- Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudice
- Defining white Finnish privilege #19: My rape statistics about your group
- Defining white Finnish privilege #20: Labeling Others to strengthen “us” and “them.”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #22: From racist, fascist to a politician without memory
- Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities
- Defining white Finnish privilege #24: Becoming a heartless accomplice in wars and people’s suffering
- Defining white Finnish privilege #25: This land is my land, this isn’t your land
- Defining white Finnish privilege #26: Are you an ethnic Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #27: White versus Other media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #28: Are you an ethnic Finn (Part 2)?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #29: Your family is worth less than mine
- White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news
- White Finnish privilege #31: The Soldiers of Odin and the Finnish media
- White Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police and “them”
- White Finnish privilege #33: Appropriating our narrative to maintain the status quo, amass more power and privilege
- White Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
- White Finnish privilege #35: Case Sampo Terho and the ministry of (dis)culture
- White Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship
- White Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything
- Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #44: Defending Nazis’ rights to march is ok as long we agree on the common enemy
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #45: Do blondes have more fun?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #46: Teuvo Hakkarainen = white racism and sexism
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #47: President Sauli Niinistö’s “culture inside four walls”
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #48: Allow me to smear your religion so mine can shine
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #50: Caving in to white narratives
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #51: The police are the defenders of white power and privilege
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #52: Having no privilege is dangerous