Finland?s
SixDegrees
english language magazine
Hamed
shafae
Fung fu freedom
page 6
INgrian Finns
what the
Funk!
Finns bring the rhythm
page 8
Making up
the number of
Russians locally?
page 12
Issue 03/2013 www.6d.fi 29.03-25.04.2013
an
accessible
city for all
The City of Helsinki is meant for everyone.
?P
Lasse Santala is sitting in the balcony of
his home at group home Kestikuja with
senior supervisor Jouni.
eoplE with disabilities are not
supposed to live in institutions
or in hospitals,? explains Tuula
Poikonen, the Director of the City of
Helsinki?s Services for the Disabled. ?Most
of them are living in their own homes or
in service houses and group homes.?
Poikonen is quick to acknowledge the
extensive support network on hand to enable
the smooth running of their day-to-day lives.
?Special services are meant to replace
difficulties caused by disabilities and to enable
participation in the community,? she states.
?Transportation services, housing services
and personal assistance are most important.
Health services and rehabilitation form the
background. Children?s day-care, the common
school system ?special schools are in minority
? and possibilities to study at universities and
other schools is very important way into to the
community and to change attitudes.?
The successful employment of people with
disabilities is also sought by the City. ?We
help people to find job,? Poikonen states.
?We coach them in the beginning to start the job and support them constantly after
starting. We have a good collaboration with Employment and Economic Development
Offices, and with schools etc. The number of employed people is over 100 and very
many of them have worked for over 10 years at the same place.?
Aarno Tall works with his data machine
at group home Kestikuja.
Accessibility guidelines
Aside from these specialised services on offer, the City of Helsinki is now more
accessible than ever. After the significant Helsinki for All project was completed
last year, bringing about improvements in accessibility city-wide, this accessible
awareness is now commonplace across the board.
?The City of Helsinki?s accessibility guidelines were accepted by the City Council
in October 2012, explains Pirjo Tujula, the City?s permanent Project Leader in
Accessibility. As a result of this development, accessibility work is now normal
compulsory work of all the departments of the City.
Poikonen also believes that support for people with disabilities in the community
should be ongoing.
?It is very important to continue the work. The world is not ready and people with
disabilities don?t have the same opportunities as other people in our community.?
Information on services for people with disabilities:
www.hel.fi ? English ? Services by resident groups ? For disabled people
Information about accessibility: www.hel.fi/helsinkikaikille ? English
IN THESE TIMES
IT?S ALWAYS BETTER
TO BE BETTER.
Study in English at Metropolia!
Bachelor?s Degree, evening studies
? Information Technology
Master?s Degree
? Business Informatics
? Emergency and Critical Care Nursing
? Health Business Management
? Industrial Management
? Information Technology
Specialisation Studies / Non-Degree Programmes
? Construction and Real Estate Management
? Industrial Management
Studies begin in the autumn 2013
Application period
4 March ? 9 April 2013
metropolia.fi/apply
Business, Culture, Health Care and Social Services, Technology
Starters
4
Issue 03 2013
Top 5
things on our
mind this month...
Easter, a word with a lot behind it
Many people will join together to commemorate
the death of one of the main figures in Christianity, but even those who lack the conviction can
cook a nice meal out of lamb or pour cream and
sprinkle sugar on top of mämmi, a traditional
Finnish dessert of the season; it tastes better
than it looks.
Don?t do as I do, read my lips instead
Importing students,
exporting ideas
Local business owner wants to see a plan
regarding Finland?s ?brain economy?.
Mmm-kay, when you think back, can you honestly say you have never avoided taxes by buying
something under the counter or such? Minister
Heidi Hautala, surely like so many of her compatriots, cannot do this. But the thing is that bigtime decision makers are expected to lead by
example.
Business Arena?s Mikko
Markkanen (left) can?t deny the
power of the donut.
I love you so I told you a lie
Don?t frown if they pull your leg on April Fools?
Day, for they will hardly test your sense of humour
unless they know you have one. But don?t lose
yourself west of the Bell curve either: If you end
up standing on one leg at Kolmen sepän patsas with just your trunks on and smoked kipper
in your hand, it?s not completely the pranksters?
fault, is it?
April is the cruellest month
The writer T.S. Eliot once came forth with this.
Squirrels in temperate regions agree: buried nuts
are lost or begin to sprout and are no longer available to eat. Men would hate it, too, if someone
buried their nuts in the first place ? although the
sprouting thing might be pretty fly.
Last summer jobs up for grabs
In Finland, the summer job season already begins in May for many, including gardener?s assistants working on especially larger cemeteries.
Other ones will start later, like meat packing at
food processing plants or item picking at wholesale warehouses. It may be a good time to start
asking, if you haven?t already. Don?t forget that
hard-earned money buys the best-tasting bevvy,
buddy!
Mika Oksanen
.
.
.
o
t
How
play the best April
Fools? Day prank?
I?d suggest putting a note at the end of my
article in this issue saying that anyone who
will come with this edition of SixDegrees to
the statue in front of Stockmann (Kolmen
Sepän Patsas) on 1 April at a certain time
will receive a free movie ticket from a
SixDegrees representative.
Mohamed El Aboudi, filmmaker
By not playing it at all, BUT letting everyone
think you are planning something big
beforehand.
Mikko Markkanen, owner of Business
Arena Oy
In my opinion there is not a best April Fool?s
prank which might be suitable for everyone.
It depends on the person, their age and how
close he or she is to someone for playing
jokes or pranks. It is important to make sure
it doesn?t harm, humiliate or embarrass
anyone. I do something funny to surprise my
family, close friends or colleagues.
Hamed Shafae, planning officer, human
rights activist and kung fu master
Adam Faber
A
local company who guides universities and research
projects wants to see what the plan is for one of Finland?s
major markets: the students who come and go.
?If we want to keep studies free for students, we have to
be much more active trying to connect these students with
local businesses, otherwise it?s just madness.? said Mikko
Markkanen, owner of Business Arena Oy.
Business Arena helps commercialise university research, as
well as streamline complicated EU projects, shaping them
into sustainable long-term ideas.
?The EU will give local projects funding, we are hired to help
the project managers to see the concepts clearly and to seize
the opportunities they have to commercialise those concepts
afterward,? says Markkanen, ?We are also working in a few
places on how to changes the roles of teachers, so they can see
that their work is traditional teaching as well as connecting
to research and development projects, and how they can use
students in these projects.?
It is through that same lens that Markkanen sees the current
debate surrounding charging tuition to foreign students. The
first step is to take a look at
the information provided
to the public.
?There was information on
tuition being charged at different institutions, and in
the end the results weren?t
good. Well no wonder, they
likely just continued what
they were doing before and
just added a price tag to
it,? said Markkanen. ?That
kind of marketing doesn?t
really work at all.?
It?s not that Markkanen
couldn?t benefit from
having foreign students
coming through the door.
In November of last year
Markkanen held a recruiting event, inviting students who would soon be heading
to their home countries to help export his ideas and help
restructure institutions outside of Finland, speeding the rate
of Business Arena?s internationalisation.
Markkanen applied the same idea he?s been pitching to
universities to his own expansion, hoping students will
springboard him into new markets with their local knowledge.
?I understand the idea of internationalising the atmosphere
and networks, and then people want to work for local companies,? said Markkanen. ?If that?s the goal, I want to see some
practical steps, and I don?t see that at the moment. There are
no active models on how to connect students and businesses,
or are so small in scale that there is really no impact.?
Markkanen asserts that because factories can?t be the economic powerhouse of Finland, the answer must lie somewhere
else.
?I think the future for Finland?s economy is exporting ideas,
we?re not going to be involved in the mass manufacture of
something. What we need to focus on is a business plan for
exporting these ideas, because it is a very hard thing to do.?
www.businessarena.fi
Finnish After Dark
Learning the Finnish they don?t teach in school
David Brown and Mimmu Takalo
Finnish: Henkkarit
English: ID
The despair of being 19, and stuck outside an open Alko or worse ? an open bar! The party awaits, the cider is within sight...but
somehow just out of reach. Henkkarit can be real, in the form of a passport or photo ID card, or occasionally faked and bought for
?20 from a man standing outside the Tikkurila Prisma, but both promise the same reward: alcohol!
?
?
?
?
?
?
Kato! Ihan kamala jono tone baariin!
Joo, ja vitsi täällä on kylmä! Jäädäänks me kuitenki jonottaan?
Ei jäädä. Ne kysyy ihan varmana henkkarit ovella, eikä mull oo ikää tonne.
Wow - look at the queu to get into the bar!
Yeah, and damn it?s cold! Are we really going to line up and wait?
Maybe not. They?re probably going to ask for ID at the door anyway, and I don?t have mine.
Starters
Tell me about your
city...
?
rg
u
b
s
r
e
t
e
P
t
n
i
a
S
Readers by
numbers ?
Horvat
just who are
you
Teemu Henriksson
SIXDEGREES is always interested in knowing more about
its audience and their reading habits. A recently conducted
reader survey gave some clues into just who an average
SixDegrees reader might be.
Readers
If the whole readership of SixDegrees were condensed into
one person, the resulting reader would be a 34.6 year-old
guy (51 per cent of readers are men), who would likely be a
resident of the capital region (where 72 per cent of readers
live). It?s probable that he has moved onto working life (67
per cent of readers work full or part time), but there is also a
chance of him being a student (30 per cent).
This is a true polyglot cosmopolite, speaking over 35
languages and having over 55 different nationalities (which
taken together covers a quarter of all of the countries on
Earth).
It?s thus hardly a surprise that the reader is likely to be
from outside Finland, as 71 per cent of the readership is born
abroad. The most probable reason for him to settle in Finland
is family or some other personal reason (42 per cent of readers) ? indeed, 73 per cent of readers are married or cohabiting
with their partner ? but it?s also possible that studies or work
motivated the move into the country (22 and 21 per cent).
On average, the move to Finland took place 4.6 years ago.
Cleary this hasn?t been a long enough time to master the
notoriously difficult Finnish language: of foreign readers, up
to 50 per cent say that they speak Finnish only little or not at
all. Yet the motivation is undiminished: 85 per cent of them
are keen to improve their Finnish skills.
Reading habits
The readership of SixDegrees is remarkably faithful to the
publication, as about half read every issue, the average reader
spending over 40 minutes with the magazine. The readers
seem to appreciate the experience that a print magazine offers
as only 15 per cent read stories on SixDegrees? website.
What does the average reader think of the magazine?s
content? He seems to prefer pieces that discuss cultural and
societal matters, and also likes the longer feature stories and
articles about upcoming events. As for the reviews and columns, these are likely to be the last items on his reading list.
Did you recognise yourself in this description? Let us know, and
tell us any other comments you may have about SixDegrees, by
contacting: james@6d.fi
Evgenie Bogdanov
No need to mask it
As the EU has elected 2013 to be
the Year of Air a study reveals that
Finland ranks among the countries
with the best indoor air quality.
Yannick Ilunga
WE spend 90 per cent of our time indoors and that is where we
breathe the most polluted elements that may threaten our health.
According to the recent IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) study, financed
by the European Union, 3 per cent of all diseases in Europe are
related to indoor pollution.
?To pose a risk for the health are fine particles, mold, mites,
bacteria, carbon monoxide and volatile organics compounds,?
explains Paolo Carrer, one of the authors of the analysis, from
Milan?s Luigi Sacco Hospital. ?Cardiovascular diseases, asthma,
allergies, lung cancer, respiratory diseases and carbon monoxide
intoxication are the most common pollution-related health
problems,? he continues.
The study, which analysed all EU-member states, sees Sweden,
Finland, United Kingdom and France at the top ? with the best
indoor air quality ? while Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary rank
at the bottom. The importance of indoor air quality was already
addressed in a 2011 World Health Organisation report, which
stated that 12-15 per cent of asthma cases in Europe are related
to mould and indoor humidity. ?To avoid mould and mites,
humidity should not be more than 40-50 per cent,? Carrer states.
?Plants contribute to clean the air as well, in particular aloe
(aaloet), chrysanthemum (krysanteemit), gerbera, lilium (liljat),
sansevieria (anopinkielet) and ficus (viikunat).?
How well do you know health in Finnish?
Sunday 7 April is World Health Day.
1
2
1. Blood pressure
3
2. Weightlifting
4
3. Exercise
5
4. Gym
5. Insomnia
6
7
6. Herb
7. Diet
8
9
8. Massage
9. Migraine
Test your knowledge of Finnish vocabulary by using the local equivalent.
Puzzle by Eva Peltanen. Solutions on page 23
I have loved my city for the very long time. And when you love
something, you are jealous every time someone falls in love with
your beloved one. This is why I always envy persons visiting St
Petersburg for the very first time. When you live in a city ranked
one of the world?s most beautiful by National Geographic, whether
drinking coffee overlooking a view of places with a world-changing
historical overtone or just coming everyday along the same route
that your favourite character has traversed, the moment of the ?first
touch? shades away.
During your first visit, keep in mind that there are actually two St
Petersburgs. Let me be a high-brow snob for a while ? in literature
theory, this phenomenon is called the St Petersburg of Alexander
Pushkin and the St Petersburg of Fedor Dostoesky.
The Pushkin?s city is a bourgeois, coruscating capital of Peter the
Great?s majestic empire. There are number of catchy metaphors
for this: ?a window to Europe?, ?Venice of the North?, ?the cultural
capital?. It is an imperial city erected in uninhabitable lands and
then garnished and polished by an invited array of the world?s
most-prominent designers and architects of its time, with a great
number of museums and theatres. It is a city of culture and art ?
and, of course, fancy-dress balls. In more modern terms, it is a
city where it is not unusual to see homeless people playing chess
or a mate inviting his girlfriend for the first date to a museum or
the theatre.
Dostoevsky?s St Petersburg, on the contrary, is a sombre city
with its fearful underworld; the city of depression, despair and
stalemates. Most of his characters wandered the back streets
with self-destructive reflections. As so often happens with great
minds, his thoughts outlived their creator, and communists ? after
depriving St Petersburg of its the capital status ? tried to eradicate
the bourgeois overtone of the city by constructing clumsy factories
for workers of nearby villages and vilifying its monarchy past. Then
St Petersburg experienced the subhuman conditions of a mortal
siege in the WWII and repercussions of the so-called wild capitalist
with its food-stamps queues of disoriented much-suffering people
right after the Soviet Union?s collapse and the present chaotic
development in terms of architecture and migration policy.
But Petersburg stands tall, intertwining the cities of these great
minds into one. These contrasts ? from occasional despair to
subsequent bright victories in spite of everything ? formed not only
city, but also my own personality.
This section is designed to recommend you something as a local.
So, I advise you to buy some gems of Russian literature and read
them. Seriously, books are best guide to my city (along with me,
of course).
6
We Met
Issue 03 2013
After leaving conflict-riddled Afghanistan
behind 20 years ago, Hamed Shafae has
gone on to embrace human rights from a
Finnish perspective.
We Met
7
SixDegrees
Text James O?Sullivan, photos Tomas Whitehouse
C
urrently working as a planning officer for the City
of Helsinki?s Human Resources Centre, Immigration
Division. Hamed Shafae?s passion for human rights was
born while growing up in war-ravaged Kabul. Continuing
his involvement for the past two decades while living in Finland,
the key ingredient that facilitated a smooth integration for
Shafae here was his extensive training in kung fu.
Sitting down with him on a Wednesday afternoon at Stoa
in Helsinki?s Itäkeskus, conversation with the softly spoken
Shafae involves many thoughtful pauses. Reflecting on his time
in Finland, his passion for martial arts and his perspective on
his country of birth, his well-considered answers arrive in due
course.
Why did you first come to Finland?
I came to Finland about 20 years ago. I was a human rights
activist in Afghanistan and my life was in danger, so I moved
from Afghanistan. I was in Ukraine about nine months, and
from there I went to Moscow and then to Helsinki. I sought
asylum here.
What was it that initially drew you to activism in
Afghanistan?
Because of the war and violations of human rights we established
the first human rights organisation there. Afghanistan is a multicultural society, so there have been conflicts, injustices, racism
and a lot of social problems. I thought that if we were to have
human rights in Afghanistan, these kinds of problems would
be solved. I still think that democracy and human rights are the
only solutions for Afghanistan.
We were a small group. It was very difficult as people didn?t
know about human rights. Mostly they had seen two sides: on
the left, the communist party of Afghanistan; on the other,
Islamic groups. They thought it was an idea from the West, and it
is against Islam. It was very dangerous for human rights activists.
When you arrived in Finland 20 years ago, what was your
impression?
I came in December in the heart of the winter, and it was cold
and dark. For me it was difficult to be alone here and the climate
was also quite different. I didn?t know the language ? of course
I knew English, but it was not enough to communicate with
people. I didn?t know about my destiny here, whether I will stay
here or not. My family was in another country. Actually I had
depression and I wondered always what would happen to me.
But because I am a sportsman, a professional coach, I started
to teach martial arts. This has helped me a lot because through
sports I found a lot of friends, and they helped me in different
activities and I got good ideas how to learn the language and
study and so on. I have now been teaching martial arts in
Finland for 20 years.
When did you start practicing kung fu?
I started in Afghanistan when I was 13. Before that I practiced
boxing, samurai, kendo, judo and wrestling. Finally I found my
style: kung fu. I moved to Iran when I was quite young, as I did
not want to participate in war being a human rights activist. I
started to teach kung fu there. This was very good for me because
I didn?t have any other job. Iranian society also was at war with
Iraq, so there were many people who were interested in learning
kung fu.
Kung fu has helped me everywhere: in Iran, Russia and in
Finland, because it is a sport that brings people together. When
I started to teach kung fu and tai chi here, most people didn?t
know English so I had to explain techniques in Finnish. This
was helpful as I really started to use Finnish language. I founded
the association here, Suomen Wushu Kungfu Seura, 16 years ago.
We have about ten coaches and between 100-250 students, which
mostly depends on the season of the year and the amount of
participants in the courses and amount of our coaches.
So, the language came first and then I started to learn to use
computers and other things. I studied social science at university
and I got my master?s degree. Being at school and reading books
is not the only way to learn. It is very important to be active in
society and to see what others are doing. I believe that people
learn when communicating with each other.
It was not easy as an adult to integrate: studying, working,
being an activist in different organisations, sports and society,
and also family. Sports have been a big part of my life. Human
rights have also been very, very important for me.
Why are human rights so important to you?
I believe in human rights. As a member of society I think that
it?s very important to support human rights, even in Finland
where there is peace, justice and a democratic society. We should
remember that Finland is a part of a global world and we have
problems in other societies.
More and more foreigners are coming here to study, work,
for marriage, as a refugee and so on. You can see that racism
is increasing in Finland. We have activities against racism and
tackling these kinds of problems. The second thing is to work
with the international organisation on human rights. We have to
think what?s going on in other countries.
The Human Rights Centre here was created under Finnish legislation (the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act 197/2002, amend-
ment 20.5.2011/535), which entered into force on 1 January 2012.
The Centre?s task is to promote fundamental and human rights.
It is functionally autonomous and independent, but administratively part of the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Promoting information, education, training and research associated with fundamental and human rights are the main tasks
of the Human Rights Centre. The Human Rights Centre has a
Human Rights Delegation, which is composed of representatives
of civil society, research into fundamental and human rights as
well as other bodies that participate in promoting and safeguarding these rights. The Parliamentary Ombudsman appointed the
Delegation on 29 March last year and designated 40 members
who will serve for the term 2012-2016. I am a member of the
Delegation and a representative of the Advisory Committee on
Ethnic Relations.
I also was the chairman of the Finnish Afghan Association for
eight years and the chairman of Aghans? Association in Helsinki
for four years. I have been helping Afghan people integrate into
Finnish society.
?I
have not had to
use my kung fu
skills in 20 years.?
How successfully have Afghan people integrated here?
As we know most Afghans are refugees here, and refugees generally have more problems than other groups of foreigners, because
of war and other problems in their own countries. But Afghan
people have integrated quite well into Finnish society, they are
active with learning the language and many have a job here.
Comparing them to other groups of refugees in Finland, they
have been very active. One problem in Finland is that everything
is exact: you have to be on time and you have to complete your
responsibilities on time. In Afghan culture things are more flexible. This is a challenge at first for Afghans.
How do you see Afghanistan nowadays?
There has been change, especially in education, healthcare and
also in communications. There is the Internet and also mobile
phones and so on. Many Afghans are actively using social media;
they have thousands of webpages and blogs. Many Afghans are
on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter exchanging information,
cultural productions, feelings, news and so on. Afghanistan is
not a deprived society anymore nor a nation under the Taliban
regime. Now, millions of children are studying and the situation
of women, children and minorities are much better than before.
However, there are still plenty of risks. In 2014 ISAF forces will
leave Afghanistan. There is a risk that terrorist groups will come
back to Afghanistan. Also because it is a multicultural society
there will be also conflicts between different ethnic groups. We
do not know what will happen after 2014. No one knows. Let?s
see what will happen. The international community should not
leave Afghan people alone in the fight against terrorism and
fundamentalism; if it does, there will be a big catastrophe not
only in Afghanistan, but also in the region.
that Finland needs immigrants, because of the rapidly aging
population.
Almost 30 per cent of those coming to Finland are international
students. Most of them study in English. Some of them also study
a little bit of Finnish, but it is not enough to find work with. If
they don?t get a job here they will leave Finland. If you want to
work, it is very important to know Finnish. Students come to
Finland, they study here, they graduate and finally they leave ?
even when Finland needs them here.
Why would the taxpayer pay for these foreigners? education,
only to see them take their skills elsewhere?
The foreign policy of Finland is based on the democracy and
human rights and they want to help people on that basis. Now
probably it will change. Discussion is going on about this issue.
Many people ask why we should pay for people to study in future.
Finnish society is not ready to give a job to them. Many companies need staff that speak English. Some people get jobs, some do
not. Employment of the international students in Finland is like
when a river with clean water passes through the city, residents
of the city are thirsty, but do not use it.
You have raised a family here, how has the experience been
with your cultural background?
I have an Afghan wife and five children. Because my children
have learned Finnish quickly, I have tried to teach them Afghan
culture; to teach them what it is, who I am and who they are. My
children speak my own language, Dari. Also at the same time I
have tried that they integrate well into society here. Most of them
have joined me in sports, and they have got many medals in kung
fu and other sports. We have dozens of medals at home. My wife
is the only one in the family who doesn?t practise kung fu, but she
likes walking and has some other hobbies.
With so many of the family doing kung fu, what happens if
there is an argument?
No, no [laughs]. I explain to them it?s not for fighting it?s discipline. Those who are good at kung fu never fight. The Chinese
say that a great soldier never fights. They solve problems in
other ways; they find other solutions than fighting. Violence is
contrary to the philosophy of kung fu and tai chi. Myself, I have
not had to use my kung fu skills in 20 years.
Not even to enforce human rights?
No [laughs]. I have also had some problems; when you are active
in society not everyone is healthy, so some people want trouble.
When you drive a car in the street, even if you are a good driver,
maybe the other is not. You are not always safe on the road. But I
have practiced martial arts for a long time so I know if I use my
skill, someone could get hurt easily.
I always avoid using my kung fu techniques. I solve problems
peacefully with other methods such as dialogue and talks, and
even some people think that I am a loser and weak. When you
practice tai chi and kung fu, at the same time you learn about
Buddhism and Taoism. It is a peaceful thing.
Could you see yourself living in Afghanistan doing what you
do now?
No actually. Of course, I was born there and I also think about
Afghanistan because my relatives and friends and childhood
memories are from there. But I am living in Finland; I am a
Finnish citizen. When I live here, I am here in Finland, physically, mentally and also working here, my activities are here. Of
course, if I can help people in Afghanistan from here I do, but I
am not thinking anymore about going back there to live. It?s been
almost half of my life that I have lived in Finland.
When did you start working for the City of Helsinki?
I started in the beginning of 2000 in the Department of Culture
as a culture advisor for four years. Then I went to university and
studied, I came back to work in the social office for one year and
then on to City Hall for two years. Now I have been in the Human
Resources Centre for almost two years in the Immigration
Division. Soon I will go back to my permanent job at City Hall
as an advisor of city services under the Communications Office.
Is Finland welcoming to immigrants?
I think when we look at the policy of the Government and
municipalities, then yes. Officials want to welcome immigrants
to Finland, but the process is not very fast. Every year almost
20,000 foreigners get residence permits for different reasons
such as international students, employed persons, self-employed
persons, family reunification and refugees.
Authorities do not force people to integrate into Finnish society.
It mostly depends on the individuals themselves, how he or she
wants to study or work in Finnish society. It is voluntary. I think
Birthdate and place: 1970, Kabul.
Family: Married with five children; three sons and two daughters
Education: Master?s in Social Science.
Finland is?a society of agreements; a peaceful and good
country.
When I think about Afghanistan I feel?not very safe, because of
the war and violence.
Human rights are?very important ? to have peace, justice and
equality in society.
Kung fu is?arts, sports and action.
Immigration in Finland is?a process.
8
OMESTIC
28 MARCH ? 10 APRIL 2013
Issue 03 2013
Lifestyle
3
L E H T I K u va / a N T T I a I M o - Ko I v I S T o
tuomomusic.com
? Started: 1994 as a
modest 3-day event at
the Tavastia Club
? Organised by Funky
Amigos ry who have
created a ?big funky
where a young man worked as a doctor for nearly a year without a qualification.
family? atmosphere.
a: There are no
doctors in Finland
? Now one of the most
recognised and talked
about funk music
festivals in Finland
and the Nordics.
? 2013: Scales up and
moves to The Circus in
Kamppi. Martha High
scrutinised
of will
800
anddiplomas
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headline
this
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and found
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11-14 April.
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Moreover, Valvira faces challenges with certain
countries, because they
?may think that they are not
obliged to verify diplomas
and they do the verifications
when they have time. In some
cases we have sent requests
Russian language. We visited
the country in the spring of
2012 and created some contacts. After our visit, the cooperation with the Russian
universities has improved,?
clarified Ylitalo.
Concerning special measures that can be imposed,
Valvira?s lawyer Inkeri Ylitalo claimed that ?today
Valvira uses the official verification, the so-called apostille procedure and diplomas
are checked from the universities more easily than
before?. After checking 700
diplomas of non-EU doctors
operating in Finalnd, Valvira has found no irregularities. The total revision will be
completed during summer.
Bringing
non-Eu doctors oper-
several times, but even that
doesn?t always guarantee an
answer,? said Ylitalo.
The last case of Russiatrained doctors caused Valvira to pay special attention
to this country. ?At first we
had some problems with the
the
funk
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ÖEL Ä M Ä N TA
K E U DA ? T Y
ITA JA
STO
AMMATTIOPI
www.keuda.fi/hae
Gareth Rice
P
oliticians never just listen to music for
music?s sake. The medium is the message. From previous glances at Barack
Obama?s iPad, it is known that he is a
fan of funk music. In February 2012, when
his re-election campaign Spotify playlist was
unveiled, it included Keep Reachin? Up, a track
by the Finnish funk band Nicole Willis & the
Soul Investigators.
When one thinks of funk music, sub-Saharan
Africa, New Orleans, Little Richard, Tower of
Power, the first albums from The Commodores,
or James Brown, ?The Godfather of Soul?, are
more likely to come to mind before Finland.
However, Finnish musicians, like Juhani
Aaltonen and Edward Vesala of Soulset fame
were playing funk music as early as the 1950s.
But as Tuomo Prättälä, one of the country?s
leading vocalist and keyboard players, tells, ?It
wasn?t until bands like Eternal Erection came
along in the 90s that funk in Finland got its
capital F.? From that point on, the rest, as they
say, is history.
Funk is not a music genre that is easy to
categorise. It originated in the late 1960s when
African-American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable form of music from a mixture of
soul music, jazz and R&B. They became known
for strong rhythmic grooves of electronic bass
and drums and their bands often featured a
horn section of several saxophones, trumpets
and a trombone. In the US at least their image
was distinctive, too: giant sideburns, collars and
bell-bottoms, leisure suits and cigarettes, AMC
Javelins and Matadors and Gremlins alongside
Dodge Demons, Swingers, Plymouth Dusters
and Scamps. It was evident that something
different than what had gone before was taking
shape.
Although Finnish musicians were playing
funk music in the 1950s, and listening to the
likes of Herbie Hancock throughout the ?60s
and ?70s, there wasn?t really a big funk scene
in Finland at that time; more disparate styles
without a real distinctive shape. One could hear
elements of the New Orleans influenced funk
music in the early work of the progressive rock
bands WIGWAM and Tasavallan Presidentti,
who formed at the end of the 1960s and on TV
in the early 1970s ? the theme tune to Uuno
Turhapuro, the popular series of Finnish comedy films had an obvious funk groove to it. In
1968 the formation of Soulset by Edward Vesala
and Seppo Paakkunainen, was perhaps the
earliest attempt to plant a distinctive Finnish
flag on the funk music map. Although Soulset
split in 1969, after releasing only two albums
and three singles and EPs, they have continued
to have an influence on the Finnish funk music
scene. Ex member Juhani Aaltonen has gone on
to play with UMO, who are currently the only
professional orchestra in Finland specialising in
jazz and new rhythm-oriented music.
The funky ?90s and the birth of Funky
Elephant Festival
In the early 1990s Finland was in an economic
recession, but this didn?t stop bands like the
Cool Sheiks from cutting their distinctive jazz
grooves into a growing funk music scene. In
1991 the Cool Sheiks released their self-titled
album and later collaborated with Damn the
Band, the legendary Finnish hip-hop act who
are believed to have released the first English
hip-hop record in Finland. The Cool Sheiks
release two more significant albums, Serve Cool
in 1995 and Sheik Territory in 2001. In between
those dates, in1999, they were voted ?Band of
the Year? at the first ever Funky Awards.
But if there is one band that is most associated
with shaping and branding Finnish funk then
it has to be Eternal Erection. Thanks to front
Lifestyle
9
SixDegrees
Stefan Bremer
Trend
of the Month
Luckan´s Integration service Bridge provides information
and advice to immigrants in order to get started in the capital region. As a Finland-Swedish organisation we are specialised in giving information about the Finland-Swedish
society. We also arrange events for immigrants in English,
mostly focusing on job seeking courses.
Local outfit UMO have played an important role in the formation of
Finnish funk.
man Sam ?Rick Lover? Huber the band have become known for
their energetic live gigs. Their ?Finnish Forest Funk? music has
dazzled audiences across the globe and even caught the attention
of Conan O?Brien. It is a fusion of Afro-American soul and
funk, jazz, Latin and techno. Eternal Erection have performed
as a warm up band for the famous George Clinton, the principal
architect of P-Funk, and shared a stage with big names including
Lauri Ylönen from The Rasmus, Mike Monroe of Hanoi Rocks
and Marjo Leinonen. Other important artists include Veeti &
Elastic Family and Sami Saari, whose band is most associated
with the ?Suomi soul movement.? According to Tuomo Prättälä,
?This had a real Finnish sounding groove that brought the music
to everyone and paved the way for other bands to grow.?
There were also a number of clubs that played funk music in the
early ?90s. These included Mokambo, Victor?s, Soda, Kerma and
Nylon that provided the space for people to dance to international
funk, soul, jazz and all sorts of rhythm. Sami Mannerheimo is
also known as DJ Magic Sam, a ?self-confessed music freak? who
helped to establish Funky Amigos ry, the organisers of the Funky
Elephant Festival, Funky Awards, Elephantasy and other funky
music events. As the music director at Victor?s, he was inspired by
bands like Heads & Bodies who performed there; he made it his
business to play a wider variety of music on Friday and Saturday
nights. Thursdays were ?Super Bad Soul Club Night? with DJ
Elukka. Other DJs associated with Victor?s included Njassa, Teo
and Sami Sallantaus. When Nylon changed management in the
mid-1990s and started to play more techno and house music, the
Funky Elephant Festival had already started, primarily as means
to keep socking funk music to those who appreciated it.
Mannerheimo and his friend Bruno Maximus, the Finnish
surrealist artist, took the lead and contacted Juhani Merimaa the
owner of Tavastia. The Funky Elephant Festival got off to a great
start in 1994 in Helsinki?s legendary music venue with Ma Bakers
Soul Factory, Paperhands, DJ Magic Sam and many others. With
the exception of 1997, the festival has run every year since then
and attracted many world class artists including the funk soul
legend Roy Ayers and Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings. This year
Martha High, of James Brown fame will grace the stage with the
British band Speedometer.
Who is keeping Finland funky?
There are a number of prominent bands and musicians who are
keeping Finland firmly on the funk map. Many of the younger
funksters may not know about the bands and DJs who first
played that music, but they have heard of Tuomo Prättälä. He is
one of Finland most talented singer and keyboard players known
for working with several groups and artists, including Finnish
rapper Paleface. He has also performed at the Funky Elephant
Festival both with his band Q-Continuum and as a solo artist. In
2007 his album My Thing was released to critical acclaim.
However, not only is Prättälä excited about his new collaboration with UMO ? they will play a series of concerts in April
2013 ? but he is also enthused about the future of Finnish funk
music. ?It?s looking good now, the younger ones coming up have
been brought up on hip-hop and R&B and it seems so natural to
them,? he observes. ?The quality of material is also better now
and it can be taken anywhere in the world. The better days are
now in front of the scene.?
Prättälä is himself a huge inspiration for the newer generation
of artists that he speaks of. These include Jo Stance, whose
music is described as ?soulful to the bone and with just the right
amount of roughness around the edges? on her website. She has
played both Flow Festival and Funky Elephant.
Those who are not playing funk music per se continue to
be influenced by it. This is the case for many Finnish rappers,
hip-hop and soul artists including Super Janne, Hannibal, ASA,
Koivuniemen Herrat, Ruudolf the Natural and Paleface. When
listening to Esteettinen by Finnish rap duo UG/OD, one can hear
a sample from ?Janet?, the famous track from the American soul
and funk band The Commodores.
When imagining President Obama dancing around the Oval
Office, listening to Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators, one
would like to think that he was sending the following message to
the future funk musicians of Finland: Keep Reachin? Up.
I N T E G R AT I O N
The integration service is open:
Tuesday 11-19, Wednesday 11-16, Thursday 11-16. If you want
advice on a certain issue, please book an appointment in advance by filling in the form on our webpage:
bridge.luckan.fi or e-mailing: bridge@luckan.fi
BRIDGE PROGRAMME FEBRUARY-MARCh 2013
Childrens? party ?Lägg näsan i blöt, ? sinnesfest för alla barn?
April 6th, 12 a.m-4 p.m.
The euro crisis
has put job
seekers on
the move
Jenni Toriseva
T
he future of a young graduate or unemployed
in one of the Southern European crisis countries does not look rosy.
In January 2013, among the EU Member
States, the highest unemployment rate was recorded
in Greece, which hit its record of 27 per cent last
November. Nearly a third of the population are
expected to live in poverty by the end of the year,
while Spain (26.2 %) and Portugal (17.6 %) continuing to trail close by. Youth (under 25) unemployment rates are even higher, with Greece in the lead,
once again, with 59.4%, followed by Spain (55.5 %)
and Italy (38.7 %), all indicating clear increases
from the previous year.
Tuula Kinnunen, an expert at the Ministry of
Employment and the Economy, recentlysaid in
Helsingin Sanomat that the increase of jobseekers
from the EU crisis countries has been noted at the
Employment and Economic Development Offices of
the Uusimaa region.
Last year about 4,600 EU citizens registered by
the Finnish police as residents, about 600 of whom
arrived from Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal and
Greece, a double from the 300 of 2011. Inspector
General Jukka Hertell from the Police Board suspects that a further 800 Greeks and 500 Spaniards
will come to Finland later this year for work. ?There
is an increase in numbers, but they are not big,? he
stated in Helsingin Sanomat.
However it is difficult to come up with any
accurate figures on the movement of labour within
Europe. The fact that an applicant does not need to
register immediately makes it difficult to assess how
many job applicants there actually are. Citizens of
the European Union as well as others who have a
permanent residence permit in some EU countries
are entitled to seek work in another EU country for
a period of three months without having to register.
Welcome to an afternoon of workshops, theatre, face painting, dance and much
more fun for children. This event focuses on all our senses and is suitable for children
no matter language or special needs. In co-operation with several children and culture organisations. Venue: Annegården, Annankatu 30, 00100 Helsinki.
For more information please contact zusan.soderstrom@luckan.fi
Swedish Language Café
Monday 8 of April, 5-7 p.m.
Practice your Swedish in a welcoming and informal environment at the Swedish language
café in Luckan. We will discuss everyday situations and adapt the evening according to the
participants levels. A great way to both activate and improve your Swedish!
The ABC of photography just for moms + child parking
April 14th, 11 am to 4 pm
In this workshop we will learn how to use our cameras and focus on how to get better pictures (not only of your kids) in terms of composition and exposure (you will
learn what ISO, aperture and shutter speed are and how they work together). Topics like landscape and portraits photography are also covered. Please bring max 20
photos that you have taken for review. Equipment needed: a DSRL camera or pointand-shoot camera that can be used in manual mode, manual of the camera and laptop (optional). Prerequisite: none. Activities for children/baby sitting will be organised. Lecturer: Barbara Balzaretti, International Photo Center.
Register by April 10th.
Shaibalaiba ? Story Café
April 24th, 6 p.m
Story Cafés are being organised all over the world. Venues are often bars, cafés or
sometimes theatre spaces. Story Café is a cosy gathering around stories, free entry and
a relaxed atmosphere is something in common for all Story Cafés worldwide. There will
be some invited storytellers to share their stories and then the stage is open for everyone who wish to tell a story. Arranged in co-operation with Samova ry.
Occupational Safety Card Training and Test (50 euro)
May 4th, 8 am to 4 pm
The Occupational Safety Card (OSC) is rapidly becoming a popular way to complete
the basic training in safety and health at work and shared workplaces. The card
aimed at improving shared workplace safety is needed in many workplaces e.g. in
the industrial sector. The persons who pass the course are granted the Occupational
Safety Card, valid for five years. Course material provided by the trainer.
Trainer: Heli Aulio, Alertum oy.
All events are held in Luckan, Simonkatu 8 in Helsinki and are free of charge,
unless otherwise mentioned.
Please register to bridge@luckan.fi if not mentioned otherwise in the
event description.
During spring 2013 we continuously plan new activities and events, to stay
updated please follow our webpage bridge.luckan.fi
Would you like to sign up for our electronic newsletters with upcoming events?
Please e-mail bridge@luckan.fi
You find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/LuckanIntegration
LUCKAN
Simonkatu 8, 00100 Helsinki
Contact: bridge@luckan.fi / 040 485 9636 / www.luckan.fi/bridge
Society
10
Issue 03 2013
Column
How We Became
Finnish
We don?t become entirely different
people in Finland, but we do take on
some very Finnish features.
While certain sectors of society obsesses about how
immigrants impact Finland and Finnish culture; a lessdiscussed topic is how Finland and Finnishness impacts
immigrants. For while it is tempting to believe that we are
the same people here that we are in our countries of origin,
I don?t actually believe that is the case. We don?t become
entirely different people, but like air masses, most of us
do tend to take on the features of the landscapes across
which we pass.
One of the aspects I notice is social isolation. Finns
socialise considerably less than New Zealanders, and
certainly less than is the norm in the likes of Spain, the
US or France. Whereas some of us began our working in
lives in companies that lurched from after-work drinks
to Saturday afternoon barbeques and Fridays at the local
pub, we now work in an environment where the idea of
socialising with colleagues at anytime except Xmas can be
considered revolutionary.
Internationals
helping
internationals
A multitude of social groups exist to
help guide, inform and entertain
come-from-aways in Finland.
?A
s foreigners we
simply forget about
the concept of socialising
with colleagues.?
While one impact of foreigners in a workplace might be a
greater intensity of socialising, my experience is more the
opposite; as foreigners we simply forget about the concept
of socialising with colleagues and actually do very little of
it ? even with other foreigners.
Away from work, I sense the same trends. Friends who
come from the same culture of endlessly rotating dinner
invitations, kids play dates, brunches, barbeques and trips
to the beach that I do, tend to work at it in Finland for a
year or two before subsiding into a lifestyle in which walking the dog is the weekend?s social highlight. Social life is
dominated by family, and the only new people we ever talk
to work in the local Alko.
Work/life balance has long been one of the biggest
differences I notice on my occasional commutes across
the globe, but in this I have become as Finnish as the
next man. I work indecent hours for minimal wages, and
have ceased to notice anything unusual about it. So does
everyone else I know. There is no question in my mind
that Finns worker harder than most peoples ? but maybe
also too hard.
This raises the issue of the extent to which we, as foreigners, should try to adapt to the local culture. It?s much easier
to live in a country if one can live in much the same way as
local people live; much more difficult if every week brings
the irritation of finding that life does not work in the way
we think it should.
In some aspects of life, what we bring to Finland may also
ultimately be good for it. A little extra socialising and a
better balance between work and play might actually be
something many Finns would welcome. Given the chance
to try it, anyway.
But perhaps the unfortunate thing about becoming
Finnish is that the negative traits are easier for us to
acquire than the positive ones. Depression, overwork
and social isolation are habits most of us can get used to;
hyper-efficiency, reliability and classic Finnish sisu less so!
David Brown is a language consultant and journalist, regularly
covering stories in Africa, Asia & the Middle East. He has lived
in Finland for 10 years.
GET OUT
THERE
Adam Faber
There are too many sites to
list them all, but these are
a good place to start!
IESAF
Social
group
for
internationals in Finland ?
iesaf.fi
Expat Meet-Up
In person socialising
Facebook:
?Helsinki Expat Meetup?
?
CAISA
Helsinki-based multicultural
centre ? caisa.fi
Jolly Dragon
Sports & Social event
planning ? jollydragon.net
Otainiemi International
Networks
professional and social hub
? otaniemi.fi
Foreigners in Jyväskylä
Information & Conversation
? Facebook: ?Foreigners in
Jyväskylä?
Familia Club
Multi-lingual family support
? familiaclub.fi
Luckan
Integration and mentoring
for newcomers ?
bridge.luckan.fi
I
?I think government has their hands tied, to a
certain extent. What they?re offering isn?t what
foreigners want,? Berman observes. Numerous
services have appeared online, trying get the
right mix of information and opportunities that
people prefer.
T could be that a foreigner?s best resource in
Finland is other foreigners.
?I?m just so glad that people have stopped
whining and complaining that there?s nothing to do, and no one to meet, and started to do
something about it,? states Richard Berman, Not a competition
head of the volunteer-run International English ?It?s a mix of business and charity,? said Paul
Speakers Association of Finland (IESAF). Brennan when talking about the different ways
?Because it?s true, it is difficult do to this stuff his group, the Jolly Dragon, is involved with
without help, foreigners coming over here connecting people. ?We have and promote our
trying to make friends with Finnish people own activities, but we also donate to and sup? unless your wife, or your boyfriend knows port the other groups? things.? Brennan recently
them already. It?s hard to branch out beyond was at an event with five different groups meeting at the same pub to connect and converse, no
that circle.?
The IESAF is one of many available groups doubt to the delight of the bar owner. Brennan
for internationally-minded residents of Finland. devotes a piece of his site to organising sports
These groups offer information, business net- activities for those who want to play, in addition
working opportunities, and socialisation for to the more typical networking and mingling
those who are interested. They don?t limit aspects.
There is even an EU project that is in the mix
themselves to non-Finns, either, welcoming
trying to make things easier for newcomers.
both locals and newly established locals.
There are plenty of established groups looking The Expat Project is a 1.3 million euro project
to make connections for those who don?t have that is doing policy advising and research, as
already existing networks, either for business well they have recently launched a test site
or pleasure. The internet and social media, with showing all the groups and resources available,
their seemingly limitless ability to connect and an interactive map advertising the different
inform, are fantastic resources for those want- groups to those who want to plug into the
ing to get a little bit more connected, all that is electric current of what?s happening.
?There are many groups for people, they are
needed is to know where to start.
just not all very well known,? said Expat Project
manager Christine Chang. ?One of the things
Things to do for all
The networks are for a lot more than bored we want to do is to make a better connections
folks looking for a new crowd to hit the pub for people who are trying to get involved.? The
with, although they do have that too. ?We have site, while it is still in development, is creating
our Saint Patrick?s Day event at Molly Malone?s, a hub of knowledge that is relevant for people
which attracts more people every year, and the who are still establishing themselves. The Expat
Irish consulate actually gets involved,? Berman Project is working with those who are organexplains. ?On top of that though we have a play izing these social groups directly as opposed to
group for people with children, information creating events themselves.
on how to find an apartment, on how to buy a
house, how to start a business. We?re a little bit Helsinki and beyond
While the majority of groups have a location in
of everything for everyone.?
Despite an abundance of English language the capital, there are things going on outside of
information provided through the government the big city as well.
?We are a volunteer group with a committee
and other ?official? sources, there are aspects
that don?t quite fit with what newcomers are member in Turku, Tampere, as well as Helsinki.
looking for when trying to find themselves a We want to eventually get it so we are all over
Finland,? said Brennan about IESAF?s reach
niche.
Society
11
SixDegrees
Minority Report
In this new series, SixDegrees takes a look
at the ethnic minorities here in Finland.
This month:
DUTCH
Teemu Henriksson
W
and their plans to expand even further. ?It?s helpful, because Finns have a lot of the
?You don?t want to volunteer for us in information that we need. There?s a lot of
stuff people want to share with each other.
Jyvaskyla, do you??
While Jyväskylä may not have the bigger The post their concerts, their dance shows,
groups, the demand is still there, and the food recalls. Pretty much anything that
supply has been provided through social could be of interest for someone in the
Jyväskylä region.?
media.
By creating a place where information
Dominique Riggs created a Foreigners
in Jyväskylä Facebook group, and active can be boiled down to its essentials and
members meet once a month to connect. communicated in English, Riggs hopes
?Starting a social group is something I to ease the day-to-day life of people who
wanted to do for a long time,? Riggs have moved here but don?t yet have a
recalls, who is also responsible for writing strong grasp on Finnish.
for expat info site FinnBay as well as
organising the over 300-member group. Social connections lead to
?People want to know what?s going on, opportunities
events for the month, store closures, news A common thread between the people
involved with the different groups is the
and information.?
Much like the other groups, the name view that helping people connect who
doesn?t mean that locals aren?t welcome. wouldn?t normally is a service to the
?We do have a lot of Finns in the group, it?s area. Indeed, in 2008 Jolly Dragon was
not strictly foreigners,? Riggs continues. decorated by YLE for an award deeming
it ?the best service to the city?. Both the
groups who seek to eventually make a
living connecting people or those who
volunteer are helping both socially and
economically.
?People like to categorise stuff, and put it
all into boxes. I think we?re showing that
everything?s mixed,? said Brennan about
the Jolly Dragon. ?You can be creating
value all the time. If you?re creating value,
everyone?s going to be happy. Whether
you?re doing that for your friends to help
them out, or you?re doing that to make
a little money, it?s all having a positive
impact.?
While Finland has a lot to offer immigrants, Brennan points out that immigrants have things to offer Finland as well.
?You?re foreign, you?re different. Figure
out what that means and capitalise on that.
You?ve got things to offer, you can be a big
fish in a small pond.?
Legal Immigrants
In this new series 6D gets to know what it?s like to be aregular immigrant in
Finland.
Beth Morton
Oogie Bae
Originally all
the way from
South
Korea,
Oogie Bae shares
her
thoughts
about living in
Finland?
What do you do here in Finland?
I am taking Finnish language classes full time
and looking after my four-year-old son when
he is not at day care.
How and when did you end up in Finland?
My family and I moved from the U.S. to
Espoo for 10 months for my husband?s job in
September 2011 but we liked it here so much
that we decided we wanted to stay. He applied
for a more permanent job and it worked out
well.
What attracts you about the Finnish
culture?
I really like that, regardless of their social
status, generation or gender, Finns seem to
have very high ethical standards. The Finns
are also very honest, as I found out first hand
when I left my handbag on the beach near
HAT do the Dutch,
Japanese, Latvian
and
Sudanese
nationalities have
in common? According to the
figures of Statistics Finland,
there?s about the same amount of their representatives ?
1,150 ? living in Finland.
For them to keep in touch with one another, one of the
primary ways is through the Dutch Association in Finland
(?Nederlandse Vereniging in Finland?). The group has 100
individuals and 100 families as members, and it estimates
that it represents about 300?400 people in total. In addition to Dutch people, its membership is open to all who
are interested in the Netherlands and other countries that
belong to the Dutch language union (Belgium, Suriname
and Netherlands Antilles). The Dutch Association cooperates with FINBEL, the Belgian association in Finland.
An important activity for the group is different happenings, through which the members of the community have
a chance to get together and make whoopee. An important
celebration is coming up on 30 April, which is Queen?s Day,
a national holiday in the Netherlands. This year the event
is made even more special by the abdication of Queen
Beatrix for her son, Prince Willem-Alexander. In 2014 the
festivities will thus be known as King?s Day, and the date
will be changed to 27 April, Willem-Alexander?s birthday.
Other significant dates are 3 October, when the Siege
of Leiden is remembered (marking the city?s successfully
resistance to an occupation by Spain in 1573?1574), and
5 December for Saint Nicholas?s Eve, which is a children?s
party similar to Christmas celebrations. The association
organises also other events, as well as a summer camp for
families.
In addition to event organising, the Dutch Association in
Finland publishes a quarterly magazine called Noorderlicht
(?Northern Lights?), informing members of happenings
and running stories on Dutch and Finnish history and culture. And it brings people together through social media,
together with another group with an active Facebook page,
?Dutch Men Lost in Finland?.
The name of the latter group contains a hint about the
demography of the Dutch minority living in Finland: its
overwhelming majority, over 800 people, are men. It?s
perhaps not a great surprise then to hear that Finnish
women are an important reason for Dutch men to settle in
the country. ?Dutch men meet someone they like and get
hooked,? says Jos Helmich, chair of the Dutch Association
in Finland. ?More Dutch women find Finnish men nowadays, but they are really a minority.?
As for any issues when moving into the country, the
Dutch may not be the only group to find the language a
problem. Perhaps more surprising
is that social security and health
care work differently in Finland,
which can be a source of confusion for Dutch newcomers. ?In
Finland everything is taken care
of by KELA, from the cradle to
the grave,? Helmich says, adding
that in the Netherlands a lot more
is left to the individual to arrange
him or herself.
Jos Helmich
Helsinki and had to call the maintenance
office in a panic to report it. They found
my bag and sent it back to me on the next
boat ? nobody had touched it and everything
was still there.
What culture shock did you have when
coming to Finland?
It was strange to get used to our neighbours
seeming very shy and not making eye contact
or smiling when we passed each other by.
Have you been able to settle and integrate
into Finnish society?
Not yet, but these things take time and I?m
learning the language and trying to integrate.
Do you have any worries about living here?
My only worry is that, by the time we are
settled and integrated here, my husband?s
work contract will expire and we might have
to leave.
What are your future hopes and wishes for
your life in Finland?
That we are able to stay here and make a good
and happy life.
What is your favourite word in Finnish?
Tottakai (of course).
Feature
12
Issue 03 2013
A minority
without
a category
Official statistics say that Russians and other ex-Soviets represent by far the
biggest minority in Finland. But these numbers are skewed in a way. Around
24,000 of these people categorised as Russians in Finland are in fact Finns!
How can this be?
These Finns are Ingrian Finns, repatriated from Russia because of their Finnish
background, but categorised as Russians, since no more accurate criteria
are available. How can this be? Read on to see if the stats lie or not.
R
Mika Oksanen
epatriation of Ingrian Finns started in a major
way in the early 1990s, following an interview
with Mauno Koivisto, President of Finland, whose
public statement about the status of Ingrian Finns
became interpreted as an ?invitation? for their
repatriation.
Hence they came by large numbers. ?When
the repatriation began in the early 1990s, the
Aliens Act did not yet feature any specific reference to Ingrian
Finns,? recalls Marianne Laine, Team Manager with the
Finnish Immigration Service. ?Finnish authorities were not
really prepared to deal with the repatriation wave, but because
they had to adopt some idea as standard, it was decided that
any Ingrian Finns wanting to be repatriated needed to have
Finnish nationality.?
The Soviet Union applied a system of internal passports,
which stated that the nationality of anyone living in the
USSR, and Ingrian Finns were categorised as Finns under
that system. ?These documents as well as official birth
certificates were initially accepted as proof of the right for
repatriation,? Laine explains. ?At the very beginning, one
document sufficed, but later on, as cases of forged documentation were encountered, applicants were required to
have two official documents, and this applies today as well.?
The Aliens Act was amended in 1996 in respect of Ingrian
Finns. After the amendment, at least two of the applicant?s
grandparents are required to be Finnish, and the applicants
are required to have participated in immigration training.
In 2003, a further amendment required that in order for
applicants to be granted a residence permit, they needed to
successfully demonstrate their proficiency in Finnish and
have a residence in Finland.
?As a result, the role of repatriation training was emphasised so
that the applicants could pass the tests,? Laine continues. The
training is still provided to them for free. ?The applicants study
Finnish for 350 hours and then take the language proficiency
test, for free as well. Today, the Finnish Immigration Service is
in charge of arranging it.?
So the Finnish Government has taken a lot of trouble to help
Ingrian Finns repatriate. ?The fact that they have to study the
language does help them and us as well in the repatriation
process and facilitates their further education and employment
search in Finland,? Laine says. ?The authorities noticed that
many of those to be repatriated were working-aged people who
were able to work as well, but were unable to communicate in
Finnish. This was one reason for setting up the training system,
and no other immigrant group has been provided with a system
this extensive.?
As we write this, the repatriation system established for Ingrian
Finns is already destined for termination. ?It was stated already
in the mid-2000s that the system had been all but exhausted by
those wanting to be repatriated,? Laine explains. ?There has
been a generation change; the younger ones are not so much in
search of their ancestry but better living opportunities.? And
nationality is not recorded in Russia in the same way as in the
Soviet Union, so the Finnish authorities have limited chances of
determining which applicants today truly have Finnish ancestry.
?Those of them looking to enter the system have not learned
Finnish at home but by studying,? Laine adds.
?One of the main reasons for setting up the system was to allow
the return of those Ingrians who were relocated by Germans
during WWII and taken back to the Soviet Union after the war,
so that Finland could pay back her historical ?honorary debt?, as
President Koivisto put it,? Laine says. ?But in today?s world, we
reckon that the remaining relocated Ingrians who have wanted
to move have already had ample changes to do so during the
20-plus years with the system in place. Our perception is that the
system is no longer required, and the repatriation system will be
terminated as of 1 July 2016.? However, those who were part of
the relocated Ingrians as well as those Ingrians who served in
the Finnish military during the war will retain a lifelong right
to be repatriated to Finland. ?They are not required to prove
their language proficiency, only to demonstrate that they have a
residence in Finland,? she adds.
About Ingrian Finns
What are these people? Are they Ingrians, Finns, Russians or
something else? ?We would like to draw a distinction between
Izhorians and Ingrian Finns,? says Helena Miettinen, Doctor of
Soc. Sciences and Head of the Ingrian Cultural Association based
in Helsinki. ?The ?old? Izhorians reside in Ingria, Russia not far
from the Estonian border. But Ingrian Finns are those people who
relocated to the east at the behest of the King of Sweden in the
17th century, and those are the people who have been repatriated.?
Why did they want to come? ?Many of them escaped the dire
economic situation following the collapse of the Soviet Union,?
Miettinen explains. ?That was a difficult time particularly for
old folks; a month?s pension may have sufficed for a monthly bus
ticket and not much more, following the escalating change in the
value of the rouble.? Anybody frowning these grounds for relocation should remember that an estimated one million Finns have
left this country at different times ? basically to escape poverty,
starvation and, consequently, death.
How do they see themselves? ?According to a common principle, you are what you believe to be. Many Ingrian Finns consider
themselves as Russians in terms of identity,? Miettinen says. This
is understandable: they speak Russian as their first language, and
they have been raised in Russia. ?The cultural association mainly
attracts older people,? Miettinen states and adds that the Russian
identity of many Ingrian Finns is partly due to the attitudes
finnish social forum 2013
discussions | movies | books
free entrance | 20.?21.4. hELSINKI, aRBIS, dAGMARINKATU 3 | WWW.SOSIAALIFOORUMI.FI
The Forum
will be started
and closed
together:
Dignity!
visitor
info
The theme of the Finnish Social Forum is Dignity! The
opening discussion is held on Saturday 20 April at 10
am in the ballroom of Arbis. Dignity is discussed with
the topic ?Human, communities and dominance of
economics.?
After dozens of seminars and workshops we will
again meet in the ballroom on Sunday at 3 pm. In
the closing event the experiences of the two days will
be collected and dignity will be discussed from the
viewpoint of gender, ethnicity and global solidarity.
The Finnish Social Forum is held at Arbis, Dagmarinkatu 3, near
Parliament House, right in the center of Helsinki. We recommend
using public transport to get there as no special parking is provided for the event.
Entrance to the Social Forum is free and there is no need to register in advance. The majority of the events are held in the classrooms of Arbis with a limited number of seats. The best way to
secure your entrance for a specific seminar is to arrive early.
Arbis is equipped with an elevator. On the 2nd floor is the Café
Arbis, where you can buy refreshments and a light lunch. Childcare is on the 4th floor, and is provided by Stadin Aikapankki. See
above if you need childcare.
At the entrance of Arbis is an INFO-post that answers your practical questions during the weekend.
child care
The Time Bank Of Helsinki (stadin aikapankki) arranges childcare during the
Finnish Social Forum. If you have the need for childcare at a specific time, you
can tell about it in before hand to the contact person of lapsiparkki, vappu.
helmisaari(at)lektio.fi (otherwise come and see if there is room in the Lapsiparkki!). Are you (also) interested in taking care of chilren for a few hours? Also in that case please contact Vappu. All the nurses receive tovi (currency of
time bank) according to the time. You also could use the tovis you earned in
the time bank and receive from there the help you may need!
Read more about the time bank of helsinki
www.stadinaikapankki.wordpress.com
Dayamani, poor
adivasi woman
who stops
multi-billionaire
corporations
Dayamani, inspite of the death-threats she got, mobilised and led indigenous
and local communities into people?s movement, which prevented in 2010 world?s
biggest steel corporation Arcelor Mittal from taking their ancestral lands and displacing them ? even though Mittal already had Memorandum of Understanding with
Jharkhand Govt for 12 000 000 tons annual capacity steel plant and 2500 Mw power
plant which will displaced more then 100000 people.
Since 1995, as an activist, Dayamani had been mobilising people?s movement first
against the mega Koel Karo hydel power dam project and in 2011 against an illegal
dam construction in Khunti area with a result that these 2 dams which would have
displaced together more than 262 000 people were not built.
She has participated also to defend the Adivasis of Jadugoda who have struggled
against the uranium mine, radiation, pollution and displacement and has also supported Adivasis movement in Dumka after the police killed two activist who were
protesting against a thermal power plant taking their lands. Dayamani Barla is an indigenous Munda Adivasi woman from Jarkhand, India.
Since indepedence at least 8000000 people, majority of them Adivasis, have been
displaced in Jharkhand for industrial and commercial purposes. Mundas to whom
Dayamani belongs as well as other Adivasis have lived and sustained the land, forest
and water in Jharkhand for millennia. They have struggled against the British colonial government and commercial interests taking their lands.
For last eight months Dayamani has led a movement against proposed government
Law Univesity, Indian Institute of Management, which are forcibly displacing Adivasis
by building education centre for industrial business managers on paddy fields cultivated by Adivasis.
But how is it possible that poor indigenous woman can challenge and stop the projects of multi-billionaires? owned global corporations who are supported by the state?
Dayamani runs in connection to her home a small tea-shop, where visit many Ad-
international guest Namrata Bali
Namrata Bali is the president of the Self Employed Women?s Association SEWA in India. SEWA started
in 1972 and has many purposes. SEWA is an organization for women, a trade union and a cooperative
for self-employed women. The headquarters of the organization is in Ahmedabad but it has members all over India, today around a million in number.
SEWA has two main goals: the full employment and self-determination of women. Full employment includes work, regular income, guaranteed food, a roof over one?s head, health care and
daycare for children. The self-determination includes autonomy for women, economic independence and possibilities for decision making as individuals or together.
Millions of women in India still live in poverty despite long and hard working days. Often they
don?t use their own names, but are presented as either a daughter, a sister or a wife of a man. One issue raised by Bali is the right to sit on a chair. In India there is still a lot of situations where men only
are sitting on a chair while women sit on the floor, a tough starting point, for example, to begin negotiating equal work conditions.
SEWA has helped to bring changes to these defects. As a movement of co-operatives it has succeeded in reducing women?s poverty and thus to enhance women?s self-determination. Many members have been encouraged to use their own name and also learned how to write it. The self-esteem
of women is growing and they are encouraged to use their voice.
There has also been a lot of difficulties in spreading information about things, while the major part
of the members cannot read or write. Many challenges have been crossed. Information is spread for
example by means of plays, songs and radio. At this moment the organization has its own radio program and many of the illiterate and those that before had low self-esteem, are now participating in
making the radio programs themselves.
Members of SEWA make a profit for their cooperative by handcraft, among other things, which
has the Fair Trade certificate.
vasis and other poor people. They discuss there with each other and with Dayamani about the problems of their area. People also request Dayamani to visit their area
and see what kind of problems they have. Dayamani documents the conditions of
Adivasis in different areas and writes articles in Mundari and Hindi to the local newspapers about the life and oppression of Adivasi communities.
The resources through which Dayamani can stop the multi-billonaires? corporate
projects are her mouth, her eyes, her pen and her small teashop, by which she can
give voice to the diverse poor Adivasi communities and mobilise them to prevent
the displacement and take-over of their land, water and forest because she is one of
the poor Adivasis - thus one to whom they can trust.
Dayamani writes also her blog: http://dayamani-barla.blogspot.fi/
Dayamani will travel Finland to participate in the Social Forum
seminar ?the indigenous people in India threatened
by the mines?.
film documentary
Världens säkraste kärnkraftverk
Dayamani has visited Finland
in Siemenpuu in 2007 and
has participated to European Social Forum (ESF) 2008 in
Malmö in Sweden. In Malmö
ESF Dayamani participated
with other indigenous representatives from Kenya, Guatemala, Burundi and India
to a seminar on indigenous
rights and visited there also
Estelle ship which was run by
the New Wind association.
Maj Wechselmann 2012
Film is in Swedish, English subtitles
Duration 77 min.
The film by Swedish documentarist, Maj Wechselmann, ?The Safest Nuclear Plant in the World?
tells about the Fukushima nuclear accident, connecting it to contradictions of Sweden?s nuclear safety.
The film contains material of Greenpeace?s 2012 campaigns against nuclear plants in Forsmark
and Ringhals. Wechselmann visited places in Fukushima which the Government of Japan classified
as habitable. All the measurements, however, showed that it was in fact the opposite. Children in
daycare are not allowed to go out and it is assumed that the inner walls covered with lead protect
them from radiation.
The goal is to compare nuclear plants in Japan and Sweden. If nuclear plants in Japan are ?the safest in the world? and they explode, how big a risk is there that the same could also happen in Sweden?
Organised by: Women for Peace Women against nuclear power
finnish social forum 2013 programme
Saturday
12:00-14:00
BALLROOM
CLASSROOM
23
CLASSROOM
13
CLASSROOM
21
CLASSROOM
22
CLASSROOM
11
CLASSROOM
12
CLASSROOM
33
CLASSROOM
35
Saturday
14:00-16:00
Saturday
16:00-18:00
Sunday
11:00-13:00
Sunday
13:00-15:00
Basic income ? a way out of
subsidy labyrinth?
BIEN Finland
Seminar of the end of the world
Olli-Pekka Haavisto, Tere Vadén, Mikael
Fortelius, Thomas Wallgren ja Marissa
Varmavuori ? Maan ystävät, Vihreän
Elämänsuojelun Liitto and Attac
Intermediate labor market ? social
employment at cross-roads
Tarja Filatov, Outi-alanko Kahiluoto,
Antti Holopainen, Lea Karjalainen, Jouko
Karjalinen - Ehyt, TVY, SOSTE, THL
Culture of peace vs culture of hate
Rauhankulttuuri vs vihakulttuuri
Rauhanliitto
Citizens? initiatives ? real
democracy or virtual power?
Kansalaisaloitteet ? todellista
kansanvaltaa vai näennäisvaikuttamista
Avoin ministeriö, BIEN Finland ?
Suomen perustuloverkosto
Regulation of financial markets
and tax havens
Heikki Tainio, Matti Ylönen and Henry
Purje ? VVT, Vasemmistofoorumi
Austerity politics of EU
and Social Crisis
Matti Tuomala, Arja Alho and Erkki
Tuomioja ? VVT and Ydin-lehti
Welfare or destruction from mining?
Mika Flöjt, Pekka Haavisto ? Tekniikka
elämää palvelemaan, Naiset rauhan
puolesta and Uraaniaseet kieltoon ?liike
The Challenge of extreme right.
Conclusions from the discussion.
Vasemmistonuoret, Attac, Tiedonantaja,
Into-Kustannus
What comes after growth?
Uuden talouden verkostot
Movement of ordinary people
Kriittinen ay-verkosto, Vastavoima
In English: Climate change,
resource scarcity and human
security in the Arctic.
Ville Lähde: Introduction t resource
scarcity and it?s implications to
social justice; Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen:
Interlinkages of energy
In English: Climate change, resource
scarcity and human security in the Arctic
and security politics in the Arctic;
Tero Mustonen: Traditional knowledge
in the Arctic; Pauliina Feodoroff: Arctic
resource politics and the Sámi people ?
Suomen YK-liitto
Social guarantee for young
people: truth or a tale?
SOSTE, SAK, Vantaan kaupungin
Petra Hanke
Partially able-bodied and work
Vates. Kiipulan säätiö, SOSTE
Panel discussion on Palestine
PAND ? Artists for peace
The indigenous people of in India
threatened by the mines
Markus Kröger, Ville-Veikko Hirvelä
? Siemenpuusäätiön Intia-ryhmä,
Maan ystävät, Uusi Tuuli, Emmaus
Aurinkotehdas, Katajamäki-yhteisö
The indigenous people of in India
threatened by the mines
Markus Kröger, Ville-Veikko Hirvelä
? Siemenpuusäätiön Intia-ryhmä,
Maan ystävät, Uusi Tuuli, Emmaus
Aurinkotehdas, Katajamäki-yhteisö
Ethics of food production and
theology of food
Kirkon yhteiskunnallisen työn
tekijät, Kirkon yhteiskunnallinen
työ, Helsingin seurakuntayhtymän
yhteiskunnallinen työ
HIV/AIDS in Finland
Näkökulma erityisesti AIDS:n historia
homoseksuaalien keskuudessa ?
Pinkkiruusu ja SONK
Arms trade
? Vasemmistonuoret ja Sadankomitea
Children of Gaza and the future of
Palestine
Palestiina-foorumi, Suomen
palestiinalaisten siirtokuntayhdistys
Development and peace work,
women and media
Naistoimittajat, Suomalaiset
kansalaisjärjestöt Shiffa, Uskonnot
ilman rajoja
Equal Finland, Equal World?
Peter Kariuki, Pirkko Malkamäki, Tino
Varjola, Rilli Lappalainen ? Kehys,
FIDIDA, Etno, Vammaisfoorumi,
Romanifoorumi
Housing of disabled and elderly
around Helsinki
Helsingin seudun tapaturma- ja
sairausinvalidien liitto
Critical culture discussion
Mustarinda -seura
How does citizenship
actualize in schools?
Lasten hyvinvointifoorumi, HYVA,
Rauhankasvatusinstituutti
How does citizenship
actualize in schools?
Lasten hyvinvointifoorumi, HYVA,
Rauhankasvatusinstituutti
Climate change as political
problem
Vasemmistonuoret, Vihreät Nuoret ja
Opiskelijat, Maan ystävät
As an expert in one?s own affairs
Suojapirtti
Food and power
From Global Injustice to Sustainability,
Luomu-liitto, Maattomien ystävät ja
Attac
In English: Campaigning and
advocacy work in a globalized world
NGO-workshop focusing on the ways
in which civil society can work on
interconnected global issues that have
different global manifestations. ? UN
Association of Finland
Campaigning and advocacy work in
a globalized world NGO-workshop
focusing on the ways in which civil society
can work on interconnected global issues
that have different global manifestations.
? UN Association of Finland
Non-violence in different
religions
Suomen kristillinen rauhanliike,
Kaupunki yhteisönä, Religions for
Peace, Suomen naisverkosto
Empathy in civil activism
Elisa Aaltola, Itä-Suomen yliopisto;
Sami Keto, Oikeutta eläimille
Global solidarity and gender/
position of women
Namrata Bali ? Solidaarisuus, TSL,
Demarinaiset
Immigrant youth behimd statistics
Suomen pakolaisapu, Avoin Mava, R3
maahanmuuttajanuorten tuki
Possibilities of time policy
Stadin aikapankki, Aika parantaa
?verkosto, Commons.fi and
Solidaarisuustalousverkosto
?It?s dark in the neighbour? ?
discussion on todays civil activism
Kalliolan Setlementti and
Sininauhaliitto
Social enterpreneurship ? a threat
or a possibility?
SYY ry
In English: From inequality to a
democratic and ecological economy
What would be some of the desirable
reforms to open pathways and solutions
for a free society with ecological and
democratic economy? A join session
with Parecon Sverige and Parecon
Finland. Anders Sandström, Antti
Jauhiainen and Tuomas Salonen
Land crabbing and Finland
Changemaker, Maattomien ystävät,
maattomienliike.wordpress.com
Water and sanitation are a human
right ? the first citizens? initiative
in EU
Suomen julkisen alan
ammattijärjestöjen EU-yhdistys FIPSU,
Maan ystävät
Difficulties in getting the permit
of residence and undocumented
migration in Finland.
Paperittomat ?verkosto
CLASSROOM
Solidarity economics,
practices and mapping
Solidaarisuustalousverkosto,
solidaarisuustalous.fi, commons.fi,
siemenpuusäätiö, Stadin aikapankki,
Merkur pankki
Crisis in EU and spreading of
diseases
Heikki Vuorinen, Lena Hulden ? DSL,
Lääkärien sosiaalinen vastuu
Who decides about money and
economics
Antti Ronkainen, Antti Jauhiainen
(Parecon), Miika Kabata (Marx-seura),
Patrizio Lainà (Talousdemokratia),
Simo Suominen (Kommunistinen
Nuorisoliitto)
Employment of immigrants
Monika-Naiset liitto
Boycott against apartheid:
Case Palestine
Palestiina-foorumi, ICAHD Finland
CLASSROOM
Welfare from Nature ? forests a
source for health in cities
Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliiton
Uudenmaan piiri
Green econimics ? genuine attempt
of sustainable economics?
Kepa, Kehitystutkimuksen seura, UniPID,
Siemenpuu
Co-operatives in work and society
Helsingin yhteiskunnallinen opisto,
osuustoimintatutkimuksen seura
Kooperatiivi, Osuuskunta kasvikunta ja
Etelä-Suomen Vasemmistonuoret
From the fractures of welfare state
follows a great and not a creative
destruction
Hyva
KEHY-KINO: Life as an asylum
seeker in Finland
Helsingin yliopiston
kehitysyhteistyövaliokunta
CLASSROOM
E-waste in ethical scrutiny
Anna Härri, Risto Pohjanpalo ?
Eettisen kaupan puolesta
Freedoms of non-religious children
in daycare and schools
Heta Saxell, Kaisa Robbins ? Helsingin
Vapaa-ajattelijat ja Helsingin
Humanistiyhdistys
Cirisis of EU and Finnish families in
Greece
Helena-verkosto ja Helsingin
seurakuntayhtymän yhteiskunnallinen työ
Cinema: Worlds safest nuclear plant
Naiset Rauhan Puolesta, Naiset
atomivoimaa vastaan
Cinema: Solidarity screening
documentaries from Zapatista
communities
Three documentaries, language
Spanish, subtitle English ? Latinalaisen
amerikan kulttuurikeksus, ProMedios,
Maan voima ? La fuerza de la tierra
CLASSROOM
Ecologicly sustainable welfare
Ekologisesti kestävä hyvinvointi
KomNL, Spartacus-säätiö
Uprisings and capitalism
Marxilainen Työväenliitto, Sosialistiliitto
Truth commission to EU
Uusi historia ja Ihmiskunnan tie ?
foorumi
School festival
41
42
43
44
Feature
13
SixDegrees
THE FACTS
Number of people in Finland with a
foreign nationality, by country
Estonia
34,006
Russia
29,585
Sweden
8,481
Somalia
7,421
Number of people in Finland with a
foreign language as mother tongue
Russian
58,331
Estonian
33,076
Somali
14,045
English
13,804
(Source: Statistics Finland. 31 Dec 2011)
?
?
At the end of 2011, about 17,000
residents of Finland had both Finnish
and Russian citizenship.
?
Demographic identities
Ingrian Finns have been repatriated on account of their Finnish
ancestry, but their demographic categorisation does not reflect
this. A category for Ingrians simply does not exist ? welcome to
the world of what it means to be part of a minority. A discussion
with a stats specialist reveals why it is so.
?Generally speaking, we prepare stats on all people who reside
permanently in Finland, regardless of their origin,? says Markus
Rapo, Senior Statistician at Statistics Finland. ?The categorisation criteria that specifically concern those who have come to
Finland from elsewhere include mother tongue, nationality,
country of birth and a new one, origin, based on the country of
birth of both the person in question and his/her parents. And
obviously there are others as well, such as age, gender, marital
status.?
One of the categorisation criteria is mother tongue. ?As far
as immigrants are concerned, the mother tongue specification depends on what the persons have announced,? Rapo
states. ?For Ingrian Finns, it may be Russian, or it may be
Finnish. Ingrian language does not have an official status as
a minority language, a classification used for the preparation
of official demographics.? According to some estimates,
as pointed out by Marianne Laine, at least 80 per cent of
Ingrian Finns have Russian nationality and speak Russian as
their mother tongue.
?In order for a language to be granted the official language
status, this language must be used as an official language
in some country, there needs to be a sufficient amount
of literature available written in that language and that
the language must be applied as a language of education
somewhere,? Rapo explains. If these criteria are not met, a
The difference between native speakers
of Russian and Russian citizens is
based on the principles of demographic
categorisation, where persons who
have Finnish citizenship are categorised
as Finnish citizens despite their dual
citizenship.
?
towards them; the fact that they are categorised as Russians in
Finland works towards them adopting this identity.
Many Russian citizens have applied and
been granted Finnish citizenship; many
of them have dual citizenship.
Between 1991 and 2011, a total of
62,102 persons moved to Finland from
Russia or other former Soviet states. Of
these, 47,365 announced Russian as
their mother tongue.
language does not qualify as an official language in accord- Universal issues for minorities
ance to ISO 639 standard, used internationally to determine Similar difficulties with demographic definitions can be found
which languages are official. ?Globally, there are hundreds with other minorities in Finland, as pointed out by Ismo
and hundreds of languages, including dialects and dialectal Söderling, Director for the Turku-based Institute of Migration.
languages, which have not been granted this status,? Rapo ?Think about the Sami people in Finland; there are less than
10,000 of them,? he offers. ?Who do you define as a Sami? A
expands on his answer.
Ingrian Finns are not alone in their quest to return to this Sami is someone who has been registered on the list of voters at
Nordic country that their ancestors once left. ?People have the Sami Parliament of Finland. How do you get on the list or off
left Finland for other countries at different times since long of it is a complex issue. Not even the authorities responsible for
ago,? Rapo says. ?Insofar as these people have had children matters related to the Sami are fully aware of how these matters
elsewhere, the country of birth for such children has obvi- are handled or what truly goes into defining someone as a Sami.
ously been somewhere other than Finland. If they move to And the same goes for Romani people living in Finland; they are
Finland, they are categorised as having been born abroad. For defined as Romani through self-identification.?
Demographics also include religious statistics, and the categoexample, a lot of Finns left for Sweden in the 1970s, and those
of their children who were born there naturally have Sweden risation is based on the data concerning religion, as recorded in
as their country of birth. Their native tongue may be Finnish the Population Information System.
?In Finland we have the Freedom of Religion Act, which states
or some other language.?
What is the deal with other descendants of Finns looking to be how religious communities may be established,? Rapo explains.
repatriated? ?Any descendants of Finns living abroad are con- ?Religious communities themselves notify the registry offices of
sidered candidates for repatriation,? Laine says. There are many any new members, and this is how the Population Information
of them in Russia, many of whom descend from those Finns System is updated, and Statistics Finland can obtain the data
who escaped from the country after the Civil War fought on the from there.? The largest one in Finland is obviously the Evangelic
losing side. And they also come from Australia, the United States, Lutheran Church, and the Orthodox Church clearly comes
second. There are other smaller ones, with small member counts.
Canada, Japan, Israel and elsewhere.?
The Aliens Act states that a person shall be granted residence ?As for those people who have come from abroad, the data is
permit automatically for four years if he or she has been a inadequate, because the data on religion in the system is proFinnish citizen, or either of his or her parents is (or was) a vided only on people who are members of a religious community
native Finnish citizen, or if at least one of his or her grandpar- registered in Finland, and about 80 per cent of the people with a
ents is (or was) a native Finnish citizen,? Laine continues. ?They foreign language as their mother tongue have not been registered
must present documentation as proof of this, which is what in a religious community in Finland; this obviously has very
they usually are able to do. An application to this effect can be little to do with how religious these people are and whether they
submitted to any official representation of Finland abroad. And practice religion or not.?
Stats don?t lie ? we?re all in a majority in that we represent a
this right will most probably remain to be in force forever, to
minority on one count or another.
my understanding.?
28 MARCH ? 10 APRIL 2013
HELSINKI TIMES
Customer service points
Rautatientori Metro Station
(by Central Railway Station)
Itäkeskus Metro Station
Pasila, Opastinsilta 6A
Monthly review
HSL Customer service tel. 09 4766 4000
(Mon-Fri 7am-7pm, Sat-Sun 9am-5pm)
Advice on public transport routes,
timetables and tickets, Travel Card
assistance and lost Travel Cards
HSL Helsinki Region Transport
PO BOX 100, 00077 HSL
www.hsl.fi
This year?s summer
timetables only in effect
for eight weeks
The school term which ends at
and at HSL service points a few
the beginning of June, does not
weeks before the new timeta-
noticeably decrease the num-
bles come into effect.
HSL will not publish summer timetable booklets this summer because
the timetables will only be in effect for two months. The number of
passengers looking for information through the Internet and mobile
services is on the increase, with more online services being offered.
ber of passengers on public
The number of passengers
transport, even though some
using mobile applications and
passengers switch to cycling to
HSL?s online timetables is grow-
work and the summer holiday
ing. HSL for example offers an
season starts. HSL is respond-
online service where you can
ing to its customers? needs by
search timetables for any stop
shortening the duration of the
and, selecting the routes you use
summer timetables.
most often, create your own, tai-
This year, the summer timeta-
lored timetable.
bles will come into effect on 17
The My Departures timeta-
June, with mainly the rush hour
ble service allows you to create
services being reduced. Au-
shortcuts to timetables for spe-
tumn timetables will come into
cific stops, edit them and open
effect on 12 August. Last sum-
an up-to-the-minute timetable
mer was the first time that the
view on your mobile phone or
eight-week summer timetables
other device.
were in use.
Timetables for all routes are
also available online as printa-
Electronic timetables available
HSL will not publish the eight-
but will not distribute them to
lets for individual routes will be
households. The booklets will be
available on buses and trams
ent languages and the user interface is familiar,? explains Jari
Honkonen, Project Manager for
HSL.
Available in 40 languages,
Google Maps provides information on public transport for more
than 400 cities in 50 countries.
The route service for the Helsinki region is available on maps.
google.fi.
Since 2009, application developers have had free access to
HSL application programming
interfaces, such as timetable data. Based on the HSL open data,
more than 30 public transport
mobile phone applications have
been developed to date.
for Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa
booklets; instead timetable leaf-
Google has launched HSL Journey Planner data as part of its
Google Transit service. Besides
public transport routes, the service displays the nearest stops,
changes in transport, walking distances and travel times.
The information can also be accessed through the Google Maps
applications on your mobile device.
?Google Transit is a new way
of looking up HSL travel information and I believe it will make
it easier for passengers to use
public transport in the Helsinki region. Tourists will particularly benefit from Google Transit
because it is available in differ-
will bring out timetable booklets
week summer timetables as
Journey
Planner on Google Maps
ble PDF files. Next autumn, HSL
available at HSL service points.
Residents
contribute to
network planning
Public
transport over
the Easter holidays
HSL would like to have local residents more involved in the planning of route networks because they
bring the kind of local knowledge
and new ideas to the planning process that cannot be found in statistics. "By listening to our customers,
we can learn a lot about what people
need from public transport. Statistics
provide us with information on the
numbers of passengers but the dialogue with customers will help us interpret these figures," says Nina Frösén, HSL?s public transport planner.
HSL used interactive online forums when planning transport networks for four regions in Vantaa and
the experiences were positive, with
the blog dedicated to the Korso?
Koivukylä region attracting roughly
10,000 visitors in a couple of months.
On Good Friday (29 March), Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (31
March and 1 April), HSL public transport will operate a Sunday timetable. On Good Friday, the Via Crucis
Easter Procession will cause changes
to tram traffic in Kruununhaka from
around 9pm-11pm.
On Saturday 30 March, public
transport will run according to the
Saturday timetable. Summer time
will begin on Sunday at 3am when
the clocks will be adjusted forward
by one hour. On Saturday 30 March,
Saturday?s transport services will run
according to the winter time and the
Sunday timetable will operate according to the summer time.
Early morning bus services will
operate on both Friday ? Saturday
and Saturday ? Sunday nights.
7
Tastebuds
15
SixDegrees
Graniittilinna
still rocking after more than
100 years
r
e
d
a
Re
ds
n
e
m
Recom
Santa Fé
Eva Peltonen
Santa Fé is a cosy Tex Mex restaurant in the middle of
Helsinki. The restaurant offers a great atmosphere to
dine and enjoy time with friends. ?The Chicken Burrito
was really juicy, cheesy and spicy,? stated Ulla Lehtinen.
As Santa Fé has also become well known for its fresh
margaritas
Ulla
tried a Strawberry
Margarita
and
commented that,
?It?s taste was
excellent
and
smooth.? During
summer months
you
may
also
enjoy your dinner
and drinks on
the terrace while
listening to live
music.
A grand edifice
of fine food, with
a long and
curious history.
Text and photos Banafsheh Ranji.
A
LONG with Savoy Restaurant and Hotel Kämp there are
few establishments in Helsinki more steeped in history
than Graniittilinna (Granite Castle) located by the bay
at Säästöpankinranta. The impressive building is now
a restaurant and bar, but it has witnessed war, revolution and
sports activities during its colourful lifetime.
The restaurant?s history extends as far back as 1884 when the
Helsinki Workers? Association operated a bar at Kaivokatu. The
current premises ? a bar, known as Juttutupa (talking house) ?
was relocated to Säästöpankinranta when the building, designed
by the architect Karl Lindahl, was opened in 1908.
In the period before Russia?s 1917 Revolution Vladimir Lenin,
exiled from his native land, used to meet co-conspirators and
make plans in the bar. The table where he regularly sat is still
there and is rightly called ?the revolutionary table?. Having a
leftwing flavour to its history it is not surprise that building was
involved in Finland?s Civil War in 1918. It was bombarded and
badly damaged by the White forces in the Battle of Helsinki as it
was a Red stronghold and lookout post.
After its repair it was used by the Helsinki Workers? Association
as a sports and gymnastics club, and it was at this time that
Tarmo, the Finnish Social Democratic Party?s sports association
,was founded. The club took up residence in Graniittilinna in
1931. In 1932 prohibition was repealed in Finland ? ending 13
?dry years? ? and the bar once again became a bar.
Political connections
By the 1970s Graniittilinna has lost none of its political connections and on International Workers? Day, 1 May 1979, a
restaurant was opened in the old building. Over the course of
the next decade Graniittilinna?s restaurant enterprise expanded,
to the demise of sports facilities, which had been there for over
half a century.
The restaurant is somewhat of a hidden gem in Hakaniemi and
offers hearty Finnish fare at prices that will make you glad you
took the short walk from pricey downtown Helsinki. Lamb vorschmack, a favourite of Marshall Mannerheim, is a tasty starter
along with chilled schnapps. Mains range from roast arctic char
to fried pikeperch for fish lovers, to tender overcooked elk and
sautéed reindeer all the way from Inari for the meat lovers. A
classic Graniittilinna dessert is selection of cheeses from Lentävä
Lehmä. Perfect to round off the evening, before enjoying some
drinks at the bar.
Aleksantrinkatu 15
Helsinki
In this series, 6D readers tell about their local favourite
place to grab a coffee, sip on a beer or enjoy a bite to eat.
Send a brief email to james@6d.fi, and let us know what
you recommend!
The dining area has hosted a wide
variety of guests over the years.
What Finns
are eating
this month
Graniittilinna serves up hearty Finnish
fare.
Graniittilinna
Säästöpankinranta 6
Helsinki
tel: 020 7424 250
Mon 11-22?
Tue-Thu 11-24?
Fri 11-00.30?
Sat 14-00.30
Sun Closed
These days, the bar, Juttutupa ? known locally as Juttis ? is
an easy-going and down-to-earth type of bar where live music,
especially the renowned Jazz nights, can be enjoyed with some
quality beers and bar menu which is certainly a step up from the
average bar fair to found around the city.
Chat amongst locals is quiet, but friendly? but maybe if you
listen carefully can you still hear talk of revolution?
Ruisleipä
(rye bread)
Evgenie Bogdanov
There are some regional variations of traditional dark
Finnish bread across the country, but the concept is
the same ? fibre-rich, nutritious, low-fat baking, with
a sour dough base. This is why the overtly non-sweet
taste of Finnish ruisleipä distinguishes it from similar
rye breads of other countries, and often doesn?t always
suit the taste buds of all foreigners. However, it is one
of the Finnish best-selling breads. And, retrospectively
speaking, rye bread was inevitable part of the national
cuisine, memorised in many proverbs, like Ei leikki
leivässä pidä (Games will not bring you bread).
Cultitude
16
Issue 03 2013
Bringing the
voiceless
to the
foreground.
Mohamed
El Aboudi
Héctor Montes
A
s she walks back home from the supermarket, an old lady
smiles at Mohamed El Aboudi. Like her, many other
people from the area readily recognise the filmmaker,
who has lived in the same neighbourhood in Espoo for
ten years already.
El Aboudi is original from Morocco, where he attained a Bachelor
Degree in Theatre at Fez University in 1988. He then moved to
France and undertook filmmaking studies at la Sorbonne, after
which he visited Finland for the first time in 1991, studying at the
University of Helsinki for two years. He later moved to Australia
to follow a Master?s Programme in Film and Television at Bond
University, where he graduated in 1996. After living in France for
some time, the film director returned to Finland in 2001 and has
resided in the country ever since. He worked in YLE for six years
and then started to work as a freelancer in 2007.
When El Aboudi moved into his current house, he was one of
the few immigrants living in the area ? he even ventures to say
that he was the only one. Nowadays, the sight of a foreigner is
common all over Finland. However, immigration and discrimination issues remain unresolved worldwide, Finland included,
says the filmmaker.
As a matter of fact, Häätanssi* (English title: ?Dance of
Outlaws?), the most recent production by El Aboudi, deals with
these issues. The documentary film, which relates the story Hind,
a Moroccan woman who is an outcast in her own society, was
awarded in March at the Tampere Film Festival 2013.
How did you get the news about the prize?
Well, we have been travelling with the film around the world,
and it was actually awarded internationally last summer at the
Locarno International Film Festival and at the Festival National
du Film at Tangier. We have also showed it in Finland at many
festivals but it really took me by surprise to receive this prize. First
of all, because we were participating in the national category and
we were competing with very good Finnish films. Plus, the story,
the director and the language of the film were foreign. Actually,
when I was asked by the festival organisers when I would come
[to Tampere], I told them that I would go only to present the film
and that was it. When I was already back home, I got a call from
one of the organisers, asking me to go back to Tampere. My first
thought was that perhaps they need me for some press conference or just some meeting, but then they said they needed me for
the award ceremony. That sounded promising.
When I received the prize, I was planning to dedicate it to
all the women who are suffering around the world, especially
when we had just celebrated the International Women?s Day.
I also thought of the main character of my film, who at this
moment is unfortunately in prison and nobody knows why. But
as I stood there, I became overwhelmed by emotion and just
remained speechless.
What is the film about?
The film tells the story of Hind, a woman who was raped by
her employer when she was 15 years old. Because of this, she
was kicked from her house for bringing ?shame to family?. Hind
started to live as an outlaw because she had no relatives, no
friends, no one to turn to. And also, when you are kicked from
your house, you are not allowed to get an identity card. The only
occupation she has left to perform is to be a wedding dancer and
a prostitute. The film relates the challenges and hopes of Hind to
get her documentation in order and to start a new life.
?B
eing a filmmaker in
Finland is already
hard, no matter if you
are a foreigner.?
How do you think this film relates to Finnish reality?
Of course the story develops in Morocco, but this is not only a
Moroccan story. This film is about every woman that is suffering
in the world. There are women all over the world suffering from
daily domestic violence and social injustice, and this happens
also in Finland, of course.
You don?t seem very optimistic about the Arab spring.
When the documentary was shown in the Tangier film festival,
I was approached by a Tunisian film critic who asked me, ?Do
you miss not having the Arab Spring in Morocco?? My answer
was that if it would happen the same way that it had occurred
in Tunisia and Egypt, I?d prefer it to wait for a while. I think
that more than a spring, what is happening in those countries
is more of a ?dark winter?, as they are trying to drag the society
100 years back into the past, and that?s terrible. Of course, in
the long term it will be good, because this phase will be over
and people will understand that those who want to go in that
anachronistic direction are just promoting rubbish.
Regarding your working life in Finland, how is it to be a
foreign filmmaker in this country?
Being a filmmaker in Finland is already hard, no matter if you
are a foreigner, but already as a Finn. I understand that there
are about 150 people graduating every year from different film
schools. In a small country like this one, where there?s also a
small budget, that means that the competition is going to be
really tough. But, of course, when you are actually able to work
doing something you studied for and aimed at all your life,
then it is worth it. And, especially as a foreigner, the pleasure
is double.
As a final point, do you think foreign filmmakers feel some
kind of a moral pressure to deal with social problems in their
productions?
In my own case, I make films that I can relate to, with themes
that I can say, ?Okay, this subject touches me and I want to
work on it?. Because, if you work on something that you don?t
identify with, then your final product will be just ?normal?, not
Have you screened the film in Morocco?
I have to be sincere: I was concerned about showing the film as good as it could be. I particularly like the themes that are
in Morocco. But somehow the film ended up in the Festival ?over the fences?, those issues that are ?forbidden?. You know,
National du Film in Tangier this February ? it got there by acci- forbidden fruits are delicious, but you also have to be able to
dent, I don?t know how. Yet, the audience was actually fabulous reach them. Sometimes there is a really interesting theme, but
about it, the public really connected with the film. It was also it is out of grasp. Yet sometimes there are very close to you. I
screened in some other festivals in the country and women?s remember when I was working at YLE, they asked me to do
rights associations. Of course, my dream would be to release something about immigrant workers who do manual jobs, like
the film in cinemas in Morocco, but I think that would be really cleaning or construction. After some thinking, I said to myself,
?Why am I?m trying to go far from my own environment? In
tough to attain.
YLE we have also people who come to clean there, why not do
something about them?? Then I made a short film of three-andWhat projects are you working on now?
I?m already working on the preproduction of a new film. It will a-half minutes about three guys from Africa, Germany and
deal with how so many years of dictatorship have affected the Thailand working at the broadcaster. The producers at YLE
lives of individuals from countries where the so-called ?Arab were concerned in the beginning; they thought I had gone mad,
Spring? has happened. Can you take from those people 30 years and was going to bite the hand that fed me. But eventually they
living under an authoritarian regime? I think those generations realised it was a positive thing and actually ended up showing
will have to deal forever with the consequences of living such a the film all over the world in panels about multiculturalism and
trauma. And so, my next production will most likely focus on immigration.
the lives of a family who was stranded all over the world as a
* Literal translation from Finnish is ?Wedding dance?.
consequence of the dictatorship years in Egypt.