During Europe’s action week against racism (March 15-23), wouldn’t it be appropriate to post something that promotes inclusion and respect? One posting drives home a very important and long overdue message in Finland: #itooamfinland.
Read full story (in Finnish) here.
What’s the biggest challenge that our country faces during this century? It’s living in an ever-culturally diverse society and defending the noble values of our social welfare state from the claws of intolerance and greed.
In other words, it’s all about building a society that treats everyone regardless of their background with respect.
Gunnar Myrdal was a Swedish economist and sociologist, who wrote in 1944 An American dilemma: The Negro problem and modern democracy, exposed and challenged segregation in the United States. His book was instrumental in a landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
Like Myrdal showed, segregation is morally wrong and created a dilemma for U.S. America because it was in conflict with its values. In the same way, one cannot defend Finnish values like social equality and tolerance and be hostile to minorities.
What must our response be to those who want to erase us off the Finnish map or sweep us under the carpet?
The answer: #itooamfinland, #itooamfinland, #itooamfinland and #ITOOAMFINLAND!
Read original posting here.
They’ll try to throw every label in the book in order to make you fell that you don’t belong: person with immigrant background, or maahanmuuttajataustainen, foreigner, migrant and a long list of other names to show that you are not Finland.
But don’t let them because #wetooarefinland.