Jan Vapaavuori is the mayor of Helsinki who wrote the following on his Facebook wall below about Nazis marching in Helsinki on Independence Day:
Tag: white Finnish privilege
Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin
Brown is beautiful just like black and white are beautiful, right? Add to the latter equation power and privilege and a more sinister picture emerges: white is beautiful but brown and black aren’t.
Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality
A campaign for gender equality by Naisjäjestöt NJKL is an excellent example of white privilege and denial. In the tweet below, we know that Elisabeth Rehn and former Helsiniki Bishop Irja Askola have spoken out against racism and hate speech. However, on the top right hand of the picture we find Blue Reform* (New Perussuomalaiset) MP Maria Lohela, who made her political career by spreading Islamophobia and hatred towards migrants.
Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise
If we wanted to give an extreme picture of how people are “integrated” into society, we could go back to the 1940s when Jews, the Roma and other undesirables of the Nazi regime were transported in boxcars to death camps. Just like those that were separated and sent to go the gas chamber or would…
Maria Rittis Ikola: Imagine a world without white privilege
Maria Rittis Ikola* Imagine that white Finns like me weren’t able to speak over others in every medium available. Imagine a time when white people were not able to express their confusion and dismay over political correctness in prime spaces in Finnish newspapers, because nobody would let them. Imagine that racialised journalists didn’t have to…
White Finnish privilege #29: Your family is worth less than mine
There has been a lot of debate about the present government tightening further family reunification laws. It shouldn’t come to any surprise that such measures not only reveal hostility towards asylum seekers, migrants, and minorities but are an example of white Finnish privilege in its most extreme forms.
Defining white Finnish privilege #26: Are you an ethnic Finn?
Have you ever thought why the term kantasuomalainen, or “ethnic Finn,” has become a common word among white Finns. Why is this term used today and why wasn’t it used before? What those the word “ethnic Finn” relay to those who are migrants and minorities? If the term “ethnic Finn” has become more common why…
Twitter: White Finnish rapist or arsonist = lone wolf, drunk
In Finland, we have had a number of arson attacks against asylum reception centers. We even have one substitute MP of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* who said that “god had answered his prayers” when a building, which was supposed to house asylum seekers, was razed to the ground earlier this month.
Defining white Finnish privilege #22: From racist, fascist to politician without memory
We saw a lot of white Finnish privilege during the April parliamentary elections and government talks, which include the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. If lowly things like turncoat politics and chicanery, racism and white Finnish privilege would have a smell, that stench would knock you off your feet right now. The new speaker of parliament,…
Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?
A Finn is anyone with Finnish citizenship, right? Citizenship can be obtained through birth (jus sanguinis) or naturalization. Even if this should be clear as day, certain public services like the police continue to group Finns according to their so-called “foreign” or “immigrant” backgrounds. I don’t have any problems with my foreign background even if…