Correction: Finland is not a Scandinavian country. Sweden and Norway are.

Finland is a Nordic and Fenno-Scandian country.

The biggest newspaper in the country "Helsingin sanomat" has just added blogging to it's online edition. Maybe it was your series of articles that led to this... Thank you so much!

Antti seems to be a Geographist.
For a more refined analysis of the term 'Scandinavia' see:
http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/scn/faq21.html#2.1
Cheers, Esa

Great articles and great format. Next time, visit Lapland during the winter months, it would be interesting.
Children in US elementary schools could read about the trip and find out about Santa Claus.
Keep up the good work.

You seem to be very interested in music. Maybe you should look at these links..

Osmo Vänskä
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/osmo2/

Lahti Symphony Orchestra
http://update.econnection.fi/sinfonia/index_eng.php

Iloved every entry into your Finland Diary and looked forward to every new day to see what you would write about next. Thank you for your in depth coverage of this very small yet very significant country that is so dear to the hearts of many like me whose parents were born there and lived there during the worst of times. Kiitos!!!

Wrong link. WeeGee and the Cultural Center aren't the same place. This is the address of the Cultural Center, where I guess you were: http://www.espoo.fi/xsl_taso1_ilmanajank.asp?path=1;606;607;1800;9652 (And administratively Espoo is independent of Helsinki, and we at least try to call ourselves a city instead of a suburb...)

Anyway, the Finland Diary was superb! I'm sure that people in the next country (there will be a next country, I hope?) will love you as well.

To Liisa: No, no more Santa Claus ever again! I hate him! Couldn't we Finns just join the rest of the world and believe that he lives in the North Pole and not in Finland? I'm sick of our "We are the Santa Claus Country" attitude... But despite that, this is a great place to live. :)

I wonder and admire, how much you could see, listen, travel and write in such a short time! And how well you noticed and reflected,what we wanted you to tell of ourselves and our beautiful cold country to the American people.

I hope, that next time you have possibility to visit also the historic places of Helsinki. You certainly know, that Finland has Swedish, Russian and independant eras and their produced structures are still visible here in many places.
http://www.hel2.fi/tourism/EN/matko.asp

Very many thanks! And welcome back.

It was so great to read this series - it is so rare to find anything about Finland, that isn't a quote from the Lonely Planet, or depicting some long dead figures :) Paljon kiitoksia! (hopefully you will get at least some non-finnish comments about this also, just to put the record straight)

[I posted this first to a wrong section, sorry for the dublicate]

I have also read this journeydiary every week and I have enjoyed it very much. Especially I found these comment areas to be very interesting. Big thanks to people who were really interested to learn about us Finns and hold the conversation informative with the help of some Finns who didn´t just arque and finger point. My greetings to those in the US who have Finnish roots, why not ´pop in´ in Finland next time you are about to have a holiday abroad (no pre-calling required) :)

Sadly this too has to come to an end and I just would like to thank Robert G. Keiser and Lucian Perkins for writing this blog and keeping it open for people to have discussions on these topics, and sometimes a bit off too, but no harm done there. I say my thanks here so I won´t fill your emailbox :)

For everyone, enjoy the summer (plus silence and sauna!!). Keep the discussions alive there in the States ^^

Auf wiedersehen,
Tomma

PS. In japanese (or was it chinese) smileys it´s the eyes that reveal if the smiley is smiling or not. Whatta!?1oneone. maube I should travel there to find out, see it for myself how it works ;)

I so enjoyed this series! Thank you!

Though I live now in northern Virginia, I'm originally from Minnesota and I lived for several years in northern Minnesota around Duluth where there are many people of Finnish descent. The personality characteristics of Finns living in Finland are can still be found in their cousins in northern Minnesota!

Santa Claus the Turkish Saint in American clothes. Where is the people's movement to ban Santa as Un-Finnish, when there were movements for the purity of Finnish mustard and vodka?!

Maybe I'll start the web site my self. "Santa is Not Finnish!"

The Finnish Joulupukki (Christmas Goat) is an authentic pagan tradition, complete with birch bark mask and whippings for those he dislikes. Let's get him back and stop this plastic Santa nonsense.

Thank you very much for your articles! I've enjoyed reading them. Every day I waited for a new story. The photos were great too! Kiitos! :)

Thank you Lucian and Robert! You really did a nice job covering a large part of Finnish culture. I am sad to see it end. Thanks also to all those blogers only wish more of you could agree to disagree.

Jumalan rauhaa kaikkille....

Hello Robert and Lucian! I am sad that your journey in Finland has come to an end :( I really enjoyed reading your articles plus looking at the beautiful photos. I am going on my own Finland journey this Christmas and I am really excited about it! To be in a beautiful country with the man I love ... what more can a girl ask for!!!

As I thought, you neglected to mention the problems of racism here...and yes they do exist. What a white wash but I am not surprised. Like minds stick together and avoid the issue in regards people of color or immigrants in general. You saw what they wanted you to see and were blinded by all the "nice" window dressing. On the surface Finland is a nice place, but the ugly truth is that immigrants are NOT welcomed here and every attempt is made by Finns to subtely distance themselves from those that are not True Finns. "If its different, I don't want it" is the battle cry of Finns, whose resistance to anything remotely different is exceeded only by their stubborness to recognise you even exist. Of course any country wants to show its best side, but a real reporter would have delved deeper. I can't see where you interviewed any immigrants or people of color and your statement that you did saw very few immigrants only reinforces the belief in the immigrant community that Finland is a racist country.

Kiitos - thank you for this series of articles. I have had the page bookmarked and visited it every day to see the new writings, photos and comments. I have been impressed and enjoyed it very much. You've done remarkably good work in conveying your impressions during the journey.

Have a nice vacation now, it's been well earned!

Great work - big thanks to you! By net standards the discussions in the comments have actually been quite civilized and also surprisingly informative. For myself, it is always such a surprise to encounter these "Fennomans" who still have such a chip on their shoulder about Sweden - of all places. I mean get yourself a more modern grudge for God's sake! This might be bit hurtful to both American critics of their media and to Finnish critics of America, but when it comes to reporting, the Anglo-Saxons still are the best. The worrying thing about the US is that your own government seems to get off increasingly lightly: that is not really patriotism - it is the opposite of patriotism... Anyway, thanks for a very interesting and high quality reporting!

Immigrant - have you looked at the statistics? Finns are xenophobic towards people from another village; let alone other country. Isolation has made it this way. Theres been virtually only emigration and only since 1990 we've had any significant number of immigrants. Do you know in 1980 there were 12 000 "foreigners" living in Finland!? Since the 1990 the "flood" of immigrants, it is a flood if its 12 000 to 120 000, has caused some knee-jerk reactions, but what would you expect. If you are coming yourself from a multicultural society you are comparing apples and oranges. Finland has neen a monoculture especially since after the war.

- theres no immigrants because nobody wants to immigrate here.
or
- theres nobody immigrating here because there are no immigrants here
or
- theres no jobs because theres no immigrants
or
- theres no immigrants because theres no jobs
or
- theres no immigrants because Finns are xenophobic
or
- Finns are xenophobic because there hasn't been much if any immigration until quite recently

Enough with this intolerance! I've been an immigrant most of my life, in Sweden, in UK, in USA. And despite the fact that I'm a Finn born and raised there I've also been most of my life an 'immigrant in Finland' as I never lived in the part of a country what I could call home, didn't speak the same dialect since we moved around. Immigrants, whether it's in the so called melting pot of the USA (which is more of a salad bowl of different kinds of greenery glued together by a thin varnish of oil and mostly vinegar) or highly homogeneous Finland, always get treated differently from their born and bred counterparts. And if you're of different colour, never mind if you were born in the place or not you get a different treatment, and if you on top of that are a female, you get yet another kind of treatment. USA is a great place to live if you're rich, white, Anglo-Saxon male, if you're anything else it's less of a desirable place to be. In Sweden with all its great ambitions and "Swedish model" immigrants and other "odd folks" get treated differently. And without speaking the language of the country, it's very hard to get along anywhere.

Most people in Finland or USA or anywhere else only want to associate with people they relate to i.e. same colour, social background, gender, monetary status and alike, meaning for example in the USA you seldom find suburbs where white and black live as neighbours. While Finland is homogenous, and while many people over there as well as any where else in the world are wary of foreigners, that does not make them racists or bigots, merely ignorant or even shy. Most people just want to have an easy life and avoid yet another hassle of figuring out what food to offer, is it ok to shake hands or what language to use.

Immigrants in the USA or Sweden or Germany or Australia or Finland or anywhere else do not have a very easy time, and there are any number of dishwashers and taxi cab drivers who have high academic exams and can't get a job corresponding to their education. Despite the fact the USA is a country made of immigrants; it's a very very false idea that immigrants over here have an easy time. If you're white male with great English language skills, you have it a lot easier even without any collage education than if you're a refugee from Africa with a high academic degree.

And while I agree that Finland definitely needs an influx of people, if for no other reason than diversity itself is rewarding, it's going to take time and education the same way as it's required in the USA. I lost count of how many articles in papers over here in the US I've read about "immigrants come here to take advantage of our benefits" or "there are Americans unemployed and that's because of all the immigrants". It's totally unfounded of course, but people are people, here as well as in Finland, and they fear the unknown.

Cultural diversity is in general terms very good for a society for the same reason it's good for a company if the CEO avoids to be surrounded by a bunch of yes-men. If everybody always agrees, there's no discussion and no initiative for new thoughts and ideas. Tolerance, understanding and empathy for foreigners are also very good traits, but for a country that has been seen as "free land to grab" by its two large war mongering neighbours, it is to a degree understandable if Finns in general are a bit wary of the idea of an influx of immigration. Getting along with people outside of ones comfort zone requires an effort. Education can be applied to build the bridges but it does take time, in Finland and the USA as well as anywhere else.

Immigrant -this was a series of articles about Finland. I fail to understand why on earth the topic "racism in Finland" should have been handled. It may be the most interesting topic in YOUR mind, but that is just not good enough reason. There probably is some racism in Finland, as in other countries as well. I believe the idea was to handle issues that make Finland different from other countries and racism certainly is not one of them.

A little point of curiosity regarding the online discussion: The room with the nice view has not yet been connected to the city heat plants, which means that "the hottest hot water you have ever experienced" is actually made "on the house": there are electric water boilers in each of the apartments instead of hot water pipes rising through the building.

Thank you for choosing our old, humble and slightly eccentric house. I truly appreciate the knowledge that we've been neighbors!

Yes, I think we are not peculiarly racist, but our cultural and historical background emphasizes racist and xenophobic attitudes (an isolated, sparse population being at first hundreds of years a pawn between Russia and Sweden, then suffering a very murderous 20th century attack by Stalin, and only in the 90's getting the first significant influx of immigrants). This does not excuse discrimination, but you can't address it without understanding its causes. Considering this background we have already progressed quite a bit. Maybe we can also learn from the mistakes of other Western European nations and revise a functioning model which would lead to ghettos or very antagonistic attitudes and laws (Norway and Denmark are getting to be quite scary examples with their complete turnaround from tolerance to intolerance). So, yes, it must be very frustrating to be an immigrant in Finland, but name me a country where it's a bed of roses...

Hmm, a "not" is missing from one sentence above changing the meaning somewhat:

Maybe we can also learn from the mistakes of other Western European nations and revise a functioning model which would NOT lead to ghettos or very antagonistic attitudes and laws...

..."On the house" meaning "on location, in the house." ;-)

Just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed the Finland Diary and I'm sorry to see it end. I was fortunate enough to spend a little bit of time in Finland last December with a friend of mine, but I didn't get to see anywhere near as much of the country as I wanted to... this series of entries makes me wish I was still there!

2As I thought, you neglected to mention the problems of racism here...and yes they do exist. What a white wash but I am not surprised. Like minds stick together and avoid the issue in regards people of color or immigrants in general. You saw what they wanted you to see and were blinded by all the "nice" window dressing. On the surface Finland is a nice place, but the ugly truth is that immigrants are NOT welcomed here"

There is also active discrimination against Finns in Finland. Not by the foreigners of different skin color who often are treated badly but by the ruling class of Swedes. For example, only after lots of years yesterday there was a criminal case against a Swede who now is accused of killing his friends on a camping trip. Had he been Finnish the case would have been made a lot of time ago.

"(Norway and Denmark are getting to be quite scary examples with their complete turnaround from tolerance to intolerance)."

Correction; they said they were tolerant before and quit saying that.

"other Western European nations and revise a functioning model which would NOT lead to ghettos or very antagonistic attitudes and laws..."

There are parts of town in smaller towns where most are out of work already. No foreigners were needed for that.

" my first extended exposure to a Scandinavian welfare state, my first experience of such a concerted effort by one small country to remain relevant to a high-tech, "

A scandinavian welfare state would have been Denmark. High-tech - there would have been today the fog-screen on display in Heureka near Helsinki.

Yes, The Tapiola Sinfonietta is a marvellous ensemble. Absolutely world class and should get more international exposure. They would, if it wasn't for the incompetent general manager they have.

Dear me, you aren't real: you seriously mean that our biggest worry are the tomato farmers from Närpes??? Have you noticed that the places that have REAL problems with minorities are those which have guaranteed no rights to them. It is just so very hard to read these things without laughing aloud - they are so archaic, I mean what year is it, 2005 or 1905?

Germany, Holland, France etc. are considered to be a lot more of welfare state than Finland is.
They also have people who are better off than Finns.

Immigrants are treated better than Finns who live in bad areas. No matter where they come from. Unless they eventually become Finns and have to move to bad area. Then they are treated as badly as the Finns.

"I believe you visited our shop today and forgot your blue bag here. I took the liberty to look inside to find your contact information. "

Usually people take wallets and other items found to the town lost&found. Even in towns where they are located in the police station, they are usually honest. Of lost cell phones are sent a note to the owner because the SIM card can be opened lawfully.

Of course it is different if things are stolen. Then they are almost never found.

Please read also Robert Kaisers other article about Finland. For some reason it wasn't part of the blog.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001860.html

" I fail to understand why on earth the topic "racism in Finland" should have been handled."

This is a very good example of Finnish racism. When it can't be denied, there is a refusal to talk about it. Soon after, come the lame excuses: "There aren't any foreigners, so we can't be racist."

It is unbelievable, really, and the term "voluntary blindness" describes it well. Finnish racism is a very peculiar, unique kind of racism. Finns see themselves as the downtrodden victims, and also as people who would be on the side of the downtrodden. So it doesn't fit their self-image at all, and they have developed a very fascinating system of denial based on sanctified ignorance - somehow they manage to make their racism a part of being a natural, innocent people. People on this blog make a lot of fun out of the crazy fennomane who is posting all the stuff about Sweden putting Finland down, but secretly they feel the same - at least a little.

It is very unique, and very much sets Finland apart from other civilized nations. It certainly deserves more than one article.

The semantic somersaults are actually pretty funny: Finns are not racist, they are simply intolerant because of ignorance (because there have not been many foreigners, which is of course not true, there have been lots of Swedes and Russians throughout history - but they are white).

So even though intolerance based on ignorance is racism in every other country in the world, in Finland it isn't, you see, because Finns are different, they are simply, uh, a little intolerant because of ignorance.

Now, Americans who are intolerant because of ignorance - they are simply evil. And bad. Just not Finns.

I'm not sure if "Immigrant" talks about racism or xenophobia, but here some thoughts nevertheless.

There's undoubtedly racism in Finland, but I think it is, at least to a some extent, a little different than, say, the kind you might experience in America.

As there has been next to none 'people of colour' (I think that is the current PC word) in Finland until recently, a person who appears to be of different ethnic origin is seen as someone coming from outside to take advantage of the limited opportunities available, that are "rightfully ours" - ie. if they get a job, a Finn misses out. (Not my view, I hasten to add). What I'm trying to say is that what you might have experienced as "racism", has not necessarily always been about the colour of your skin.

To my experience, a good way to gain acceptance and to integrate into the Finnish society is learning the language. Firstly, it shows that you are making an serious effort, and secondly, it makes the communication much easier - the Finns around you get to know you better, and the other way round. Even though many Finns speak English relatively well, it is still tricky to express yourself accurately - and especially with the right tone of voice - in a foreign language.

Learning the language will also help you, on the other hand, learn more about Finnish culture, for example what is considered as polite and proper behaviour and good manners. Which would then help you in job interviews, different kinds of social situations, etc.

I you dont like finnish free education and
so more, you can always go back to mogadisdhu
and live like AFRICANS . lol

It is true that the issue of racism often gets swept under the carpet, but firstly, immigration is an extremely new phenomenon in Finland so you can't possibly compare Finland with most other countries in this respect, and secondly, due to this homogeny there has traditionally been a consensus on most things thus we never developed a culture of debate in the way the U.S. and U.K. have for example. I think your emotions have taken over since you think these people were trying silence you -no, they were just trying to explain where these anti-immigrant sentiments were coming from. I have more knowledge on this than you I'm sure since I have cousins of african descent who were born and raised here since early 70's, also, my adopted brother is of african descent but he came in the 80's (when there still wasn't many people of different race around). It took U.S. and U.K. numerous decades to openly approach this subject so I don't think Finns are particularly racist but change for better should definitely be sought. I can sympathise with you since for years I hesitated to move here with my african-american husband and our children. One of the most significant changes for the better is the increasing number of second generation immigrants, who definitely make some of the worst racists understand that colour is only skin deep. I would still not move outside Helsinki, since smaller more rural places tend to view anything different with far more suspicion, since they are even less accustomed to it. I've always felt very passionate about this fairly common problem, but you just can't compare with countries that have had different races living together for a hundred years or more. Us, it's more like ten years. I think the change has been huge compared to what it was in the 70's. This is why I have a lot of hope!

And if you look at the knee-jerk-anti-foreigner political right-wing parties that have sprung up in various formerly "liberal" countries I think Finland isn't necessarily that wrong in being cautious. However there has been (and still is no) a proper immigration strategy. if you look at the backlog that the Directorate of Immigration had until recently (and still residency permit applications take 6 months or so) it shows they were caught pants down. In the 1970's people were moving to Sweden - who sane person would come here to the edge of Europe? The few brave ones who dared could be handled with the byzantine bureaucracy. However since 1990 the immigration has grown and probably will, however the politicians are still with their heads in the bushes. Now then again government policies don't help much finding a job if you can't perform in the local language - however the government policies would effect some things like they should have more language courses, which would be open for anybody - not if you have to be this and this and that to go on them.

I for one would prefer a homogenous culture. Like Finland or Japan. There are many advantages to this type of culture.
I grew up in one and believe me it is superior to so called PC diversity.

The comments after these articles are so much better than the articles themselves. The articles are mostly just statistics and it is only in the comments that we get some real back and forth discussion from real people to real people. And get beyond the surface(Kaiser spreads himself to thin) down to some real insightfull comments from both Finns and non Finns. But thanks to the Post for offering a place for such discussions. Again for the best on this site read the comments after each story. They are much more informative than the stories themselves.

"Germany, Holland, France etc. are considered to be a lot more of welfare state than Finland is.
They also have people who are better off than Finns."

I disagree with this, but Norway, Sweden and Denmark are better examples for a "real" scandinavian welfare-state than Finland.

There has been studies of the matter.
No need to disagree.
Finland has a low standard of living.
Greece and Portugal have lower. Italy and Spain have higher.

Finns are being blamed for even tony viking halme. A swede they say.

""Germany, Holland, France etc. are considered to be a lot more of welfare state than Finland is.
They also have people who are better off than Finns."

I disagree with this, but Norway, Sweden and Denmark are better examples for a "real" scandinavian welfare-state than Finland."

With experience of many of those, I disagree completely. Finland is a better welfare state, and the quality of life is simply the highest as well.

Actually, Immigrant (and others), Lucian Perkins did interview me and two other Americans living in the Helsinki area for our reactions to Finland as Americans. We were videotaped and that tape was supposedly FedExed to the Post. I'm guessing they won't include the video clips for some reason, as this "farewell" seems really final. But I made it more than clear to him how hard I thought it was to find a job and function normally in this society.

I speak really good Finnish (or so people tell me!), have found a part-time job, and study Finnish and Swedish. I keep trying because that's important. I think the situation won't get better until immigrants give Finns reason to take them seriously: learn the language well, adapt at least some aspects of Finnish culture or lifestyle, be respectful, try to make contacts outside the foreigner community, try to get jobs, further their education at Finnish institutions, and so forth.

Please, just keep trying, and stay positive. It sucks to be in our position, but we have to keep trying if anything is going to be accomplished.

Well, it's not very easy to find a job if you are a finnish person, so it can be pretty hard for a foreigner too...

"Pretty hard" is an understatement, Qsamo; it is many times more difficult for a foreigner, even for one who speaks good Finnish. I read some statistics that, on average, it takes a foreigner between 5 and 7 years to land a job in Finland. Of course, I don't know what kind of foreigner we're talking about (educated vs. non-educated, from Western countries vs. non-Western countries) nor what kinds of jobs (professorships or cleaning floors in the railway station). But suffice to say, as a foreigner I feel the only jobs that foreigners have a real crack at (besides the obvious teach-or-use-your-native-language ones) are ones that either require a very specialized field and high certification/education, or else those that require no education at all.

"if you look at the backlog that the Directorate of Immigration had until recently (and still residency permit applications take 6 months or so)"

It is only because they do not want to do their job not because they could not if they wanted to. Same in lots of offices. They talk on the phone. One who worked with private sector or own-private company work ethics could easily do the job of 20 government employees.

It is possible one has to wait for six months for the money from a social office or for the employment benefit and so on.
Often computers are blamed.

"Well, it's not very easy to find a job if you are a finnish person, so it can be pretty hard for a foreigner too..."

Works like this:
In smaller towns it is personal connections you need to get a job. Someone you already know tells you of a job and then you go there already knowing you will be accepted. Finns who move to such tend to find no job either unless they move within a company or have a lot of education. Many want to live in small towns or cannot afford to move to Helsinki.

Helsinki it is different. Can be you can find a job for 1000 euros a month but it is not enough to pay the rent plus buy food etc. which can be 400 to 500 euros for a studio + 200 for food if made and eaten at home; or not enough to go to work with a car from farther such as Vantaa where the rent is cheaper - but as I never lived there I better not comment more about Helsinki.

Less than 2000 euros a month is not enough for a single guy to have enough money for a family.

http://www.webinfo.fi/index.php?keyword=all&camera=1

In the "related links" this could have been a good addition. Lists the webcams that show town streets etc.

http://www.yle.fi/suominyt/

This has 15 non-streaming cams on one page.

http://www.skitunnelvuokatti.fi/info/webcam_info.htm

Intellectually challenged (thanks, you who told that is pc for stupid) ski in a cave where there is snow all year round.

http://webcam.nu/

Longer list of webcams than the webinfo one.

Catherine the ex-pat: Would it be easier to find a job in Sweden, or in Germany?

It could be hard for a Finn to find a job abroad too, compared to the citizens of the country you are in. At least people know where you are coming from, if you are a US citizen. Try to imagine how hard it is for a Finnish person to explain where s/he's from... let's say for example in USA.

I know, finding a job is not easy, but it's good that you still continue trying and in my opinion it's very important to learn language and (at least) the basic customs well too. So hopefully everything goes well for you. :-)

I enjoyed the series.

Some suggestions:

-- Put a link on the diary to let readers know when you've got a related article that's in the print/online version of the Post. (for instance, your June 10 immigration story!)

-- Return to Finland in the winter.

-- Go next to Bombay or some place like that (to cover all of India in three weeks would be a bit crazy!) to explore how a great city functions.

-- Do your next Diary in Iraq! Or some other Great News Story of the Day place. It would be very interesting to read about how a journalist functions on a day-to-day basis. How stories are decided on, contacts made, travel, etc. (Christian Science Monitor has a interesting -- but, infrequently updated -- Notebook on Iraq). (Chris Allbritten, Time, has a blog, etc.)

Most readers don't appreciate how professional journalism works!

Like many other foreigners living in Finland, I can definitely state that Finland has a massive problem with racism. I also agree that Finns live in denial. They refuse to accept that Finland is any more racist than other countries. This is a massive problem- for the Finns. Racism in Finland- It's extreme it's ugly and it was the real story that unfortunately went un-reported. Shame on the Washington Post. You were took in by the PR!

"imprint on the United States, as Garrison Keillor reminds his listeners weekly"

Where everyone is above the median..

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

Not to forget the Italian imprint

http://www.cartalk.com/

Hopefully the now 200 euro public service
imprint will make a great splash??

PS, linkki, siihen "mina vaan tiskaan"??

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm

"You were took in by the PR"

two-party nations and cultures do not understand PR (Proportional Representation).

Huom-Note-PR, in a PR system most
majorities love and respect their
proportionally represented village-idiotes.

However, sometimes they do not do that,
that is when they are really funny.

Anyway, bless the blogs and the true PR-machiavellians.

http://www.itsevaltiaat.fi/flash/fullscreen.html

Is the Median-Free society in Tampere still alive??

PS Sorry, C-SPAN

http://www.c-span.org/

did a thing on that monkey-trial, but the community..

http://www.c-span.org/community/

Washing-the-Post-Hero, or C-SPAN-Hero, which on is above the (friendly) MSM Median??

Considering the PR-village-idiotes??

Thank you so much for giving us this great series of articles! It's been a pleasure to read your experiences of my homeland and really see how foreigners experience Finland. I hope you'll come back some day to explore Finland even deeper - if possible.

Kiitos!

>>This is a very good example of Finnish racism. When it can't be denied, there is a refusal to talk about it.

I very well understand that many want to deny the existence of racism in Finland because it really is pretty abnormal behavior. A normal person just can't understand anyone else would have such ideas. It is quite normal for people to first deny a thing they can't comprehend. In the blog about racism (link pointed above) in Finland Kaiser says:

"Of those, fewer than 25,000 were born in non-white countries whose residents would look conspicuous on the streets of Helsinki."

Because of this small amount, only a very small portion of Finns have ever met anyone with a different skin color. For many, seeing a foreign looking person is almost as if they saw Santa Clause walking on the street in the middle of the summer. It takes time before the Finns accommodate themselves to this new phenomena.

People with racist ideas are usually stupid and talk loud (like we have seen on these blogs about the Swedes) which makes it look like as if there were many of them but there ain't. The majority sees these immigrants only as people who have had a good reason to leave their homeland and move here to a totally different culture.

To Catherine:

I'm a Finn with a University degree, age 52. I have been out of work from November 2002 You're not the only one who can't find a job, the older people are also in a worse situation. It would have been interesting to know what is your education and profession to better understand your circumstances and to estimate if what you say is only due to you not being a native. All the best.

Finland is not in Scandinavia.

The people and language of Finland are not Scandinavian.

Finland is considered a Nordic country, and can also be considered a baltic country. The people and language are Finno-Ugric, which the racist Swedish People's Party considers inferior and less civilized than Swedish. You can verify this by reading the viewpoints of the father of the party, Axel O. Freudenthal.

"The people and language are Finno-Ugric"

More precisely, Fennic branch of the Finno-Ugrics.

"The people and language of Finland are not Scandinavian."

Ethnically Fennic, geographically Fenno-Scandia, but in English Scandinavia usually refers to all Nordic countries (Scandinavia+Fenno-Scandia+Denmark+Iceland).

http://www.swedenbysiv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=1342&pageid=43

Lefty: "But thanks to the Post for offering a place for such discussions. Again for the best on this site read the comments after each story. They are much more informative than the stories themselves. "

There has been many pertinent comments but also many that aren't. It is better not to make any far-going conclusion about Finns in general based on these few comments. These opinions represent only folks who have a fast internet connection and for some reason time to read and write to these blogs.

Someone called Tony The Viking Halme (anti-immigrant populist MP from Helsinki) a Swede. His story is actually quite fascinating.

As a Finnish kid attending a Swedish school in Helsinki, he felt the Finland-Swedes rejected him as Finn and the Finns rejected him as a Finland-Swede. In adulthood, as Finland's heavyweight boxing champion (after his wrestling career in America) both communities claimed him as their own champion. As a True Finn MP he has tried to unite the white communities in Helsinki in his rejection of African immigrants.

His first language is Finnish, school language Swedish and he also speaks English and Japanese due to lengthy periods as immigrant in the USA and Japan. His party the True Finns is a nationalist party with the strongest support among the ethnically Finnish community. During his two years as MP, Halme has been in the headlines for all sorts of reasons, currently he is in the headlines due to his divorce.

Whereas the monoculture argument is valid for much of Finland, Helsinki is becoming more ethnically diverse by the day. Finland Diary has shown a specific interest in the music scene in Finland. Musically we are not that monocultural. If you come back to Finland, it could be worthwhile to check the musical talent among the Russian and Roma minorities here.

And not to forget the long singing traditions among the Finland-Swedish and Sámi communities, of course.

Thank you for that perspective of yours which gave something to think about also for us Finns.

Too bad your series and time here is already Finnished :) Have a nice holiday and do come to the subject after comparing all this to a life American.

I returned back to Finland six months ago after living abroad for seven years and even though I agree that many Finns have problems with foreigners I also think that many foreigners living in Finland have an attitude problem. At the moment I am studying at a Finnish university completing my and most of the people on the course are foreigners. I have been amazed by some of their comments since their main ambition seems to be complaining about everything here in Finland. Food is bad, language is stupid, people dress badly, women don't wear make-up, people are alcoholics, people have bad self esteem, Marimekko is disgusting, people are uptight, clubs are bad, everyone listens to heavy metal, culture is weak, people don't dance, boys don't chat them up, etc etc etc. I have been very disappointed by some of their behaviour and this has resulted to the point that some Finns on the course are avoiding their company. I don't mind constructive critiscism and discussions, but this has gone beyond. I don't consider myself a racist since most of my friends are from abroad and from many different cultures, but my god...some of these foreigners in here, maybe they don't have anything else in common than complaining about Finland.

Someone translate in english, please. Maassa maan tavalla.

"in English Scandinavia usually refers to all Nordic countries"

No it doesn't.

http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/scn/faq21.html#2.1

Umh, yes, it does.

"Finns are famous for wondering what other people are thinking of them, and we saw this again and again on our trip. "What surprised you the most?" some Finns asked. "What did you like the most?" "What turned you off the most?" In my experience people rarely think in such superlative terms; I know I don't."

They dont care about what is thought of them as long as nobody is wanting to attack them. The place of the country between two colonializer is not exactly the best.

"I returned back to Finland six months ago after living abroad for seven years and even though I agree that many Finns have problems with foreigners I also think that many foreigners living in Finland have an attitude problem. At the moment I am studying at a Finnish university completing my and most of the people on the course are foreigners. I have been amazed by some of their comments since their main ambition seems to be complaining about everything"

So what ?
"here in Finland. Food is bad, language is"

Food is what you make of it. Shops have good quality food. To eat the almost free and subsidized food in university does not mean all food is bad.

"stupid, people dress badly, women don't wear make-up, people are alcoholics, people have bad self esteem, Marimekko is disgusting, people are uptight, clubs are bad, everyone listens to heavy metal, culture is weak, people don't dance, boys don't chat them up, etc etc etc."

I am Finnish and want to complain about the heavy metal part too.
Boys dont dare chat anyone up. You must know how Finnish women are like to understand that. Here the women chat the boys up. Or more properly the rich boys up. Rest have to try their best or give up like I have done.

Also in Finland only in pubs and clubs you are allowed socially to chat people up. Maybe the universities are too simple to tell that to the students.
Foreigners can do what they want. But to Finns the local rules apply. Thing is, men usually consider all foreign women higher up in social scale than they are themselves so do not dare talk to them.

"Someone called Tony The Viking Halme (anti-immigrant populist MP from Helsinki) a Swede. His story is actually quite fascinating.

As a Finnish kid attending a Swedish school in Helsinki, he felt the Finland-Swedes rejected him as Finn and the Finns rejected him as a Finland-Swede."

That was me. They say he is a finland-swede by blood but could only finnish when young.
Got beaten up in school because of that and became a boxer instead of killing himself.

"To Catherine:

I'm a Finn with a University degree, age 52. I have been out of work from November 2002 You're not the only one who can't find a job, the older people are also in a worse situation. It would have been interesting to know what is your education and profession to better understand your circumstances and to estimate if what you say is only due to you not being a native. All the best."

I am a Finn in my twenties. No education. Probably no work for rest of my life either.
Engineers get work anywhere in the world. So do medical doctors. Other professions can mean one has to do manual labor if moving elsewhere. Young people can go to local schools and thus get jobs. Those who move to Finland are often too old.
Anyone under 25 here should go to school. Finns graduate very late from university. So to graduate when 29 would not be considered too old.
Older than 30, depends on subject. Older than 40, forget about it unless it is something that is in demand. Todays newspaper told Finns are finally being recruited to u.s. to work as nurses. Used to be finns went to britain -- from where the nurses went to u.s. So anyone not having a job: 4 years of school and you are a nurse and there is demand in U.K. and U.S.

"Because of this small amount, only a very small portion of Finns have ever met anyone with a different skin color. For many, seeing a foreign looking person is almost as if they saw Santa Clause walking on the street in the middle of the summer. It takes time before the Finns accommodate themselves to this new phenomena."

Big towns. Skinheads.
(some) Small towns. Everybody wants to talk to the black foreigner and buy him beer and women want closer contact.

Of course, there other kinds of small towns also.

"Here the women chat the boys up. Or more properly the rich boys up. Rest have to try their best or give up like I have done."

Ahem... :) I think it is more that Finnish boys/men pay attention only to the good-looking girls/women, and do not give give you the time of day if you are any less than fashion model level... Even the most scruffiest, hygienically challenged ones think they "deserve" no less.

OK, I admit I'm exaggerating, but you get the point ;-)

"We have not been able to do justice to the many bloggers who have given us their comments on diary entries earlier than this one, and I'm sure will be commenting here as well."

You're right about that. I put some of my thoughts on Robert Kaiser and the Finland Diary on my blog, have a look...

http://www.finlandforthought.net/index.php?p=669

Immigrants have problems in ANY country they live. This it not unique to Finland, although learning Finnish language is harder than learning some of the other languages in the world. It will be difficult to get a job in any country, if you don't speak the language. This is NOT racism.

In general Finns are no more or no less racist than people in any other neighbouring country. For example, in St. Petersburg, Russia, recently there's been several near-deadly beatings of African immigrant students. Immigrants and Swedes have been in a complete state of war in some parts of Sweden.

Obviously there are isolated incidents of racism in Finland and if I was an immigrant of color in Finland, I'd be very careful in encouraging that sort of behavior for my own safety by going out by myself late at night on Friday or Saturday when all the drunken morons come out of their holes.

I live in New York City and am married to someone from a minority ethnic background. She's born and raised in the US. While it's unusual for her to experience racism in New York City, arguably the most ethnically diverse city in the world, you drive 100 miles north in New York State to hick country, and it's completely different. I remember on one trip we took to the Finger Lakes wine country region we stopped in a diner next to a church in one of those small upstate towns. We entered the diner and all conversation stopped. It would've been funny to leave a recording device in there after we left: "What's that white person doing with that woman???"

Agreed with Tero Paananen, and with the Finn who talks about some foreigners having an attitude problem. I think it's important to realize that foreigners in and of themselves aren't one group. I dislike some Finns because they're morons. I dislike some Americans because they're morons. I also dislike some foreigners in Finland because they're also morons. None of those facts makes me racist, a xenophobe, etc. (although you might argue it makes me a moron too) :) - I try to see people for traits other than their Finnishness, ex-pat-ness, foreignness, etc.; those don't matter to me so much as their personality and capacity to think.

I will definitely say that I have crossed the paths of many different foreigners when studying Finnish here. I will definitely say that a fairly large number (often women) have an attitude problem about Finland. Please don't think it represents foreigners, or foreign women, as a whole. Some of us, including me, are easy-going, happy to be here, learning the language, and enjoy Finnish society very much. Some of us, including me, are very thankful for the opportunity to try to be a part of your society! :)

Racist pro-apartheid morons can't get their facts straight, as usual.

Liars who dream that Finland will be a part of Sweden use obscure references, from Sweden no less, to try to "prove" their lies. Finland is not a part of Scandinavia, if it were, then Canada is the sister nation of Mexico!

Here are some _proper_ references on the topic. Please ignore the liars. You can tell who they are, because in their twisted minds they don't understand that Finland is not a part of Sweden anymore, and never will be again.

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/scandinavian?view=uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia

" I will definitely say that a fairly large number (often women) have an attitude problem about Finland."

Some time ago two (black, male) foreigners were interviewed in a TV documentary, and according to them, Finns _are racists_ because Finns _don't listen rap music_(!).

Thank you Robert and Lucian! I really enjoyed all the articles. Job well done! And please return to Finland for more. Winters can be very nice also and would give more complete picture of Finland.
I agree with Kaari Jae on immigration. All I can say that "Birds of feather flock together" and Sara that "Maassa maan tavalla" could be translated to "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" more litaral translation is "In the country, go with the ways of the county"

"Some time ago two (black, male) foreigners were interviewed in a TV documentary, and according to them, Finns _are racists_ because Finns _don't listen rap music_(!)."

And if Finns did listen to rap music, it would be unjust appropriation of black culture to those two black male foreigners, right? Some people just always find a way to complain about anything. Ignore them.

Actually I can give off my head Paleface and Pikku G as Finnish rappers and I don't know if Bomfunk MC and Kwan are considered hip-hop. And I am a heavy metal man myself ;)

Hi,

I'd like to comment on the immigration issues raised here. I believe that it is true that even in highly multicultural societies different groups tend to form homogenous "ghettos" (some kind of proof of this are the different ethnic areas like chinatowns, indian neighbourhoods, black neighbourhoods etc. that exist in big multicultural cities). Even when the number of immigrants is high, mixing and interaction between different groups and especially between the "original" population and immigrants is relatively rare (for instance, the rate of intermarriage remains disproportionally low). This situation creates tensions that lead to strong anti-immigrant attitudes. I can speak with some authority here as I have lived in London for the last five years and I have noticed that diversity has not removed xenophobic attitudes, which are in fact showing signs of getting stronger and more visible as the number of immigrants increases.
In my view the biggest challenge is not to create a functioning multicultural society but to try and encourage a degree of monoculturalism that would eventually remove some of the tensions created by the forming of immigrant ghettos. This means that the native population should learn to accomodate the influences of the new immigrants and that the immigrants should also attempt to adapt to the ways of the native population. In general, we should all be more tolerant of each other and give everybody a chance in day to day dealings, regardless of their background. Life is too short for ridiculous prejudices and blind belief of superiority.

PS. I know that Finland is highly homogeneous but I'm not sure if it is the MOST homogeneous country in Europe. I wonder what the source for this piece of information is? I'll look it up...

Hi,

I'd like to comment on the immigration issues raised here. I believe that it is true that even in highly multicultural societies different groups tend to form homogenous "ghettos" (some kind of proof of this are the different ethnic areas like chinatowns, indian neighbourhoods, black neighbourhoods etc. that exist in big multicultural cities). Even when the number of immigrants is high, mixing and interaction between different groups and especially between the "original" population and immigrants is relatively rare (for instance, the rate of intermarriage remains disproportionally low). This situation creates tensions that lead to strong anti-immigrant attitudes. I can speak with some authority here as I have lived in London for the last five years and I have noticed that diversity has not removed xenophobic attitudes, which are in fact showing signs of getting stronger and more visible as the number of immigrants increases.
In my view the biggest challenge is not to create a functioning multicultural society but to try and encourage a degree of monoculturalism that would eventually remove some of the tensions created by the forming of immigrant ghettos. This means that the native population should learn to accomodate the influences of the new immigrants and that the immigrants should also attempt to adapt to the ways of the native population. In general, we should all be more tolerant of each other and give everybody a chance in day to day dealings, regardless of their background. Life is too short for ridiculous prejudices and blind belief of superiority.

PS. I know that Finland is highly homogeneous but I'm not sure if it is the MOST homogeneous country in Europe. I wonder what the source for this piece of information is? I'll look it up...

Well, For Finnish figures you can go look at http://www.vaestorekisterikeskus.fi => theres a statistics book called "taskutieto". It has amount of foreigners, amount of EU nationals and amount of 1st languages (mother tongue). Theres also an interesting statistic on the amount of foreigners per years. In 1980 it used to be something like 12.000

Don't know "in Europe" but of the Nordic countries maybe Iceland?

"There has been studies of the matter.
No need to disagree.
Finland has a low standard of living.
Greece and Portugal have lower. Italy and Spain have higher"

When has these studies been made? In the 50's?

"At the moment I am studying at a Finnish university completing my and most of the people on the course are foreigners. I have been amazed by some of their comments since their main ambition seems to be complaining about everything"

Everything except the "free" education I suspect?

Dirke - there was a survey on household purchase power. Finland ranked quite low. There was another one done in Sweden that showed that the average African-American household had better purchase power than a middle-class Swedish household. Its on the net but I can't be arsd to dig it up. ;)

It is really insane how many people keep repeating the "Finns are not racist because there are no foreigners" line.

So racist opinions expressed without the presence of actual living persons of color are not racism?

That makes no sense at all. It is in fact rather idiotic.

Do you think that when these people meet people of color for the first time, their racism is suddenly going to disappear?

Why is racism not racism if the person has not met many people of color before? How exactly does that make it more excusable?

Do these posters think it is impossible to bring children up to be tolerant without actual foreigners in their lives?

If that is so, then why does Finland not allow more immigrants?

Are people of color seen on television considered space aliens or something? Not real people? Fairy tale characters?

And how is Finland's hyper strict immigration policy (only white people admitted in large numbers) not racism?

Finnish people listen to lots of rap music, and make lots of it. Any given day the Finnish Top 10 has both Finnish and foreign made rap music in it.

At the moment, hip hop culture is the most globally relevant youth movement, and hip hop music is made in virtually every country, in hundreds of languages, by members of every race and combination thereof.

Unlike most of the American pop music garbage, hip hop culture invites participation and is truly democratic. It may be the only democratic thing to come out of the United States at the moment.

"Some time ago two (black, male) foreigners were interviewed in a TV documentary, and according to them, Finns _are racists_ because Finns _don't listen rap music_(!)."

Can you cite where you saw this? It sounds so absurd I think you made it up.

"And how is Finland's hyper strict immigration policy (only white people admitted in large numbers) not racism?"

Hmm, I think that the word racism has been somewhat misused here, and xenophobia or pejudice would be better words.

What on earth makes you think "only white people admitted in large numbers"? The biggest group that came "in large numbers" in a short time were Somalians.

Squeeze me? WTF is this Finland doesn't "allow" more immigrants; and "only white people admitted" bullshit? Do you even know what the immigration policy is like? Granted; there are people on 3 different categories; people from Nordic countries; people from other EU countries and then "the rest of the world". Basically to get a residence permit to immigrate, one needs to have a job lined up and the employer a favorable labor opinion from the local employment centre.

A black guy from Sweden is "Nordic" by rules (no permits whatsoever); a black guy from the UK is "EU" by rules (residency to be declared) and a black guy from USA or South Africa is from the "rest of the world". For your information; A white guy from Sweden is "Nordic" by rules (no permits whatsoever); a white guy from the UK is "EU" by rules (residency to be declared) and a white guy from USA or South Africa is from the "rest of the world".

Just happens to be the biggest numbers of immigrants are from the neighbouring countries so that might explain something.

"Dark haired Finn with 'siberian' eyes"

Antti Tuisku, is that you!??! :-)

OK, I wrote the one before Hank W´s post. I got my terminology mixed up. Somalians were refugees, not immigrants.

And why the heck would anybody regardless of race want to immigrate here? Language is totally different, climate isn´t exactly desirable, and unwmployment is high. The only reason we have the recent flow of immigrants is that Russians and Estonians get better pay here than in their homelands.

"And why the heck would anybody regardless of race want to immigrate here?"

Good question. A Finn will ask any immigrant that. Just to make sure they're not insane. I mean high salaries, low taxes, nice climate, easy language, friendly extroverted people... ???

As all Finns have given moving abroad some thought probably - or have cousins in Sweden, Australia or Canada...

I think the most common reasons immigrants have are:
1. "Hot Blonde Syndrome", a Finn comes to their town/college/work or vice versa. Then the blondie gets homesick.
2. "Nookie man" a.k.a foreign coder in a big Finnish company - if not married see 1.
3. "Finlandstruck"... not exactly different from "lapinhulluus" - but thats only for lappland. Some weird article in a newspaper, a documentary, weird language encountered... sblam.

Then theres refugees or people with longer and weirder stories; but generally if you meet a person who has immigrated here the first two reasons usually are the most common.

Musiikkikeskusteluun: Paskimmillaankin hevi on parasta.

Concerning music: Heavy metal is the best thing, even at its crappiest.

>>It is really insane how many people keep repeating the "Finns are not racist because there are no foreigners" line.

And btw who the f**k are you to say that all the Finns are racist? On what ground? Have you made some sort of a study about it or what? I'm not racist and none of the people I know.

>>Are people of color seen on television considered space aliens or something? Not real people? Fairy tale characters?

Do you actually think that people here have something bad to say about the African-American actors? You better see a doctor tomorrow. You obviously have very week self-esteem and can't accept yourself the way you are. Respect yourself and others will respect you too. You sound like some of the Finns who always beg to know what other nationalities think about them. What the f**k does it matter what others think about you. Get a life pal.

So here's my chance to participate in the discussion... I love blogs. Here it goes.

First, this diary has been very interesting to read!

Now, let me confess. I'm a Swede.

Can anyone inform me why I sense this love-hate relation to Sweden? Maybe I missed that day in school, but I didn't realize it before. Of course I've been to Finland and found it a very friendly country.

And please explain to me why it's apparently very sensitive to say that Finland is part of Scandinavia.

PS. Start a kebab kiosk, learn to program computers or to play jazz or what ever productive but just stop whining.

"Ignorance is bliss"...just ignore the anti-swede loonies. They've been dropped on their heads a few too many times when they were babies.

It wasn't until 1970's that the first groups of refugees (from Chile and Vietnam) came to Finland. Since then the largest refugee groups have com from Somalia and these groups started arriving in 1980's and escalating into 1990's. Before this, Finland had been a remote area, with very small amounts "foreigners" living here. This is partly because of our geographic location (large border with Soviet Union/Russia -> no easy access + Baltic Sea, only small borders with northern Sweden and Norway) and limited/poor travelling opportunities.

Since the country was very homogenous, these groups of "odd-looking" people with their "weird" cultural values stood out. The refugees were merely "dumped" here and there were no actual plans on how to handle the situation. Most of the refugees, especially Somalians, were eager to return home as soon as possible. They were offered only basic Finnish studies and no working opportunities in this society that appreciates language skills and high education. Many had no desire to settle, since they missed their home country and wished to return there soon.

However, especially Somalians have been unable to return, but their children have now grown here in Finland and are learning different cultural and social values/skills than their parents. These children are as Finnish as can be, except for their understanding and knowledge on two cultures and the fact that their skin-tone is not pale milky-white whale-bone. Currently over 40% of Somalian, FYR, Iraqii and Vietnamese migrates are under 20-year-old children or young people. And on top of this is the amount of children who are marked as Finnish citizens, but their parents are refugees/migrates.

I would say that the three main issues are:

1. The Finnish society is still in the beginning of the process in opening its borders and minds to "non-Finns". It is not an easy task to sudddenly, in 30 years, to transform from a closed, homogenous and culturally tight-knit society into a multicultura, multiracial and open society. Especially when the transformation was not planned and a lot of improvisation, balancing and live-and-learn -techinques have been essential...

2. The refugees were expected to melt into the society and they were often demanded to turn into "Finns", even though they only wanted to stay true to their origins and return home as soon as possible. This is where the large amount of children is taking a huge role: having multicultural and multiracial school groups, kindergarten groups, sports societies etc. allows the new Finnish generations to become more open to variety and are less centred in their own cultural traditions.

3. Currently the largest groups of migrates come from Russia, Estonia, Sweden and Somalia. Of these, Swedes are warmly welcomed, Estonians are also mostly appreciated, Russians may have some problems because of the war-memories of our grandparents and Somalians have it the hardest. Finns have difficulties in realising this! Usually discussion is about "the migrates", even though the discussion is about the _immigrants_ (i.e. any member of any nation entering Finland and planning to stay here any amount of time as permanently as possible). Finns still need time to learn and understand the differences between immigrates, refugee seekers and people seeking for asylum.

The fact that Finns have a hard time at grasping these divisions simply tells that this whole situation is new. After all, the so-called "African Americans" are still not fully accepted in USA and they _have_ been there far longer than from the 1970-1990's...

>>And please explain to me why it's apparently very sensitive to say that Finland is part of Scandinavia

Ahh, this is all very complicated. You see, many of the Finns don't want to be part of the Fenno-Scandinavia because that is too complicated to explain abroad so they want to be part of the Scandinavia. On the other-hand, there seems to be some folks who say they hate the Swedes because they say the Swedes did something bad to them 200 years ago. As you can see, they really can't make up their minds. Go figure;-)

Sorry, above I misplaced two terms. Allow me to correct myself. :)

"Usually discussion is about "the immigrants", even though the discussion is about the _migrates_ (i.e. any member of any nation entering Finland and planning to stay here any amount of time as permanently as possible)."

I must also apologize for any incorrect use of terms. These migration-related terms are hard enough in Finnish, never mind in English and especially in Politically Correct English. I have understood that the word "immigrant" is unappropriate and insulting, and using e.g. only nationalities would be better. I will not try to understand these cultural norms that are odd to me as a Finn, but hope that I've chosen my words in an understandable manner. :)

I must also thank for this Diary and the amount of work that has been put into it!

>>I must also thank for this Diary and the amount of work that has been put into it!

Yes, this has been fantastic though I would have liked to see more mature comments from the elderly Finnish people. If WP continued to do similar articles about other countries, ouh what a good place to share other than tourist bureau information with people from nationalities you never knew anything about. I think it really could close some gaps and evaporate some of the misunderstandings. Good work WP!

PS! A similar series of articles about Ireland? Been there and love the folk music. They had a severe unemployment problem some years (decades?) back but now they do great I believe. The Finns and Irish immigrants to the USA were both a bit ill treated I believe, something similar with these folks?

Racism is on the rise everywhere. There are too many competing groups for ever shrinking resources. More people means more competition - period.

Some have suggested that racism is not pronounced in the U.S. It **is** among the people. The government allows a huge influx of immigrants every year, not out of concern for their well-being, but out of concern for the well being of corporate/business interests. Immigrants represent a large pool of cheap labour. The National AssoCiation of Resturants, for example, is one of the biggest pro-immigration lobbyists.
On a personal level, I am against further immigration. I've witnessed the quality of life plummet in the last 15 years here. Due to burgeonig population, cost of living, traffic, pollution, crime have gotten out of control. Another effect of population explosion has been wage suppression - a factor that has especially been detrimental to certain minority groups in the U.S.

>Finland's hyper strict immigration policy

good for finland. evidence for the detrimental effects of immigration comes from
sweden, u.s. and netherlands.

>>Currently the largest groups of migrates come from Russia, Estonia, Sweden and Somalia.

Why are Swedes migrating?

For the lower taxes probably.

Some of those marked as "Swedes" though might 1st or 2nd generation emigrants of the 1960-1970 era; for example people retiring "back home" and so forth. Then there is also the fact that Finnish and Swedish companies have been merging the past few years; and not small companies either - Nordea, Teliasonera, Tietoenator, WM-Data etc. So theres a lot of people, management, moving back & forth. And also there is the fact there's been a "free work & movement" policy between all Nordic countries since the 1950's the paperwork is not anything to mention compared to say moing from Russia (or even Estonia)

"It wasn't until 1970's that the first groups of refugees (from Chile and Vietnam) came to Finland."

You should say "after the 2nd World War". Finland had actual refugees in the 1920's more than at present. The Refugees from the Russian revolution; Kronstadt uprising; then the 2nd World War; European refugees like Jews - everyone always remembers the 8 handed back but not the hundreds given a residence permit - then there was the resettling of the Karelians - who were - by Finnish standards - "multicultural" and "multiracial", the Karelian refugees faced "It is not an easy task to sudddenly, in 30 years, to transform from a closed, homogenous and culturally tight-knit society into a multicultura, multiracial and open society. Especially when the transformation was not planned and a lot of improvisation, balancing and live-and-learn -techinques have been essential" in the 1950's. The plight of the Ingrian refugees should also not be forgotten. They had to be "returned home" and after that the relations with the USSR required quite a few to be "returned home" and it was also only after the fall of the USSR the refugees started coming in in greater numbers. Before that; logically; the airplanes landed somewhere else where the asylum seeker would seek their asylum - Finland wasn't a stop for pop-in refugees. Finland was used to organizing the so-called "quota refugees" like the Chileans and Vietnamese and assimilating them and not people showing up from the Moscow train.

After the war Finland was a piss-poor nation. We got no aid - we could not accept Marshall aid and we did not want "Brotherly Aid". Do you people know that we had rationing coupons in use until 1952? The collapse of the agrarian economy and societies had people flocking to Sweden. The brain-drain was so bad that do you know what the current "holiday bonus" in Finland is? Its called "return from holiday money" which was imnplemented so people going to meet their cousins in Sweden - maybe get a job for a couple of weeks - would come back!!! By 1970's the wealth, welfare state and political ideology made a quite novel idea of accepting refugees from far-away places as there wasn't any wars in local areas. Considering the immigration was if not virtually nonexistant, very low in the 1970's even a few hundred Chileans or Vietnamese was a huge number considering the circumstances.

I think people in such country as the USA that is built on immigration and with a history of involuntary immigration cannot comprehend a country where nobody wants to come to - only leave. Apples and Oranges.

"I have understood that the word "immigrant" is unappropriate and insulting,"

Far better than "Alien" IMHO.

Emigrant is a person who leaves his home country - and an immigrant is what he is in his new country.

So an emigrant from Finland is an immigrant in Sweden and an emigrant from the USA is an immigrant in Finland. Simple as that.

Besides which categorizing anyone by their race or ethnic nationality is forbidden as discrimination in Finland.

This has been very interesting blog and new interactive journalism. Hope you'll write more from other countries also. USA is big country and not familiar even for own citizens. How about by train from east coast to west coast or Road 66? From Florida to Alaska?

Oriental Express from Paris to Istanbul? From Kairo to Cap Town? From St. Petersburg to Vladivostok?

Maassa maan tavalla=When in Rome, you do as the Romans do.

Fenno-Ugric languages, included Finnish, are Scandinavian languages spoken by Scandinavian natives for thousands of years.

Denying that was the same if someone claimed that the native languages of America are not American languages.

http://www.ruijan-kaiku.no

If there is any racism in Finland, it's thanks to the welfare state. Why would Finns dislike foreigners? Is it simply because the color of their skin or is it the financial burden they place upon the welfare state?

I have found Finns VERY open to new cultures and new people, once you get past the initial shyness, this becomes very apparent. The *ONLY* complaints I ever hear from Finns about immigrants are the costs involved. Yeah, you can tell them that we need more people for the future, but when there's over 10% unemployment (and rising), it's tough to tell Finns we need even more.

Of course, the left-wing welfare statists want you to believe that Finns are just a bunch of mindless color-hating racists, but this is only to move attention away from the real problem: the welfare state.

I've touched on this here:
http://www.finlandjournal.com/article.php?type=e&id=83

- Phil
http://www.finlandforthought.net

Here we go again - welfare state, the source of all evil...

I'm a "bloody foreigner" living and working in the UK now (which by US standards may be a welfare state, but far from it by Scandinavian/Finnish standards), and racims and anti-immigration sentiments are alive and well here. In the US, I understand the complaints are similar. Another argument that doesn't hold water, IMHO.

I wonder why nobody mentiones LOLA ODUSOGA. She is the former Misss Finland. And she is black.
http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/arkisto/9610/961005/9610050104.html

How many predominately white nations choose a black woman to represent them?

"Some time ago two (black, male) foreigners were interviewed in a TV documentary, and according to them, Finns _are racists_ because Finns _don't listen rap music_(!)."

I saw the same documentary. That was not what they said.

But also in the documentary there were a racist couple who said they don't dare to go to the supermarket, because there could be some black-skinned people in there. And then they were shown walking outside with two big dogs, playing football with other skinheads and inside they had nazi symbols everywhere, in their apartment and tattooed all over them. And the bookshelf had Adolf H