A fast meeting over the lunch break in Porvoo – Borgå in Swedish – at the Congress of Finland’s Swedish-speaking Social Democrats on Sunday.
We met as the board of a small foundation which works to preserve and promote the rich cultural and political heritage of Swedish social democratic labour organisations in this bi-lingual country. We also want to support the human rights and democratic values which are now being increasingly threatened.
At the left is Ulf Sundqvist, our chair, who served as a cabinet minister during many years. Anette Karlsson who works with the social democratic group in Parliament sits next to him, then comes Folke Sundman who is chair of the main Swedish social democratic association in Helsinki and one of our leading sustainability experts, and at the right Rebecca Åkers, social science student and social democratic youth movement leader.
Both Anette and Rebecca were selected as candidates for next spring’s parliamentary elections. Regrettably not in my district, but I hope they will do well!