Artikkelit

Julkaistu

Conference at parliament house in Helsinki shows close and well established cooperation between social democrats in Finland and Sweden

Back from a seminar at the Finnish Parliament where a group of social democratic veterans from Sweden and Finland met to discuss current political issues. This was an interesting meeting but also a very pleasant one where very many of the participants – including myself – shared longstanding common experiences, so a meeting among friends in a way.

One of the main issues in discussions was of course the recent Swedish elections where the social democrats lead by Stefan Löfven fared better than expected. He is now discussing with the parties about a coalition government after the head of the conservatives failed to negotiate a majority.

Mikael Damberg

One of the leading members of the present cabinet in Stockholm, the Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg, made an in-depth analysis not only of the Swedish situation but also of the global events as he sees them. Here, the social democratic values will be an important part in combating the right-wing extremism that we have seen spreading. This was a great speech by a very talented politician who will continue to play a central role both in Sweden and Europe in the years to come.

Listening to Mikael Damberg, my thoughts went also to his late father Nils-Gösta who was a great friend of Finland and our social democracy. I still have a small pen knife somewhere which he dug out of his pocket and gave to me when he realised that it was my 30th birthday when we were having dinner in Stockholm on an August evening far back. Risto Laakkonen, former trade union official and later diplomat, good friend since my youth years, was with us that evening and also present at the seminar today.

Antti Rinne

This first session of the seminar was shared by Antti Rinne who chairs the Finnish social democratic party. Also he has a trade union background and was for some years a member of the UNI Global Union world executive, the organisation where I worked for many years. He is now leading the party towards an election victory early next year where the social democrats are expected to become the largest party. A possible and even probable outcome would then be that he is Finland’s next prime minister.

Pyry Niemi

The second block of the seminar dealt with the European Union and how Sweden and Finland could cooperate to defend and promote democratic and social values in today’s troubled and unstable situation. The two main speakers were leading Swedish member of parliament Pyry Niemi and veteran Finnish social democratic politician and statesman Ulf Sundqvist. Both underlined the importance of the two countries and their social democracies to take an active and also leading role together in defending and promoting the interests of the people in Europe.

Ulf Sundqvist

In the discussion I did mention the important contribution that Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his social democratic government made in creating a strong and progressive social pillar for the European Union. Without a clear social dimension the community risks losing its support as we have already seen alarming signs of through the rise of right-wing populism and extreme nationalism.

The one-day conference was co-hosted by social democratic organisations in the Finnish capital together with the party itself and its parliamentary group.

Maarit Feldt-Ranta

Welcoming the participants, Maarit Feldt-Ranta who is member of parliament and vice chair of the party underlined the very special nature of cooperation between Sweden and Finland and the role of our labour movements in both bringing it about and keeping it very active.

The seminar proceedings were all held in the Swedish language which shows a strong commitment to Nordism and cooperation with Sweden also from the Finnish side.

Julkaistu

Meeting authors at the neighbourhood library – another good municipal service in Finland

My neighbour Esko Seppänen, Finnish politician and author, at a neighbourhood meeting in our local municipal library.

Back from the local library where my friend and neighbour Esko Seppänen told us about his recent book which is a critical review over how Finland and its relations with the outside world have changed.

The experienced Finnish journalist, member of Parliament and long-time EU-parliamentarian paints a broad and sometimes disturbing picture of how the growing inequalities have influenced both society and international relations. Much of his reasoning deals with the negative influence of a finance sector which is increasingly detached from the real economy. His views stretch far outside Finland itself, to the country’s European and global connections.

Even if there are many things where I disagree, there is much substance that gives reason to think about where we are going.

Our small library in my Helsinki village Pitäjänmäki is an important cultural hub for our residents. The very much advanced and of course free for all library institution is one of the highly valued things that Finland offers its residents.

Julkaistu

Back to school: Social media skills for veteran political activists

Back to school today – but this time running a training session. Our association for retired social democratic party and trade union activists – Suomen Wanhat Toverit (Finland’s Old Comrades) – arranged a session where local club representatives developed their information skills. My subject was social media, the benefits and downsides for democracy. Nice people and nice get-together with lots of experience and responsibilities in the room. Inspiring. Here Heikki Virkkunen with broad skills both in printed and electronic media and photography is discussing picture editing.

Julkaistu

Lively village celebration in Pitäjänmäki Sockenbacka

A bit worn out after a highly successful village celebration yesterday, arranged by the Helsinki Pitäjänmäki community association which I am president of.

Welcoming the villagers and other guests

Well, village is maybe not the right word. This city region has a population of 20,000 and covers everything, from a war veterans’ village to the Helsinki ’silicon valley’.

Lots of people crowded around the library and sports field where the retired bus and tram drivers’ brass band animated the event. Voluntary fire fighters showed their equipment, the sports club held running races starting with three years olds, kids sold their own bakeries, families crowded a large flea market and I counted at least four cafe’s.

Selling home made pastries.

Inside the library we could show some unique 5,000 years old artefacts that were found by archaeologists in a park around the corner. Next summer we will continue excavations where our community association will of course participate.

Finland’s environment minister Kimmo Tiilikainen addressing the crowd. He spent much time at the event, talking with many activists and familiarizing himself with their projects. As a result we saw him a few weeks later on a Saturday afternoon with a shovel and wheelbarrow working on a neighbourhood creek where trout is being planted by local enthusiasts.

All our main political parties were present with numerous members of Parliament discussing with the villagers. Also the environment minister spent a good few hours here and was especially interested in a project where local fishing enthusiasts are reviving the fish population in the creek that runs through our part of town.

Wondering at the stone age artefacts found in the Pitäjänmäki Sockenbacka village in Helsinki.

We wanted this celebration to look like our city region itself instead of just being a market day among others. Our community took up the challenge and the result exceeded all our expectations.

A last moment scare when a local thunderstorm was predicted for exactly these hours passed away and we enjoyed a beautiful late summer day. If it was because of the strong support and presence by our parish here in Pitäjänmäki goes beyond my competence to assess 😊

The Helsinki Traffic Authority HKL veterans’ brass band entertained during the event.
Coffee anyone?
The local sports club – Pitäjänmäen Tarmo – had their coffee and pastry stand next to the sports field where children were competing in playful competitions. Everyone got a prize, thanks to the local K-Market grocery store.
The flea market was of course an important part of the day.
The voluntary fire brigade – Pitäjänmäen VPK in Finnish, Sockenbacka FBK in Swedish – was established 110 years ago in 1908. Still going strong but would need more young members.
Yes they live in the local Marttila – Martas village also, these sheep…
The political parties were there also. Here the green party booth is being set up.
See you all next year… The 2019 village celebration will be on 1 September.
Julkaistu

Not sure if environmental taxing of air traffic is smart – seldom easy solutions to complex problems

Parts of the Nordic political establishment – green environmentalists and many others across the spectrum, also many social democrats – think they have found a great tool to combat global warming.

Taxing air traffic more heavily should do the trick they say.

I don’t contend that this would be ineffective. Of course we could try to cut air travel as well as other traffic exhausts.

Significantly raising air ticket prices could regrettably take us back to the times when only a well-to-do elite could afford exploring the world. For the wealthy, a few hundred additional Euros would not make a big difference.

In a peripheral, far away and small country like Finland, raising obstacles for international air travel is definitely not the best of ideas. We should encourage international travel and contacts, not hinder them.

Once again we see that there are no simple solutions to complex problems. Even if oncoming elections invite populist initiatives.

Julkaistu

Heat wave is drying out our local creek Mätäjoki in Pitäjänmäki Sockenbacka in Helsinki

The prolonged heat wave is slowly drying up the Mätäjoki creek that runs through our Marttila village in Pitäjänmäki Helsinki. This used to be an ancient route up from the sea which monks from the Baltics used already in the middle ages. The uplift of land that started after the Ice Age and still slowly continues has of course had its own effect.

If the name of the creek is translated directly into English it would be the Rotten River. For long I thought it was indeed so that the rather unflattering name with its not so nice connotations had its reasons.

Only this year I heard from a city expert that this is in fact a misunderstanding. The Swedish name Rutiån from which the Finnish one has been adapted is actually not based on ’rotten’ – that is ’rutten’ – but comes from an ancient and forgotten German word for a dog…

So we learn something every day.

The hot weather continues here with daily temperatures up to 30C. Luckily we have been spared from the kind of huge forest fires that ravage Sweden but the risk is always there.

In this (still) bilingual Finland also most names exist in the two national languages. This means that Helsinki is Helsingfors, the city region Pitäjänmäki is Sockenbacka and the Marttila village is Martas in Swedish.