2011-05-13 New York Times: A True Finnish Spring (Anu Partanen, ex-HS)

[JT]

A True Finnish Spring
By ANU PARTANEN


ONE of my best friends posted the first plea at 8:41 p.m. Finnish time last month: "Please, adopt me until I can find permanent living arrangements in America." Other friends soon inundated Facebook with similar requests for refuge at my apartment in Brooklyn. They hunted for plane tickets, researched visa regulations and vowed to leave Finland for good.

This was not a result of a natural disaster or armed revolution, but rather of a very proper, very democratic election that shocked me and my friends and startled much of the world. Overnight, Finland seemed transformed from possibly the most sensible, even boring, country in Europe — known for excellent schools, zero corruption, gender equality and a pro-European Union approach to politics — into the nationalistic, populist, Euro-skeptic home of the True Finn Party.

Having lived for two years in the United States, I arrived for a visit home this month to a changed land. The long, dark Nordic winter was finally over and the streets of Helsinki were bursting with the bright green of new birch leaves. Usually Finns are gleeful this time of year, but the mood now is sober. My parents and friends talk of nothing but the election results and the risks and benefits of Finland's policies toward the European Union. Political discussions are even breaking out among strangers in the subway — unheard of here, where we are famous for keeping to ourselves.

The most heated debates revolve around a country at the other end of Europe: Portugal. On the heels of the bailouts of Greece and Ireland, debt-ridden Portugal has been counting on a 78 billion euro rescue package, about $115.5 billion. When the True Finns won 39 seats in Finland's 200-member Parliament, they became the third-largest party, with enough leverage to try to block Finland from contributing its share. This had the potential to derail the entire rescue package, calling into question the survival of the euro zone itself.

The True Finns have, like populist parties in Denmark, France and the Netherlands, campaigned to restrict immigration, defend family values and stand up to the European Union. In America you might consider them the equivalent of Tea Partiers (if they didn't support the welfare state, that is).

Their rise is interpreted as a reaction to the harsh realities of the new millennium. Finland's flagship company, Nokia, is shedding jobs at home. Our welfare state is facing cuts because of the global recession. Europe's lack of travel restrictions has led to an influx of Eastern European panhandlers.

Myself, I've benefited a great deal from the European Union — I've studied abroad, traveled easily, enjoyed a strong euro. Like most of my friends I believe in solidarity and in helping the weak.

Yet I was shaken when I learned that we Finns were supposed to lend money to Greece. It didn't seem fair that my taxes would go to a country that had been living beyond its means.

Our resentment toward being asked to help our far-flung partners in the Union is also exposing the hypocrisy behind another dearly held Finnish tradition: our disgust at how little compassion Americans seem to have for their fellow citizens in terms of sharing the wealth. When my friends criticize the United States for failing to provide universal health care, I point out that America is twice the size of the European Union. It's not quite parallel, but if Finns were asked to contribute to the health care of the Greeks, the Irish and the Portuguese, they might feel a little like Americans.

And now they do.

Friday afternoon, without the support of the True Finns, Portugal's bailout was endorsed in Parliament, clearing the way for its approval by the European Union on Monday.

Because they failed to get what they wanted, the True Finns dropped out of the negotiations to become a coalition partner in the new government.

But even if they won't play a major role in determining Finnish policy, the True Finns have prompted some lasting changes, and transformed Finland's meek stance toward Europe. The leading parties have refused to back further bailouts unless the country in question provides direct guarantees on the loans. (Would Finns, known for their fondness for liquor, like a stake in Greece's ouzo distilleries?)

And the debate they started — about what kind of country Finland is, and wants to be — continues. The True Finns fear that the Finnish way of life will be undermined by immigrants. In my "red-green" circles — as the politically leftist and environmentally aware are called — the fear is that Finland will succumb to close-minded bigots and lose the diversity and benefits that come from belonging to a larger European community.

For my part, I did what I could to help — I offered a place on my couch in Brooklyn to any political refugees. But in the end, my friends in Helsinki seem to be deciding that this is no time for retreat. Instead they'll stay to help determine the future of their country.

Perhaps in the process, we Finns will learn something from that union of states on the other side of the Atlantic. And maybe we'll even be able to offer some suggestions in return.

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Anu Partanen, a former staff writer for the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, is writing a memoir about being Scandinavian in America. She is married to a wealthy American man (Addition by JT).

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on May 14, 2011, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: A True Finnish Spring.

(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/01/opinion/1oped-art/1oped-art-articleInline.jpg)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/opinion/14Partanen.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
 

[Kyrsimys]

Tästä on jo ketju täällä.

[JT]

Tästä on jo ketju täällä.

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