| March For Multiculturalism Through City Centre |
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| By Edward Dutton | ||||||
| Friday, 17 November 2006 | ||||||
 `Everyone Different/ Everyone Equal´ ‘Everyone Different/ Everyone Equal’ The marchers carried an assortment of banners, placards and flags. The most common placard was black and white and read, in Finnish, ‘Everyone different/ Everyone Equal.’ The march included a number of members of the Oulu branch of SETA (a Finnish group that campaigns for the rights of homosexuals and transgender people) who carried a large pink banner demanding equal rights for sexual minorities. There was also a group from the ‘Left Youth,’ a political organisation, who carried their own flags.  The march was primarily organised by two ladies who run a youth centre in Oulu called ‘Oulu Youth Issues Centre.’ According to Heli Vainomo (43), it is important to gather together different supporters of multiculturalism ‘so that difference is power’ and so that ‘everyone can be themselves.’ The march was taking place on the day that it was because, ‘today is International Tolerance Day . . . and this is the main thing.’ Ms Vainomo emphasised that her centre works with immigrants in Oulu and tries to help them and that there is ‘some’ racism against them in northern Finland. The other organiser, Mirjami Ndiaye, is the ‘Co-ordinator of Multicultural Affairs’ in Oulu. She was married to a man from Senegal and had her children with her. Mrs. Ndiaye thought that the march was necessary because ‘it raises important issues and it is important to be seen.’ She felt that racism was a problem for many immigrants in northern Finland ‘because there are so few foreigners.’ She understood that some people in Oulu have difficulties with African immigrants particularly after a Finnish woman was gang-raped by a group of Sudanese asylum-seekers last year and Oulu’s prosecutor said that Oulu people are ‘not used’ to such crimes. However, Mrs Ndiaye emphasised that ‘not all immigrants are responsible. Not all immigrants are from the same country and I think that it would be different if Finns actually got to know immigrants.’ Marchers had various reasons for attending. Katja, 20, was there because she wanted to ‘support the cause’ and also because she was in favour of the ‘diversity of families’ such as ‘where a child has two mothers.’ Silla Kukkola, a student and the leader of Oulu’s ‘Left Youth’, wanted to show her support for equality and diversity in Oulu. Others wanted to be there because they wanted to ‘show their support for equality’ and for a  ‘multicultural Finland where people are not discriminated (against),’ as one female marcher put it. Another was particularly happy at the turnout. She commiserated the fact that it was far fewer than at the Anna Politkovskaya march last month but was nevertheless happy that it was more than at the recent ‘Peace March’ which only ‘thirty people’ attended. Sexual Minority Rights The marchers made their way through a not particularly busy Oulu city centre to a gathering at the ‘Church Market Centre,’ a relatively old, wooden building near the city’s main church. Inside were stalls giving out literature and leaflets run by various groups such as the Left Youth, Amnesty, SETA and the ‘Nature Union.’ They were described as ‘equality workers’ in the publicity material. According to one female member of SETA, homosexual and transgender people face particular problems in the north of Finland with ‘homophobic attitudes.’ However, she wanted to emphasise that the group supported all sexual minorities including what she called ‘gender benders.’ The gathering had a carnival atmosphere. Free Glogi (Finland’s Christmas drink) and tea was on offer as was cake and chocolate and African and Indian music was being played in the background. The room was decorated with posters and artwork which promoted the idea of multiculturalism. Although everybody at the march appeared to be Finnish, there were around ten immigrants or people from immigrant backgrounds at the meeting. They included Mari (23) who was half-Finnish and half-Rwandan and who entertained her audience with West African dancing. There was also a man from Norway and another from Russia as well as four half-Senegalese children and a number of men from East Asia. Mogadishu Avenue  The march comes at a time when multiculturalism in Finland is gradually becoming a significant political issue. According to the tabloid Iltasanomat, there have been recent calls for the perceived stereo-typical depictions of Africans to be removed from the packaging of certain products and over the years they have been altered to make them less stereo-typical. This has included changing the name of one chocolate product from ‘Nigger Kissers’ to ‘Kissers.’ Also, two weeks ago YLE began a comedy soap opera called ‘Mogadishu Avenue’ which deals with the issue of Somalians living in Helsinki and their relationships with Finns. It centres on ‘Mohammed’ who desperately tries to be accepted as a Finn, even hanging pictures of Kekkonen and Mannerheim on his wall. According to Helsingin Sanomat, Mogadishu Avenue is a satire of Finnish life and a way of confronting prejudice against foreigners in Finland. Some politicians in Finland are openly opposed to the multiculturalism supported by the marchers. Dr. Jussi Halla-Aho, a Parliamentary candidate for the nationalist True Finns Party, argues that African and Middle Eastern immigrants are disproportionately responsible for robberies and rapes in Finland – as they are in Sweden - and that this is routinely censored by the larger Finnish newspapers. Multiculturalism in Finland has also been a matter of considerable debate in the opinion pages of Oulu’s Kaleva newspaper.
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