Racism | The government launched an anti-racism campaign: It’s a “brazen cover-up”, says JHL, which broke away from the campaign

Prime minister Petteri Orpo (kok) opened on Tuesday the government’s “We speak with actions” campaign, which aims to reduce racism in Finland. Various actors have been challenged to participate in the campaign, including organizations and companies.

The purpose is that those participating in the campaign give commitments about concrete practical actions with which they increase equality and non-discrimination.

At the opening ceremony, it was reported that, in addition to the Government, the City of Helsinki, Helsinki Region Transport HSL, the Finnish Confederation of Business and Industry EK, SAK and the Municipal Association have committed to participate. The campaign actually only started on Tuesday, so it is expected that a lot of operators will join.

The campaign lasts until 2027.

Orphan as immigration increases, Finland is becoming more diverse all the time, and there is still a lot to be done to ensure equal opportunities for everyone in Finland.

“We need everyone as Finland’s builders,” Orpo said.

Orpo said that during the year he often talked with Finns of foreign background. The message of the meetings has been that they want to belong here, go to work and participate in building Finnish society.

“I especially remember the fact that special attention must be paid to young people,” Orpo said.

According to Orpo, the Government Council wants to set an example with its own actions.

The campaign has not started without chords of controversy. The public and welfare sector union JHL resigned from the campaign last week, calling it a brazen cover-up for the government’s policy that undermines equality.

Racism the background of the actions against it is from the beginning of the government in the summer of 2023, when old writings of fundamental Finnish ministers became public.

During the last summer, we discussed especially the short-term Minister of Economy Vilhelm Junnilan (ps), the new Minister of Economy appointed in his place by Wille Rydman (ps) and the chairman of the party, the Minister of Finance Riikka Purran (ps) from the written texts.

The entire government teetered on the brink of collapse, when Rkp in particular suffered strongly because of its government partner.

So far it is unclear whether all the government parties will participate in the campaign as parties, even if their ministers and parliamentary groups commit to the campaign. Among other things, the Basic Finns have not said anything about this.

“I hope that as many people as possible will join,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told the media on Tuesday before opening the campaign.

According to him, there has not yet been a discussion about whether the parties are involved, but he hopes that this will happen.

“Racism can be fought in many ways and it would be good if as many people as possible participate in this, but each on their own forum,” Orpo said.

According to him, the entire government is committed to combating racism. According to Orpo, it came to light last Friday, when the government discussed the action program to combat racism and the equality report. According to him, it is a strong message if the ministers of the governing parties, the party leadership and the parliamentary groups are committed to participating.

According to Orpo, there have been “some unsuccessful statements” from the governing parties, but it is clear, according to him, that the government is committed to anti-racism work.

Last after the summer’s internal discussions, the government gathered its ranks by giving the parliament a communication on the promotion of equality, equality and non-discrimination in Finland at the beginning of September 2023. The notification was promised to be concretized with a program of measures, one of the proofs of which is the campaign that started on Tuesday.

In total, last summer’s communication contained more than twenty proposals on what actions the government plans to take to promote equality and eradicate racism.

The measure program, which received funding of six million euros, was in the opinion round at the beginning of the summer. In addition to praise, it also garnered a lot of criticism in the opinion feedback.

Among other things, there were criticisms that some minorities receive little attention in the program: for example, the racism faced by Muslims is not mentioned, while anti-Semitism, i.e. anti-Semitism, gets a lot of attention.

Combating structural discrimination, i.e. hidden racism, is also not enough in the program, the statements criticized.

The program will be announced in its entirety next week, and it has been modified based on feedback, says the leading expert of the Prime Minister’s Office Katriina Nousiainen. According to him, the feedback has been taken seriously and efforts have been made to make the program a balanced whole.