Tino Singh, Green party candidate for Helsinki
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times.
An interview with Tino Singh.
Many people in Finland know Tino Singh. Whether this is from his days in musical theater and dance, his pop music in the 1990s, his business activities, or his role as an activist, he’s a popular chap. Taking a break from his busy schedule, I sat down with Tino to discuss his life in Finland and his decision to stand as a candidate for his hometown of Helsinki in the upcoming municipal elections to be held on April 9th, 2017.
Peter Hackman, Swedish People’s Party candidate for Helsinki
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times.
Finland is becoming increasingly international and there are now a record number of people living here with foreign, non-European backgrounds. Some have come to Finland because of marriage, others have come here to study or work, and some have received asylum due to refugee status. In addition to work, participating in education at various levels is the best way to integrate and become an active part of Finnish society. It is therefore very important that these people have free access to education, at all levels, here in Finland.
Pedro Aibéo, independent candidate for Helsinki City Council running through the Left Alliance party
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times.
Why is an architect, who has so often written negatively about voting in elections, now a candidate for the municipal elections of Helsinki?
Laura Nordström, Green party candidate for Helsinki City Council
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times.
Helsinki is now an international place. Every day we become more connected with the rest of the world. This is the right direction to be going in and needs to be supported by municipal policies.
Dan Koivulaakso, Left Alliance candidate for Helsinki City Council
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Helsinki Times.
After two years in power, governments usually have a midterm evaluation in order to make adjustments to their policies. The purpose of this is to see how the goals set forth in the government’s program can be achieved.
Ville Kohvakka, Swedish People's Party of Finland
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April.
In a global economy, cities are becoming more and more important, both culturally and financially. Cities are truly global centers of encounter. As a candidate in the municipal elections, I see the connection between Helsinki and the rest of the world as one of the most important questions in our near future. Helsinki must be a city where people from overseas can move to as easily as possible. We need a labor force and skilled experts to strengthen the economy. In return, we must allow people to be a part of Finnish society. Housing must be available for a reasonable price, and families should be able to find healthcare, daycare, primary schools, and other forms of education with ease. This is a fair deal. Helsinki needs to be developed into a true international hub where everybody from everywhere is welcome.
Nora Lindström, Helsinki Green Party
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April.
Immigrants in Finland have the right to take free language classes as part of their integration process. Usually in Helsinki, these classes involve learning Finnish, the more widely spoken of the country’s two national languages. It was only a few years ago that immigrants gained the right to choose to learn Finland’s minority language, Swedish. As I learnt when my own husband immigrated here in 2015, however, this option is rarely presented, and few foreigners are aware of it themselves. I want to change this.
Kristiina Drotár, Espoo Christian Democrats
Election Talk gives candidates running in the municipal elections a chance to discuss their views on the increasingly international aspect of Finnish society, as well as how this will affect their work if they are elected. Voting will take place on 9 April 2017, with advance voting between 29 March and 4 April.
Times are changing. By 2030, one quarter of the capital area’s inhabitants will be of foreign origin. Many of these new citizens are highly educated and their professional skills need to be fully utilized in society. Immigration should be seen as a great resource, being something that will bring new talent and creativity to Finland.
Gloomy sky, freezing weather, and depressed people were the images I had in mind of Finland before getting there. In reality, once I walked out of the terminal to the airport's arrival hall, which seemed like a café, I was surprised to see plenty of people sitting, chatting while having coffee, and enjoying the weather.
Usually when I arrive in my home country's airport, people are welcomed with security checks. But no, not in Finland: I was welcomed with this lovely, positive vibe. After I had picked up my luggage, I found my friend there waiting for me. He helped me with the luggage and as we were walking out of the airport, I said, "Wait, what about the luggage?"
In 2015, 32,476 asylum seekers arrived in Finland, most of them from Iraq. What happened to them and where did they go? How did they experience the waiting period? What can be expected of them regarding their position in Finnish society and the labor market? A new study addresses some of those questions.
Flight to Finland starts with a narrator’s doctoral defense session and his/her lectio when he/she addresses custos, the opponent, and audiences, and ends with concluding remarks of custos, and in between, the narrator moves back and forth to recount his/her narratives of living, studying, and working in Finland.
Based on an interview by Alisa Nirman on 3.10.2016
We Are Scientists released their fifth studio album, Helter Seltzer, in the spring and have since been touring with a packed-full schedule around the US and Europe, including number of cities in the UK and Germany. I had a chance to sit down with singer/guitarist Keith Murray and bassist Chris Cain at Berlin's Lido club before a gig, and talk about the nature of independent rock today, social media and – of course – cats.
Siddhesh Krishnan, an Indian national who now lives in Italy, narrates his tales of Finland based on his experience as a student at Aalto University of Technology and experiencing life in the Helsinki – Espoo metropolitan region in the year 2011- 1013. He has interacted mainly with Finns of the age group 18 – 35. He tried learning Finnish but discontinued it noting that Finns aren't very talkative. Plus they seemed a lot friendlier when they speak English.
When I told my friends in Italy that I was going to spend a year in Finland as an exchange student, some were convinced that I was diving into a black hole of depression. The Finns themselves are perplexed at the thought of anyone from abroad coming to study at a place where the sun doesn't shine for 7 months. I remember evidently; it was 02:00 and I took the bus from Helsinki city center to head back to the Espoo school campus.
Flight to Finland starts with a narrator’s doctoral defense session and his/her lectio when he/she addresses custos, the opponent, and audiences, and ends with concluding remarks of custos, and in between, the narrator moves back and forth to recount his/her narratives of living, studying, and working in Finland.
Jamie MacDonald
When I first decided to write about transgender people living in Finland I made a few assumptions that turned out to be wrong. I assumed the topic would be easy to write about because it's received such widespread media coverage over the last few years. As a liberal, I also assumed I had an evolved understanding of trans people because that's what we liberals do; we understand and empathize with marginalized groups in our society. Sometimes this attempt at understanding, however well-intentioned, may be considered patronizing by some trans people who don’t see themselves as victims to be pitied.
My understanding of trans people was lacking because of misinformation and brought to bare my own stereotypes and misconceptions. I used to think that they are people born in the wrong body who undergo gender reassignment in order to make right what nature made wrong. I confused trans people with homosexuals, believing that one's gender identity and sexual orientation were somehow linked. In the past, I believed that gender was a fixed concept. Either you were born male or female. I found out that it’s not that simple. There are those who are neither male nor female in terms of their gender identity.
An exhibition featuring photographs of the Four Seasons in Finland, taken by seven Finnish nature photographers, will be on display in the Tehran Metro during the month of April. The exhibition will be opened in Tajrish station of the Tehran Metro on 8 April 2016. The photographs included in the exhibition were taken by Hannu Hautala, Thomas Kastin, Ari-Matti Nikula, Lasse Niskala, Minttu Saarni, Juha Sahlgren and Pertti Salolainen.
On our front yard we have an ecosystem on the verge of collapse. The state of the poor Baltic Sea has long been critical but there is some reason for optimism. The Gulf of Finland has benefitted from the improved wastewater treatment in Russia and the sea was recently granted two big saline pulses bringing oxygenated water from the Atlantic.
One of the most common stereotypes that I confront in Finland as a foreigner, and man of color, is that men like me moved to Finland to take Finnish women. First of all, this stereotype forces every foreign man and Finnish woman into a narrow stereotype that ignores the more positive story. Many of us just want to be productive members of Finnish society who want to work, fall in love, and maybe raise a family. Second, the notion of taking a Finnish woman, or any woman for that matter, renders that woman voiceless and incapable of making independent romantic choices.
