Finlandization

“Findlandization” describes a process in which a small and vulnerable country — for example, Finland — voluntarily adjusts its political behavior to reflect the reality of a much larger and more powerful neighbor — for example, the USSR — which is in a position to inflict grave damage upon the smaller country with impunity.

Finland was a relatively ethnically homogeneous country until quite recently. It had fallen behind its fellow members of the European Union in the latest multicultural fashions.

But it’s making up for lost time. It (or at least the elite Finnish governing class who steer the ship of state) has determined that the Finns are not pulling their weight in the Multicultural Project, and are obligated to do more. More immigrants, more asylum, more people of color, more Muslims — time to get with the program!

The interesting thing about the current political battles is that the Finnish governing class is attempting to “Finlandize” the country even in the absence of a large and dangerous neighbor. The Muslim countries which the elites are attempting to placate are in no position to threaten Finland directly. Or is the EU the powerful neighbor who must be assuaged? Perhaps the Finnish cognoscenti are simply eager to conform to the current politically correct fashion.

The latest controversy concerns an immigration/asylum bill which the ruling authorities — ever sensitive to the inherent xenophobia of the benighted Finnish electorate — have attempted to push through the legislature without alarming the plebs.

Kullervo Kalervonpoika has this to say about it:

In Finland, the new legislation bill by the Minister of Immigration Astrid Thors has encountered a mixed reception in the Finnish Parliament on its introduction on Wednesday. The Finnish newspaper Aamulehti published an article about the bill, which has been prepared in unusual secrecy and could lead to the most liberal immigration policy in Europe if voted through. Finland’s most noted critic of the state’s immigration policy, Jussi Halla-aho, also a newly-elected member of the municipal council of Helsinki, wrote in his blog that the outcome of the bill could make it impossible to deport those asylum seekers who don’t meet the definition or have engaged in criminal activities.

The bill might have the effect of opening a back door for illegal immigration to the European Union. If passed as such, the bill would allow asylum seekers to enter Finland on very loosely defined bases.

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Unto Valpas, a representative of the committee of administration, expressed his concern about the bill in Aamulehti’s interview, stating that Finland cannot become a gateway of illegal immigration into the EU.

The bill has raised a considerable amount of discussion in the Finnish blogosphere, mainly due to its secrecy. After Aamulehti broke the silence, concerned bloggers have let their voices be heard. The word of mouth about the subject on various discussion forums led to an online petition demanding that the bill to be reconsidered. It has been signed by 13,869 people [as of this post] in just two days. The silence regarding the bill by the biggest newspapers of Finland, such as Helsingin Sanomat, has raised questions about the sensitive nature of the subject and the tendency to political correctness on such matters, reminiscent of the days of Finlandization in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play in the refugee and asylum issue. Bills are proposed and laws are passed based on the widely-disseminated image of poor, oppressed dissidents who yearn to breathe free in the Finnish Promised Land.

But the reality may be quite different. Getting warm bodies out of the Third World and into Finland can be quite a lucrative business. According to YLE:

Finland: Five Sentenced in Human Trafficking Case

Kotka District Court has handed down prison sentences to three men and two women on human trafficking and fraud charges. The sentences range from two to five and a half years.

The defendants were also ordered to pay the human trafficking victim some 15,000 euros for pain and suffering she incurred.

Last summer the group held an 18-year-old Kotka woman as their prisoner for one week in south-east Finland. During this time they physically assaulted her and also forced her to provide sexual services. The group moreover took out loans in the woman’s name.

District Prosecutor Perttu Könönen says he is satisfied with the sentence.

“The case was unusual as the victim and the perpetrators knew each other and because all of the events occurred within this country’s borders,” said Könönen.

And adults are not the only victims of the human traffickers. Once again, according to YLE:

Finland: NGOs Concerned About the Underage Refugees

International organisations are concerned about under-aged children who arrive in Finland seeking asylum. This year a record number of unaccompanied minors entered Finland as refugees.

The majority of them were Somali and Iraqi.

Lawyer Kirsi Hytinantti of the Finnish Refugee Advice Centre says under-aged asylum seekers have not yet been assigned representatives.

“If they don’t have a guardian to plead on their behalf, they can’t get lawyer’s services for questioning and their access to health care services is just as uncertain,” she said in an interview on YLE’s Aamu-TV morning programme.

Frank Johansson, head of the Finnish arm of the human rights organisation Amnesty International, says his concern is that such children are kept in secured asylum centres.

“I am extremely worried about this. Amnesty believes there should not even be secured detention centres,” he added.

What do all of these issues have in common?

They all require the intervention of large bureaucratic entities, both governmental and NGO, in order to secure the wellbeing of all the refugees and asylum-seekers who inundate the organs of the Finnish state.

Once the basic premise is accepted — that illiterate foreigners from backward and dysfunctional Third-World states have the same right to Finnish territory as Suomi-speaking “persons of Finnish background” — then the rest follows. A quasi-state apparatus arises to service the needs of the asylum-seeking “clients”, and money flows in from interested parties to establish and maintain a structure that will benefit the new arrivals.

The fact that ordinary Finns may be irrevocably damaged by this process is of no moment. “Human rights” are big business, and trivial matters — such as the rule of law and the Finnish national interest — will not be allowed to interfere.


Hat tip: Tuan Jim.