1162
submitted 5 months ago by boredtortoise@lemm.ee to c/world@lemmy.world

Finland's results in the European election bucked a continent-wide trend of rising support for parties on the outer fringe of right-wing politics, with the Left Alliance and the National Coalition winning big at the expense of the nationalist Finns Party.

Leftist leader Li Andersson received more votes than any other candidate has ever received in a European election.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 134 points 5 months ago

From the same country that gave us Linux, inspired Middle Earth's Quenya (noble Elvish) language, and showed us how to properly manage prison reform.

My question: why are the Finnish always so awesome?

P.S. Contrary to what one failed former conspiracy-addled political "leader" suggested, the Finnish do not rake their forests.

[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 54 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

When all people are cared for, no one turns bigot. This becomes a vertuous circle. "Simple as that". Meanwhile France worked hard to release the kraken

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 34 points 5 months ago

all people are cared for

This. This is the part we need to learn.

Can you send emissaries to train us heathens how to not be dicks? I want to be happy like Finns, and the people who want to be rich instead (temporarily, as the next traffic accident will ruin them) we can help with psychotherapy.

[-] orgrinrt@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago

Well, despite all the good work and against common sense, surprisingly many still turn bigot. But much less so, luckily.

Seems like some people just can’t be content and happy, no matter what. And you have to direct that anger or bitterness or whatever to something. Too often it’s hate.

[-] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 12 points 5 months ago

Idk there's lots of talk about how big of an issue racism is in Finland and True Finns did really well in last parliamentary electiond

[-] alp@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago

Soooo you are saying that we should take care of our people by giving them guns, right?

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 29 points 5 months ago

the Finnish do not rake their forests

but they have turned it into a running gag

[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 5 months ago

Seems like it would be a great quip when someone’s being an ass. “Go rake a forest.”

Allow me to gas Finland up a bit more. They're higher than Germany in terms of innovation (triadic patents per capita), they have semi-democratically owned grocery stores with 90% of the country being a member/co-owner, they have 60% union density and a Ghent system (like Sweden, unlike Norway), their housing prices were among the few in Europe falling - after the government started their Housing First initiative and built social housing for the poor, their education system being so good (despite being relaxed unlike e.g. Singapore) and state-funded instead of private... life is pretty good in Finland.

[-] dentoid@sopuli.xyz 12 points 5 months ago

But i did vacuum clean it the other day

[-] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

I think it really goes back through history. Finland was a possession of Sweden and then Russia. The nobility would have spoken either of those languages depending on who was in charge, and ethnic Finns were essentially pawns for the larger powers, and the finnish language wasn't even written down much.

This changed when Russia started to crack down on Finnish culture, leading to a surge in pro-Finnish sentiment. People even changed their names from Swedish versions to finnish versions, and went from using "Christian" names to names from finnish mythology or culture. Actually, it's somewhat similar to how black Americans changed naming conventions in the Civil rights era. The very concept of finnish-ness was somewhat of a working class concept. This, combined with a similar law of jante type belief meant there was and is much more of a focus on the collective good than in other countries.

During the Russian revolution, a Civil War erupted between left wing and right wing, with the right wing wanting a German aristocratic monarchy over finland. The right wing actually won, but it was very short lived because Germany lost WW1 right aftwards, and a liberal democracy was formed. Finland was super poor, but started to build itself up as it's own country.

When WW2 rolled around, most people are familiar with the Winter War where they held their ground against a Russian invasion. Most people aren't as familiar with the Continuation War against Russia, where they (with the support of germany) continued to fight against Russia, or the Lapland war, where they actually had to fight against Germany to kick them out of the country. The Germans actually used scorched earth on finland as they retreated, knowing they were losing WW2.

After all of that, a huge swath of finland was destroyed by the Germans, or annexed by the Russians, leaving many homeless. Finland had to provide for those people, so homes were rebuilt rapidly throughout the country. Since they were in the soviet sphere of influence, but they weren't a Warsaw pact country, they didn't get any assistance from the eastern bloc (and they actually had to pay reparations as an axis country). They were also not included in the Marshall plan that helped provide recovery to western Europe.

They survived as a people by taking care of each other, and they are very proud of that. If you go to a Finnish museum, next to works of art and science, you'll see things like the baby box, or other displays about the establishment of the welfare state. Many countries have a welfare system, but treat it like a dirty secret, while they celebrate what they were able to accomplish.

One last thing I think is really cool is that they are not afraid to experiment with policies. Many governments will do little trials of policy here and there, but not many go to the point of actually doing scientifically rigorous studies.

[-] match@pawb.social 1 points 5 months ago

I feel extremely informed, thank you!

[-] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Don't forget the music! Nightwish, Ensiferum, Finntroll, and many more...

[-] Tja@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago
[-] oce@jlai.lu 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Having a population of 5.6 M probably makes a lot of problems more manageable.

this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
1162 points (98.9% liked)

World News

39161 readers
1506 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS