This year it has been 99 years since the Finnish parliament adopted the declaration of independence on the 6 of December 1917. A nice thing about the Finnish Independence day is that it is always at the end of the year. This is a good time to look back at the year that has been and think about what has happened in society, in Finland and in the world. At the same time it is also possible to start looking forward and ponder about what the next year might bring.
Happy Independence Day!
Even though the wold is constantly developing and becoming a better place, this year has unfortunately been a turbulent year. Thousands of people are fleeing war, but the welcome in Europe is cold. Hate speech is increasing in our everyday life, while flags of far right movements can be seen for example outside the railway station. Young people with a risk of falling out of society is increasing. The economic situation is still very severe. In the United States a racist and sexist populist has been elected President, and furthermore he is also a climate-skeptic. In Turkey the local government is doing very undemocratic decisions, that has had an impact specifically on free press on the academic society.
But there has also happened good stuff in the world, at least here in Finland. The plans for the DARE-learning event has started to come around. The goal of the event is to bring learning in as a center piece in all of society, and make Finland a global center for learning. AYY and other student unions and youth organisations is supporting the campaign “Huominen ilman pelkoa”, and we wish to make organised racism a crime by law. Among the technology students there has been a lot of talk about the use of the n-word in the classical teekkarihymni-song, and now also AYY’s representative council has taken a stand in the issue. Tempaus2016 sent 1400 students to 15000 different schools to spread the joy of learning and education around Finland. Slush was again a success which attracted 17000 visitors and brought together investors, startups and people who has a will to make the world a better place. In addition SYL and other youth organisations have taken generational politics as a main project, which among other things mean that we stand against the populist forces in retirement policies and also we encourage decision makers to always take into consideration a sustainable society when making decisions that has long term effects in the future.
Did you notice that all these things are more or less driven by students? That’s right, students seems to be the ones pushing both the world and Finland forward. This has been seen earlier in Finland’s history too: without activeness from the students, Finland probably wouldn’t be independent right now. Our national anthem, the Great Petition, the Jäger movement are just a few historical examples where the student movement has played a significant role.
The celebration of the Independence Day has always been an important event for the student movement. The students of the capitol region has always on the Independence Day since the year 1951 arranged a torchlight procession from the Hietaniemi cemeteries to the Senate square, following the reversed path of Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim’s funeral procession. Unfortunately the far right movement and the neo-nazis are also organizing their own torchlight procession on the Independence Day. It’s very sad that organisations that has no respect for human rights, equal value of human life and Finnish democracy and values are trying to steal what has always been the students’ event.
This polarization of society is very alarming, but where does it come from? We sometimes say that we live in the times of post-truth politics, where facts, science and truth means less than repeated rhetoric that appeals to feelings. I truly hope that this is just a temporary trend and that society will start to go in a better direction. However, that requires measures from all of us: critical thinking from the citizens, truthfulness from politicians, objectivity from the media and overall an honest integrity from all parts of society. We could all learn from President Paasikivi, who stated: “The beginning of all wisdom is acknowledging the facts”.
As students we need to be the ones who look to the future, who dare to be visionairies and who dare to find new solutions. We don’t fear the challenges and problems in society, but confront them together. Don’t let hate and fear take any more space in society. Don’t let talk, that isn’t based on facts and truth, take space in decision making. And don’t ever stop being critical and active citizens. Isn’t that exactly the role of Universities and Student Unions?
HYY, AYY and SHS have decided that the theme of our torchlight procession this year is a global and equal Finland. Even though some organisations want to spread hate and violence, it’s even more important to keep true to our principles and human values. I hope that a lot of you join us in the torchlight procession!
This year has been a turbulent year. However, next year Finland will turn 100. Let’s together make sure that Finland’s 100 year’s anniversary will be even better than this year, that we will respect one another even more, that we will help each other when it is needed, and that we will show, that in the end love always prevails.
This year has given me a lot. I am truly happy that have gotten this chance to work for the good of the Aalto students and I must say that I have learned a lot. In the board of the Student Union I have had the possibility to make both our Aalto-spirit and our society as whole a better place. Next year I get to face new challenges in the board of the National Union of University Students in Finland. It’s a great honor to get to represent students on the national level the same year that Finland turns 100 years old. We’ll continue to work for a global and equal Finland and show that students have an important role in building both Finland’s history and it’s future!
I want to end this text with citing our national anthem’s second to last verse, which is usually left out when singing it, but can be read on Runeberg’s statue on the Esplanade in Helsinki:
Oh land, the thousand lakes’ own land,
Of faith, and lay, and glee,
Where life’s main sea gave us a strand,
Our fore-time’s land, our future’s land,
Shy of thy poorness, never be,
Be calm, be glad, be free!
J..L. Runeberg’s statue in Helsinki with the text of the national anthem (in Swedish)
I wish you a Great Independence Day, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🙂
Jimmy Nylund,
Member of the board at Aalto-university Student Union