Dear Conan,
Greetings from Finland! We are glad to notice Your interest in our small country and its presidential election. The election’s second round in which the Finnish president will be chosen will take place on the 29th January.
You have been active in promoting candidate Tarja Halonen in your tv-program. We have been shocked that such a famous citizen of the cradle of freedom and democracy so openly supports such a socialistically minded candidate. You have said in public that you don’t know much about candidate Halonen. The purpose of this message is to let you in on some earlier and some more recent aspects of her career.
We aren’t supporters of any political party nor members of any radical movement. Our point of view is that of a media-critical citizen.
Most Finns are not interested in politics at all. Especially young people let famous media personalities influence in their decisions. Your program is very popular in Finland and your open support has certainly benefited candidate Halonen.
Political life in Finland in the 70’s
In the 60’s they used the term “Finnlandisierung” in West Germany. It meant something like “becoming like Finland”. They saw Finland as a warning of how the super power intervenes in business of its neighbour country and how a neighbour country lets a super power intervene in its business. The Soviet Union was used to declare unwanted Finnish politicians and parties anti-Soviet. Regardless of the election result they were not let to power. As a result most Finnish politicians tried to please the Soviet Union as far as possible. There were also many Soviet-friendly organizations in Finland such as Finland-DDR –association and Finland-Soviet Union -association.
The main media were in the game too. People who were employed those days are still there and many of them in a leading position. The biggest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and Yleisradio, the company which runs the tv-channels 1 and 2, are still very pro-left-wing. This kind of one-sided media reality is possible only in a tiny country like Finland.
Because of their vast network old communists and socialists still pull many strings in politics and in Finnish society in general.
Tarja Halonen’s past and presence
From the very beginning Tarja Halonen represented the most left-wing of the Social Democratic Party. In 1968 she took part in the famous riotous take-over of the Old Students’ House the purpose of which was to prepare society for a socialistic revolution.
The in 1970 founded “Finnish organization for the recognition of the DDR” was according to specialists an operation funded by the STASI (the East German central intelligence). Tarja Halonen was the vice president of this organization in 1970-1972. The purpose of the organization was to get Finland recognize the DDR sooner than West Germany. In other words she preferred a communist dictatorship to western democracy.
At the time Tarja Halonen also signed the so-called Red Declaration, which included, for example, a demand for the abolition of the Finnish Army.
In her speech on the 1st of May in 1976 in the market place of Hakaniemi in Helsinki she uttered that it would be a blessing to Finland if it joined the Soviet Union in a peaceful way. At the same time we would, according to her, get rid of the yoke of capitalism and get closer to ideal communist society. She concluded with the estimation that capitalism will anyway collapse within the next 20 years, so we would only be pioneers with the Soviet Union towards a socialistic world. Her speech was reported in the Finnish newspaper Tiedonantaja and the Soviet newspaper Izvestija right after the 1st of May that year.
Tarja Halonen has also signed the demand for the so-called Peace Law together with members of the Finnish Communist Party. The Peace Law was to criminalize anti-soviet opinions in Finland.
Those days the so-called “Finnlandisierung” involved informing and spying for the KGB and the STASI. There is a famous list of names of Finns who may have been informants of the STASI. The United States handed over the list to the Finnish ex-president Mauno Koivisto who immediately declared the list secret. Halonen could have removed the secrecy, but she hasn’t done it. The Finnish STASI-list became a scandal elsewhere in Europe too. It is rumoured that Tarja Halonen’s own name is in that list. Many Finnish politicians have called for the publicity of that list and Tarja Halonen’s main opposing candidate, Sauli Niinistö, has promised to make list public if he becomes a president.
Halonen’s interest in foreign policy is still very much focused on former or present communist countries. Her first trip abroad was to Chile where she attended the celebration for beginning of President Ricardo Lagos’ regime. At the same time in Finland there was the celebration commemorating the Finnish Winter War in which Finland saved its independence against the Soviet Union, a festivity no Finnish president has missed before.
In her trip to Beijing in 2002 Halonen praised the Chinese human rights situation. She mentioned, for example, that China had made progress in its way towards legal society. Amnesty International got furious about this for, according to them, the Chinese human rights situation has only got worse lately.
Thanks for Your attention. We hope that these matters increased Your interest in Finnish history and politics. We will continue watching Your great program. Welcome to Finland in February!
Two fans of your show from Finland
Greetings from Finland! We are glad to notice Your interest in our small country and its presidential election. The election’s second round in which the Finnish president will be chosen will take place on the 29th January.
You have been active in promoting candidate Tarja Halonen in your tv-program. We have been shocked that such a famous citizen of the cradle of freedom and democracy so openly supports such a socialistically minded candidate. You have said in public that you don’t know much about candidate Halonen. The purpose of this message is to let you in on some earlier and some more recent aspects of her career.
We aren’t supporters of any political party nor members of any radical movement. Our point of view is that of a media-critical citizen.
Most Finns are not interested in politics at all. Especially young people let famous media personalities influence in their decisions. Your program is very popular in Finland and your open support has certainly benefited candidate Halonen.
Political life in Finland in the 70’s
In the 60’s they used the term “Finnlandisierung” in West Germany. It meant something like “becoming like Finland”. They saw Finland as a warning of how the super power intervenes in business of its neighbour country and how a neighbour country lets a super power intervene in its business. The Soviet Union was used to declare unwanted Finnish politicians and parties anti-Soviet. Regardless of the election result they were not let to power. As a result most Finnish politicians tried to please the Soviet Union as far as possible. There were also many Soviet-friendly organizations in Finland such as Finland-DDR –association and Finland-Soviet Union -association.
The main media were in the game too. People who were employed those days are still there and many of them in a leading position. The biggest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and Yleisradio, the company which runs the tv-channels 1 and 2, are still very pro-left-wing. This kind of one-sided media reality is possible only in a tiny country like Finland.
Because of their vast network old communists and socialists still pull many strings in politics and in Finnish society in general.
Tarja Halonen’s past and presence
From the very beginning Tarja Halonen represented the most left-wing of the Social Democratic Party. In 1968 she took part in the famous riotous take-over of the Old Students’ House the purpose of which was to prepare society for a socialistic revolution.
The in 1970 founded “Finnish organization for the recognition of the DDR” was according to specialists an operation funded by the STASI (the East German central intelligence). Tarja Halonen was the vice president of this organization in 1970-1972. The purpose of the organization was to get Finland recognize the DDR sooner than West Germany. In other words she preferred a communist dictatorship to western democracy.
At the time Tarja Halonen also signed the so-called Red Declaration, which included, for example, a demand for the abolition of the Finnish Army.
In her speech on the 1st of May in 1976 in the market place of Hakaniemi in Helsinki she uttered that it would be a blessing to Finland if it joined the Soviet Union in a peaceful way. At the same time we would, according to her, get rid of the yoke of capitalism and get closer to ideal communist society. She concluded with the estimation that capitalism will anyway collapse within the next 20 years, so we would only be pioneers with the Soviet Union towards a socialistic world. Her speech was reported in the Finnish newspaper Tiedonantaja and the Soviet newspaper Izvestija right after the 1st of May that year.
Tarja Halonen has also signed the demand for the so-called Peace Law together with members of the Finnish Communist Party. The Peace Law was to criminalize anti-soviet opinions in Finland.
Those days the so-called “Finnlandisierung” involved informing and spying for the KGB and the STASI. There is a famous list of names of Finns who may have been informants of the STASI. The United States handed over the list to the Finnish ex-president Mauno Koivisto who immediately declared the list secret. Halonen could have removed the secrecy, but she hasn’t done it. The Finnish STASI-list became a scandal elsewhere in Europe too. It is rumoured that Tarja Halonen’s own name is in that list. Many Finnish politicians have called for the publicity of that list and Tarja Halonen’s main opposing candidate, Sauli Niinistö, has promised to make list public if he becomes a president.
Halonen’s interest in foreign policy is still very much focused on former or present communist countries. Her first trip abroad was to Chile where she attended the celebration for beginning of President Ricardo Lagos’ regime. At the same time in Finland there was the celebration commemorating the Finnish Winter War in which Finland saved its independence against the Soviet Union, a festivity no Finnish president has missed before.
In her trip to Beijing in 2002 Halonen praised the Chinese human rights situation. She mentioned, for example, that China had made progress in its way towards legal society. Amnesty International got furious about this for, according to them, the Chinese human rights situation has only got worse lately.
Thanks for Your attention. We hope that these matters increased Your interest in Finnish history and politics. We will continue watching Your great program. Welcome to Finland in February!
Two fans of your show from Finland
Vastaukset 4
Vanhimmat
Äänestäkää Soinia,numerolla 4
Äänestäkää ehdokkaita 2-8 =)
KOLMONEN; SAULI PRESSAKSI.
Kaikki kimpassa Halosta vastaan toisella kierroksella niin säästytään siltä pilkalta kun Conan tulee raportoimaan innokkaista alkuasukkaista jotka kiittelevät kun Conan on huomannut meillä olevan hölmön näköinen päällikkö. Toivottavasti Haloselta menee ääni ennen toista kierrosta ettei voi antaa haastattelua "englanniksi".