Finland Roma

SHY FINNS KEEPING ROMA DOWN……?

 

I agree that meeting half way between both sides is a way forward. Assimilation is always the best way forward in obtaining social cohesion, being proud of one’s own heritage and celebrating it, is of course not the problem. The forcing of minority ”so called rights” at the expense of the host society, is the problem. Maintaining ones own habits, traditions and values within the home, is the right of any individual, foisting those values upon the majority who do not share those values, is not a right, regardless of whether the lords of multiculturalism say otherwise.

NOTE: I wonder if the taboo subject of thievery is going to be addressed, an honest exposé on that phenomenon will go a long way in ensuring a sceptical public that a page has indeed been turned.

Finnish Roma want smoother coexistence with majority population

A Roma task force has been operating in Kajaani with the aim of cutting through prejudices on both sides of the cultural divide. According to the working group, the Roma population want to study and work and the majority population is overly shy. In Kajaani many Roma, particularly the youthful members of the community, are affirming that meeting half way is the best route forward.

Kajaanin romanikulttuurin ohjaaja Ramona Grönstrand
Image: Heikki Rönty / Yle

In the northern Finnish town of Kajaani there are around 100 members of the Finnish Roma community who say they would like to live alongside the mainstream population, free from the burden of old prejudices. A working group was set up four years ago, but progress is slow. Even just setting up the task force took many years of effort. Now the task is to break down the prejudices of the majority population, says Roma cultural director Ramona Grönstrand.

“Although things have gone ahead a lot in the last 20 years, there’s still strong prejudice in the mainstream population,” says Grönstrand. “My job is to break this down as much as possible by turning back the bias in educational institutions and work organisations by talking about and sharing knowledge of our culture.”

More here at YLE

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