If you’re wondering where you might recognise me from, it’s probably because you read this morning’s @hsfi. Hiiiiiiiiiiiii 👋🏻
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room then, shall we? Or rather the pair of elephants in the city. That’d be Putin and Trump. They visit today for the #HelsinkiSummit2018. Yesterday many people took to the streets in 29 degree heat to protest this summit, myself included.
The @CallingHelsinki protest was about demanding a shift back towards a global society that respects human rights. While no country is perfect with regards to their vindication of all human rights, these two men represent flagrant denial of some of the most basic human rights.
The right to seek asylum, freedom of press, free and fair elections and the right to a fair trial, among many others. We took to the streets yesterday to show Finland isn’t just a neutral territory. Finland cares.
I was very proud to be a part of it particularly as someone who has lived as an immigrant here and felt extremely welcome by the vast majority of Finns.
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Alright, alright, alright y’all, I’m gonna sign off here for the week. Thank you all for being kind and listen to me ramble about my research, human rights, language and tides.
If you enjoyed my stint and wat to follow me, you can find me @GaRoDean. I tweet mostly about minority rights, feminism and Irish. You can also listen to me on the @Motherfocloir podcast where I talk about these things AND about Finland.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh ar fad, tabhair aire agus slán go fóill a chairde! Tack så mycket och hej då, kiitos paljon, moi moi!!
Earlier in the week I shared some little graphics looking for people to participate in my research here in Finland. I'm still reall eager to hear from anyone who thinks they might be Abe to help, or who knows someone who might be able to help.
Keeping that in mind, a very kind translator friend ran up these two graphics in Swedish and Finnish for me so that they might have a wider reach! Feel free to copy, paste, share! Also, as ever, DM are open on my personal account @GaRoDean
Last tweet had a typo with my personal account, fml.
I was recently made aware of comments by a Finnish politician about our referendum. I didn’t hear about it at the time (after the vote, I had to catch up on 3 months of sleep)
A Finnish friend was really upset and wanted me to know that this didn’t represent Finland.
I believe many of the Finnish government came out to say something similar, that this wasn’t an official line. To be honest, they need not have done so.
Because I knew that those opinions don’t represent Finland. Finland is a country with many flaws. But for someone who lived almost all her life in a country that has historically and consistently degraded women, Finland is a feminist state.
In Ireland, there is a euphemism of “going to England” or “taking the boat”. It refers to women who have abortions. Because up until recently, the only way you could access an abortion was to do it in a different country, usually England.
Women would have to seek kindness, compassion and medical care in the arms of strangers because our state refused to acknowledge their existence
With the growth of the Internet, women started ordering illegal abortion pills online, taking them at home, in secret. But this could be dangerous. Abortion carries a 14 year prison sentence.
If you all would allow me, I’d like to talk a bit about the recent referendum we had back in Ireland. On May 25th we removed the constitutional ban that denied abortion to all women except in the case of certain death. #Repealed
I understand that this might be a difficult topic for a lot of people. And that’s ok. But what my country went through was extremely difficult and while it was an extremely tough task, I am so proud of the outcome and of what we managed to do with dignity and respect
A bit of a back story. Many of you may recall in 2015, Ireland voted to legalise gay marriage. I was living in Finland at the time and I flew #hometovote for that. I would never have missed that vote.