People demonstrated against racism and fascism in Helsinki on 3 September 2023. A survey by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA) shows that Finns widely think that racism should not be tolerated, while being split over how prevalent a problem racism is in the country. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)
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ALMOST ALL Finns are of the opinion that there should be no room for racism, but their definitions of racism are relatively narrow, reveals a values and attitudes survey published on Saturday by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA).
Almost nine in ten (87%) of the survey respondents estimated that it is at least fairly important to not tolerate racism in Finland.
Simultaneously 55 per cent of respondents gauged that racism is a fairly minor, very minor or non-existent problem in the country. Four in ten, by contrast, gauged that racism is a fairly or very major problem.
Views about the severity of the problem vary markedly by political affiliation, highlighted EVA. Left Alliance, Green League and Social Democrats supporters described racism as a major problem at rates of 87, 81 and 73 per cent, respectively. Supporters of the Finns Party and National Coalition, by contrast, described it as a major problem at rates of 5 and 23 per cent, respectively.
Racism was identified as a major problem also by 52 per cent of Swedish People’s Party, 40 per cent of Christian Democrats and 37 per cent of Centre Party supporters.
While the respondents widely regarded non-tolerance to racism as important, their views on the prevalence of racism in the country were divided.
A little over half (51%) viewed that the country is at least fairly racist, but 49 per cent that the country is not particularly racist. When asked to gauge the prevalence of racism on a scale of one to ten – one signifying not at all racist and ten thoroughly racist – the most popular answers were seven (20%), eight (14%), six (12%), four (11%) and three (11%).
The average score came in as 5.26.
The survey also sought to identify what types of behaviours, practices and phenomena are regarded as racist in Finland.
There was a broad consensus about the racist nature of discriminating against an individual based on their ethnic background (90%), dismissing a job applicant due to a name that suggested a background in an ethnic minority (81%) and using slanderous language about ethnic groups and their members (81%).
Meanwhile, 59 per cent of respondents considered it very or fairly racist to make jokes about the far right or Nazism. A little over a third viewed that it was at least fairly racist to vote for a nationalist party; to refer to ethnic, cultural, language or religious minorities in humour or entertainment; and to profile people based on ethnicity in police and other official actions.
Fewer than a third of respondents said it was at least fairly racist to be critical of multiculturalism and to draw attention to the ethnic background of people suspected or convicted of criminal offences.
Having a cautious and reserved attitude toward people of foreign backgrounds was considered fairly racist by 20 per cent and very racist by 5 per cent of respondents.
Absolute Finnish or Swedish skills requirements in recruitment were considered the least racist out of the 17 behaviours, practices and phenomena presented to the respondents, with nine per cent considering them fairly racist and three per cent very racist. Presenting old works of literature or other forms of art that today are considered racist was identified as fairly or very racist by 14 per cent of respondents.
“Finns share a common but narrow understanding of racism,” summarised Ilkka Haavisto, the research director at EVA, on Saturday.
The results are based on responses provided by 2,045 people on 15–27 September 2023. The results have a margin of error of 2–3 percentage points. EVA has tracked public attitudes toward racism since 1990.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
