Finnish Immigration Policy Limits Freedom of Expression

According to the national security review published by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service on Tuesday, homeschooling may, in the long run, increase security threats related to the fragmentation of society. This risk is heightened by the fact that it is extremely difficult for authorities to monitor the teaching that takes place in homeschooling and in informal homeschooling institutions.

The parliamentary parties also share concern about these security threats. Their proposed solutions range from more effective oversight of homeschooling to an unambiguous compulsory school attendance requirement, with exceptions granted only for extremely compelling reasons.

It is therefore likely that the next government programme will include more or less radical restrictions on children’s homeschooling. At the same time, this would reduce people’s freedom of choice regarding the upbringing of their children.

In practice, this change is occurring as a result of the immigration policy pursued in Finland, because it has brought both radical Islamism and—partly as a reaction to it, as well as to other forms of “wokeism”—far-right extremism into our society. According to the head of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, Juha Martelius, these are precisely the kinds of undesirable phenomena that are increasingly being promoted in homeschooling environments.

It remains to be seen, however, how well the negative impact of immigration on people’s freedom will be recognized in Finnish public debate. That is, on the constitutional right which states that “everyone has the right to life, personal liberty, integrity and security.”

The debate about compulsory schooling described above is, of course, only part of this process. It is also connected to, for example, threats and fears related to safety—especially for women but also for young people—as well as restrictions on freedom of speech in accordance with an Orwellian understanding of language.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
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The original blogpost in Finnish:
Maahanmuuttopolitiikka rajoittaa ihmisten valinnanvapautta

Safe Spaces or Freedom of Knowledge?

In my childhood, nearly all Finns were Christians. Most were Evangelical Lutherans, but there was also a small minority of Orthodox Christians. However, many had strong doubts about the literal truth of the Bible, yet this didn’t prevent them from belonging to a church community or lead to the removal of religious topics from schools.

Over the decades, however, more and more people left their church membership, and religious education in schools became optional for those not affiliated with any church. Additionally, due to immigration, more people of other faiths—particularly Muslims—settled in Finland, and arrangements were made to provide religious education for them as well.

Now we have reached a point where the child of an atheist Finnish family received 1,500 euros in compensation from their hometown for hearing about Jesus at a school event. And very recently, a performance of Baroque music was canceled in a Finnish school because it was seen as referencing Christian traditions.

These cases have led many Finns—including several atheists, among them one example, another, and a third—to speak out, asking whether an understanding of cultural history is no longer part of the curriculum. So far, there has been no response.

It is clear, however, that the cases described above show that Finland has gone too far in this notion of a “safe space.” Instead of preventing genuine issues, we’ve ended up in a situation where children are shielded from the realities of the world, which in turn weakens their readiness to navigate the often contradictory world of adulthood.

I hold this view firmly, not least because I don’t believe in gods, but also because I highly value people’s right to learn about all aspects of the world. Moreover, I believe such knowledge helps them succeed in an increasingly diverse world.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
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