Sunday May 7th I’ll be joined on Radio Free Finland by Teemu Lahtinen, head of Suomen Sisu, a nationalist organization in Finland. In February of this year, their organization was ordered to take down the infamous cartoons of Mohammed from their website. Three of their members are now under criminal investigation for violating the freedom of worship, the state prosecutor is expected to decide in May whether to prosecute the men.
Teemu will be on the show to discuss the possible court case, freedom of speech in Finland, and the Suomen Sisu organization. A photo, bio, and more details will come closer to the date of the interview.
Suomen Sisu is a modern nationalistic movement, which aims to strenghten healthy national and cultural self-esteem. We want to protect the Finnish environment and way of life, and to actively work against menaces like unlimited immigration.
We believe that every nation and culture has a right to exist and to govern themselves.
There is no conflict between nationalism and internationality. A steadfast identity is not only a major personal resource, but also the key to respecting and understanding other cultures and nations.
A big thank you to Jussi Hermaja for spending an hour with us tonight - Be sure to visit Mother Earth for more information surrounding conscientious objectors in Finland.
And a big big apology to everyone who tuned in to the live show and didn’t hear anything, my man at the server was absent today and wasn’t able to stream the live feeds. But…that’s why we have a podcast, so here it is for you to download…
Download the show in high quality (28 MB - mp3)
Download the show in normal quality (14 MB - mp3)
This Sunday on Radio Free Finland I’ll be talking with Jussi Hermaja, a peace and human rights activist who fled Finland to Belgium for asylum in 2001 because of being convicted for refusing to carry out national service. We’ll be discussing conscription, civil service, conscientious objectors, Russia, and the state of the Finnish military…
Jussi Hermaja, 27. He is a founder of Case Hermaja –campaign, whose aim is to free jailed conscientious objectors in Finland and advocate reforms to Finnish conscription law to meet human rights standards.
While studying history and politics in University of Jyväskylä until leaving Finland, he co-founded student union group Maltillinen äärivasemmisto
In Belgium Jussi has been working for Friends of the Earth Belgium as campaigner and as a cook-manager of an organic vegan restaurant started by the organisation.
Recently he joined a workers’ cooperative to start a new restaurant in the center of Ghent, Belgium.
