MY POLITICS
For the first 14 and a half years of my life I knew nothing but UK Conservative rule and even survived eight years of Thatcherism, while my hometown of Aberdeen’s local council proudly proclaims the city to be “The Oil Capital of Europe”. How I became a Green with strong left-wing political convictions is, depending on how you look at it, either totally logical or completely bewildering!
It will suffice to say here that by my late teens/early 20s I had acquired the basis of the political views I still hold today. I think my first conscious act of environmental activism took place when I was turning 17 and decided I didn't want to learn how to drive at a time when most people my age were eager to get behind the wheel. Although, when anyone asked if I had taken any driving lessons, I would say that they cost too much to avoid confrontation, the real reason was grounded in my rudimentary understanding of the problems caused by car pollution and resource depletion.
Unfortunately, it took quite a number of years for me to start thinking about environmental issues more seriously. It was only upon entering university just before I turned 20 and joining a university society concerned with the environment and social justice that I started thinking more holistically about the effect societal structures and consumption habits have on the environment.
My left-wing tendencies came to fruition slightly earlier. The UK Conservative Party has much to do with this, but, like with many Scottish people, hostility towards this party manifested itself in the form of Scottish nationalism and support for the marginally centre-left, non-ethno-nationalist (!!!) Scottish National Party. Later in my teens I started attending Scottish Socialist Party meetings, other protests and public meetings about the coming Iraq War and the plight of Palestinians, and was interested in anarchism.
During my Bachelor’s degree, I became more nuanced in my political views, but their basis stayed pretty constant, and this remains true six years after completing that degree and moving to Finland with my then-girlfriend, now-wife, Aino.
In addition to those things that helped form my political outlook during the first 24 years of my life, Finland has taught me a few political lessons over the six years I've lived here:
1) Immigrant politics
Since I had never lived anywhere other than Scotland prior to moving to Finland, it was a bit of an eye opener to come to Finland and to see what it’s like living in a country I was not born in. At the same time, my immigrant experience cannot be compared to that of a refugee or even, for example, a student from a continent other than Europe. Despite my orange beard and big ears, I look a lot like your stereotypical Finn – blondish-brown hair, blue eyes and white skin. In fact, Finns have on occasion even badmouthed immigrants in my presence, completely forgetting that north Europeans can also be immigrants.
Matters relating to immigrants comprise one of my election themes. See here for more information.
2) Family politics
I have become a father twice since moving to Finland. Family life is incredibly important to me and I want to make as few sacrifices as possible to enable me to be a good, present father. Finland and other Nordic countries are far ahead of countries like the UK in this area. Even though the financial support given to parents who want to stay home with their young children is relatively meagre here, it enables young children to be cared for by one of their parents instead of forcing children to deal with the stress and loss of closeness that comes with attending day care at too early an age. Parents should not be forced to choose working life over family life!
The support given to families with young children is another of my election themes. See here for more information.
3) Labour-market politics
Although I have considered myself left-wing for a long time, until relatively recently I was only really interested in the plight of workers in countries with a less established set of workers’ rights. I still believe that workers in Finland have it pretty good and that the problems they encounter pale in comparison to those of some of their international counterparts, but that doesn’t mean we should treat these problems as unworthy of attention.
In one of my previous workplaces, management took advantage of employees and paid them wages well below the industry average. In a short-sighted attempt to save money, key employees like me were also given freelance contracts – which come with no entitlement to sick pay, holiday pay etc. Non-freelancers at the company lived in fear of not having their contract renewed if they brought up the issue of a raise. At the same time, the head of the organisation paid himself a substantial salary for doing extremely little work.
What all this taught me was that while there are good employers and managers out there who care deeply for the employees under them, there are also employers and managers who will use every trick in the book to exploit their subordinates and think absolutely nothing of it. Therefore, I strongly believe that laws and codes of conduct have to be drawn up with good employers' and managers' less moral counterparts in mind.
This is quite an unfashionable sentiment in Europe at the moment, with ordinary people being told by their leaders that savings and economic restructuring – and savings and economic restructuring alone – are what is needed to spur growth and create jobs. While Finland hasn't yet been consumed by this dangerous ideology, the country's leading governmental party, the National Coalition Party, has taken pleasure in demanding such action be implemented by highly indebted eurozone member countries. Given this climate, strenuous efforts need to be made at all levels of political decision making to ensure that workers' hard-earned rights aren't sacrificed in the name of short-term growth strategies.
4) Finnish politics
As a journalist writing on political and societal subjects, I acquired a solid understanding of Finnish politics and society. I also know the UK/Scottish system well, which helps me to see both the strengths and weaknesses in the Finnish system.
One significant difference between the politics of my homeland and that of Finland is the party system, as Finland’s voting system enables a far more diverse group of parties into parliament and local councils. With so much variety on offer, in relative terms at least, why have I opted to run for The Greens of Finland in this election? It’s not an easy question to answer, as I don’t agree with the party and some of its key representatives on certain issues while I see the good in other parties, even the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) on occasion.
However, the Greens are the only party that fully grasp the importance of the environment, both its intrinsic value and how dependent human life is on it. While other parties maintain that they want to save the environment – but only after other, more pressing matters have been attended to – the Greens understand that humans and the environment cannot by separated and that all decision making has environmental ramifications. In social and economic policy, the Greens also possess a worldview that appeals to me; they understand that happiness cannot be measured solely in terms of wealth and that a better salary isn’t the same thing as a better life. Sustainable interaction with our environment, social and economic justice, individual development, community participation, more democracy, complementing paid work with non-paid work (by which I don’t mean saving your boss some money!) and more free-time activities, and appreciating the differences that exist among us: these are the reasons I’m running for the Greens.
It will suffice to say here that by my late teens/early 20s I had acquired the basis of the political views I still hold today. I think my first conscious act of environmental activism took place when I was turning 17 and decided I didn't want to learn how to drive at a time when most people my age were eager to get behind the wheel. Although, when anyone asked if I had taken any driving lessons, I would say that they cost too much to avoid confrontation, the real reason was grounded in my rudimentary understanding of the problems caused by car pollution and resource depletion.
Unfortunately, it took quite a number of years for me to start thinking about environmental issues more seriously. It was only upon entering university just before I turned 20 and joining a university society concerned with the environment and social justice that I started thinking more holistically about the effect societal structures and consumption habits have on the environment.
My left-wing tendencies came to fruition slightly earlier. The UK Conservative Party has much to do with this, but, like with many Scottish people, hostility towards this party manifested itself in the form of Scottish nationalism and support for the marginally centre-left, non-ethno-nationalist (!!!) Scottish National Party. Later in my teens I started attending Scottish Socialist Party meetings, other protests and public meetings about the coming Iraq War and the plight of Palestinians, and was interested in anarchism.
During my Bachelor’s degree, I became more nuanced in my political views, but their basis stayed pretty constant, and this remains true six years after completing that degree and moving to Finland with my then-girlfriend, now-wife, Aino.
In addition to those things that helped form my political outlook during the first 24 years of my life, Finland has taught me a few political lessons over the six years I've lived here:
1) Immigrant politics
Since I had never lived anywhere other than Scotland prior to moving to Finland, it was a bit of an eye opener to come to Finland and to see what it’s like living in a country I was not born in. At the same time, my immigrant experience cannot be compared to that of a refugee or even, for example, a student from a continent other than Europe. Despite my orange beard and big ears, I look a lot like your stereotypical Finn – blondish-brown hair, blue eyes and white skin. In fact, Finns have on occasion even badmouthed immigrants in my presence, completely forgetting that north Europeans can also be immigrants.
Matters relating to immigrants comprise one of my election themes. See here for more information.
2) Family politics
I have become a father twice since moving to Finland. Family life is incredibly important to me and I want to make as few sacrifices as possible to enable me to be a good, present father. Finland and other Nordic countries are far ahead of countries like the UK in this area. Even though the financial support given to parents who want to stay home with their young children is relatively meagre here, it enables young children to be cared for by one of their parents instead of forcing children to deal with the stress and loss of closeness that comes with attending day care at too early an age. Parents should not be forced to choose working life over family life!
The support given to families with young children is another of my election themes. See here for more information.
3) Labour-market politics
Although I have considered myself left-wing for a long time, until relatively recently I was only really interested in the plight of workers in countries with a less established set of workers’ rights. I still believe that workers in Finland have it pretty good and that the problems they encounter pale in comparison to those of some of their international counterparts, but that doesn’t mean we should treat these problems as unworthy of attention.
In one of my previous workplaces, management took advantage of employees and paid them wages well below the industry average. In a short-sighted attempt to save money, key employees like me were also given freelance contracts – which come with no entitlement to sick pay, holiday pay etc. Non-freelancers at the company lived in fear of not having their contract renewed if they brought up the issue of a raise. At the same time, the head of the organisation paid himself a substantial salary for doing extremely little work.
What all this taught me was that while there are good employers and managers out there who care deeply for the employees under them, there are also employers and managers who will use every trick in the book to exploit their subordinates and think absolutely nothing of it. Therefore, I strongly believe that laws and codes of conduct have to be drawn up with good employers' and managers' less moral counterparts in mind.
This is quite an unfashionable sentiment in Europe at the moment, with ordinary people being told by their leaders that savings and economic restructuring – and savings and economic restructuring alone – are what is needed to spur growth and create jobs. While Finland hasn't yet been consumed by this dangerous ideology, the country's leading governmental party, the National Coalition Party, has taken pleasure in demanding such action be implemented by highly indebted eurozone member countries. Given this climate, strenuous efforts need to be made at all levels of political decision making to ensure that workers' hard-earned rights aren't sacrificed in the name of short-term growth strategies.
4) Finnish politics
As a journalist writing on political and societal subjects, I acquired a solid understanding of Finnish politics and society. I also know the UK/Scottish system well, which helps me to see both the strengths and weaknesses in the Finnish system.
One significant difference between the politics of my homeland and that of Finland is the party system, as Finland’s voting system enables a far more diverse group of parties into parliament and local councils. With so much variety on offer, in relative terms at least, why have I opted to run for The Greens of Finland in this election? It’s not an easy question to answer, as I don’t agree with the party and some of its key representatives on certain issues while I see the good in other parties, even the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) on occasion.
However, the Greens are the only party that fully grasp the importance of the environment, both its intrinsic value and how dependent human life is on it. While other parties maintain that they want to save the environment – but only after other, more pressing matters have been attended to – the Greens understand that humans and the environment cannot by separated and that all decision making has environmental ramifications. In social and economic policy, the Greens also possess a worldview that appeals to me; they understand that happiness cannot be measured solely in terms of wealth and that a better salary isn’t the same thing as a better life. Sustainable interaction with our environment, social and economic justice, individual development, community participation, more democracy, complementing paid work with non-paid work (by which I don’t mean saving your boss some money!) and more free-time activities, and appreciating the differences that exist among us: these are the reasons I’m running for the Greens.