Bulletins and News Discussion from September 23rd to September 29th, 2024 - The War In The North

a banger of an article in the paper of the smaller finnish communist party (ML), concerning genocide and how finland liked to partake and still does tbh translation below

The policies of the Finnish occupation regime in Karelia during the Second World War are again being discussed in the public eye in the context of a trial in the Republic of Karelia in Petrozavodsk. Finland is accused of war crimes and genocide against the Karelian population.

The events in Karelia are a complex and long story that cannot be honoured in a single article. I recommend to everyone Tomi Mäkinen's series of articles published in Työkansan Sanomat on Itä-Karjalan miehitys ja suomalaisten perustamat keskitysleirit 1941–44 (the occupation of East Karelia and the concentration camps set up by the Finns), and Marja-Leena Mikkola's book Menetetty lapsuus (Lost Childhood), on which the series of articles is based.

Mäkinen's series of articles and Mikkola's book describe Finnish actions from the perspective of Karelian and Karelian Russian survivors. In addition, several skilled writers have published articles on fascism and Finnish fascism in Työkansan Sanomat and on the Ktp website.

In short, the Finns who invaded Soviet Karelia in the Continuation War, inspired by the Greater Finland ideology, finnic tribalism and the practices of their allies in Nazi Germany, set up concentration camps where ethnic cleansing was carried out.

The Finns distinguished between the 'non-ethnic', i.e. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Tatars and Latvians, and what they considered 'Finns', i.e. ethnic Karelians, Vepsians, Ingrians, Estonians and Mordvians, and sought to turn the ''Finnic'' into Finns.

All those in the camps experienced extreme physical, mental and cultural oppression. Thousands of men, women and children died from forced labour, starvation and punishments.

There is no doubt that Russia could or would use this trial for anti-Finnish propaganda today. The regime in capitalist Russia does not itself have a particular devotion to the rights of minorities. However, this fact should not justify the way in which genocide accusations are handled in Finland. Karelians have the right at any time to bring past events to light and demand accountability from Finland.

The Finnish media's response to the accusations has been to play down the events of the Continuation War, to accuse those involved of being Russian propagandists and to complain about unfair and dishonest historical research which 'claims that Finland was a fascist country that committed genocide'.

Unfortunately, in the light of Finnish historiography, this is not surprising. Finland has always responded to criticism of the state's actions from independence until the end of the Second World War with a strong defensive stance.

The Finnish government has been "forced" to ban political parties, imprison, torture and kill political opponents. The state "accidentally" had links with criminal fascist groups. Finland "had a difficult choice" between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Finland " was forced " to choose the Nazis. And even when they set up concentration camps, the Finns did it for a reason more noble than the other genocidaires. And all the deaths were accidents.

Such whining is all over the history books of our country. All the Finnish rulers from the beginning to the end are just blue-eyed, silly little children who do nothing wrong, but at the same time all the evil is done in self-defence. Refusing to accept responsibility is an extremely dangerous act, both for our past and for our future.

In the current situation, in which the state is again preparing itself for war, such a view of history and cognitive dissonance tends to be forgotten as if by magic. However, this is a time when fascism, war crimes and genocide should be better known and understood.

No matter what the imperialists want, this current war will end one day, and then we will be left wondering how thousands more have died, how the war feels so absurd again.

Genocidal nationalism in our culture is not just about ourselves and our own actions. The tradition of keeping quiet and following the bigger picture was seen again when Finland abstained in October 2023 in the UN vote on the Gaza ceasefire. This vote in Finland was preceded by a barrage of news reports calling Palestinians and pro-Palestinians terrorists and talking about Israeli self-defence.

Here are all the articles that are referenced in the article. i will not translate these but https://www.deepl.com/en/translator is decent with finnish, just work around the words a bit if they seems wonky