The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work with Kvens/Norwegian Finns, Skog Finns and Sami was covered on Dagsrevyen under the vignette “Report on injustice against the Sami”. It had to be this way, because those who could personally tell about the Norwegianisation of Kvens/Norwegian Finns and Forest Finns have been dead for 50, 100 or even more years already. In contrast to the Sami, the Kvens/Finns are in reality Norwegianized. This can easily be reasoned out. The fact that news made Kven/Finnish invisible even on this day is just one example of much mischief against Kvens/Finns throughout the years. The first district office was established for the Finnish speakers. The first district office of news was established in 1934. news, which had a monopoly at the time, placed the district office as far north and east of Oslo as possible, in Vadsø, because it was the very heart of the Norwegian part of Kveenimaa (Kvenland). This was 12 years before news started broadcasting news in Sami. The aim of the measure in 1934 and the choice of Vadsø was to prevent the Kvens/Finns from hearing news in Finnish and from Finland. They were supposed to listen to Norwegian news in Norwegian. Language users’ choices are not supported. Our right to language in rights conventions is primarily defined by the language users. Among Kvens/Finns, there are more people who want to learn the Finnish language than Kven. And it is the Finnish Bible that has been the written source of the Kven/Finn language for over 300 years. Nevertheless, news has a spotlight on the so-called Kven language, because the Norwegianized Kvens are of course in the majority. news broadcasts New Year’s speeches for Kvens/Finns in which only the Kven language is spoken. Year after year, news conveys a message as if the Finnish language does not exist in Norway. news’s alienation (racism) of the Finnish language in Norway thus has its 90th anniversary next year. An example is our scholarship scheme for young people, Suomen apuraha (Finnish scholarship). We told news that the students who wanted to apply for the scholarship had Finnish on their timetable, and that care should be taken in the matter. There were and are no students who have a kvenske on the timetable at upper secondary school. Nevertheless, news wrote in the title: “Students from Kven and Finland in upper secondary school will receive scholarships”. news insisted on this title because female students could hypothetically become students in the future. Finnish children know that no one speaks Swedish. news then gives a clear message, Finnish students are not as desirable as female students. The language situation of Kven/Fin is illustrative of news’s coverage. They relate to a hypothetical world. news exposes a Swedish/Finnish interest organization to a planned hate campaign. We have the right to organize. We should be able to have meetings about Kven/Finnish history, tell that Finnmark is named after Finns and address state structural discrimination without being exposed to fictitious police reports that news uncritically passes on. We organized public meetings in February 2022. Already several weeks before the meetings, Facebook categorized the group “Documenter samehets” as Sami, and that one had to take action. news also prepared for several weeks before the public meetings. news immediately reported that Sámi Parliament representative Kristin Sara had been exposed to incitement and violence at our meetings. She “wants” to report this to the police. In a police interview, Sara is said to have said that the wife of one of our lecturers did not hit her, but that she “hammered away” at her. news also used the size of our association here as an opportunity to attack Norwegians/Finns. news conveyed much of the competitor, the Norske kveners forbund,’s view on the matter, as if to declassify us as kvens/finns. The police reports were dropped. We cannot see that news has disseminated this information, or made an apology. Although we do not have many thousands of members, the members are just as much a national minority that must be protected from being subjected to slights. The important thing for news was to get police-reported cases against Kvens/Finns in print with large notices. Integrity and deference are ignored. In our shadow report “Disappointment” to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we have detailed documentation of this sad case for news. The case will form the basis for fictitious police cases and reports, spread via benevolent media such as the state channel news to incite minority organisations, to become part of the fight against hate crime and hate speech in the future. Norway’s report to the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination is imminent.
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news fails the Kven/Finnish – Statement
