From: ryyti@jyu.fi (Jarmo Ryyti)
Subject: The Finns, an opressed minority in Sweden
Organization: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 06:23:29 GMT

 
: How many persons are there living in Tornedalen in the area traditionally
: Finnish who have Finnish as a mother tongue?
: 
  The area where Finnish was/is spoken when the border was drawn 1809
: was following on the Swedish side: Haaparanta, Ylitornio,Pajala
: communes and parts of Kiiruna like Kaaresuvanto and Jukkasj{rvi.
: There is also areas J{llivaara were Finnish was/is spoken but it is not
: considered as a part of Swedish Tornedalen.
: On this area lived (I start from history) year 1810 6959 inhabitants,
: 1880 17000 inhabitants.
: 
: After that the figures are from Pajala,Haaparanta and Ylitornio
: communes only: 1930 33188, 1940 35891, 1950 33455, 1960 31 115, 1970 25000
: 1980 24 728 and 1990 25243 inhabitants:
: 
There is not figures from all traditional Finnish speaking
:areas in the north in these figures. So the the total population
:started to decline overthere because of emigration fro the area.
: 
: WHAT ABOUT THE ASSIMILATION POLICY OF THE FINNS IN SWEDEN?
: 
: According to the census of 1930 there were 88,4 % Finnish speakers in
: T{r{nt|, 83,4% in Junosuvanto, 78,1% in Pajala, 76,6% in Korpilompolo.
: 
: This 1930 Census is the last census when the amount of the Finns were
: investigated officially in Sweden in generally and on this area specially.!!!
: According to this census 1930 in Norrbotten 30 000 persons spoke only
: Finnish, 10 000 spoke relatively well, many of these were saamis,
: and 4000 spoke only swedish on this area. A minority.
:  
: There is no exact figures how many Finnish speakers there is on the
: area but it is estimated being c. 25 000 today.
: 
: 
: LANGUAGE POLITICS TOWARDS FINNS IN SWEDEN
: 
: The first schools in Tornedalen were from the beginning of the 1900th
: century Finnish, it were the mother tongue of the people.
: 
: 1888 The State of Sweden gave an DIRECTIVE that the communes over there
: can get state AID ONLY if the language of education is SWEDISH.
: (People of that time BSS-activists, my note!)
: 
: So this in practise led to a situation that the Finnish schools ceased to
: exist.
: 
: The change was rapid: 1919 there was set a comittee, so called comittee
: for the Finnish areas, its purpose was to investigate  if there
: was needed Finnish speaking education on the area, the committee came up
: to the conclusion that on the area was not such EDUCATION needed.
: 
: Which were the effects of this assimilation policy-to keep Sweden
: swedish?
: 
: 1945 72 % of the school children attending schools on the area were entirely
: Finnish, 1957  38 %, 1965 16% and 1976 1 (one) %.
: 
: At the same time the School administration classified Finnish not as a
: mother - languege  of the people on the area but gave a new definition
: HOME-LANGUAGE for finnish language.
: 
: Why after all the Finns are better survived on the area compared with
: the Forest-Finns of Warmland whose genocide was complited 1960's
: by the Swedish administration.
: 
: Norrbotten is close to Finland and there is all the time been immigration
: and emigration to and from the area with Finland. There has been 
: a religious movement the leastadians, which have used Finnish in their
: meetings for decades. So even if the Swedish administration has tried
: to root out the area of the Finnish speakers the same way as in Warmland
: the success over there has not been quite completely.
: 
: So late as until 1958 there was a directive according which
: it was forbidden to speak Finnish for the schoolschildren even between
: the pauses at schools. First 1958  it was canselled by the Swedish
: Schooladministration (Skol|verstyrelsen), but it was applied on the area
: until 1968.
: 
: So we need not to go the Amazonas to look for rasism towards indigenous
: people but we find the similar actions much nearer. And we must remember
: that those persons who practised this rasist practise are still living
: with us, they are not perhaps any more in active politics on local level but
: one who likes can still find them in Sweden.
: 
: 
: Source: (very much cut) Carelia, 10/1992.
: 
: Py|li&Wende, Karjala ja Ruotsin Tornionlaakso. 
: Who have used as sources among the others: Wende, 1991,Suomen kielen status
: Ruotsissa. Hanseg}rd,1990, Den Norrbottniska Spr}kfr}gan.
: 
: Regards,
Jarmo Ryyti
: En Finne igen
: 
: And greetings for all swedish Finnish haters!
: 

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