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02.09.2003 ProKarelia A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST RUSSIAN OCCUPATION PLANNED On 6 September 2003, a group of Finnish activists is planning to stage a demonstration against the Russian occupation of legitimate Finnish territory. This event will mark the first ever mass demonstration against the 1940 annexation of 12 per cent of legitimate Finnish territory by Stalin to the Soviet Union. Earlier, such demonstrations have been impossible due to the political climate of "Finlandization". The issue of Karelia, Petsamo, Salla and the four island municipalities of the Finnish Gulf is almost a taboo subject, and mass demonstrations have been nonexisting since 1944. Some 420,000 people were forced to leave their homes, property and traditional culture already in 1940, when the Winter War ended and the cruel Moscow Peace Treaty moved the Russian border westward. The Winter War begun on 30 November 1939. Some 100 days earlier, German and Soviet leaders had concluded the infamous "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" in which Finland fell into the Soviet "sphere of Influence", along with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, East Poland and Moldova. All these territories were occupied by Stalin, except 88 per cent of Finland which remained independent. As the Baltic States are joining the European Union in 2004, this 12 per cent of Finland remains under Russian occupation. On 14 October 1920, Russia and Finland signed a border agreement in the Estonian town of Tartu. In 1932, this treaty was reinforced by a Non-Aggression Pact, which was renewed in 1934. Stalin's full-scale attack on Finland in 1939 was a violation of all these agreements. The League of Nation condemned the Soviet Union in 1939 for this attack by withdrawing its membership. As eyewitnesses have told, these occupied Finnish territories remain a shame for Russia, and for all Europe: the Soviet-era collective farms, military bases and other installations have become horrible remainders of the totalitarian past, all in ruins, and the inhabitants of the occupied territories live in utmost poverty and misery. Yet, in the 1930s, these areas were wealthy and successful, inhabited by 420,000 Finnish citizens from all walks of life. The first-ever mass demonstration against this crime will take place in Helsinki, outside the Finnish Parliament, on Mannerheiminkatu (Street) on 6 September at 1 pm. The demonstrators will continue at 2 pm by foot towards the Russian Embassy on Tehtaankatu (Street) in Southern Helsinki.  ^ Takaisin ylös  Lisää artikkeleita kirjoittajalta
Artikkeli-arkisto
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