ISSUE 47 (177) • 25 NOVEMBER – 1 DECEMBER 2010 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI DOMESTIC BUSINESS LIFESTYLE CULTURE EAT & DRINK Anti-corruption The costs The art Ricardo Lamb, mechanisms and profits of public Trabulsi: beef criticised of winter speaking The Zapatistas or zebra? page 5 page 14 page 25 page 27 page 30 LEHTIKUVA / AFP PHOTO / PETER MUHLY This growth in cultural diversity has also resulted in a number of dif- L e a r n i n g t o ferent approaches to teaching the language, with courses around the country acknowledging the differ- speak ent learning methods of their stu- dents and fi nding new ways to make the same communicating in the local lan- guage a possibility for everyone. Amidst this new school of language thought can be found the underlin- ing truth, however, that the defi n- JAMES O’SULLIVAN ing factor that determines whether HELSINKI TIMES it is achievable or not is down to one thing: just how willing the student ALONG with an increase in the is to learn the language. number of immigrants living here Read more on pages 20-21. in Finland is the changing percep- tion regarding the possibility of for- This issue of eigners being able to communicate Helsinki Times has a special in the language often referred to as education theme. “too diffi cult” or even “impossible”, For more articles, with more and more people born see pages 18-25. outside of Finland speaking Finnish. A protestor stands outside the front gates of the Irish Prime Minister’s office in Dublin, Ireland on 22 November. Anger mounted in Ireland on Monday after Prime Minister Brian Cowen confirmed that the European Union had agreed to his Stubb: Europe has request for a multi-billion-euro bailout. to speak with one voice Union and its foreign policy. For Eu- Colossal loan buys time for Ireland HELSINKI TIMES rope to survive as a global infl uence in the market and “punch in the heavy Irish Finance Minister Brian weight,” it has to learn the simple man- Ireland has been forced to go cap in hand to Brussels. Lenihan confi rmed that the govern- ALEXANDER STUBB was called on to ner of mutual respect and dialogue, be ment intended to apply for economic take charge of the Ministry of For- it in human rights issues, fi nancial, But it gets to keep its competitively low corporation assistance from the EU, the Europe- eign Affairs a couple of years ago, military or political interactions. tax rate. an Central Bank (ECB) and the In- when his predecessor Ilkka Kaner- “Europe should not use human ternational Monetary Fund (IMF). va was forced to step down. One of rights as a political weapon,” Stubb The minister revealed the move in the youngest Foreign Ministers ev- said recently. “We need a new ap- STT will no doubt turn to Portugal who an interview with the Irish national er, Stubb’s start was also not so easy; proach – a dignifi ed foreign policy. MATTHEW PARRY – HT will also be offered loans at a more broadcaster RTE. Finland was leading the Organization This policy should be fi rmly rooted bearable rate. Lenihan did not go into specif- for Security and Co-operation in Eu- in our European values and take oth- THE EUROZONE’S recently approved “Of course, the best outcome ics on how much Ireland was re- rope (OSCE), with Stubb acting as its ers onboard in a spirit of respect and multi-billion-euro aid package for would be for the Irish package to questing, but he did say it was in the chair when the war between Russia dialogue,” he writes in the viewpoint Ireland will restore the confi dence calm the markets to such an extent tens of billions of euros. He also dis- and Georgia broke out. Predictably, article published in this week’s Hel- of the markets and buy time for the that special arrangements for Por- missed rumours that it would cross the OSCE gave Georgia its full sup- sinki Times. To succeed in an increas- one-time “Celtic Tiger” to knock its tugal aren’t even necessary.” the 100 billion mark. port, deciding to ignore any Georgian ingly multipolar world, Europe has to economy back into shape. This is the Heiskanen notes that Europe’s OP-Pohjola Group’s Heiskanen complicity in starting the war. put its own house in order and speak verdict of Reijo Heiskanen, head decision makers want the string of estimates the fi nal fi gure will be The global fi nancial crisis has, how- with one voice, he adds. economist of the OP-Pohjola Group, bailouts to end with Portugal. If any somewhere in the vicinity of 50-70 ever, affected the tone of the European Read the full article on page 2. who adds that Ireland is now facing of the larger European countries billion euros. It may take a couple of a punishing period of austerity that end up in trouble, the entire euro- weeks of negotiation before the pre- will include both spending cuts and zone would collapse. cise fi gure comes to light. tunity for the public to refresh their tax hikes. Lenihan observed that in or- awareness of everyday fi re safety Heiskanen predicts that Por- Corporation der to survive the crisis Ireland skills and learn more about the ac- tugal will be next in line to tap the tax rate left untouched will need to carry out structural re- tivities of their local fi re brigade. The pan-European fund. The Irish cabinet held an emergen- forms in its banking sector. But he SEPPO SAMULI day will be organised by the Finnish Portugal also has to pay high cy meeting last Sunday evening to stressed that the country’s low cor- National Rescue Association SPEK, rates of interest on its government thrash out a plan to bring govern- poration tax rate – a bone of con- the insurance company If, and par- bonds due to market scepticism. ment debt under control. It aims to tention in other European capitals ticipating stations. As soon as Ireland’s problems have save 15 billion euros by the end of – would remain untouched. This year’s theme – Koti on Pop or been brought under control, gazes 2014. Read more on page 16. “Home is Hip” – focuses on safety in the home. Fire safety offi cials stress that safety need not come at the cost tle as 12 years. Previously only a of comfort and convenience. Debate continues on Finland’s pardon from the President of Fin- Chance to learn According to SPEK, around land could grant the early release of 6,000-7,000 fi res occur in Finnish life sentence and parole laws someone serving a life term in jail. more about buildings annually. More than 95 Following the shooting by pa- per cent of fi re-related deaths take LOUISA GAIRN lation of “lifers” triple in the last ten roled murderer Esa Åkerlund at fire safety place in a home environment. An av- HELSINKI TIMES years despite reforms to the way the a Porvoo drive-through restau- STT erage of 87 people die in fi res in Fin- life-imprisoned are managed, and a rant in July this year, Finland’s life land each year, and the annual toll FINNISH housewife Anneli Auer long-standing government policy to sentencing policy has come under over the period 1997-2007 ranged was sentenced to life in prison ear- reduce the total prison population renewed public scrutiny, while else- NEARLY 300 fi re stations across from 75 to 126 lives. lier this month for the violent mur- in Finland, which was previously where in the EU experts are con- Finland will play host to the Day at Details about which fi re stations der of her husband in 2006. amongst the highest in Europe. sidering whether indeterminate the Fire Station event on Saturday are taking part can be found online She joins a small but rising num- However, Finland’s parole laws, prison sentences should be abol- 27 November. Geared towards the at www.paivapaloasemalla.fi . ber of prisoners with life sentences which were reformed in 2006, mean ished altogether. whole family, the visit is an oppor- Read more on page 4. in Finland, which has seen its popu- that Auer could be released in as lit- Read more on page 7. 2 25 NOVEMBER – 1 DECEMBER 2010 VIEWPOINT HELSINKI TIMES even practices, in response to infl uence others, we have to to Chinese or Indian wishes – inspire them and lead by exam- if not ordered to do so by the ple. From a foreign-policy point WTO? It seems a bit unfair to of view, restoring European expect the others to do some- competitiveness, creating the thing that we aren’t prepared conditions for robust economic to do ourselves. growth and consolidating pub- lic fi nances are necessary to I WILL NOW turn to my third improve our credibility. and fi nal question, and prob- ably the most demanding WE HAVE to live up to our own question of the day: will the standards, be it on trade pol- Alexander Stubb is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Finland. emerging multipolar global icy or human rights. If we order also be multilateral? My want market access in the thesis is that we have no oth- emerging economies, we er choice. The current redis- must make sure that our own tribution of wealth and power markets remain open. And if is tied to an ever deeper glob- we want the Chinese to treat Towards a dignified foreign policy al interdependence.