Anti-Finnish sentiment

Anti-Finnish sentiment (sometimes known as Fennophobia) is the hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed against Finns, Finland, or Finnish culture.

Estonia

In recent^[when?] years, anti-Finnish sentiment has grown in Estonia, particularly in areas with many Finnish tourists and residents.

Finnish tourists and residents have experienced verbal harassment and at times physical violence.^[1]

Norway

Finns have been emigrating to Norway since at least the 11th century. There exists a Finnish minority in Norway, the Kvens. Speaking a Finnish dialect or a closely related Finnic language (their form of speech is now called Kven) was forbidden in Norway, and they experienced discrimination.^[2] Before WW2, Norway feared mass immigration and invasion from Finland. This was used as an excuse to discriminate against Kvens.^[3]

Russia and the Soviet Union

The Russian word chukhna (чухна́) is a derogatory term for Finnish and Finnic people.^[4] The ministry for foreign affairs of Russia called for Russians to not use the word.^[5]^[6]

Ingrian Finns were heavily persecuted in Soviet Russia, including being subject to forced deportations.^[7] 8,000–25,000 Finns were killed during the Great Purge, including the Finnish Operation of the NKVD. (These numbers are estimates; official numbers might be much higher)^[8]

Agnessa Haikara wrote a documentary book Who is Knocking at Your Door? about Murmansk Finns and Kola Norwegians repressed in the Soviet Union, for which she was prosecuted in Russia.^[9]

Sweden

During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a significant influx of Finnish economic migrants into Sweden. Between 1950 and 1980 the number of Finns in Sweden increased from 45,000 to over 300,000.^[10] Attitudes towards Finnish immigrants were quite negative in Sweden. Derogatory expressions en finne igen ('yet another Finn') and finnjävel (equivalent to 'Finnish bastard' or 'Finnish devil') were commonly used.^[11]^[12] An anthology, Finnjävlar, was published, in which 15 Finns in Sweden describe their lives and lives of their parents in Sweden.^[13] In Sweden, the Tornedalians were also once seen as an inferior race and speaking Finnish was banned in school.

Both Finnish and Meänkieli (spoken in Meänmaa) became official minority languages of Sweden in 2000, and the Swedish state started an investigation into the historical treatment of Finns and Tornedalians in 2020.^[14]^[15]

Finnjävel

Finnjävel (singular) and finnjävlar (plural) are derogatory terms used in Sweden for Finnish immigrants, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s. In this context, jävel or djävel, meaning something like 'bastard', is a generic strong insult.^[16]

United States

The prominent role of Finnish immigrants in the 1907 and 1916 Mesabi Range strikes in Minnesota led to blacklisting of Finns. It was a time of anti-Finnish sentiment in the area, and one could see signs "No Indians or Finns allowed".^[17] They were also involved with the union, which the exploitative mining companies heavily disliked. In response to the union, the Finns earned a bad reputation among the companies. The fact that the Finnish language is a Finno-Ugric language and not related to most other European languages was used as proof that the Finns were not European, and thus fair subjects of discrimination.^[18]^[19]

China Swede

China Swede was a derogatory term used for Finnish immigrants in the United States during the early 1900s,^[20]^[21] particularly in northern Minnesota and Upper Michigan.^[22] Another term was roundhead.^[23]^[24]

Jackpine savage

The term jackpine savage was used in northern Minnesota during the early 1900s, referring to the term Indian savage used for Native Americans. Finnish businesses were also harassed with the pretext that they were illegally dealing liquor to Native Americans.^[25]

References

^ "Jokin Tallinnassa muuttui parissa vuodessa - Vironsuomalaiset ilmapiirin kiristymisestä: "Enää ei arastella sanoa suoraan, jos suomalainen ei miellytä"". Iltalehti (in Finnish).
^ "Suomalaissyntyiset syrjittyinä Norjassa". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "Nasjonalbiblioteket". www.nb.no. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "Tšuhna". www.suomisanakirja.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "Venäjän ulkoministeriö varoittaa: Älä käytä ryssä-sanaa – älä viittilöi, äläkä melua". Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 24 March 2017. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ Savolainen, Veikko (2017-03-24). "Venäjän ulkoministeriö varoittaa sanomasta: - Hui, tsuhna ja ryssä!". Uusi Suomi Puheenvuoro (in Finnish). Retrieved 2021-09-20.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Inkerin kansan raskas tie – paluumuuton takaraja loppui tänä kesänä". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
^ Torvinen, Pekka (2021-01-27). "Stalinin vainoissa kuolleiden tai kadonneiden suomalaisten vaiheiden selvittämistä jatketaan". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
^ В Финляндии вышла запрещенная в РФ книга Агнессы Хайкара о репрессированных кольских финнах
^ Lehtinen, Lasse (8 May 2017). "Lasse Lehtisen kolumni: Suomensukuisten pakolaisten pahat teot". Ilta-Sanomat.
^ "En Finne Igen" suomi24, December 28, 2007
^ "Too many Finnish politicians and parties are ignorant of their country's migrant and refugee history". September 29, 2014.
^ Radio, Sveriges (10 October 2016). "Finnjävlar-antologia kirjoittaa uusiksi Ruotsin suomalaisten historiaa - Sisuradio". Sveriges Radio.
^ "SVT: Ruotsin hallitus selvittää suomalaisvähemmistön kohtelua – Suomalaisille tehtiin pääkallonmittauksia eikä suomen kieltä saanut puhua". 14 February 2020.
^ "Ruotsi aloittaa selvityksen suomalaisvähemmistön kohtelusta – rotubiologit määrittivät suomalaiset ruotsalaisia alempiarvoisiksi".
^ "Artisans created all the dishes and other objects for Finnjävel restaurant". Helsinki Design Week. 7 April 2016.
^ Scorich, Jason (January 13, 2016). "Mesaba Co-op Park". MNopedia. Minnesota Historical Society.
^ "How Finnish immigrants battled racism to help build America". Ink Tank. 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "MPR: Finland Was a Poor Country". news.minnesota.publicradio.org. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "MPR: Finland Was a Poor Country". News.minnesota.publicradio.org. 1997-06-10. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
^ Nybergh, Thomas (2015-09-27). "How Finnish immigrants battled racism to help build America". Inktank.fi. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
^ Tristram McPherson; David Plunkett (24 August 2017). The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics. Taylor & Francis. pp. 349–. ISBN 978-1-351-81791-2.
^ The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics, 2017, p.934
^ "Finland Was a Poor Country: Part 2 By Mary Losure and Dan Olson June 10, 1997"
^ David R. Roediger (8 August 2006). Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White: The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs. Hachette UK. pp. 51–54. ISBN 9780786722105.

v t e Discrimination
Forms	Institutional Structural Statistical Taste-based
Attributes	Age Caste Class Dialect Disability Genetic Hair texture Height Language Looks Mental disorder Race / Ethnicity Skin color Scientific racism Rank Sex Sexual orientation Species Size Viewpoint
Social	Arophobia Acephobia Adultism Anti-albinism Anti-autism Anti-homelessness Anti-drug addicts Anti-intellectualism Anti-intersex Anti-left handedness Anti-Masonry Aporophobia Audism Biphobia Clannism Elitism Ephebiphobia Social determinants of health Social determinants of health in poverty Social determinants of mental health Fatphobia Gayphobia Gerontophobia Heterosexism HIV/AIDS stigma Homophobia Leprosy stigma Lesbophobia Discrimination against men Misandry Misogyny Nepotism Pedophobia Perpetual foreigner Pregnancy Sectarianism Supremacism White Male Transphobia Non-binary Transmisogyny Trans men Vegaphobia Xenophobia
Religious	Atheism Exclusivism Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Christianity Persecution Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Jehovah's Witnesses LDS or Mormon post–Cold War era Falun Gong Hinduism Persecution Untouchability Islam Persecution Ahmadiyya Shi'ism Sufism Sunnism minority Muslim Judaism Persecution Neopaganism Protestantism Rastafari Sikhism Yazidism Zoroastrianism
Ethnic/National	Afghan African Albanian Arab Armenian Asian France South Africa United States Assyrian Azerbaijani Black people African Americans China South Africa Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chechen Chinese Colombian Croat Filipino Fulani Finnish Georgian Greek Haitian Hazara Hungarian Igbo Indian Indigenous people Australia Canada United States Irish Italian Japanese Jewish Antisemitism New Korean Kurdish Lithuanian Malay Māori Mexican Middle Eastern Mongolian Nigerian Pakistani Palestinians Pashtun Polish Quebec Romani Romanian Scottish Serb Slavic Somali Tatar Thai Turkish Ukrainian Uyghur Venezuelan Vietnamese Welsh
Manifestations	Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric SPLC-designated list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups Anti-LGBTQ movemenet in the US Anti-trans movement in the UK Anti-Zionism Blood libel Bullying Cancel culture Capital punishment for homosexuality Compulsory sterilization Corrective rape Counter-jihad Cultural genocide Defamation Democide Disability hate crime Dog whistle Domicide Economic Education Employment Eliminationism Enemy of the people Ethnic cleansing Ethnic conflict Ethnic hatred Ethnic joke Ethnocide Excellence Gender-based dress codes Cosmetics policy High heel policy Forced conversion Freak show Gay bashing Gendercide Genital modification and mutilation Genocide examples Glass ceiling Hate crime LGBTQ Hate group Hate speech Homeless dumping Housing Indian rolling Kill Haole Day Lavender scare LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory List of people killed for being transgender Lynching Mortgage Murder music Native American mascots Occupational segregation Opposition to immigration Persecution Pogrom Political repression Purge Racialization Religious persecution Religious terrorism Religious violence Religious war Scapegoating Segregation academy Sexual harassment Sex-selective abortion Slut-shaming Trans bashing Victimisation Violence against women White flight White genocide conspiracy theory Wife selling Witch hunt
Discriminatory policies	Age of candidacy Blood purity Blood quantum Crime of apartheid Disabilities Catholic Jewish Gender pay gap Gender roles Gerontocracy Gerrymandering Ghetto benches Internment Jewish quota Law for Protection of the Nation MSM blood donation restrictions No kid zone Numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) One-drop rule Racial quota Racial segregation Jim Crow laws Nuremberg Laws Racial steering Redlining Same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) Segregation age racial religious sexual Social exclusion Sodomy law State atheism State religion Ugly law Voter suppression
Countermeasures	Affirmative action Anti-discrimination law Anti-racism Constitutional colorblindness Cultural assimilation Cultural pluralism Diversity, equity, and inclusion Diversity training Empowerment Fat acceptance movement Feminism Fighting Discrimination Hate speech laws by country Human rights Intersex human rights LGBT rights Nonviolence Racial integration Reappropriation Self-determination Social integration Toleration
Related topics	Allophilia Amatonormativity Bias Cisnormativity Civil liberties Dehumanization Diversity Multiculturalism Neurodiversity Ethnic penalty Figleaf Gender-blind Heteronormativity Historical eugenics Internalized oppression Intersectionality Masculism Medical model of disability autism Net bias Oikophobia Oppression Police brutality Political correctness Polyculturalism Power distance Prejudice Prisoner abuse Racial bias in criminal news in the United States Racism by country Racial color blindness Religious intolerance Reverse discrimination Reverse racism Second-generation gender bias Snobbery Social exclusion Social identity threat Social model of disability Social privilege Christian male white Social stigma Speciesism Stereotype threat The talk
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