Helvetin Pastori/Pastor of Hell

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything. So, where have I been? Well, apart from school, I recently got a part time job, which has limited my already limited free time even more. I was also sick for a week, which is something that normally doesn't happen to me. So quite simply, I haven't had the time, the energy or the motivation to really focus on writing anything.   That being said, I'm back and as the title suggests, there have been some interesting developments in Finnish politics, which I've been planning to cover for a while. First, let's start with Paavo Väyrynen. You may remember that he was one of the candidates in the recent presidential election, and that in my posts about the election, I gave him some special attention (links at the end).  The reason is pretty much the outcome of the election. Since it was pretty clear from the beginning that president Sauli Niinistö would win re-election, the election lacked that sense of heightened e...

You know, when I started this blog, I wasn't planning on conscription being this big of a topic. But, since it seems to be a gift that keeps on giving, I see no reason to stop talking about this. Especially after the recent court case where a conscientious objector had charges dropped against them, which I covered in my previous post , the discussion has reached new heights. While I'm happy that this seems to have fueled the discussion to another level, this has led to some questionable actions by the government. As I said, I've already covered this case in more detail in the post linked above, so I'm not going into detail here. In summary, while Finland still retains conscription, Jehovah's Witnesses have been exempt from service since 1987. This has caused some controversy and over the years, multiple total objectors, meaning people who refuse both military and the alternative service, have argued that the practice is discriminatory towards other convictions an...

On the 23rd of February 2018, the Helsinki Court of Appeals made a land mark decision. The court acquitted a total objector, meaning a person who refuses both military and the alternative civil service, from charges on "refusal of civil service", on which he had previously been sentenced to 173 days in prison. This is the first time this has happened, so the question is, what does this decision mean for the future? First some background information. In my first post on this matter , I mentioned that Jehovah's Witnesses have been exempt from conscription since 1987. This is because back in the day, Witnesses were practically the only group of total objectors in the country. Just like today, the system received a lot of criticism on human rights violations, not the least of which was directed towards the practice of imprisoning  total objectors. In an effort to end the criticism, the Finnish government at the time passed a law which allows Jehovah's Witnesses to avo...

Earlier this year, the youth organization for the National Coalition (referred to as "the organization" from now on) gave a statement, saying that conscription needs to be updated for today's society and that the government should start the process during this election cycle. While one organization giving statements like this might not seem like such a big deal, there are a couple of reasons why this might be significant in the future. For one, making changes to conscription or abolishing it has mostly been an issue talked about by the political left. The National Coalition on the other hand is basically a center-right party, meaning these statements are coming from the other side of the political spectrum. It's also one of the largest parties in the country, currently holding the second highest number of seats in parliament and is one of the three parties forming the governing coalition. Also, this statement is coming from the party's youth organization, essent...

Alkuvuodesta Kokoomusnuoret antoivat lausunnon , jossa he vaativat asevelvolliduuden uudistamista. Heidän esittämänsä malli noudattaisi pitkälti Norjassa ja Ruotsissa käytössä olevaa, sekä miehiä että naisia koskevaa valikoivaa asevelvollisuutta, mutta erot Kokoomusnuorten ja ns. "Norjan mallin" välillä ovat lopulta melko suuria  Malli olisi parannus nykyisen järjestelmän lukuisiin ongelmiin, erityisesti ihmisoikeuksien saralla ja siksi olisin kyllä valmis tätä mallia ajamaan jos se saisi tuulta alleen. Tästä huolimatta vaikka Kokoomusnuorten malli ratkaisisikin nykyjärjestelmään liittyviä ongelmia, se tekee näin vain osittain. Juuri tämän takia tukeni mallille on varauksellista: vaikka se kieltämättä olisi askel oikeaan suuntaan, se jättää huomioimatta mielestäni hyvin merkittäviä ongelmia. Inspiraationa tähän kirjoitukseen oli yksittäinen reaktio, jonka sain Twitterissä aikaisemmin julkaisemaani asevelvollisuutta kritisoivaan kirjoitukseen . Yksi Twiittaamani linkin bonga...

Tästä aiheesta on tullut kirjoitettua englanniksi, mutta kirjoitetaanpa vaihteeksi suomeksi. Tiistaina 6.2 käsitellään Porvoon käräjäoikeudessä ainakin kolmen totaalikieltäytyjän tapausta. Aseistakieltäytyjäliitto on järjestämässä mielenosoitusta oikeustalon eteen ( tapahtuman Facebook sivu täällä ). Koska en itse omien menojen takia paikalle pääse, päätin valjastaa sosiaalisen median voiman puhuakseni asevelvollisuuden ongelmista, jotka monilta suomalaisilta tuntuu unohtuvan. Otetaan ensimmäiseksi käsittelyyn ihmisoikeudet. YK:n alaisuudessa toimivat YK:n Ihmisoikeuskomitea ja Ihmisoikeusneuvosto sekä Amnesty International ovat kiinnittäneet huomiota siviilipalveluksen pituuteen, jota kaikki järjestöt pitävät rangaistuksen omaisena. Tämä siksi, että siviilipalveluksen pituus on yli kaksinkertainen lyhinpään asepalveluksen kestoon verrattuna. Ihmisoikeussopimuksien perusteella vaihtoehtoinen palvelus asepalvelukselle ei saa olla kestoltaan syrjivä. Ymmärrettävästi, kaikki eivät nä...