The Somalis do not represent a homogenous group instead it consists of diverse clans. This is one reason why there are more than forty registered associations in Finland (Saksela 2003). Some of the associations have ceased due to clan disputes. In the mid 1990s the local authorities recognised that it is more or less impossible to reach a large number of different associations. Therefore they suggested the establishment of a coalition association. By the end of 1996 a coalition association called The Somali League of Finland (abbreviated here as The Somali League) was established by Somalis in Helsinki. It was registered one year later. The goals of the association are defined on their homepage as follows:
--- [T] he aim is to develop the activities in a direction where the association can better serve its members and make the Somali culture familiar for the Finns. Fighting against attitudes and improvement of the relations between the immigrant and the Finns is also another aim of the association56
(http://www.somaliliitto.fi/) The Somali League consists of twenty-three mono-ethnic Somali associations (Rönkkö 2005). It has around 1500 members, due to the fact that all who speak Somali as their native language in Finland are included as members. According to the Chair there are around three hundred active members (Interviewee 8). The association has a council consisting of forty-five members. The members of the council meet every third month. They are nominated by the board members. The board consists of eleven members including a Chair, a Vice- Chair and a secretary. Members of the association elect a new board every second year. It consists mainly of men, but the Chair emphasised that they were planning to involve more women onto the board. According to the Chair
55 the information of this association is gathered during the charting of immigrant association in finland (Saksela 2003), but it has been completed with additional information by an unpublished student work written by Ms. Katja rönkkö in 2005.
in Somalia the role of women in the official sphere has traditionally been visible. The association have three people who have received an employment contract from the employment office.
The Somali League has a small office premises in Helsinki city centre. It has been subsidised Ministry of Education. It organises bigger events in different premises in Eastern-Helsinki or at the International Culture Centre, Caisa. Eastern Helsinki is a suitable place for the association to organise its activities due to the high number of Somalis who live there. The main subsidy giver is the Ministry of Education for organising Finnish courses and IT courses. The association has also received financing through different projects. As a coalition association it is common that the activities are organised either by, or together with, its member associations and at their premises (Interviewee 8).
Activityforms
The Chair pointed out that the Somali League concentrates on organising societal services, such information, counselling, finding a job and organising of Finnish courses. So far the members of the association have not shown a big interest towards Finnish politics and also their political activities towards their home-country consist mainly of the sharing of news. Instead, the association focuses on educational and employment oriented activities, which are organised mainly for adults, but there are also societal and cultural activities for youth and children. Furthermore, the association takes into consideration the needs of Somali women by organising different kinds of empowering activities. A part of the association’s activity forms goes beyond the Finnish context. The association has also cooperation with other Somali associations in other Nordic countries and in Somalia (Interviewee 8).
The key role of The Somali League can be described as providing information for the Somalis. The association has an ‘information point’ in their office premises from where Somalis can ask for advice about Finnish labour policy. The association has also organised a seminar on labour law. They have invited a lawyer to discuss the legal system. The (Finnish) lawyer gives council at the office once a week concerning questions related to legal issues. Sometimes they have a voluntary interpreter who can help with the translation. Somalis can also contact the association if they have faced racism or discrimination.
The Somali League tries to help the victims together with the Finnish League of Human Rights (see also Rönkkö 2005).
The members of the association also follow the political system both in Somalia and in Finland. For example, the association has contacts with private persons and voluntary associations in Somalia and receives news of the current socio-economic and political situation. Beyond the exchange of news, the association takes part in different kinds of developmental projects and has taken part in organising the Somali Peace Conference for rebuilding the country. The Somali League shares information of the current situation with Somalis in Finland in joint seminars organised with Finnish refugee and development associations. In Finland, the association has contacted members from the Social Democratic Party and from the Swedish People’s Party. So far the members of the association do not have any common representative for Somalis, but the member highlighted that they are looking for somebody who could represent the common interests of the Somalis in Finland. Until now there are only two representatives for Somalis in Finland. The association has also organised seminars of the Finnish elections to its members. (Interviewee 8, Saksela 2003).
Beyond the above mentioned activity forms the association organises both social and cultural activities for children. The member associations organises for children cultural activities where they can learn Somali traditions and also the history of the country. One way to bring the Somali traditions closer to the children is by organising traditional parties, such as the celebration of Ramadan. Some of the member associations focus in particular on sporting activities. For example, the FC Somali association has organised football tournaments for Somali children from five municipalities from Southern Finland. Somali parents have also taken up the issue of the integration of youth. The association has organised seminars focusing on youth issues were both social workers and social scientists have taken part. (Interviewee 8, Saksela 2003).
The association also aims to improve the participation of Somali women. They have also organised IT-courses and Finnish language courses for women amongst other things. These courses were organised in the premises
of a member association. At the beginning of the 21st century the number of Somali women’s associations increased in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Some of these associations are member associations of the The Somali League of Finland.
Cooperation
The association has a network of contacts both at local, national and transnational levels. At local level the core contacts are the Helsinki City Immigration Unit. The association has received help from them in the organisation of courses and information concerning employment. The association collaborates with the Human Rights League and with the Finnish Red Cross in cases where their members have faced racism and discrimination. Between the years 2003 to 2005 the Somali League took part in the Majakka Beacon project, which was coordinated by the Rehabilitation Foundation and financed by the European Social Fund. (This was part of the EQUAL programme). The aim of the project was to improve the access for finding a job. One of the common outcomes between the association and the Rehabilitation Foundation was the establishment of a Somali broadcast. This is a local broadcast in the Helsinki region and gives information twice a week about courses and seminars related to employment amongst other things. Another outcome of the project was a collection of labour experiences from Somalis working in the Finnish labour market. The stories were collected in a report, which was shared among Somalis, employment offices and different employees. (Interviewee 8, Saksela 2003, Annual report of the Somali League of Finland 2007)
The Somali League has recognised the need for information and news among the Somalis. The establishment of the radio broadcast has been realised through cooperation between the association and the Majakka Beacon project and has proved to be a valuable way to share information. The radio programmes focus on activities organised by the Somali League of Finland and on different kinds of empowerment activities, such as courses, employment advertisements etc. Beyond their own broadcast, the association also has a newsletter that comes out four times a year. According to the Chair the main sources of sharing information consist of the broadcast.
At the national level The Somali League has contacts with Ministries, members of Parliament, the Police and with the office of the Ombudsman for the Minorities. The association has also a representative at ETNO. The association planned to establish a working group together with the Ministry of the Interior to fight against racism and discrimination. The aim of the working group is to solve possible disputes between Finns and Somalis. They have also received financing from the Ministry of Education to organise IT and language courses. The association is also in contact with Directorate
of Immigration (since the beginning of 2008: Finnish Immigration Service).
The Chair pointed out that Somalis have complained of problems with the Directorate of Immigration, in particular for obtaining a passport or a visa. Normally the passport process should not take longer than three years, but there have been cases where some Somalis have waited for more than six years. Whatsmore, some of the members had experienced unequal treatment between those Somalis who had a Finnish citizenship and with those who had not. The Chair of the association complained that their members have found the client service by the Directorate of Immigration poor. For example, they had not been told at what stage they were in the passport process. It can be very frustrating to wait at home without knowing if it will take one or five years to get a passport. Another kind of problem had occurred with the Border Guard. According to the Chair of the Somali League some Somalis had complained that they had been treated by the guards in a discriminating way. The association had contacted the Ombudsman for Minority Affairs. As an outcome of the meeting the association was asked by the Institution of Border Control to organise an educational seminar for the guards. (See also Rönkkö 2005).
Finnish voluntary associations, such as the Finnish Red Cross, the Finland- Somali friendship association and the International Culture Centre – Caisa are all important partners in planning and organisation seminars or other events on Somali culture. For example, in 2003 the association organised with Finland-Somalia Association and World Health Organisation, a seminar of the current socio-economic conditions in Somalia. Caisa has offered premises for the association to organise bigger events and seminars. The
smaller events are normally organised in the premises of one of the member associations. According to the Chair the association mainly has contact with Finnish voluntary associations but fairly little contact with other immigrant associations. However they have cooperated with an association for Iranian and Iraqi people and an Ingrian association during the Majakka-Beacon project. (Interviewee 8, Saksela 2003, Annual report 2007).
Beyond the local and national contacts, the transnational contacts are also an important method to keep in touch with other Somalis living in the diaspora as well as Somalis in the members’ homeland. The association has a development project together with Somali associations from Sweden and Norway to rebuild the country. The coalition association for Somalis also aims to support the re-establishment of a university in Somalia. Furthermore, its member association has also development projects which focus on the empowerment of women and youth, because these two groups are vulnerable to marginalisation. (Interviewee 8, Saksela 2003).
Collectiveinterestsguidingtowardscollectiveaction
The association highlights the importance of the inclusion of Somalis into Finnish society and to make the Somali culture familiar to the Finns. The importance of mutual understanding of each others customs, traditions and how Finnish society functions is emphasised not only by the Chair of the association but also in their annual reports, homepage, radio programmes and in description of projects etc. There is a natural explanation for this: the cultural differences. In addition, the Somalis arrived to Finland as refugees and not as voluntary immigrants. Therefore, the coalition association focuses – almost exclusively – on the improvement of mutual interaction between the Somalis and the Finns. The smaller member associations however, have more specific interests focusing on certain groups, such as women or children, or on a common interest such as sports. The common collective goals can be described as ‘supportive’ and ‘informative’. The former includes activities, which aim to help both Somalis living in Finland and in Somalia to find a place in their societies. The focus is more on Somalis living in Finland, but the transnational development projects are also fairly common, in particular among the member associations.
As earlier mentioned, the goal of the association is to create interaction between Finns and Somalis. For example, highlighted on their homepage is ‘to familiarise Finns with the Somali culture’, but so far, based on the information received, the focus has been mainly the authorities rather than the majority population. Additionally, the association encourages its members to join in and celebrate the Finnish holidays and become familiar with Finnish society and culture. The association has several informal and formal contacts at local, national and transnational levels. This umbrella association shares a common problem with other immigrant associations, namely the financing of projects. Despite the fairly large number of contacts, only a few of them have become project partners. One reason may be that this coalition association focuses more on representation of its member associations, which in turn organise more concrete projects.