Primario flujo variable

Establishment,goalsandorganisation

Arabic-Finnish Families association was established in 1999. The reason for

establishing an association for Arabic-Finnish families was to strengthen the contacts between the families, and at the same time to maintain the Arabic traditions and culture. The association strives to achieve the latter aim by organising cultural activities for children.

According to the Chair, the association has a firm structure consisting of a Chairman, a Vice-chair and a board consisting of seven members including a treasurer and secretary. The board does not include any women, although there are several women members of the association. Everyone who can speak Arabic or who are Arabs can apply to become a member. The Chair from the

58 the two first periods of etno or advisory Board for ethnic relations selected its members based on language groups and not on the basis of associations, but during the 3rd _{period (05/2005-05/2007)}

association pointed out that it is also recommended that people who intend to become members should be familiar with Arabic and Finnish manners. In the 2002 the association had eighteen families and by the end of 2007 the number had grown to forty-six families. The total number of registered members (adults) is ninety two, and including children (who are under fifteen) the number is 160. The majority of the members live in Helsinki (59 adults and 48 children); there are also several Arabic-Finnish families in Espoo (27 adults and 20 children) and four adults and two children in Vantaa. In addition the association has some members living in Lohja. The members pay an annual membership fee of 20 euros per family. (Interviewee 11, www.arabsu.org).

The Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association doesn’t have their own premises but it organises its monthly meetings either in cafés, the premises of the International Cultural Centre - Caisa or at someone’s home (interviewee 11). According to the Chair, finding premises is one of their biggest problems. They had organised their meetings a few times in the premises of Helsinki City. Another provider of premises has been Caisa where the association has organised its meetings. The association has received funding from the City of Helsinki to organise IT courses. In 2002 the association was still looking for premises for the IT-course, and a few years later they obtained premises from the activity centre in Leppävaara, (in the municipality of Espoo) as well as from Caisa and from a cultural centre in Eastern Helsinki. The majority of the associations’ activity forms are cultural and were organised without external subsidies.

Activityforms

The Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association can be described as a combination of societal and cultural activities and classified as an integrative association. It organises discussion events of differences between cultures and family lives, teaches children Arabic and Arabic culture. The focus is on the multicultural identity of children and on the communication of the parents. The association strives to organise activities, which do not focus on political or religious ideologies. The secretary of the association pointed out that:

---we explicitly do not have any kind of political or religious activities, in the case there are conflicts during our discussion then we will interrupt it (Interviewee 11)

The association highlights that Arabic and Finnish celebrations are one of the most important activity forms of the association. During these cultural celebrations people can learn about each other and their culture. In these celebration parties the members prepare food together, organise games and music events for children. Among the most important celebrations is Fitr, which is the celebration of the end of Ramadan and other religious parties, such as Eid al Adha59_{. The association also celebrates Finnish holidays such} as: Easter, the 1st _{of May and Christmas Day. Beyond the cultural and societal} celebrations, each year the association organises excursions for families to natural parks, the Zoo, etc. (See also www.arabsu.org).

The Chair pointed out that the main educational courses focus on children. The Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association organises ‘the Arabic language club’, which also includes information on Arabic culture and Islam. This course has been organised in the premises of the Mosque in Helsinki and in the activity centre of Espoo. These courses have been fairly popular and have consisted of twenty to twenty five children. Members of the association search for books, videotapes, educational programmes from Arabic speaking countries and also from Sweden, due to the fact that there are a large number of Arabic speakers and they have a broad range of material in libraries. For adults there are seminars on issues related to mixed marriages, cultural differences and ‘how to educate children between two cultures’ etc. According to the Chair, the association does not provide any official consultation. In addition to the seminars the association also organises IT courses for its members.

The main tools for sharing information is “face to face”, e-mails and by giving information about the activities on the website. The Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association does not have much contact with other associations.

59 at the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of eid al-adha (FestivalofSacrifice). it has its origin in the Koran were the Prophet abraham had to follow the command of allah and kill his own son. (http://islam.about.com/od/ hajj/a/adha.htm)

They have received some help from Islamic associations for organising celebrations or parties.

Creationofreciprocityasaformofcollectiveaction

In comparison to several other associations, Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association does not organise activities with focus on the inclusion of its members into the labour market or to Finnish society. Instead, the emphasis is on the multicultural families.

One reason for the lack of cooperation with other associations or Finnish civil servants may be that the focus of the association is much on the private sphere, such as family issues, home and children. This association does not show any particular signs of “strategic mobilisation”, such as claims making. Instead, it is more correct to discuss ‘micro-level mobilisation’, which has a focus on strengthening the contacts within Arabic-Finnish families. In other words, the aim of the mobilisation can be described as making the members aware of the existence of a multicultural identity and to show them that “mixed identity” can be a strength in a person’s life.

It is a bit surprising that the association does not take up the gender roles anywhere in their activity reports. Still, it does not mean that gender roles would not be discussed in their informal get together events of the association. After all, the Finnish and Arabic gender roles are quite different. Whatsmore, the Chair highlighted that the association does not organise any political or religious activities, but the educational part aimed at the children does include education on Islam.

In Arabic-Finnish Families’ Association the integrative interests take place mainly on the level of cultural interests. Apparently, the activities of the association have been fairly successful when the number of members has grown from thirty-two (in 2002) to ninety-two adults60 _{(in 2008). (In the} information from 2002, the children were not counted). Sometimes a few small activities can work as an efficient socialising tool to cross the cultural boundaries.