This past Monday, Green Sisu and Viite organized a discussion with Green European Parliament candidate and former Green Party chair Maria Ohisalo on why Europe needs more immigration, and how we can make immigrants feel more welcome in Finland. A recording of the session can be found here. We had originally planned for Shawn Huff to participate as well, but an unfortunate scheduling conflict prevented him from taking part.
I encourage everyone to watch the whole thing, but many of the key points come up in the first five to ten minutes: as the current generation of europeans ages and the birthrate remains low, Europe needs immigrants to pick up the slack — yet racism remains a major obstacle, and the rise of the far right (fueled by that very racism) poses a major threat that has not been taken seriously enough in recent years. The discussion also touches on the practical benefits of diversity, challenges faced by immigrants and the difficulty of retaining immigrants, as well as addressing a number of questions from the audience, interviewing an immigrant guest, and asking Maria some just-for-fun questions near the end.
If you still aren't sure who to vote for tomorrow, you are heartily encouraged to check out both Maria Ohisalo and Shawn Huff! Additionally, if you live in Finland and are looking for a way to get involved with the Greens, we invite you to join Green Sisu or Viite.