Re: Shared Ethnic Minorities between Sweden and Finland
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalevi
Can't they? At least there's traditional Finnish presence in northern Sweden; the border between Finland and Sweden was defined by the Russian annexation of Finland in 1809, no language borders were taken into account. Before that the Finns there were subjects of the Swedish crown just like the rest of us. They are a traditional minority just like the Swedish speakers in Finland.
So, are you saying that if Finland was to be suddenly full of recent Swedish immigrants it would abolish the need for the rights of traditional Swedish speakers? If not, I ask again: why is Finland's tendency towards unilingualism a problem while Sweden's present unilingualism is not?
|
I don't think that it's fair to compare recent immigrants with settlers of prehistoric times.
But the question is warranted. Prehistoric Finnish settlers in Sweden are comparable on similar grounds with Finlandswedes. Are you thinking about Tornedal Finns (Tornedalsfinnar)?
__________________
While the rest of mankind seeks for the sake of finding and of knowing, the Westerner of today seeks for the sake of seeking; the Gospel saying, 'Seek and ye shall find,' is a dead letter for him, in the full force of this phrase, since he calls 'death' anything and everything that constitutes a definite finality, just as he gives the name 'life' to what is no more than fruitless agitation.
René Guénon, East and West
|