The Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee (), also known by its Finnish abbreviation SAFKA, is a radical political organisation operating in Finland, founded in 2008 and registered in 2011. According to the Chairperson

Johan Bäckman Erkki Johan Bäckman (born 18 May 1971) is a Finnish and Russian political activist, propagandist, author, eurosceptic, and convicted stalker working for the Russian government. Bäckman has been a prominent Finnish propagandist in Russia who h ...

the committee has twenty activists and about a hundred supporters. In their first manifest from December 2008, they condemned the following phenomena as fascist:

school shooting A school shooting is an Gun violence, armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shooti ...

s, political activism against the

Paris Peace Treaty The Paris Peace Treaties () were signed on 10 February 1947 following the end of World War II in 1945. The Paris Peace Conference lasted from 29 July until 15 October 1946. The victorious wartime Allied powers (principally the United Kingdom, ...

, as well as the death of the

political left Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

. Some members of the group consider the 1917

Bolshevik revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

as "social progress" and views the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as a "utopia that was realized in the Swedish welfare state". The group has been heavily criticized in the Estonian media as being "

neo-Stalinist Neo-Stalinism is the promotion of positive views of Joseph Stalin's role in history, the partial re-establishing of Stalin's policies on certain or all issues, and nostalgia for the Stalinist period. Neo-Stalinism overlaps significantly with n ...

". The number of activists in the group is not announced, however at least Johan Bäckman, , Petri Krohn and Tommi Lievemaa are members.

Activities

On 23 March 2009, Safka staged a protest in central Helsinki together with Nochnoy Dozor and Nashi against a seminar arranged by the Estonia's embassy in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

discussing the Soviet deportations from Baltic states.

Eesti Ekspress ''Eesti Ekspress'' (''Estonian Express'') is an Estonian weekly newspaper. Founded in 1989, ''Eesti Ekspress'' was the first politically independent newspaper in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Soviet control of Estonia. Th ...

17 March 2009
Soome ekstremist tahab Eesti seminari ajal putinjuugendi Helsingi tänavatele tuua
, edited by Askur Alas Safka claimed in its blog that the event "worshipped Nazi ideology" and was "anti-Russian" in nature. The protest was joined by the prospective Finnish Islamic Party represented by Abdullah Tammi The protest, although attended by only a few dozen protesters received huge media interest in Finland. In comparison, the seminar drew about 300 people.

Manifests and declarations

Most of SAFKA's public declarations concern the

Republic of Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, the

history of Estonia The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Human settlement in what is now Estonia became possible 13,000–11,000 years ago, after the ice from the last Ice age, glacial era had melted, and signs of the first permanent popula ...

, and Estonia's right to exist as a sovereign country. During their demonstrations in Helsinki, SAFKA delivered a manifesto entitled "Manifest of antifascists in Helsinki", signed by seven organisations calling themselves "anti-fascist committees" throughout Europe, condemning what they claim as "apartheid policies of Estonia and Latvia". The manifest claimed that the "attempt of the Baltic regimes at equating Communism with Fascism is a form of Holocaust denial as it denies the unique nature of Nazi crimes". Following the publication of the final report of the

Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic S ...

, SAFKA claimed that its chairman, the Finnish diplomat and one-time UN Secretary-General candidate

Max Jakobson Max Jakobson (September 30, 1923 – March 9, 2013) was a Finnish diplomat and journalist of Finnish-Jewish descent. Jakobson was an instrumental figure in shaping Finland's policy of neutrality during the Cold War. Max Jakobson was born in ...

, is the "ideological father of the criminal apartheid regime of Estonia" and gave him the "misanthropist of the year" award.

Political ambitions

The committee supported Johan Bäckman in his bid for

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

elections.

Estonian media reception

According to

Delfi Delfi (occasionally capitalized as DELFI) is a news website in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania providing daily news, ranging from gardening to politics. It ranks as one of the most popular websites among Baltic users. Delfi operates in the re ...

, the committee specialises in justifying

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, particularly reinterpreting the

Soviet deportations from Estonia Soviet deportations from Estonia were a series of mass deportations in 1941 and 1945–1953 carried out by Joseph Stalin's government of the former USSR from then Soviet-occupied Estonia. The two largest waves of deportations occurred in June 1 ...

as benign

DELFI Delfi (occasionally capitalized as DELFI) is a news website in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania providing daily news, ranging from gardening to politics. It ranks as one of the most popular websites among Baltic users. Delfi operates in the re ...

23 March 2009 12:37
Bäckman: küüditamine oli päästmine sõja eest
/ref> and making accusations regarding supposed human rights violations in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Journalist Heiki Suurkask, writing for ''

Eesti Päevaleht (Estonia Daily) is a major daily Estonian newspaper, from the same publishers as the weekly '' Eesti Ekspress''. Another newspaper under the same name is published weekly in Stockholm, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is ...

'', has characterised the organization as

27 March 2009
Stalinism sünnib Soomes uuesti
by Heiki Suurkask

Alleged connections to former KGB affiliates

SAFKA's alleged ties with former

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

affiliates have been discussed in the press. In particular, Abdullah Tammi (born Risto Tammi), a self-identified former KGB informant, participated in one of their demonstrations.

's book The Bronze Soldier, which brought the committee to limelight, was published by Estonian publishing house Tarbeinfo; Tarbeinfo's primary owner is Vladimir Illyashevich, a former

First Department The First Department () was in charge of secrecy and political security of the workplace of every enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union that dealt with any kind of technical or scientific information (plants, R&D institutions, etc.) ...

KGB operative.

Members in politics

Three members of Safka unsuccessfully ran in the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

got 554 votes (146th of 233) and Leena Hietanen got 247 votes (156th of 233) on the

Workers Party of Finland Workers' Party of Finland (, ) was a left-wing political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 2006 as a successor to the Alternative League (1999–2006). In the 2007 Finnish parliamentary election, 2007 parliamentary election the party obta ...

list. Tommi Lievemaa got 204 votes (181st of 233) on the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

list.Safka: Safkalle tuhat ääntä (in Finnish)
/ref> In March 2011, Safka announced it has four candidates for the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Early voting, Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout o ...

on the

list. Candidates were theater and film director Jussi Parviainen, Johan Bäckman, priest Juha Molari and Anton Salonen's mother Rimma Salonen. Parviainen got 457 votes, but other members got only few dozens votes.

Sister organisations

SAFKA has sister organisations in the Baltic states, including the Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee, the Latvian Anti-Fascist Committee and Nochnoy Dozor.

References

Sources

Postimees is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 employees. ''P ...

/ BNS 14 February 2009 18:43
Öine Vahtkond kavandab ühistegevusi Soome Kremli-meelsetega
*

17 March 2009 14:14
Bäckman: Eesti kavandab Helsingis provokatsiooni
*

18 March 2009 16:45
Üheskoos Eesti vastu: antifašist Bäckman ja natsimeelne Teinonen
edited by Askur Alas *

Helsingin Sanomat , abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of the Finnish capital ...

Russian nationalists plan Helsinki protest
*

19 March 2009: 16:0
Uurija: marginaalne Naši üritab tähelepanu saada
*

22 March 2009: 14:5
Soome politsei: Naši üritus pole midagi erilist
*

23 March 2009 08:50
Helsingi politsei valmistub Putini-noorte meeleavaldusteks
edited by Mari Kamps *

23 March 2009 12:43
Räige Eesti-vastane kampaania käib kolmes riigis korraga
, edited by Askur Alas *

23 March 2009 13:04–15:24
Viro-kirjan julkaisu keräsi Sanomataloon 300 hengen yleisön
*

Hufvudstadsbladet ''Hufvudstadsbladet'' (abbr. ''HBL'') is the highest-circulation Swedish language, Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "Jo ...

23 March 2009 13:31–16:48
Tyst protest av Putinunga
by Staffan Bruun and Marcus Lillkvist

External links

Official website
, with some information in English {{Authority control Finnish activists Political advocacy groups in Finland Anti-fascist organizations 2008 establishments in Finland Political organizations established in 2008