Seite 469 [469]
No Unfriendly Facts. The Image of “Blacks” and Soviets in Finnish Caricature 1956-1990
idealized images of the Soviet Union were cherished. Lenin was made a cult figure,
appearing in history writing and in Kekkonen’s speeches as the “founding-father”
of Finland, and Stalin was called a friend of Finland. In Tampere, there still is the
only Lenin museum in Western Europe, mostly visited by American tourists (Hal¬
mesvirta 2009b: 417-421).
It is remarkable how this voluntary self-censorship not only was used in depict¬
ing Finnish-Soviet relations but was quite widespread in the formation of images or
stereotypes also of other foreigners towards whom official Finland was presupposed
to be friendly or “helping’—for example, asylum seekers from Africa (Somaliland)
or representatives of the so-called developing countries with which Finland had es¬
tablished relations (Tanzania). This policy was vociferously advocated by the greens
and the leftists (SDP, Finnish People’s Democratic Alliance, Communists) but sati¬
rized by Kari as naive, stupid, and wasteful, because it took away money that could
be better spent helping poor Finns.
In Finland, political caricatures became standard material in the leading news¬
papers when they replaced popular humorous magazines in the 1950s. Readers
found the caricatures suiting their political opinions in the paper of their party
or other organ of allegiance. This meant also that the rare profession of a sala¬
ried cartoonist, a caricaturist, was born. Some party rags and independent papers
had their own caricaturist who submitted a caricature at least three or four times
a week (Ylönen 2001: 262-263). A skilful caricaturist could become a kind of
trademark of the paper, giving it a special flavour, encapsulating otherwise obscure
and double-edged political matters in a humorous and easily intelligible way with¬
out necessarily following the political line of the paper. Occasionally, a cartoonist
could express something the editorial of a paper dare not say.
All main political parties had their own caricaturist from the 1950s on. The
Conservative Coalition Partys (Kokoomus) paper Uusi Suomi (‘New Finland’)
hired Olavi Hurmerinta (OH); the extreme left had Ilmari Nykänen (Ilmari),
propagating communism for Finland; Social Democrats (SDP) had Tapani Ko¬
vanen (Stefan); and the Agrarians (Keskustapuolue) had Georg Engestrém (Gee).
The party-independent paper with the widest circulation in Finland, Helsingin
Sanomat, enlisted Kari in 1950 (Ylönen 2001: 263). He was in a remarkably in¬
dependent position, not aligned to any party ideology, and remained in the paper
until 1990 when he resigned because one of his cartoons, commenting on the flow
of asylum seekers from Somaliland, appeared to insult the Finnish official policy
line at the time and was shelved by the editor. Defying official reprimand, the (in)
famous Kari was free to have quite a few critical and humoristic caricatures of
the “Blacks” and the Soviets published (see illustrations to this chapter and their
explanations).
467