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No Unfriendly Facts. The Image of “Blacks” and Soviets in Finnish Caricature 1956-1990
Notwithstanding, the Helsingin Sanomat finally got enough of Kari. One rather
simple caricature of the Somalis overstepped the limit of its line of decency and the
caricature was shelved. In consequence, Kari resigned, after 37 years of service, and
started a career as a freelance caricaturist in 1991. Figure 4 shows the notorious
(shelved) caricature.
Figure 4
Two Finnish policemen come across two Somali refugees. Seeing the Somalis
laughing their heads off, one of the policemen is baffled and comments: “I only
asked for their visas” (explanation: the Somalis laugh, because they think that ask¬
ing visas is stupid: they do not need them).
Kekkonen and Khrushchev
Kari could be characterized as deeply conservative. He railed against pornography,
sexual freedom, pacifism, and all aspects of feminism and green ideology. He was
in a position to overstep the limits of good taste and innocent ridicule, limits that
a politician, a political scientist, or a commentator did not dare overstep. This ap¬
plied also to the Soviets: in Kari’s caricatures they used Finns as puppets in their
political machinations. Finnish foreign politics appeared to be subjected to Soviet
expectations, and their primacy in dealing with power relations also in the internal
politics of Finland made him disgusted. Experiences in the wars against the Soviet
Union enhanced Kari’s anti-Russian attitudes, and he opposed all friendly, brother¬
ly gestures and co-operation with the “Old Foe”, thus positioning himself in sharp
opposition with the official political line. In addition, he criticized the lowering of
the defence budgets and castigated peace movements and ridiculed the “artificial”
European Union (it would not help Finland when the Soviets threatened Finnish
independence).
During the 1950s there existed the unwritten rule in Finnish media that presi¬
dents of Finland could not be drawn in caricatures. When Kekkonen was elected
president in 1956, Kari hesitated to start drawing him, but because Helsingin Sa¬
nomat was not a party paper it allowed him to do so and, thereafter, Kekkonen
became Kari’s favourite object of ridicule, which he did not only in humorous but
also in incisive ways. In many such caricatures Kekkonen featured with “friends”,
the Soviet leaders; one of the most controversial of such caricatures dates from the
time of the so-called Night Frost Crisis in 1958-1959 (Kallenautio 2005: 93-99).
It shows Kari at his best, using a caricature to communicate something that cannot
be put into words. The context of the crisis was as follows: it started in August 1958
when the government of Finland was “unaccepted” by the Soviet Union. It was be¬
cause in Finland’s government there were right-wing social democrats (nominated
by the war-criminal and party leader, Vainé Tanner), and because the Communist
Party, which had won the elections, had not gained any portfolios in it. Also one
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