Lecture on the book Viheltäen lumisateessa / Silbando bajo la nieve

On August 31, the book Whistling Under the Snow (ed. Adrián Soto, 2023) was presented at the main public library of Helsinki, Oodi. The 288-page book and two large blocks of photographs, is a narrative exercise between recent history and journalism.

The rich testimonies of the protagonists also represent a rescue of memory. The book offers a background to the events of 1973, in both Chile and Finland. During a peak period of the Cold War, Finland opened its doors, for the first time in its history, to a small number of refugees from Chile. Now, half a century later, these refugees tell their personal story that is also collective.

 

Lanzamiento libro Silbando bajo la nieve al micrófono el editor Adrián Soto.
Photo © Luis Bustamante.

The book is bilingual, Finnish and Spanish and its name in Finnish is Viheltäen lumisateessa and Spanish is Silbando bajo la nieve. 

The following text is the presentation made by the editor, Adrián Soto, before the members of the Association of Spanish Teachers of Finland, in Helsinki, December 2, 2023

Many essayists and columnists advise us that we should go to the Greek classics to seek answers to the ills of modern society. I would like to start there. The first playwright of Classical Greece, Aeschylus, in the 5th century BC, upon being expelled from Athens, asked the question:
Can an strange land become our homeland?
The answer from us, Chilean refugees who arrived in Finland in the seventies, is Yes, it is possible, but the process is long and difficult.

The tragic events in Chile in September 1973 led the Finnish government at the time, headed by Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa, to accept one hundred refugees from Chile. Such a decision had significant importance in the recent history of Finland. From that moment on, policies towards refugees and later also immigration policies began to be forged and regulated.

Two years ago I received the task of editing the book about the Chilean exile in Finland. My first task was to carry out a search of secondary sources, that is, published literature. I must say that in addition to a couple of degree theses there are two publications that indirectly deal with the topic: The book Kuoleman Lista by Professor Heikki Hiilamo published in 2010 which deals with the work of the diplomat Tapani Brotherus in Chile after the military coup, and in which The television series Invisible Heroes is based, which premiered in April 2019.
In 2021, journalist Pirjo Houni published Salatu diplomattiaa, which is a biography of Tapani Brotherus and his long diplomatic career.

Nor have the ethnic groups settled in Finland published much, with the exception of the book Suomen tataarit (the Tatars of Finland), which recounts the 150 years since the arrival of this group to Finland, constituting the first Islamic community in the country. The book is the work of researcher Antero Leitzinger.
I told my compatriots that we should not wait 150 years to tell our story. What 50 years is enough for us!

Works on several archives 

After searching for secondary sources I went to the primary sources. For that, I did research work in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, in the archive of the Red Cross and in the Archive of Kalevi Sorsa. I also reviewed the newspaper archive of the time. From these investigations, article 2 of the book was born entitled: This is how the decision to receive refugees from Chile was made.

Finland knocked on many European doors, as it was organizing the great conference on Security and Cooperation (Etyk) that was finally held in 1975. In all European capitals the events in Chile had had a great impact. On October 23, 1973, Antti Lassila, division head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote a memorandum in which he proposed to the government to receive 30-40 refugees from Chile. In that memorandum Lassila stressed that a week earlier Switzerland had decided to receive 200 refugees from Chile. Switzerland was always an exception in Europe for not receiving refugees. On October 24, the Government of Kalevi Sorsa made the decision to receive one hundred refugees from Chile.

In Finland, to manage the arrival of refugees, two Special Commissions (Pakolaiskomissiot) were formed, the first was led by the Finnish Red Cross and the second by the Ministry of Labor.

The initial number of one hundred refugees was increased to 150 in 1976. The following year in 1977, Chile’s refugee program ended, whose number had increased by 182. By that same time, Sweden had received 2,648 refugees and France 2,021. The total cost of this operation to the Finnish public treasury was 2.5 million markaa, or about 400,000 euros.

In the seventies and eighties, a handful of Chileans arrived and, with the pain of broken dreams, began to forge new lives in these Nordic lands.
As exiles we have had to compose our lives through memory. Many of us have lived outside of real time, like living ghosts, with a suitcase ready for our return. Today the first refugees are all older people, so soon we will be gone. That is why we consider rescuing our memory.
But the exercise of rescuing memory is not easy. The exact time on calendars does not always agree with memory. Furthermore, the time of the exile clock has its own rhythm and its hands do not always move forward. It is an eternal battle against mirages.

We belong to a generation that dreamed of social reforms, but in response we received lead and savage repression. This included the loss of the country where our cultural roots were. Added to that was the loss of the utopia where our ideals were placed. All these elements are part of a bitter cocktail that Chilean refugees have had to drink from. These reflections can be found on page 87 of the book.

The book is divided into three well-defined parts, the first describes the background of the repressive policies in Chile and the dilemma of Finland’s decision to welcome refugees. In a second part, the life course of four refugees is described, two women and two men, who managed to develop their lives in very different work activities. in a cultural environment very different from what Chile could offer them.
In a third part is the cultural contribution of Chileans to the cultural media of Finland. We have the work of renowned artists, the 30 years of work of the Gabriela Mistral Children’s Club and the work of a good number of musicians. We can say that Latin American music also arrived with us, and that today, it is already part of the musical landscape of Finland.

The entire theme of the book is, from a graphic point of view, well documented. It contains two large blocks of photographs, one black and white for the period of the seventies and eighties; and a block of color photographs to document more recent times. Let me tell you that: being a bilingual book, Spanish-Finnish, it is, for you, an ideal work tool. The book contains 288 pages of which 60% are in Spanish and 40% in Finnish.

The book is well documented with photographs

The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile was tragically long-lived and installed a draconian economic model, an extreme neoliberalism, which still persists today, after 30 years of democratic regimes. The levels of inequality in Chile are simply scandalous. 1% of the population receives 29% of the national wealth annually.

Both cover of the book, designed by Kati Vera

Of the 182 Chileans who arrived as refugees, about 50 remained in Finland. A good number returned to Chile at the end of the dictatorship. In those 17 years of dictatorship, other refugees had formed Finnish families and return was no longer a simple thing. Later, as the years go by, the refugees also age. At 55 or 60 years old it is very difficult to start a new life in a country like Chile where 65% of the population is under 35 years old. As the years went by, the reality of the country also became blurred.

The motto or nickname of Whistling Under the Snow is a narrative exercise between recent history and journalism. At the time of our arrival, Finland was undergoing notable structural changes: It must be said that Finland in the seventies was politically and culturally speaking very different from the Finland we have today. This topic is well elaborated from page 42 onward.

The solidarity movement with Chile was transversal where all the living forces of society participated. And it lasted a whole decade. Afterwards, an attempt was made to emulate it, without results. The movement marked an entire generation of Finns and Chileans. The newspaper archive is very rich in testimonies.

The first months of our stay in Finland were marked by obvious uncertainty. The country was not prepared to receive us, and most of us had no real idea of where we were. The officials of the Red Cross and the Ministry of Labor improvised one day and the next as well. At the end of its activities in 1977, the second Special Commission became self-critical and regretted not having attended to the psychological and emotional side of the Chilean refugees. Several of the refugees arrived directly from the torture centers.

Another of the Commission’s recommendations was to teach mother tongue to school-age children. With the education of their native language, the child strengthens their self-esteem and will be better prepared for school life. This recommendation reached Parliament and a law was legislated in 1979, but at the beginning there were no Spanish teachers. From that moment on, the Gabriela Mistral Children’s Club was born to strengthen children’s Spanish and instruct them in Latin American culture. See page 150.

In 1972 Finland legislated a new and successful school law. 21 refugee children joined the classrooms. All the children who remained in Finland successfully completed the basic cycles of Finnish school. These boys and girls are currently 55-60 years old and are integrated into Finnish society. See page 37.

The Finnish authorities obtained valuable experiences with the Chilean refugees that could soon be put into practice with the arrival of the Vietnamese refugees at the end of the seventies. These teachings were also useful with the arrival of Somali refugees after the fall of the Soviet Union and of Kosovo Albanians in 1992, who arrived through international commitments.

Integration policies had to wait a long time. The first comprehensive law (kotouttamislaki) was only enacted in 1999, 25 years after our arrival. And the first law instructing municipalities to manage the arrival of foreigners was enacted in 1995 (kotikuntalakia 201/1994) twenty years after our arrival.

Ernest Hemingway. Papa, the Sea and the Tropic

This is the view that Hemingway had over Havana toward the Sea. ©Adrián Soto

Diaquirí-drink at Floridita-Bar. It tastes like in Hemingway´s time. ©Adrián Soto

Pics and text by Adrián Soto     The present article was published in the Finnish evening paper Ilta Sanomat on 17th of May, 2010. The Following are abstracts:

Just some 20 minutes drive from downtown Havana, is Finca Vigía, Nobel writer Ernest Hemingway´s home museum. Hemingway lived here the last 21 years before he committed suicide in July 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho.
The Finca, land property. was so dear to Hemingway that he wrote: “From here I can see the Sea and the Tropic vegetation. These give peace to my soul”. The property is four hectares, and there grow hundreds of palm trees, mango tree, and banana plants. The melodies of birds singing is all over. The place is a real oasis of peace  just beside the hurry and noisy Cuban capital city.
When the revolution conquest Havana, Hemingway saw it as a beside observer. He saw the Cuban youth rebelling against the old regime from Floridita-bar. In that bar he enjoyed daily is favourite drink, rum based Diaquirí. Today, Floridita is still open at the same place, and really has suffered very little changes from time of Hemingway. After the victory of the revolution, the writer got to know personally the revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, they even went occasionally fishing together. The restless soul of Hemingway got more calm with the years, it was by then when he bought Finca Vigía in 1939.
The finca is half hour drive from tiny fishing village Cogimar, where Hemingway anchored his beloved boat Pilar. In Cojimar lived also the sea captain Gregorio Fuentes, that is the main character in the book “The Old man and the Sea”. Because of the book Hemingway was awarded with the Pulietzer-prize and later in 1954 with the Nobel Prize of literature.

Ernest Hemingway. Papa, meri ja trooppista kasvillisuutta

Vain 20 minuutin ajomatkan päässä Havannan keskustasta sijaitsee Finca Vigia, kirjailija Ernest Hemingwayn kotimuseo. Nobel-palkinnon saanut kirjailija asui talossa elämänsä viimeiset 21 vuotta ennen kuin teki itsemurhan heinäkuussa 1961 Ketchumissa, Idahossa.

Finca eli maatila oli Hemingwaylle niin rakas paikka, että hän kirjoitti ”Tästä näen meren ja trooppista kasvillisuutta. Se antaa sielulleni rauhaa”. Maatila on kooltaan neljä hehtaaria, ja siellä kasvaa satoja kookospalmuja, mangopuita sekä banaanipensaita. Lintujen laulu soi kaikkialla. Paikka on rauhan keidas kiireisessä ja meluisessa Havannassa.

Kun Kuubassa tehtiin vallankumous, Hemingway oli sivustakatsoja. Hän näki Floridita-baarista, kuinka Kuuban nuoriso kapinoi. Baarissa hän nautti päivittäin lempijuomaansa, rommipohjaista daiquiria. Floridita on edelleen Havannan keskustassa, eikä se ole muuttunut Hemingwayn ajoista. Vallankumouksen voiton jälkeen kirjailija tutustui Fidel Castroon, ja he kävivät jopa kalastamassa yhdessä. Seikkailunhaluinen Hemingway oli jo hieman rauhoittunut, kun hän osti Finca Vigian vuonna 1939.

Maatilalta on puolen tunnin ajomatka Cojimarin pieneen satamakaupunkiin, missä Hemingwayllä oli oma vene nimeltään Pilar. Cojimarissa asui myös kippari Gregorio Fuentes, joka oli Vanhus ja meri -teoksen päähenkilön esikuva. Teos toi Hemingwaylle Pulietzer-palkinnon sekä kirjallisuuden Nobelin vuonna 1954.

Hemingway asui Kuuban-kodissaan aluksi kolmannen vaimonsa Martha Gellhornin kanssa, ja myöhemmin taloa emännöi kirjailijan neljäs vaimo, Mary Welsh. Hemingwayn kuoleman jälkeen La Vigia jäi talon palvelijoiden haltuun. Kuubalaiset kutsuivat kirjailijaa aina ”papaksi”, ja kunnioittivat häntä suunnattomasti. Ehkä tämä selittää sen, että suurin osa Hemingwayn henkilökohtaisista esineistä on edelleen tallella talossa.

Myöhemmin Kuuban valtio otti tilan haltuunsa. Nyt se on jo hyvässä kunnossa, ja sitä korjataan koko ajan. Siellä on hänen lukulasinsa ja kirjoituskone. Siellä on myös hänen kuuluisa ensimmäisen maailmansodan sotareportteri-univormu. Hemingwayn tyylikkäässä kirjastossa, joka tunnettiin nimellä Venetian Room, on arvokkaita kokoelmia. Nähtävillä on myös kirjailijan saapaskokoelma ja kiikari, millä hän tutki Karibian tähtitaivasta, sekä metsästystrofeita Afrikan safareilta, karttoja ja monia muita esineitä.

Pilar-vene seisoi vuosikausia Havannanlahdella rapistumassa. Nyt tämä 32 metriä pitkä ja 12 metriä leveä vene on tuotu La Vigiaan, ja ammattimiehet entisöivät sitä. Hemingway sanoi aina, että ”vain merellä olen todella vapaa”. Talon uima-altaan viereen hän hautasi neljä koiraansa: Blackin, Negritan, Lindan ja Neron.

Alueelle rakennetaan nykyään autotallia. Ernest Hemingwayllä oli neljä amerikkalaista autoa vuonna 1961. Viranomaiset ovat nyt löytäneet niistä yhden, joka on yksityisessä omistuksessa, ja suunnittelevat sen ostamista. Muut kolme autoa saattavat olla vielä liikenteessä, vaikkapa takseina Havannassa.

Hemingway´s studio. Here he wrote “The Old Man and the Sea”, ©Adrian Soto

Fidel castro and Hemingway used to fish together. © Adrián Soto

The boot collection. These boots walked througout Europe, Africa, America. ©Adrián Soto

Pablo Neruda still looks toward the Sea

 

Pics and text Adrián Soto

Neruda and his wife Matilde ramains in the garden of Isla Negra. © A.Soto
Neruda and his wife Matilde ramains in the garden of Isla Negra. © A.Soto

Pablo Neruda was 34 years old in 1938, when he returned to Chile from the Spanish civil war. Previously he had been working in Asia as a diplomat. At that time his names was already well known in literary circles. In cost of Central Chile, he saw and immediately fell in love, with a place on which huge black rocks stands on the shore of seaside beaten by the tireless Pacific Ocean´s waves.
Because of the rocks, he named the place is Isla Negra, Black Island. With the help of local carpenters Neruda started to build his house. In that house he composed some of his major works like “The Heights of Machu Pichu” and “The Captain’s Verses”
Sometime later Neruda wrote: “For me the sea is cleaner than the land. For that reason I decided to live in my home country in the coast, on Isla Negra, next to the foam of the great waves”. The house was never built ready. With time, new rooms and wings where added, so it became a sort of wooden labyrinth, with huge windows facing the sea.

The house became a pilgrim destination for Latin American intellectuals. Many memorable literary parties took place there. Neruda was with his third wife, Matilde Urrutia in 1971,when the news came from Stockholm that the Swedish Academy had granted him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Later on the poet was serving as ambassador of Chile in Paris when he was diagnosed cancer. He died in Santiago on September 1973, only two weeks after a bloody military coup overthrew his friend Salvador Allende from the country´s Presidency.
The house was closed down during the long period of military dictatorship. When democracy came back to Chile in 1989, the Pablo Neruda foundation turned the house into a museum. The human remains of Neruda and his wife were brought to Isla Negra and buried in the garden looking out to the sea.
Neruda foundation: www.neruda.cl
In 2013, following allegations that Neruda death was caused by poison, his human remains were exhumed. The same year in November, a team of 15 international forensic team stated that not chemical substances were found a cause of Neruda´s death.
Isla Negra is located some 120 Kms from the Capital city, Santiago. The road is good and a few steps from the Home-Museum there is a lovely lodging place but a little costly: Hosteria Candela. Nearby there are a number of more economic B&Bs.

The ships bells always tolled when the poet arrived home. © A.Soto
The ships bells always tolled when the poet arrived home. © A.Soto

The ex-libri fish is the symbol of Neruda. © A.Soto
The ex-libri fish is the symbol of Nerudian universe. © A.Soto

Nerudo wrote some of its major work in Isla Negra. © A.Soto
Neruda wrote some of his major works in Isla Negra. © A.Soto

With Zorbas-Dimitri in the Aegean Sea

Dimitri sailing waters of heroes and goddesses
Dimitri sailing waters of heroes and goddesses

I met Dimitri at the harbour of Nafplio, once capital of Modern Greece in east Poloponnese. Dimitri walked with his legs separated like an arch. He is a tall, broad back man with a huge pair of hands. His face is cured, weather-beaten by the wind and sea. His deep blue-grey eyes have seen everything the good side of the human being as well as the evil that lives in every once of us. .
His resemblance to the character of Zorba the Greek, played in the movie (1964) by Anthony Quinn, is remarkable. According to the local witness, Dimitri dances the sirtakia exactly like Zorba in the film. His voice is deep and low. No wonder that many central and northern European tourists have been seduced by his charm.

The legend of Zorba is from the pen Nikos Kazatnzaki that publish his book “Life and Adventure of Alexis Zorbas” in a war devastated Europe in 1946. The narrator of the story, a young Greek writer meets Zorba while trying to get a break from his writing. He took Zorba as his foreman on his way to Crete.
The novel turned out to be a tribute to the spontaneous way of living. In the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche the character of the narrator (Apollo) represent order and rationality, while Zorba (Dionysus) represent a blind desire for living.
While talking with Dimitri about the book on the deck of his fishing boat, ready to sail to the Argolic Gulf, (water of heroes and goddesses), he said that he fully undersigned the words of Zorba, when he said: “How simple a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, roast chestnuts, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea”. Not a bad way of thinking, particularly in this time of financial turmoil.

Zorbas-Dimitrin kanssa Egeanmerellä

Tapasin Dimitrin Nafplion satamassa. Kaupunki sijaitsee Peloponnesoksen itäpuolella ja se on nyky-Kreikan entinen pääkaupunki. Dimitri kävelee jalat hyvin levällään. Hän on pitkä roteva mies, ja hänellä on isot kädet. Hänen kasvonsa kertovat merestä ja tuulesta, ja tummansiniset silmät ovat nähneet ihmisen hyvyyden ja pahuuden. Ne löytyvät meistä kaikista.
Dimitri on aivan saman näköinen kuin Zorbas elokuvassa Kerro minulle Zorbas (1964), jonka pääroolin näytteli Anthony Quinn. Nafplion asukkaiden mukaan Dimitri tanssii sirtakia samalla tavalla kuin elokuvan Zorbas. Hänen äänensä on syvä ja matala. Ei ihme, että monet keskieurooppalaiset ja pohjoismaalaiset naisturistit ovat ihastuneet tähän hahmoon.

Zorbas-myytti on peräisin Nikos Kazantzakisin kynästä. Hän julkaisi kirjansa vuonna 1946 juuri Toisen maailmansodan päättymisen jälkeen. Kirjan kertoja on nuori kreikkalainen kirjailija, joka haluaa ottaa etäisyyttä omaan työhönsä ja lähtee Kreetalle. Hän tapaa Zorbasin ja palkkaa tämän apulaisekseen.
Romaani ihannoi spontaania elämäntapaa. Friedrich Nietzchen filosofian mukaan kertojan hahmo (Apollo) edustaa järkeä ja rationaalisuutta. Zorbas (Dionisius) taas edustaa rajua elämänhalua.
Keskustelin Dimitrin kanssa Kazantzakisin kirjasta hänen kalastusveneensä kannella juuri ennen hänen lähtöään kohti Argolikoksenlahtea, sankareiden ja jumalien vesille. Hän sanoi allekirjoittavansa täydellisesti kohdan, jossa Zorbas sanoo ”Kuinka helppo asia on onnellisuus: lasillinen viiniä, grillattuja kastanjoita, vaatimaton hiilipannu ja meren kohina” Ei hassummin ajateltu, varsikaan näin finanssikapitalismin romahduksen aikoina.

Dimitri deep blue-grey eyes have seen everthing
Dimitri deep blue-grey eyes have seen everthing

© A.Soto

Fishing boats in Nafplio harbour
Fishing boats in Nafplio harbour

© A.Soto

Modern Helen waiting for her Troyan Prince © A.Soto
Modern Helen waiting for her Troyan Prince © A.Soto

At the End we will always have Paris

A magic place in the heart of the French capital. © A.Soto
A magic place in the heart of the French capital. © A.Soto

The French capital belongs to all us. So does the French Revolution, which is also has a common heritage. Without it Europe and the world would be a very different place. A proper tribute to the city comes in Casablanca, a genuine film classic, when Humphrey Bogart tells Ingrid Bergman “We will always have Paris” referring to their passionate love affair in that city that nobody can ever take away from them.

Paris is the home of revolutions, it is home home to the arts, fashion and culture. It is elegant, has a unique sense of glamour and magic. That is why in times of difficulties, it is always recommended to rediscover Paris.
One of the magic places on Paris is Les Deux Magots, a café situated on Saint-Germain-de-Prés square. It has played an important role in French culture to the point that from 1933 a distinguish literary prize was established with its name. It was the favourite café of André Breton, Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir among many others.
In the rare picture above, in the terrace of Les Deux Magots you easily distinguish who is a tourist and who is not. The lady coming in from the right probably had been sitting on the same table with Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

Loppujen lopuksi, onhan meillä aina Pariisi

Ranskan pääkaupunki kuuluu meille kaikille. Niin kuin myös Ranskan vallankumous, joka on osa maailmanperintöä. Ilman sitä Eurooppa ja maailma olisivat aivan erilainen paikka. Sopiva tunnustus Pariisille löytyy valkokankaan klassikosta, Casablanca-elokuvasta, jossa Humphrey Bogart sanoo Ingrid Bergmanille ”onhan meillä aina Pariisi”, viitaten intohimoiseen rakkaussuhteeseen, joka heillä oli ollut kaupungissa.

Pariisi on vallankumousten koti, taiteen, muodin ja kulttuurin pääkaupunki. Se on elegantti, glamourin ja taian verraton paikka. Ja juuri siksi on vaikeina aikoina aina hyvä löytää Pariisi uudestaan.
Yksi Pariisin maagisista paikoista on Les Deux Magots -kahvila, joka sijaitsee Saint-Germain-de-Présin aukiolla. Kahvila on hyvin tärkeä paikka myös ranskalaiselle kulttuurille, ja vuodesta 1933 lähtien merkittävä kirjallisuuspalkinto on kantanut sen nimeä. Kahvila on ollut André Bretonin, Picasson, Ernest Hemingwayn, Jean Paul Sartren, Simone de Beauvoirin ja monen muun kantapaikka.
Yllä olevassa kuvassa Les Deux Magotsin terrasilta lukija voi helposti erottaa turistit ja pariisilaiset. Vanha rouva, joka tulee kuvaan oikealta, on kenties istunut siellä Sartren ja de Beauvoirin kanssa.

Sunset from the Place du Trocadéro. © A.Soto
Sunset from the Place du Trocadéro. © A.Soto