Several Green Sisu members made the following proposal to the party congress, which will be held in Espoo from September 28 to 29, 2024.
Enhancing Multilingual Communication in the Green Party
Finland is becoming increasingly diverse, with over 600,000 foreign-language speakers calling it home—a number that’s only set to grow. The Green Party must recognise the growing importance of inclusive communication strategies. The Greens should be a community that embraces diversity and actively involves different groups in shaping the future of Finnish society and politics—language should not be a barrier.
According to Statistics Finland, 7.3% of voters in the last municipal elections were from foreign-language backgrounds. Mirroring the percentage of foreign-background voters would mean the Greens would have over 600 foreign-background members and more than 200 foreign-background Green candidates in the 2025 elections.
To make the party more accessible to the growing immigrant population, the Green Party could, for example:
- Actively acknowledge the right to speak in English during party meetings to encourage non-Finnish or Swedish speakers to contribute to the discussions.
- Translating basic party programs and other key information into English
- Introducing an English-language newsletter to keep members and supporters informed.
- Encourage the Finnish or Swedish speaking green politicians to use and communicate in English at times.
We know the party is currently facing a tight resourcing situation. However, using AI translation tools in combination with volunteer efforts in reviewing the texts could offer a viable lightweight approach to providing content in English and other languages (including Swedish!).
Embracing multilingual communication is an act of inclusivity, which will help make the Green Party a more welcoming and representative political force in Finland. This initiative is a crucial step toward a more inclusive and diverse party that reflects the evolving demographics of our society.
Proposal:
The Green Party will establish a task force to oversee the implementation of this initiative, monitor progress, and adjust strategies as needed. Success will be measured by tracking the proportion of foreign-background members and candidates, the engagement levels of non-Finnish speakers, and feedback from immigrant communities.