Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee
Encyclopedia
Johan Bäckman
Erkki Johan Bäckman is a Finnish political author, legal sociologist and criminologist, holding an adjunct professorship in three Finnish universities....
the Committee has twenty activists and about hundred supporters.
In their first manifest from December 2008, they condemned the following phenomena as fascist: school shootings, political activism against the Paris Peace Treaty, as well as the death of the political left. Some members of the group consider the 1917 Bolshevik revolution as "social progress" and views the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
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". The number of activists in the group is not announced, however at least Johan Bäckman, Leena Hietanen, Petri Krohn and Tommi Lievemaa are members.
Activities
On 23 March 2009, Safka staged a protest in central Helsinki together with Nochnoy DozorNochnoy Dozor (pressure group)
Nochnoy Dozor is a group of mostly Russophone political activists living in Estonia. It was set up in the summer of 2006, with its original declared goal of defending the Bronze Soldier, a monument grave marker in Tallinn, near the Estonian National Library and next to a trolleybus stop, against...
and Nashi
Nashi
Nashi may refer to:*Nashi , a Russian youth movement*Nashi , a former Russian political movement*Nashi pear*Nashi , a northeast wind which occurs in winter on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf...
against a seminar arranged by the Estonia's embassy in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
discussing the Soviet deportations from Baltic states. 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
Finnish Islamic Party
Finnish Islamic Party is a registered political association in Finland, that aims for the status of a registered political party. It was founded in September 2007 by a former KGB spy Abdullah Tammi. Its founders are Finnish converts to Islam....
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 Republic of Estonia, history of EstoniaHistory of Estonia
Estonia was settled near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 8500 BC. Before the German invasions in the 13th century proto-Estonians of the Ancient Estonia worshipped the spirits of nature...
, and Estonia's right to exist as a sovereign country.
During their demonstrations in SAFKA delivered a manifest titled "Manifest of antifascists in Helsinki", signed by seven organisations calling themselves antifascist 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 publication of the final report of the Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity
Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity
The Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity is the commission established by President of Estonia Lennart Meri in October 1998 to investigate crimes against humanity committed in Estonia or against its citizens during the Soviet and German occupation, such as...
, SAFKA claimed that its chairman, the Finnish diplomat and one-time UN Secretary-General candidate Max Jakobson
Max Jakobson
Max Jakobson is a retired Finnish Jewish diplomat and journalist.Jakobson began his career as a journalist. He worked at the BBC. From 1953 to 1974 he was employed by the Finnish foreign ministry, eventually acting as Finland's ambassador to the United Nations and Sweden...
, 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 ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
elections.
Estonian media reception
According to Delfi, the committee specialises in justifying StalinismStalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, particularly reinterpreting the Soviet deportations from Estonia
Soviet deportations from Estonia
As the Soviet Union had occupied Estonia in 1940 and retaken it from Nazi Germany again in 1944, tens of thousands of Estonia's citizens underwent deportation in the 1940s...
as benign and making accusations regarding supposed human rights violations in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
. Journalist Heiki Suurkask, writing for Eesti Päevaleht
Eesti Päevaleht
Eesti Päevaleht is a major daily Estonian newspaper, from the same publishers as the weekly Eesti Ekspress. It has a daily circulation of around 36,000....
, has characterised the organization as neo-Stalinist.
Alleged connections to former KGB affiliates
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
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. Johan Bäckman
Johan Bäckman
Erkki Johan Bäckman is a Finnish political author, legal sociologist and criminologist, holding an adjunct professorship in three Finnish universities....
'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
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 or had printing capabilities .Every branch of the Central Statistical Administration and its...
KGB operative.
Members in politics
Three members of Safka unsuccessfully run in European Parliament election in 2009European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
. Johan Bäckman
Johan Bäckman
Erkki Johan Bäckman is a Finnish political author, legal sociologist and criminologist, holding an adjunct professorship in three Finnish universities....
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
Workers' Party of Finland is a left-wing political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 2006 as a successor to the Alternative League .In the 2007 parliamentary election the party obtained 1,764 votes...
list. Tommi Lievemaa got 204 votes (181st of 233) on the Communist Party of Finland list.
In March 2011, Safka announced it has four candidates for the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election
Finnish parliamentary election, 2011
An election to the Eduskunta was held on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%....
on the Workers Party of Finland
Workers Party of Finland
Workers' Party of Finland is a left-wing political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 2006 as a successor to the Alternative League .In the 2007 parliamentary election the party obtained 1,764 votes...
list. Candidates were theater and film director Jussi Parviainen, Johan Bäckman, former priest Juha Molari and Anton Salonen's mother Rimma Salonen. Parviainen got 457 votes, but other members got only few dozens votes.
Sister organisations
Nochnoy Dozor (pressure group)
Nochnoy Dozor is a group of mostly Russophone political activists living in Estonia. It was set up in the summer of 2006, with its original declared goal of defending the Bronze Soldier, a monument grave marker in Tallinn, near the Estonian National Library and next to a trolleybus stop, against...
.