Elections. Excellent time to celebrate Political Lies on Tuesday, March 20.

The Parliamentary Elections in Finland took place on Sunday.

The weather was horrible, it was raining cats and dogs. Half frozen cats and dogs.

More women then ever, 84 out of 201, 42 %. Two representatives younger than 30 (the both of those are men). Right wing won, the social democrats (not a very leftist party, anyway) lost a lot. That was not a surprise, both the ex-chair Paavo Lipponen and the current chair Eero Heinäluoma are widely know as very arrogant men who do not seem to be supporting little people, unlike their party is supposed to. And one of their ministers was caught hiring a graphic desinger, who was unwillingly moonlighting. (Asked by the minister's husband to accept his salary "under the table", taxes not included, of course.) Openly angry, inconsiderate and rudely behaving "social" "democrat", Mrs Leena Luhtanen dropped out. And, she was the Minister of Justice!

And, was my candidate elected? Unfortunately not. But I am happy I was able to vote for a friend, human rights activist, feminist and football fan. Despite of the fact that his team is Arsenal. (Definitely not IStori's team.)



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Tomorrow, on Tuesday the 20th, it will be possible to heartily celebrate the Anniversary of the Political Lie. How appropriate.

In Helsinki, the reading will take place at Belly's (Uudenmaankatu, ex-Kultainen karhu), at 7pm. Please join us!

Quoting the press release of Peter Weiss Stiftung:

The Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics' call for a worldwide reading in memory of Anna Politkovskaya has attracted great interest. On March 20, 2007, the Anniversary of the Political Lie, almost one hundred institutions, private individuals and schools in 19 countries will remember the assassinated Russian journalist. More than 100.000 people will attend the readings or listen to the radio broadcasts.
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The events will be held at the following places: Antananarivo (MAD), Bamberg (D), Barcelona (E), Basel (CH), Berlin (D), Bonn (D), Bremen (D), Brussels (B), Bydgoszcz (PL), Coburg (D), Cottbus (D), Edinburgh (GB), Frankfurt (D), Freiburg (D), Graz (A), Hall i.T. (A), Hamburg (D), Hanau (D), Hanover (D), Helsinki (FIN), Kaliningrad (R), Karthum (SUD), Koblenz (D), Kwazulu-Natal (SA), Leipzig (D), Ludwigshafen (D), Lugano (CH), Los Angeles (USA), Lübeck (D), Luxemburg (LUX), Magdeburg (D), Milan (I), Mannheim (D), Montreal (CND), Moscow (R), Munich (D), Omsk (R), St. Petersburg (R), Prague (CS), Ramallah (Palestine), Rome (I), Rostock (D), Sasso Marconi (I), Seattle (USA), Schwedt (D), Stockholm (S), Tblissi (GEO), Valencia (E), Vienna (A), Zurich (CH). For an exact listing of the whereabouts and times, please visit our website www.peter-weiss-stiftung.de.

IStori commenting: this list is not complete. There is also one session in Rovaniemi, the Finnish Lapland: Rovaniemen Teatteri – Lapin Alueteatteri ja Lapin maakuntakirjasto osallistuvat Anna Politkovskajan muistoksi järjestettävään maailmanlaajuiseen lukutapahtumaan. Teatterin näyttelijät lukevat Politkovskajan monologeja teoksista Toinen Tshetshenian sota ja Putinin Venäjä – Vaietut puheenvuorot maakuntakirjaston Aalto-salissa tiistaina 20. maaliskuuta klo 17-18. Tapahtumaan on vapaa pääsy.