Rainbow flags: a campaign organised by FSS
Stafettkarnevalen is an annual sports event for all the Swedish-speaking students and schools in Finland. The two-day event brings several schools together to have fun and compete in teams. Stafettkarnevalen has been arranged since the ‘60s and it is well known for welcoming everyone. Moreover, to give the chance to everyone to participate and take part in the event, Carl-Olaf Homén, the founder of the initiative, has planned also activities for children and cheerleading competition.
This year, the cheerleaders in a lower secondary school in Tammisaari, a town in the south of Finland, wanted to cheer with rainbow flags, to show their support for LGBTQ rights in the school system. Due to some issues among the teachers in this school, the proposal was immediately shut down. This was the beginning of a large debate in the Finn-Swedish media, which took place just the same week as Stafettkarnevalen event. This is the moment when OBESSU Member Organisation Finlands Svenska Skolungdomsförbund (FSS) came in and got involved.
FSS has actively participated in Stafettkarnevalen for the past years, with own activities and an information tent for school students. The same evening the first news about the debate on this topic was published online, FSS sent out a powerful press release to the media, stating that there is absolutely no reason to shut down a student’s initiative. Furthermore, through different communication channels FSS also encouraged everyone to wear rainbow-colors at the event, supporting the initiative of the school of Tammisaari.
The debate rose and engaged parents, teachers and students nationwide. During this period, FSS even received some supporting phone calls, letters and e-mails stating that lower secondary students are mature enough to take a stand for equality and human rights.
In order to be even more visible, some friends of FSS came up with the idea to give out rainbow-flags at the event. Thus, only two days before the event, FSS ordered 1000 printed flags and 1000 sticks. Thanks to FSS Board members and other student activists living nearby Helsinki, some cookies and two late nights, FSS managed to make 1000 flags to hand out at the event.
By the time of Stafettkarnevalen, media had found out about the flags initiative and even international media came to the FSS tent at the event to ask for an interview. The initiative became very popular, and soon enough there were long queues in front of the tent, only to get the rainbow flags rather than take part in the sports activities. In exactly one day, all the flags were handed out and the feeling in tent and within FSS was on top of the world. Oh, and I almost forgot… the school from Tammisaari at the end could cheer with their rainbow flags! Trust me, hard work always pays off in the end!
For more information about the initiative, please contact olin.rebecca@gmail.com
Written by Rebecca Olin, Finlands Svenska Skolungdomsförbund (FSS)
