Chronically ill people demonstrated against Orpo’s downsizing of welfare

https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/be9198a1-cb16-4182-a1df-8014446869c9

I’ll just use google translate

On Saturday, around a hundred people gathered in front of the steps of the Riksdag building in Helsinki, demanding that parts of the government Orpo’s austerity plans be scrapped. The slogan of the demonstration was the protest of the sick and the poor against what they see as an inhumane policy.
– I myself am poor and sick, many in my family and several acquaintances are also struggling and have been struggling for several years. The new plans to cut subsidies will make our lives even worse, says Lotta Jäppinen, initiator of the demonstration Makuupaikka 2023, which can be translated into sleeping place.
Jäppinen says that doctors from the health care have assessed that she is unable to work, while the Folkpensionsanstalten FPA, on the contrary, says that she is able to work. Now Jäppinen gets by on the basic income support and housing allowance, but it is barely enough. The government plans to cut these two contributions.
– If I don’t get some kind of financial support, from somewhere, I could end up on the street and that in a country that calls itself a welfare state, she says.
Lotta Jäppinen, initiator of the Makuupaikka 2023 demonstration, says that the idea of the protest was born out of self-experienced frustration and resignation.
Lotta Jäppinen, initiator of the Makuupaikka 2023 demonstration, says that the idea of the protest was born out of self-perceived frustration and resignation.DANIEL NORD
“We can’t afford to cut back”
Jäppinen is not alone in organizing the demonstration, there is a whole group of people who via social media got involved in the issue. Together, around 20 people have worked together. Over a thousand people have shown interest in the event on Facebook and the account has gathered over 3,000 followers on Instagram.
The organizers have tried to make the entire demonstration accessible to those affected, ie the sick, disabled and those with small financial margins. Among other things, by making distance participation possible.
Around 300 people gathered on site and one of them was Finnish-Swedish Milla Tengström. She sees it as many Finns walking around under the illusion that the safety net works and protects the sick. Based on her own experiences, her faith in the system has long since broken.
– I hope people wake up to the fact that the situation in Finland is very bad and we cannot afford to make it worse. Experts, researchers and the Council of Europe have said that social protection is too bad. How can you even think that you can afford to cut? It means that people end up on the street, says Milla Tengström.
“A struggle for recognition”
Finland has been criticized by the Council of Europe three times as the Council considers that social security is not up to par. Finland has signed an agreement on the standard of the social safety net, but does not live up to this level according to the council.
According to Milla Tengström, few can afford to be sick in today’s Finland, and if cutbacks are made, things will only get worse.
According to Milla Tengström, few can afford to be sick in today’s Finland, and if cutbacks are made, things will only get worse.DANIEL NORD
– In order to cope financially as a sick person, you need to be privileged. You must have had time to work for a long time in a well-paid workplace to get a good disability pension and have savings to get by. Otherwise, you can’t afford to be sick, says Milla Tengström.
The initiator Lotta Jäppinen describes it as an economic, a bureaucratic and a political struggle for recognition.
– I am pissed off that it is we who can barely cope with it who have to stand up to try to stop this, says Jäppinen.
Milla Tengström is also angry and her anger is largely directed at politicians on the right. She is asked if left-wing politicians escape part of the responsibility, as the holes in the safety net have existed for a long time.
– I think that in a situation where politicians are not actively worsening the situation, there may not be the energy to demonstrate as when what little you have is threatened anyway. Politicians on the left are not making the situation worse, but it is clear they could do more, says Milla Tengström.

I thought this was interesting, and concerning of how the welfare state is dismantled further and the poor and disabled get shafted even further, as usual.

by osxthrowawayagain