Thumb Wrestling Champion
Now that I have been in Tampere for approximately 10 months, and have neglected adding an entry for almost as long, I will add one describing the city. I had posted the last entry as a photographic lead-up to this long intended Tampere overview, but this never happened. But, what can I say, the inspiration, the mood and the moment just never quite arrived for me to make any additions. Negligent? Yes, immoral? No, though I would give a sincere apology to any who was kind/interested enough to regularly check up on me and my blog.
I was truly hoping to give as many details, exciting anecdotes and photos as possible, but somehow, winter swallowed me up and I found myself wandering around for months in a sluggish, empty haze. Then, suddenly, I found myself locked in a rigorous and unending thumb wresting match with the unruly, fast acting and flexible, oversized thumbs of the likes of lacking- motivation, inspiration, time, intent, direction, significance, chance, and the ultimate challenger, boredom.
It would seem that 8 or 9 years of near-constant employment and busyness plays a trick on the mind of those who are foolish enough to pursue such ends. After a few months of calm relaxation and choice use of my free time, I was ambushed and overwhelmed into these tedious thumb-wrestling matches, dodging and parrying as huge, lightening fast thumbs charged at mine, hoping to pin mine down and declare victory. ONE, TWO, THREE!! But I didn’t give up.
My thumbs are sore, my heart is wary, but as the sun was let out of its cage, and I built up thumb strength by using a hand flexing device, called the “Thumb Flexor” I found myself inching my way back to activeness. I still get threatening text messages for rematches, but I won’t be here much longer and the increasing warmth is slowly bringing me to realize, you don’t have to be a world-class thumb-wrestling champion to be happy in life. I won once, why wrestle again.
Besides, and in addition to this, soon I will be able to revel in the drab, graceless droll of the American accent, marvel at the illogic of endless, result-less, round-about political debate, walk the fluorescent marble-like halls of the wonderland called Wal-Mart, spend time with fundamentalist, nationalist weirdos and forget that somewhere out there, beyond the horizons of my flailing homeland, lie lands where people believe in things like common sense, reasonableness, truth, equity and interestedness. I think I have no choice but to enjoy myself at whatever cost, before I make the plunge back into my disintegrating mess of a home country. And now I have huge thumbs, so I am prepared for challengers.
No, I don’t mean to sound so cynical and angry, but I must admit, from this perspective, American politics and public appear so deranged and hysterical. But, I am thrilled at the thought of my family, friends and much loved familiarities. Landscapes, smells, sights; All of it excites me when thinking about it, regardless of the passing waves of incompetent politicians, social wackiness, ridiculous media, etc. Home is home. I won’t bow down to the cliché that sits perched at the edge of this one. My heart is also in Finland. Hell, its everywhere. I am not too big on nationalist hysterics.
On that note, Tampere is a small, rather quaint city with a population of 200,000. As guide books like to say, the city is “nestled between two lakes,” Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, which are separated by an elevation difference of 18 meters (59 ft.) The Tammerkoski Rapids (which are still called rapids for some strange reason) connect the lakes and were largely instrumental in establishing Tampere as an industrial center of Finland and have been the buttery-bread of the city from its conception. The rapids were harnessed for energy and factories sparing up around its banks, giving the city its current working class ambience.
The town sprang centered around the rapids, as a small market place town in 1775, being given township status by Gustav III in 1779 to later become the thriving industrial center it is today. Additionally, it is was the center of some of the bloodiest battles during Finland’s civil war in 1918, which marked both when the country declared independence from Russia, who annexed it in 1809, taking it from Sweden, and when Finland would set its direction for future structure. A strange and difficult war to really define, it has been described by some to be the war between communism and continued Russian dominance and the “white-is-right” side, which claimed it was fighting for independence and freedom from the tyranny of the “wrong red.” Really, it was an unfortunate event, springing from the confusions of a tumultuous and insecure period.
During the start of Russia’s period of Finnish dominance, Finland was given a wide buffer to establish its own government, having good relationships with the appointed Russian governor-general, who acted as Liaison between the established single-chamber government and the emperor and government in Russia. This lasted until the later half of the 19th century, when Russia, unsure how to deal with its stolen, subjugated borderland additions to its empire, started an intense period of Russification under Tzar Alexander III. This was the greatest initiatory factor leading up to the shaky situation in Finland, resulting in civil war.
With Russia’s new program of Russification it became imperative to gain independence. Many Finns wanted only this, but had different ideas regarding the soundest way to go about emancipation and creating a smooth transition to independence. To really delve into the history, it is still difficult to discern what happened, though some things are clear. Due to Russia’s revolution there was a dramatic decrease in export of grain from Russia to Finland, creating a situation of panic and fear of deception from farmers with grain and the then establishment provisional government, ran by Swedish-Finnish intellectuals.
On top of this, in 1899 a workers movement was started, gaining high membership and support from many workers and poorer farming populations. The government was actually rather effective and the situation seemed comparatively stable. The greatest threat to peace came with an election held in 1917 in which the social democrats and labor party won a majority. The Swedish elite, afraid things would run awry, dissolved the results, as the social democratic party wanted more control and power, and for the provisional government to deal mostly with foreign relations. Also, At this time there was no established police force. Instead, the middle class, associated with white Finland, had a “civil guard,” composed of farmers and soldiers. The working class, on the other side, had the Red Guard as their peacekeeping force, there still being a substantial amount of Russian Soldiers in the land. This situation polarized the population, forcing support of either red or white.
Ultimately, the situation was a problem of communication. Certainly, some on the red side wanted to be a part of communist Russia and side with the Bolsheviks, but many just wanted to be honored in the election. The Russian revolution of 1917 was an excitement and encouragement to action. Prior to this period, real power was actually wielded by strike committees, on both the white, middle class and red, working class sides. However, following the election and the struggle for power between the social democratic and provisional government, the red side tired of parliamentarian methods of change-making and declared control of the country.
In the battle the white side collaborated with Germany, hiring Finnish Jäeger soldiers who were well trained in Germany and effective in battle. There was a plan to actually become a principality of Germany, upon a white victory, but due to Germany’s difficulties and internal cleavages, this was not a possibility. Some of these pro-German people would later rage for fascism in the 1930s through a near successful extremist group called the Lapua movement.
The red side however, was not so well organized or militarily capable as the white side, resulting in their final, bloody defeat in Tampere. Thousands were detained and died in concentration camps, while the whites also killed many in “terrors,” or, basically killing sprees.
Ultimately, the situation was not a clear-cut revolution or two sided struggle against good and bad. It was more of an unfortunate explosion, and situation of communication breakdown and haste in different directions by different forces resulting in a friction that escalated and exploded into violence.
People still don’t talk about it much, with there being very few films or extensive public recognition of the event. There is much blood in Tampere and sometimes you can hear something said about it, how divisive and unfortunate the whole situation was. One of the things mentioned the most is the propagation of family member against family member and friend against friend.
I am no historian and any who read this, feel free to correct me. This is some kind of overview.
On that note, I am going to try and post as much of my year as I can here in the next month before I return home, which will be at the start of July. I have far too many photos and a few mentionables.
More than anything though, in our illiterate and time-addled age, I plan to post photos and will try and keep some kind of chronology to them.
I was truly hoping to give as many details, exciting anecdotes and photos as possible, but somehow, winter swallowed me up and I found myself wandering around for months in a sluggish, empty haze. Then, suddenly, I found myself locked in a rigorous and unending thumb wresting match with the unruly, fast acting and flexible, oversized thumbs of the likes of lacking- motivation, inspiration, time, intent, direction, significance, chance, and the ultimate challenger, boredom.
It would seem that 8 or 9 years of near-constant employment and busyness plays a trick on the mind of those who are foolish enough to pursue such ends. After a few months of calm relaxation and choice use of my free time, I was ambushed and overwhelmed into these tedious thumb-wrestling matches, dodging and parrying as huge, lightening fast thumbs charged at mine, hoping to pin mine down and declare victory. ONE, TWO, THREE!! But I didn’t give up.
My thumbs are sore, my heart is wary, but as the sun was let out of its cage, and I built up thumb strength by using a hand flexing device, called the “Thumb Flexor” I found myself inching my way back to activeness. I still get threatening text messages for rematches, but I won’t be here much longer and the increasing warmth is slowly bringing me to realize, you don’t have to be a world-class thumb-wrestling champion to be happy in life. I won once, why wrestle again.
Besides, and in addition to this, soon I will be able to revel in the drab, graceless droll of the American accent, marvel at the illogic of endless, result-less, round-about political debate, walk the fluorescent marble-like halls of the wonderland called Wal-Mart, spend time with fundamentalist, nationalist weirdos and forget that somewhere out there, beyond the horizons of my flailing homeland, lie lands where people believe in things like common sense, reasonableness, truth, equity and interestedness. I think I have no choice but to enjoy myself at whatever cost, before I make the plunge back into my disintegrating mess of a home country. And now I have huge thumbs, so I am prepared for challengers.
No, I don’t mean to sound so cynical and angry, but I must admit, from this perspective, American politics and public appear so deranged and hysterical. But, I am thrilled at the thought of my family, friends and much loved familiarities. Landscapes, smells, sights; All of it excites me when thinking about it, regardless of the passing waves of incompetent politicians, social wackiness, ridiculous media, etc. Home is home. I won’t bow down to the cliché that sits perched at the edge of this one. My heart is also in Finland. Hell, its everywhere. I am not too big on nationalist hysterics.
On that note, Tampere is a small, rather quaint city with a population of 200,000. As guide books like to say, the city is “nestled between two lakes,” Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, which are separated by an elevation difference of 18 meters (59 ft.) The Tammerkoski Rapids (which are still called rapids for some strange reason) connect the lakes and were largely instrumental in establishing Tampere as an industrial center of Finland and have been the buttery-bread of the city from its conception. The rapids were harnessed for energy and factories sparing up around its banks, giving the city its current working class ambience.
The town sprang centered around the rapids, as a small market place town in 1775, being given township status by Gustav III in 1779 to later become the thriving industrial center it is today. Additionally, it is was the center of some of the bloodiest battles during Finland’s civil war in 1918, which marked both when the country declared independence from Russia, who annexed it in 1809, taking it from Sweden, and when Finland would set its direction for future structure. A strange and difficult war to really define, it has been described by some to be the war between communism and continued Russian dominance and the “white-is-right” side, which claimed it was fighting for independence and freedom from the tyranny of the “wrong red.” Really, it was an unfortunate event, springing from the confusions of a tumultuous and insecure period.
During the start of Russia’s period of Finnish dominance, Finland was given a wide buffer to establish its own government, having good relationships with the appointed Russian governor-general, who acted as Liaison between the established single-chamber government and the emperor and government in Russia. This lasted until the later half of the 19th century, when Russia, unsure how to deal with its stolen, subjugated borderland additions to its empire, started an intense period of Russification under Tzar Alexander III. This was the greatest initiatory factor leading up to the shaky situation in Finland, resulting in civil war.
With Russia’s new program of Russification it became imperative to gain independence. Many Finns wanted only this, but had different ideas regarding the soundest way to go about emancipation and creating a smooth transition to independence. To really delve into the history, it is still difficult to discern what happened, though some things are clear. Due to Russia’s revolution there was a dramatic decrease in export of grain from Russia to Finland, creating a situation of panic and fear of deception from farmers with grain and the then establishment provisional government, ran by Swedish-Finnish intellectuals.
On top of this, in 1899 a workers movement was started, gaining high membership and support from many workers and poorer farming populations. The government was actually rather effective and the situation seemed comparatively stable. The greatest threat to peace came with an election held in 1917 in which the social democrats and labor party won a majority. The Swedish elite, afraid things would run awry, dissolved the results, as the social democratic party wanted more control and power, and for the provisional government to deal mostly with foreign relations. Also, At this time there was no established police force. Instead, the middle class, associated with white Finland, had a “civil guard,” composed of farmers and soldiers. The working class, on the other side, had the Red Guard as their peacekeeping force, there still being a substantial amount of Russian Soldiers in the land. This situation polarized the population, forcing support of either red or white.
Ultimately, the situation was a problem of communication. Certainly, some on the red side wanted to be a part of communist Russia and side with the Bolsheviks, but many just wanted to be honored in the election. The Russian revolution of 1917 was an excitement and encouragement to action. Prior to this period, real power was actually wielded by strike committees, on both the white, middle class and red, working class sides. However, following the election and the struggle for power between the social democratic and provisional government, the red side tired of parliamentarian methods of change-making and declared control of the country.
In the battle the white side collaborated with Germany, hiring Finnish Jäeger soldiers who were well trained in Germany and effective in battle. There was a plan to actually become a principality of Germany, upon a white victory, but due to Germany’s difficulties and internal cleavages, this was not a possibility. Some of these pro-German people would later rage for fascism in the 1930s through a near successful extremist group called the Lapua movement.
The red side however, was not so well organized or militarily capable as the white side, resulting in their final, bloody defeat in Tampere. Thousands were detained and died in concentration camps, while the whites also killed many in “terrors,” or, basically killing sprees.
Ultimately, the situation was not a clear-cut revolution or two sided struggle against good and bad. It was more of an unfortunate explosion, and situation of communication breakdown and haste in different directions by different forces resulting in a friction that escalated and exploded into violence.
People still don’t talk about it much, with there being very few films or extensive public recognition of the event. There is much blood in Tampere and sometimes you can hear something said about it, how divisive and unfortunate the whole situation was. One of the things mentioned the most is the propagation of family member against family member and friend against friend.
I am no historian and any who read this, feel free to correct me. This is some kind of overview.
On that note, I am going to try and post as much of my year as I can here in the next month before I return home, which will be at the start of July. I have far too many photos and a few mentionables.
More than anything though, in our illiterate and time-addled age, I plan to post photos and will try and keep some kind of chronology to them.
posted by Paul Quillen at 4:24 PM
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