The city of Helsinki was engulfed with Black Lives Matter protest on the 3rd of June, 2020, exactly one year ago. Two young ladies from foreign background, Sara Balhass, 19, and Andrea Moukoko, 19, organised the anti-racism protest which was tagged as one of the most successful and impactful protests in recent years. Police estimate indicated that over 3000 people participated in the protest at Helsinki’s Senate Square which surpassed the 500 people gathering guidelines. The protest last year was in solidarity with the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests that began in Minneapolis, USA after the gruesome murder of George Floyd.
Sara Balhass
Its been one year since everyone across the world marched in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Diaspora Glitz Magazine reached out to Sara Balhass, a co-organiser of the protest to ascertain the effect of the message that was passed during the protest.
The young lady whose background is Morocco-Lebanon is a student in Helsinki and a freelance model. She has been modelling for three years now. Sara’s greatest strength is bravery and empathy. Being brave and being able to understand others is the reason she fights for what is right. These are the two factors that make me who I am at the end of the day, she said.
Senate Square Helsinki
Credit: Helsinki Times
On why she and her friend organised the Black Lives Matter protest, Sara said, ”it was organised simply because we saw that it was needed.” People needed their voice to be heard. They have been silenced, they have been ignored but when the moment came we had to go for it. The first time media actually talked about it and used their platform to carry on the message, we were able to make it all the way to Sweden & Netherlands. But I feel like black people are finally being heard but there is still a lot of work left to do, she opined.
Sara stated that as a mixed-raced person, she does not have the same tag because of her skin colour. She doesn’t suffer everyday racism like others. However, she has experienced racism. According to her, she has experienced racist gestures because she looked tanned with brown curly hair and brown eyes. She said she was living in a white neighbourhood where the residents weren’t used to seeing people of different backgrounds. I have been told to go back to my country in a banaanivene (which is a racist thing to say in Finland) even though I was born in Finland, she added.
Helsinki in solidarity with Black Lives Matter #BLM #BlackLivesMattter #NoJusticeNoPeace #Helsinki #Finland pic.twitter.com/BKMVTANsPH
— Dimentiza (@dimentiza) June 3, 2020
She said she thinks Finland could talk more about combatting racism and take the action towards change. They have to change the fact that foreign people in Finland can’t get jobs because of their background, skin colour, name or their religious acts (wearing a hijab etc.) people should have the same access to jobs and be viewed equally at the workplace, school, public, etc.
