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Kolumnit
Vapaassa
Sanassa julkaistuja toimittajien kolumneja. Keväällä 2009
kolumneja on kirjoittanut Aku Karjalainen.
Toronto uudelle?
Mitä
kaupungin perinteinen suomalaiskenttä voi
tarjota tulokkaalle? Kaupungin "vanhat suomalaiset" varmasti
yllättävät nykysuomalaisen, mutta kokemus voi olla kiinnostavakin.
Meille töihin?
Vapaa
Sana ottaa vastaan Suomesta Centre for International Mobilityn kautta
harjoittelijoita. Monikulttuurinen Toronto ja sen mediakenttä ovat
todennäköisesti mielenkiintoinen kokemus. Muuhun palkkaamiseen
VS:llä ei ole taloudellisia mahdollisuuksia. Hakemukset hoitaa CIMO
Helsingissä. Lue tästä mitä
Vapaa Sana edellyttää.
Mikä ihmeen Vapaa Sana?
Vapaa
Sana on riippumaton viikkosanomalehti, joka ilmestyy kerran viikossa Torontossa.
Lehden nimi periytyy 1930-luvulta.
Nimi johtaa joskus lehteä tuntemattoman pitämään Vapaata
Sanaa ns hengellisenä lehtenä. Sitä se ei kuitenkaan ole.
Näillä
sivuilla tarjoamme poimintoja sisällöstä,
emme koko aineistoa. Vapaa Sana on tilauspohjainen lehti. Vuosikerta maksaa
Kanadassa 100 dollaria ja GST-veron, nopeammin kirjepostina 150 dollaria.Tilaukset
numeroon 1(416) 321 0808, klo 10-13 Toronton aikaa arkisin.
Yhtiömme
Kustannusyhtiö
Vapaa Sana Press julkaisee viikkosanomalehtiä Vapaa Sana (Toronto)
ja Canadan Sanomat (Thunder Bay). Yhtiön internetsivustot ovat www.vapaasana.com,
www.canadansanomat.com ja www.finnishcanadian.com.
Yhtiön
omistajapohja käsittää toistakymmentätuhatta kanadansuomalaista.
Kyselyjen
johdosta ilmoitamme, että internetosoite vapaasana.net ei liity tämän
kustannusyhtiön toimintaan.
Historiamme
Kesällä
2008 ilmestyi Lauri Toiviasen kirja Vapaan Sanan vaiheista. Tämän
linkin takana voitte lukea myös VS:n 75-vuotisjuhlanumeron
reportaaseja ja haastatteluja.
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Man
of conviction
-Jules Paivio is an unwavering left-winger, academic
and Spanish civil war veteran
Jules Paivio has throughout his life been a believer in
human ability to change the world for the better. He is also the kind
of man that follows his convictions as opposed to just talking about them.
As a young man Paivio left home to fight in the
Spanish civil war. It was a war that attracted a large number of volunteers
from other countries to defend Spain against fascism. He has also been
actively involved with leftwing causes and he is a long time peace activist.
“I’ve been an activist since I was seven”, Paivio states.
Now, approaching 90, Paivio is still very much a man of conviction. A
lifelong leftist he now lives in Finlandia
Village in Sudbury where he, with a former university professor’s
patience, answers the Vapaa Sana journalist’s questions about his
experiences and thoughts about his time in Spain and his life in Canada.
Finnish-Canadian freedom fighter
“I’ve always had difficulties explaining
that”, Jules Paivio says when I ask him why he in 1936, as a 19-year
old lad, decided to leave his home and volunteer to fight in the Spanish
civil war. He seems to sense that for someone of my generation, volunteering
in other people’s war is a concept that is hard to grasp. Paivio
explains that he grew up in a leftwing home as a son of a well-known leftwing
Finnish-Canadian poet and newspaperman.
“I was an antifascist and I read a lot of leftwing literature -Vapaus
newspaper for example”. He tells that when he saw what was happening
in Spain –a democratically elected government being challenged by
fascist insurrection- he couldn’t just ignore it. The newsreels
of the Madrid bombings had touched Paivio deeply.
So when Paivio heard that couple of his friends had left for Spain he
realized that he actually had a chance to make a difference.
“I thought here was something I could do that was worthwhile”.
Around 1500 Canadians went to Spain in spite of Canadian laws against
volunteering. Of those Canadians a disproportionately large number were
of Finnish origin. According to Finnish author Jyrki Juusela 225 Finns
in total fought in the war and of these over 70 were Finnish-Canadians.
Paivio joined the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau battalion, which was formed
in 1937 after having served a while in an American battalion. Both battalions
were part of the famous
International Brigades that consisted of 40,000 foreign volunteers.
“Fighting fascism was the main reason for going to Spain”,
Paivio explains. This was the uniting factor among volunteers who came
from all walks of life and from all over Europe and North America. There
were for example quite a few American Jews fighting on Paivio’s
republican side. Most volunteers also held leftwing views.
“Probably most of the volunteers were leftwing”, Paivio says.
There were also the odd adventurer and people who wanted to escape
their lives back home.
“There was for example this interesting French-Canadian guy from
Montreal”, Paivio chuckles.
“He had robbed a bank and the reason he was in Spain was because
things back home had got kind of hot”.
Paivio claims that the experience didn’t change him at all. “I
matured but I didn’t change as a person”, he states. On the
contrary, he says his beliefs were strengthened by his experience.
“My belief in the threats of Nazism and fascism were heightened”.
As it turned out, the Spanish civil war became a prologue for the Second
World War that began in 1939.
The Canadian government did not welcome the Canadian volunteers when they
came back from Spain in 1939.
“When we came back we were criminals”, Paivio says. When the
Second World War got started Paivio nonetheless joined the Canadian army.
He, a Spanish civil war veteran and a left-winger, wasn’t allowed
to go overseas, however.
“I was under surveillance from central intelligence from Ottawa”.
So instead of continuing his fighting career in Europe he taught map reading
to soldiers in Canada. The Canadian government never prosecuted the Canadian
civil war veterans but until recently it had refused to officially recognize
them.
Activist and academic
After the war Paivio pursued studies in architecture and later became
a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. Education was important
for Paivio who says that without it he would have felt “left out”.
Paivio enjoyed the academic environment and the open attitude at Ryerson.
“They for example asked me whether I could tell the students about
my experiences in Spain. –I was well received there”. He also
enjoyed teaching at the university.
“I’m an educator at heart,” Paivio, who taught architecture
for 21 years, says.
Paivio’s activist spirit has not subdued over the years. He has
been actively involved in the Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (VANA)
and the peace movement in general. His latest involvement in VANA-related
activities was a participation in a documentary video project as an interviewee.
The video is about the Veterans’ experiences and convictions and
it is shown at the World Peace Forum in Vancouver on June 23-28.
“Citizen involvement is something close to my heart”, he states,
not surprisingly. When asked whether he would be an activist today if
he were 19 years old again one gets a unhesitating answer:
“Oh, I would definitely be an activist!”.
When talking to Paivio it becomes clear that he is a man who enjoys good
discussions and is prepared to exchange views also with people who hold
opposite views. As an academic he prefers a well-argumented gentlemen’s
discussion to a heated debate, however.
“I find some fellow left-wingers attitude kind of confrontational”,
he says. For example when people tried to get a monument in Ottawa, BC
and Ontario for the “Macpaps”, i.e. people who served in the
Mckenzie-Papineau battalion, they sought confrontation with their demands,
he explains.
“Who is going to listen to you if you behave like that?” he
asks. Paivio himself favours a more constructive approach.
“If you are honest and willing to discuss and see the other side
of the issue people will respect you”, he states.
“That’s been my experience”.
Virpi Oinonen text and photo
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Jules
Paivio was born near Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) to a Finnish leftwing family.

Young Jules Paivio.
Jules Paivio's father, Aku Paivio, a wellknown
Finnish Canadian poet, wrote a poem to “My Son in Spain.”
Here is an excerpt:
A hard firm handshake, yet
You disappear into the wintry darkness
I slowly into the cabin stagger,
Such contradictory emotion seethe through me
Now depressing me, then again
such elation.
Pride in a son, who does not fear
Who wants to fight for right.
That feeling strengthens, inspires me.
A son’s loss, a life so young...
Spanish
civil war republican propaganda poster featuring the International Brigades.
The text reads : “Internationals, united with the Spanish people,
we fight the invader”.
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