Finland Guide
The Lake Region
Joensuu
The capital of what remained of Finnish Karelia after the eastern half was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944, JOENSUU was central to the immigration debate in the 1990s following a spate of racist violence against Somali refugees. The closure of several large industrial plants had plunged the local economy into depression, and as unemployment soared, the sizeable neo-fascist skinhead movement that grew up in Joensuu made the immigrant community a scapegoat for the social problems that accompanied the decline. While the city's economy isn't exactly booming these days, anti-immigrant violence is a thing of the past and Joensuu – with a fairly cosmopolitan population and a large student presence that makes up nearly half the city's residents – appears to be making a considered effort to welcome all visitors.
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