Women from several countries demonstrated on social media in solidarity with the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, criticized for a video in which she appears dancing at a party.
In the campaign, they use the hashtag #solidaritywithsanna and post videos of themselves dancing at parties, as well as phrases like “we should dance some more” and “keep dancing, Sanna Marin.”
One of the videos is a compilation of several journalists from a Danish women’s magazine dancing — at parties, on a boat or in the living room at home. “In solidarity with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (…), we ALT staff have taken out of the archive clips that should never have seen the light of day. And no, you don’t make yourself a worse prime- minister, principal, school teacher or any other professional for jumping on the dance floor over the weekend,” they said in the post.
After the repercussion of the video of the party with friends on a weekend, the Finnish prime minister said on Friday (19) that she underwent a drug detection test.
Marin, 36, said she never used illegal drugs — not even when she was younger, before entering politics — that her ability to perform official duties remained intact on the nights in question and that she would have left the celebration if she needed to work.
The prime minister, who became the world’s youngest government leader in December 2019, agreed to take the test after requests from members of her governing coalition and the opposition.
While many praised her for balancing a demanding job with an active private life, others questioned her decision to let herself be filmed, albeit with a promise that the videos would not be released. Some of the criticisms were misogynistic, with netizens and media highlighting the fact that Marin is married and using foul words to refer to the prime minister.
At a time when Europe is experiencing instability in different parts due to the Ukrainian War, Marin has also been criticized that attending parties could interfere with his ability to quickly fulfill his duties should a sudden crisis hit Finland.
The country, which shares a long land border with Russia, applied in early May, along with neighboring Sweden, to join NATO, the western military alliance. The move came in obvious response to the invasion of Ukraine, which is six months old next week.
“If there was a crisis situation, I would have known before midnight on Saturday,” she told reporters, adding that the Finnish Armed Forces are well equipped to anticipate any military emergency that could affect the country.
On Friday, citing the process of expanding NATO, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his counterpart had reason to be happy. “There’s nothing terrible if she drank a little more Finlandia [vodca local] and, because of that, he danced,” he told reporters.
Marin had previously been criticized after another video of her at a party was leaked. At the time, in December 2021, she was filmed in a nightclub shortly after having had contact with a person infected with the coronavirus. The prime minister then apologized to the population, saying that she had acted wrongly and that she “should have evaluated the situation more carefully”.
