HYY’s May Day Speech 2026

Olli Jalonen, Vice Chair of the HYY Board, gave a speech on May Day at Ullanlinnanmäki.

Dear students, workers and everyone celebrating May Day! The Student Union of the University of Helsinki wishes you all a joyful May Day. Havis Amanda and students received their caps yesterday. Listening to the corks of bottles of bubbly popping open, it is easy to smile among the festive crowd in their student’s caps and enjoy the rapidly advancing spring. Celebrating is always worthwhile even though it is sometimes difficult to get into festive mood.

We students have been celebrating May Day since before the idea of an independent Finland had even taken root. We students have been developing the competence we use for the benefit of our society academic year after academic year. We students have been moving from our studies to working life to help build this country for centuries. And as a society, we have put our faith in students and invested in education to secure our future.

Students’ dream is to build a Finland that respects culture and education, equality and nature. Browsing news feeds today, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us students to find hope for the future – not to mention that many have pinned those hopes on us. The ecocrisis threatening life on Earth and the wars and violence that endanger the lives of too many people make pursuing our dream difficult. During these times, it is education that provides stability and offers us students the resources to help make tomorrow’s society a reality. How can we build Finland in the future if we as a society do not now invest in education that is accessible to everyone.

When we get together to celebrate the next May Day one year from now, the next parliamentary elections will be behind us. In the spring, we asked our members on university campuses what the Finland of their future looks like. The answers included wishes for fostering free education, an international and equal Finland and the desire to protect our unique nature. Students also want to find a job in which they get to serve Finland with their skills.

Our election programme centres on three themes: education as the cornerstone of the welfare state, Finland’s future as a sustainable and international society and taking care of students’ wellbeing during studies to ensure that we will be able to contribute to building Finland in the future too. We demand that the next government and parliament commit to retaining free and accessible higher education in the future too. Free education is the tool that previous generations used to lift Finland up and make it the welfare state it is today.

I would like to finish by congratulating all students for the work you have done this academic year and wish you all the best with your endeavours this summer. I also want to thank all workers for your hard work and hope for an increasingly united front to defend the underprivileged. And finally, I want to wish everyone celebrating May Day an absolutely fantastic spring!

Olli Jalonen
Vice Chair of the HYY Board