Anita Kelles-Viitanen
Vice-Chair of ENGS and Chair of Helsingin Seudun Ikivihreät
Lecture at the Green Party Meeting in Vienna on 12.10.2007

Good news!
Good news: Europe is aging! All the efforts of our governments and the
money given to develop our health and welfare systems have paid rich
dividends. We live longer than ever.

But how many times have you heard, instead, that aging is a problem?
How many times have you heard this is costly for our state? How many  times have you heard that old people are a burden to our countries as
they prevent European competitiveness and capacity to innovate? Too
many times, I am afraid.
And far too few politicians are recognising that there is strength in
our numbers. There is strength also in our experience and knowledge,  if you do not make a mistake equating new with young and innovation
with inexperience.

Others are getting smart
Canada has become smart. It has realised that with far too early
retirement they not only loose huge numbers in work force, they will
also loose skills that come with long experience. Silent knowledge
will go missing. They realise it cannot be created overnight, no  matter how enthusiastic the new generation is. They realise that with
ageist attitudes they will loose out in national competitiveness too.
They realise that they cannot afford to have such old ideas and
outdated attitudes about aging and the role of old people in their
society.
So now, they are planning for a multi-generational workforce,
extending the retirement age till 70. They will also give the ageing
workers a possibility to work part-time. They will also encourage
arrangements where the aging workers will mentor their younger colleagues.

McDonald is no model for people!
Many of us prefer slow food to quick food. Let us not mcdonaldisize
the people. Let us not believe that people are like hamburgers,
quickly turned over in the ovens of the working life and consumed by
the society!
We have much to offer. One of it is our numbers. Here, if we are smart
to use it, we have a vote bank. These voters are keen to contribute to
the long-lasting values – long-lasting as we ourselves are! Many of us
are passionate to leave a better world behind for our children,
grandchildren and grand grandchildren.
Do not believe those, who say that we are just to defend our own
age-specific interests. Sure we have issues. But we are now old enough
to have a much longer perspective. This is difficult for the younger
generation to understand. They have not yet grown to our age.
And growing it is to become old. In the process of aging, we mature like
good bottles of wine. We get a long perspective. We got a deep
understanding. New priorities emerge and old values deepen with heart.
Competition is replaced by collaboration and selfishness with
community. We can now be generous with our experience and time. Our
values – they are looking even greener than before. Many of us were
also founding members of the green movement and parties in our own
countries.
We want to leave behind a world, which is green and fair, healthy and
prosperous. We want to have a Europe where it is good to age in
future. We want to have a Europe without age-discrimination. This is
not just an issue for us. We know that any discrimination always paves
way to other kind of discrimination. And that surely will be the case,
 if silent age discrimination is allowed to continue. Mocking people of
their age, race, sex, sexual orientation or ethnicity should never be
considered acceptable.

Age discrimination
is a difference in treatment and opportunities for
citizens solely on grounds of their chronological age. It not only
causes restrictions on the labour market, but it also limits access to
training, medical care, finance, goods and services. Like racism and
sexism, ageism too is based on a group prejudice, a set of negative
assumptions about older people and ageing. Ageism serves to justify
inequality and subordination. It helps to limit individual freedoms.
Do not mistake that it is harmless. No discrimination is ever harmless
but will model for other discrimination to follow. And it also costs.
It is estimated in UK that about £16 to 31 billion a year is lost in
reduced output. This means £3 to 5 billion a year in loss of
government revenues. So let us not waste human resources of
experienced people. Instead let us make billions of euros savings
through their contributions to voluntary work in care and other
activities.

Asia is leading here too
Asia is leading our way here. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation in its third annual global survey on future of older
people revealed that those in their 60s and 70s, are vitally important
to our families, communities and workplaces. People in their 60s and
70s are a tremendous asset to society, and not generally a burden.
Within families and communities, older people are giving more than
they are receiving. They do not speak just about Asia, where age is
part of building competitive economies.
They write that in UK alone, the over-60s contribute around 18 million
hours per week, which is about 792 million hours per year. At the UK’s
current minimum wage of £5.35 per hour, their work is worth £4.2
billion each year! In addition, they make an invaluable contribution
to social cohesion of our societies, which is difficult to measure.
Voluntary work, in which many of us are engaged, is a good indicator
of how engaged people are within the community.
So society needs to recognise the active but invisible role of the
elderly people. And as politicians we need to lead the way in this.
We need to encourage and send political signals that active role is what
we want to see for all, who are interested in participating in making
our world a better place. We must open doors and not close them in
front of wrinkled faces! There is no place for exclusion or
discrimination when setting political agendas.
And when we speak of diversity and multicultural societies, it should
also imply – and let us make it as clear as possible – that
multicultural society also means various age cultures!

Numbers
In the near future Europe will age further. Younger population will
decrease while the number of older people increases. All European
countries will have to address this matter in both the political and
economic spheres.
So let us have a quick look at the numbers so that we understand where
the voters are.
In Europe roughly 30 % is over 55.* *This means that* 40 % of voters
are seniors. By 2030 half of the population* of Western Europe will be
over the age of 50, with a predicted average life expectancy of a
further 40 years! By then, a quarter of the population will be over
65. The number of centenarians will also rise. By 2050 in UK alone
there will be 250 000 of them.
If we look closer at the country statistics, we see that in 2050
compared to 2006, the proportion of those over 60 will have risen in
Finland to 33 % (from 22 %); in Ireland to 31 % (from 15%); in UK to
29 % (from 21%); in Greece to 37 % (from 23%); in Italy to 41 % (from
26 %; in Spain to 40 % (from 22 %). We may not be among them, but most
of the young people years will be there. So this is an issue for the
youth more than for us!
This is a global too and will be experienced in other regions too.
Like global warming the work on global aging has to start now.

Issues
The issues that win the votes of the old are many. But they should not
just be limited to increasing hospital beds, important as that is.
There are many other issues that warm the heart of the elderly people
and make them enter into the ballot booth – whether they are baby
boomers, the young old, the middle old or the very old. Some of these
are – and I will just list them:
Solidarity between generations!
Society for all!
Active old age – in employment, in voluntary or community work or
supporting family and friends or in cultural activities!
Security of well-being!
Voice to the elderly people!
Health and care of the elderly!
Off with age barriers!
Passion for experience!

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