I never thought of becoming a politician. I have no background in student politics or political youth organisations. I joined the Greens in Spring 2004, with the notion of promoting funding for basic public services in East Helsinki. I didn't expect to be elected to the city council my first time out. The same thing happened in the 2007 general election.

Even though I was new to party politics, I had been active in The Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers (FUURT) while working at the University; for a time I was even the shop steward for the humanities. I chaired the Social Security Work Group for FUURT, since I wanted to improve the precarious position of part time teachers and grant-funded researchers. I was often disappointed by the reluctance of unions to defend untenured researchers. It's illuminating that I had to step down as shop steward when I took a grant for research. Grant recipients didn't even have a shop steward in the union.

I was not alone in being bothered by the precarious situation of freelancers, grant and scholarship recipients, and part-time teachers. Many of my friends working in the creative professions agreed with the idea of a popular movement to improve the situation of the precariat. In Autumn 2006, with my friends and colleagues Pajari Räsänen, Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski, and Laura Lindstedt, I founded the TATUSOTU movement. The name TATUSOTU came from the Finnish for “Working group to promote social security for artists and researchers.” Our goal was to extend social security coverage to creative workers in all fields. Before the 2007 election we held a demonstration in support of culture workers. That was the largest demonstration in support of researchers I've ever attended. Our signs and our demands enjoyed exposure throughout the media, and for a while the issue of social security for grant and scholarship recipients was on everyone's lips. After the 2007 election, as a brand new member of Parliament, I was able to assist in writing a pledge for social security coverage for grant and scholarship recipients and improved unemployment benefits for artists and researchers into the government platform programme. The legislation was enacted within the year, but the unemployment safety net for the self-employed is still seriously incomplete.