Fw from David Ranney: [BearwWthoutBorders] Saami battle mining company in traditional lands

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ranney, David C." <[email protected]>
To: "Hunter Gray" <[email protected]>; "Friends of Hunter Bear" 
<[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; 
<[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: [BearwWthoutBorders] Saami battle mining company in traditional 
lands


> Thanks for this article on the Sami.
>
> I have recently been to this part of Sweden. Pat and I have relatives (non
> Sami) there and will pass this along to them and our other Swedish
> relatives who live in other parts of Sweden and Norway. The relatives who
> live in the Sami region live in a towan called Kiruna and across the
> street from their house there is a Sami Parliament building. Giving the
> Sami a Parliament building seems to me to be a rather empty gesture on the
> part of the Swedish government based not only on this story but on our
> impressions while there. Reindeer meet, incidentally, is a major food in
> Sweden, Norway and Finland for all peoples. (I had a reindeer pizza one
> day which I guess is a sign of globalization reaching the Arctic!) There
> are reindeer roaming all over the area and each are marked so that
> particular individuals can claim them when they are harvested. A new major
> mining operation could cause a significant disruption of the herds and the
> process of grazing and harvesting. The reindeer, of course, don't
> recognize the border between Sweden and Norway (which is near by)but the
> Sami are forced to. The initial drawing of those boundaries (which have
> been altered a number of times over the years) was a huge set back for the
> Samis. So was the entrance of the mining operations. The non Sami
> population are mostly tied to mining. There is a huge iron mining
> operation in Kiruna.  There are some scientists in Kiruna (including my
> relative) who study solar winds. I inquired about the Sami population when
> I was there and was struck by the similarity of their historical and
> present treatment to indigenous peoples in the U.S. In the region above
> the Arctic Circle where I was, the presence of the Sami and their culture
> remains very strong. I hope they can prevail on their land rights. When
> you see this area including its beauty and the movement of the reindeer
> you realize the importance of the issue at many levels.
>
> On a totally different yet related subject, I watched the film "Trouble at
> Ogala" about Leonard Peltier (produced by Robert Redford) the other night.
> It is an old film but I had never seen it. It is very powerful but it made
> me terribly sad.
>
> Dave
>
> On Thu, August 29, 2013 10:56 am, Hunter Gray wrote:
>> Sweden's indigenous Sami fight for way of life as miners enter ancient
>> reindeer grounds
>> By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, August 29, 12:28 AM  Washington
>> Post (Thanks to Peter Gray Salter for spotting this.)
>> JOKKMOKK, Sweden - On a dirt road passing through sparkling lakes and
>> spruce woods in the wilds of northern Sweden, a woman belonging to
>> Europe's only indigenous people - the Sami - chants a traditional,
>> high-pitched tune.
>>
>> Since the end of the last Ice Age, the Sami have wandered the vast
>> landscapes of northern Europe, herding reindeer and nurturing a 
>> philosophy
>> of harmony with nature. This time, however, the woman's Joik - a Sami
>> chant that involves gliding over notes without lyrics - has a desperate
>> tone to it: Her voice trembles and grows into a scream as four policemen
>> remove her from the road. She had been protesting a British mining
>> company's plans to open an open pit mine on ancient lands.
>>
>> The woman is one of dozens of Sami and environmental activists who
>> gathered recently on the site, setting up road blocks, burning bonfires
>> and flying the Sami flag, with the aim to block the company from
>> conducting test blasts near the town of Jokkmokk on the Arctic Circle.
>>
>> The escalating conflict pits the Sami's lifestyle and stunning mountain
>> environment against job creation in an area suffering population decline.
>> The dispute has largely divided the population of Jokkmokk, a town of
>> 5,000 people, into two camps - with Sami and environmentalists on one 
>> side
>> and non-Sami locals and entrepreneurs on the other. While the town looks
>> peaceful on the surface, the two camps have hurled venom at each in 
>> social
>> media, and some fear the rift could upset the calm in an area where Sami
>> and other Swedes have lived peacefully together for centuries.
>>
>> "I'm a Sami. And we are standing on Sami ground," said Henrik Blind, who
>> says the mine directly threatens reindeer herding, and likens the project
>> to "colonization."
>>
>> The Sami people number about 80,000, including 50,000 in Norway, 20,000 
>> in
>> Sweden, 8,000 in Finland and 2,000 in Russia. In Sweden, around 2,500
>> still make a living from herding reindeer and selling the meat.
>> International organizations recognize the Sami as Europe's only 
>> indigenous
>> people because of their unique cultural roots that predate the creation 
>> of
>> nation states.
>>
>> In the past, the Sami wore colorful dresses and hats, lived in tents and
>> wandered or skied with reindeer across vast grazing lands, which cover
>> about a third of Sweden's territory. Nowadays, these people are well
>> integrated into society, and only don traditional clothes for special
>> occasions. They use snowmobiles, quad bikes and even sometimes trucks and
>> helicopters to bring the reindeer to mountains in the summer and return
>> them to the lowlands for winter.
>>
>> But while the Sami largely lead modern lifestyles, they remain closely
>> tied to traditional beliefs in ways that are kept hidden from outsiders.
>>
>> "All Sami have a strong connection with nature and the land that their
>> ancestors have been using," said Aile Aikio, curator at the Sami Museum 
>> in
>> Inari, Finland. "The place where relatives lived has a strong spiritual
>> connection for Sami people, and a balance in nature is everything to
>> them."
>>
>> For generations, the Sami were oppressed by the ethnic majority that
>> sought to assimilate them into mainstream culture, banning their language
>> and customs and pressuring them to adopt Christianity over traditional
>> shamanism. Today only about a quarter of all Sami speak the Sami language
>> - but ancient beliefs have been kept secretly alive.
>>
>> "Traditional beliefs have been living beside Christianity, hidden away, 
>> as
>> for a long time practicing traditional religion was a crime," Aikio said.
>>
>> The mining camp said the amount of land to be used for iron ore mining is
>> so small it would hardly affect reindeer herding.
>>
>> Fred Boman, CEO of Beowulf Mining's Swedish subsidiary, said the Sami
>> village closest to the mine has a herding area for its 4,500 reindeer of
>> around 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 sq. miles) and the mine would use 
>> no
>> more than 20 square kilometers (8 sq. miles). And, he said, mining would
>> create around 250 jobs, as well as opportunities for local businesses.
>>
>> Kjell Ek, 62, a non-Sami local who is in favor of the mine, said he 
>> thinks
>> the mining industry is crucial for the future of the town, which in the
>> past 50 years has seen its population more than halve.
>>
>> "Stores are empty, houses are empty - if no one comes to this society it
>> will slowly die out," Ek said. "Unfortunately, we can't live on reindeer
>> herding alone."
>>
>> Sami herder Jonas Vannar, 34, said the reindeer need every patch of their
>> grazing grounds to get enough food. He said truck transportation of
>> reindeer is only used occasionally, to get around obstacles already 
>> placed
>> in Sami territory, and whenever possible the Sami herd by foot. And he
>> said movement of materials to and from the mine risks increasing road
>> killings of reindeer; recently, a nearby train line killed as many as
>> 1,200 reindeer in one season.
>>
>> According to Swedish law, the Sami people cannot claim ownership of the
>> land where they have lived for nearly 9,000 years, but have the right to
>> use it for herding. The mining dispute has led to renewed calls for the
>> government to adopt changes that recognize Sami ownership rights over the
>> land. Last week a group of Sami representatives met with the Minister for
>> Rural Affairs, Eskil Erlandsson, to discuss their claims.
>>
>> Boman questioned whether giving ownership rights over such vast lands 
>> rich
>> in resources to a small group of people, based on "birthright," would be
>> democratic.
>>
>> "Should a few reindeer owners have the ownership rights, decide about, 
>> and
>> receive incomes from all water power, mines and wind power?," he asked.
>>
>> Beowulf Mining's mining application is pending a review of a local
>> environmental impact assessment, expected by the end of September.
>>
>> Erlandsson, the government representative responsible for Sami matters,
>> declined to comment on the dispute. Meanwhile, Sami rights experts say
>> Sweden is shirking its duties with regard to the Sami.
>>
>> "Legally, Sweden has a long way to go to take full responsibility for the
>> Sami people," said Christina Allard, an associate professor at Lulea
>> University, who is not a Sami. She said Sweden - unlike Norway and many
>> other countries - has yet to sign onto a legally binding international
>> convention protecting the rights of indigenous peoples.
>>
>> "They simply have the right to use the land."
>>
>> ___
>>
>> Malin Rising reported from Stockholm.
>>
>> HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /
>> St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk
>> Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
>>
>> Check out our massive social justice website
>> www.hunterbear.org  The site is dedicated to our
>> one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray, and to Sky Gray:
>> http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
>> .
>> See my  new expanded/updated "Organizer's Book,"
>> JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- with a new substantial
>> introduction by me. And this book is also an activist's
>> how-to manual:  http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm
>>
>> And see the related http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm
>> and also "Fifty Years: Remembering Medgar Evers" :
>>  http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3876
>>
>> See the Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
>> http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
>> (Many photos.)
>>
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>> techniques:
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