Resilience, resistance, and strength. The history of the S\u00e1mi from medieval times to the present is one of not only colonization but also Indigenous survival and resistance, which is sometimes overlooked when the atrocities perpetuated by the Nordic nation-states are piled high. After more than 500 years of colonization, the very diverse and geographically scattered S\u00e1mi are still here. This post reviews a few examples of S\u00e1mi resilience and resistance.<\/p>\n
In contrast to earlier days of forced Christianization, the Christian Laestadian movement was crucial for S\u00e1mi unity in the mid-1800s. Its charismatic leader, Lars Levi Laestadius (1800\u20131861), was a Swedish minister of S\u00e1mi descent. Laestadius, a strong proponent of S\u00e1mi language teaching, received his calling as a preacher through his acquaintance with a S\u00e1mi religious woman called Maria of Lapland. Today, Laestadianism continues to be a critical component of S\u00e1mi society, especially on the Norwegian and Swedish sides. Most devout Laestadians are not registering to vote with the S\u00e1mi parliaments and are not represented in academia as forms of rejection of engagement with the colonial nation-states.<\/p>\n
In the early 1900s, the S\u00e1mi began to organize resistance to increasing state colonization and settler presence on S\u00e1mi lands. The first organization, the South S\u00e1mi Fatmomakka Association, was founded in 1904 and worked to resolve local land conflicts and improve the societal, economic, and political position of the S\u00e1mi. Elsa Laula Renberg (1877\u20131931) was the founder and first chairperson of the association. She was born into a reindeer herding family on the Swedish side and trained as a midwife. Renberg wrote a book in Swedish called Facing Life or Death<\/em> in which she candidly denounced the increasing Swedish colonization of S\u00e1pmi and advocated S\u00e1mi unification to struggle together. She married a man from the Norwegian side and then also founded the first Norwegian S\u00e1mi association.<\/p>\n The first general meeting of the S\u00e1mi was held in Tr\u00e5ante\/Trondheim on the Norwegian side on February 6, 1917. Over one hundred people attended this first attempt to gather S\u00e1mi representatives across the borders. In her opening speech, Renberg remarked, \u201cToday we try for the first time to unite S\u00e1mi from Norway and Sweden.\u201d The meeting was a powerful S\u00e1mi manifestation against authorities and oppression. February 6 then became the S\u00e1mi national day, commemorated every year. The centennial February 6 was celebrated just this year in Tr\u00e5ante with over 6,500 participants.<\/p>\n During the early 1970s, with increasing organized S\u00e1mi resistance against hydropower projects, the concept of \u010cSV emerged. \u010c<\/em>SV<\/em> is an open term with diverse and ongoing permutations. The three letters, commonly used in S\u00e1mi language, form their own concept and have several meanings, including the following: \u010c\u00e1jet S\u00e1mi Vuoi\u014b\u014ba<\/em> (show S\u00e1mi spirit), \u010c\u00e1llet S\u00e1mi Verddet<\/em> (write S\u00e1mi friends), and \u010cohkke S\u00e1miid Vuitui<\/em> (organize the S\u00e1mi for victory). The concept symbolized an alternative S\u00e1mi self-awareness that promoted pride, language, and culture. During the 1970s and 1980s, \u010cSV was a non-official organization with the core message, \u201cShow that you are S\u00e1mi!\u201d The term manifested the desire to reclaim S\u00e1mi land, language, self-worth, culture, and property.<\/p>\n \u010cSV was a crucial part of S\u00e1mi resistance against a planned hydropower project in the Alta River on the Norwegian side from 1978 to 1981. The proposed project would flood large land areas, including reindeer grazing land. Resistance came first from the locals and nature preservation organizations, and developed into a focused S\u00e1mi resistance that incorporated S\u00e1mi rights as Indigenous rights. During the 1970s, the governments systematically destroyed land in S\u00e1pmi without considering the S\u00e1mi. The S\u00e1mi resistance to the hydro plant was part of a global movement of Indigenous resistance and organization, including the establishment of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples.<\/p>\n The Alta conflict represented more than environment and reindeer herding; the core relationship between S\u00e1mi and non-S\u00e1mi Norwegians was at stake. The Norwegian political and legal system created threats to S\u00e1mi interests as a collective. In 1980, some S\u00e1mi waged hunger strikes outside the Norwegian parliament in Oslo, and demonstrators in Alta clashed with police and attempted to physically stop work on the hydropower project. These acts of resistance received widespread international and national attention.<\/p>\n The hydropower project eventually proceeded and began operations in 1987, but the S\u00e1mi resistance created an addendum to the Norwegian constitution in 1988 that acknowledged S\u00e1mi rights, and eventually created the S\u00e1mi Parliament. Further, the Alta conflict facilitated revision of the International Labour Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, known as ILO 169, which was ratified in Geneva in 1989.<\/p>\n In 2013, in G\u00e1llok\/Kallak on the Swedish side of S\u00e1pmi, a chain of events that have many similarities to the Alta conflict occurred. British mining company Beowulf Mining wanted to start mining for iron, with the approval of local government, but local S\u00e1mi reindeer herders opposed the company because mining would destroy their grazing land. In a struggle where social media was crucial to mobilizing resistance and putting the S\u00e1mi in the international spotlight, S\u00e1mi and non-S\u00e1mi activists attempted to stop the project. International environmental and Indigenous rights activists became involved. The protest camp and road blockade, cleared by police and security and re-erected again and again, gained national and international media attention, and G\u00e1llok became an important symbol for exploitation of S\u00e1mi land. Similar to the Alta conflict, the use of art, music, and poetry was essential. In 2014, under pressure from all resistance, sinking iron prices, and bankruptcy in other mines in S\u00e1pmi, Beowulf Mining decided to stop the mining project, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n Sweden has been a mining nation for a thousand years, but in the new millennia there is a new interest in mining in S\u00e1pmi. The Swedish government\u2019s mineral strategy envisions the number of active mines tripling by 2030. S\u00e1mi lands are already hosting Europe\u2019s largest iron and copper mines, and providing the majority of Swedish hydropower. In May 2014, the Sami Parliament<\/a> called for a moratorium on all exploitation in S\u00e1pmi, stating that \u201call natural resources above and below ground within the traditional Sami land areas belong to the Sami people.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout S\u00e1mi history, particularly in the past 500 years, nation-state colonization has been a destructive presence. However, during this same time, S\u00e1mi resilience and resistance across four nation-states has been just as constant a presence. S\u00e1mi resilience and resistance are increasingly part of global communities of Indigeneity, joined in shared struggles for Indigenous futures.<\/p>\n By Karin Eriksson, University of Washington<\/strong> Karin Eriksson is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. Her dissertation research focuses on Swedish colonial processes in S\u00e1mi contexts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Resilience, resistance, and strength. The history of the S\u00e1mi from medieval times to the present is one of not only colonization but also Indigenous survival and resistance, which is sometimes overlooked when the atrocities perpetuated by the Nordic nation-states are piled high. After more than 500 years of colonization, the very diverse and geographically scattered<\/p>\n
\nThe author would like to acknowledge the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and its International Policy Institute Arctic initiative for making the seminar S\u00e1mi Role in Arctic Affairs: Politics, Research and Activism a reality.<\/p>\n