The recent conflict in Norway between the indigenous Sami minority people and the large majority society has surprised many. The serious conflict reached its climax in the last few weeks, with a ‘dharna’ and demonstrations downtown the capital Oslo. The reason is that no less than 150 wind turbines have been built in a traditional reindeer winter grazing area, thus threatening the traditional livelihood and culture of a group of Sami people in the area of Fosen Peninsula near Trondheim, the country’s third-largest city. Windmills and reindeer seem not to be able to coexist, and the whole conflict has messages of international interest.
Well over 500 days ago, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that the turbines had been built based on questionable licenses, and correcting measures should be put in place. But the government kept letting the turbines produce electricity, never mind it is green electricity. Nobody seems to know how to untie the ‘Gordian knot’ unless the turbines are closed, moved elsewhere, or some other drastic action is taken, but that would also lead to major monetary losses of failed investments and a shortfall in the electricity production for Trondheim.
The government keeps searching for ‘amicable solutions’, but it seems, not in very deep dialog with the Sami people and their institutions, just a lot of words with little meaning. There have always been cultural, language and livelihood conflicts between the small Sami group, mostly living in the far north of the country, and the majority society, which rules from Oslo in the south. The Norwegianization assimilation policies have often been heavy-handed, justified to be in the Sami people’s own interests over time. Yet, in recent decades, Sami institutions have also been established, indeed the elected parliamentary-type body named the ‘Sami Council’, in 1989, and the development of cooperation with the Sami groups in neighbouring Sweden, Finland and Russia. Positive things have happened, but even today, the Sami people many times feel they are considered lower and lesser than the rest of the Norwegians, and they worry that their culture and languages will disappear in the future if the traditional livelihood of reindeer herding cannot go on, as it is considered a cornerstone in maintaining the Sami’s identity, but practiced only by a small group of them.
In my two earlier articles, I have discussed some key issues of the situation and presented some background information about the Sami people, also referring to the experiences of indigenous people and other minorities elsewhere. Some five/six percent of all people in the world, close to five hundred million, living in about one hundred of the close to two hundred countries, are indigenous people. Many are marginalised and have lower living standards than the majority population. Much information is needed in order for us to be able to understand a bit of the current conflict in Norway, which has now come into the media’s headlines worldwide. Many specific and broader aspects of majority-minority issues should be included in the discussions and analyses. Through it all, the current Norwegian conflict can help people everywhere understand better some key aspects of the issues, indeed of living together in diversity. In our time, when many people are on the move as refugees and migrants, there are many issues to be discussed, including integration and assimilation in the new countries, and the right to keep and be proud of one’s own culture, religion, and traditions, in the midst of the new.
Instead of mainly being embarrassed about the conflict in Norway, as I and many other Norwegians are, revealing that even there, the authorities are not always as democratic and considerate towards each other, indeed towards the Sami minority, as we would like to believe. Alas, interests related to culture, resources, land, property, and much more, have always, and will always, cause disagreement and conflict. How well we treat and solve them in our time, shows how far—or short—we have come in living together. Hopefully, the Norwegians, with their advanced democracy, including the country’s huge wealth (based on oil and gas export, and earlier especially fisheries and shipping), will make them able to study and implement solutions that are good for all, for the small Sami group and for majority groups, including the close to twenty percent immigrants in today’s modern country. Actually, there is no excuse for not succeeding, for not finding new and better ways of co-existence and all-inclusiveness, and that also means admitting and correcting old mistakes, giving special rights to minorities and newcomer immigrants, and building back better. It can be done, but it will also have painful aspects, yet, mostly pleasant ones.
The Norwegian Sami language, or actually two or three versions, and their cultural expressions and traditions, are at risk of getting lost or becoming so rare that they soon only belong to museums and libraries, not dynamic and living ones. One can only hope that all the Norwegians, being such a rich and democratic country, will give priority to studying how to go on from here, after the current conflict. Money and expertise are helpful in this situation, but wisdom and compassion are also essential, as drawing on experience and knowledge from other countries, including former colonies and poorer countries. I am often impressed by how peacefully and respectfully diverse, poor, and less educated people live together, for example in Pakistan. It is essential for all countries that the current Norwegian conflict is handled well from now on, better than in the past, showing the way for indigenous peoples everywhere, and for others living in diverse and multicultural societies in a big world—and in many ways, we all do.