Saemieh Aboriginal Rights
The Sami: Russia and Scandinavia's Aboriginal People Struggle For Indigenous Rights And Native Identity
Ever heard the word "Tundra"? An aboriginal language word of the Reindeer people of Scandinavia, the Indigenous Sami.
The traditional land of the Indigenous Sami people was stolen without legal basis or treaty, and is now divided by Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The Sami are also known as the Saemieh, but find the more common term "Lapp" or "Lapplander" offensive. This is because "Lapp" in their language means a cloth patch, and has derogatory connotations of primitiveness and lack of hygiene that are based on colonial misconceptions and stereotypes.
An examination the human rights records of the four countries reveals that colonial policies of dispossession and genocide against Indigenous peoples are not exclusive to the southern hemisphere.
Russia
Russia has the worst record for Sami human rights violations. Clearcutting is currently destroying what is left of traditional lands. The few Sami who have been able to return to a traditional lifestyle are plagued by poachers whose predations on their reindeer herds are devastating. The Russian Sami have also been the most afflicted by mining activity, and most are now stuck on reservations created by the communist government, called Kolchoz'es.
Norway
Norway is the only one of the four nations who follows the UN declaration of indigenous people, and the human rights declaration, with regard to the Sami peoples of Scandinavia. The government recognizes the Sami both as an ethnic minority and a separate people.
In Norway the Sami language is taught in the schools, and used by the authorities when in contact with Sami people, in dialogue and in government documents.
Sweden
Sweden has not signed the UN declaration for the indigenous peoples rights. They continue to desecrate Sami land with activity at the ESRANGE space centre, and with extensive mining, toxic waste disposal plans and forest industry clearfelling. They have banned all native hunting and fishing rights.
Finland
Finland has completely denied any aboriginal rights or land rights to the Sami people. Reindeer herds have been stolen by non-indigenous peoples and the Finnish Sami have been left dispossessed, without any kind of livelihood or even subsistence living available to them.
International Indigenousness
Perhaps the most important role of the Sami in today's global reality is to educate the world about the nature of indigenousness. Most people see aboriginality as something that is non-European, and somehow linked to dark skin tones. The Sami are a living reminder to European people of their own very recent loss of indigenousness, and a shining example of the way European indigeneity can be recovered and preserved. This is of the utmost importance, as the only hope for the survival of this planet is a rejection of the recent construct of western non-indigenousness and a return to sustainable aboriginal ways of knowing and ways of living within the land.
Read about Scottish Indigenous Land Rights.
