Anti-Sami racism in Sweden

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Tuesday August 05, 2003 00:03

by Katarina Bangata

'In 1998 the Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman did a study that showed that 75 % of Sami people feel that the majority are more or less hostile to the Sami and almost 50 % felt that the hostility was growing. The most worrying fact is that racial tolerance is diminishing amongst youngsters'

The Swedish government and the Sami Parliament in Sweden are together trying to change the attitudes of Swedes towards the Sami in the northern part of Sweden with a project worth millions of kroner(SEK). The executive director of the Sami Parliament, Mr Lars Nila Lasko, tells Eurolang that a racism and discrimination problem has been known about for years, but that little is being done.

‘In 1998 the Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman did a study that showed that 75 % of Sami people feel that the majority are more or less hostile to the Sami and almost 50 % felt that the hostility was growing. The most worrying fact is that racial tolerance is diminishing amongst youngsters' says Mr Lasko.

Racism and discrimination against the Sami has been difficult to prove since the study also shows that the Sami do not trust the local authorities. It means that only a tiny proportion of the racial incidents and crimes are reported and documented.

Politicians also received short shrift in the study with 80 % of Sami representatives saying that they trust most politicians either ‘a little’ or ‘not at all’. Since 1998 the situation has not improved. According to Mr Lasko: ‘The attacks against the Sami who wear the national dress still happen although the study has been made public. The authorities and the politicians have ignored it until now.’

The Swedish government has decided to invest three million SEK (about 320 000 euro) over the next three years to set up a Sami Information Centre that educates and informs the majority population about Sami culture and history. The Information Centre will target the inner parts of Norrland especially as conflict over land and hunting issues between the Sami and the Swedish population are concentrated there.

‘The racism, as we call it, has historical reasons based on land issues, water rights and other economic issues, and therefore it is important to understand the history’ explains Mr. Lasko. He added that the Sami Information Centre must start from scratch because up until now state policy had failed to teach about Sami issues. It means that the Swedish majority know very little about the Sami.

Speaking about other initiatives on Sami issues, Agricultural Ministry department chief, Mr Göran Therborn, told Eurolang: ‘The reindeer management committee’s suggestion for a new law will be presented after the vacation. A hunting committee is studying the hunting rules right now, and there is a border committee looking into the hunting and fishing rights from the perspective of the UN ILO 169 convention about the land rights of indigenous people.’

There is a new interest in Sami issues in Sweden. Recently the Agricultural Ministry ran a course for 20 politicians from the Swedish Parliament. Mrs. Cecilia Wikström MP from the Swedish Liberal Party Folkpartiet is one of the Swedish politicians who are participating in the Sami course in the Agricultural Ministry. She said that: ‘I just attended the course on Sami issues and it was really interesting. Now I am preparing a visit to the Sami Parliament as soon as possible, since we really have to get a better understanding of these minority issues’.

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Comments (11 of 11)

Ok, let's spring into action.

by Seáinín

Tue Aug 05, 2003 02:06

What's the US angle? How can we get them implicated?

For a start, the Americans have failed to condemn these outrages. That's a start, isn't it?

just checking the threads from evian,

by sean

Tue Aug 05, 2003 02:42

and seeing you seanian repeatedly hoping for irish g8 protestors to be killed by the police,can i ask are you involved in politics and/or do you like the titilation you get from repeatedly insulting the left by making moronic remarks and statements on this site?,i mean surely it must get tiring after a while.btw are you an insecure teenager as well?

It is true

Tue Aug 05, 2003 13:31

I cannot deny that I hoped for Irish g8 protestors to be killed by the police.
And indeed I was greatly disappointed that my hopes in this regard remained unfulfilled.

Ach beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach.

poor little Seanin

by KT

Tue Aug 05, 2003 14:46

Seanin is obviously a very bitter and unhappy person. He uses
indymedia 1. as an outlet for his frustration and anger at life and at
himself (Why else would someone waste so much time and energy
obsessively posting messages whose sole destructive purpose is to piss
people off?).
2. as a way of connecting with people. This unhappy person is desperate
for attention. Posting ignorant and hate-filled messages to indymedia he
is assured of getting a response and all this attention makes him feel
'kinda' important.
It's quite sad really.
I think the best thing to do is to ostracise him; ignore him
completely, anything else just encourages his obsessive behaviour.

Seanin

by Ray

Tue Aug 05, 2003 14:52

It is hard to see Seanin's postings as anything other than cries for attention. He doesn't post arguments, that may actually change peoples' minds, just random insults tied to inflammatory comments. Or maybe he thinks he's being very witty, and neatly skewering all of our sacred cows. So - stupidly pointless or just plain stupid? Either way, not worth responding to.

how long has the seanín character been around?

by -

Tue Aug 05, 2003 16:17

A couple of months?

Tue Aug 05, 2003 17:43

Its hard to pick him out from the general background noise.

Someone's impersonating me: Typical Leftist tactic

Tue Aug 05, 2003 18:17

The 2nd post (Paorach) was not made by me - you people would be frightening if you ever got into power.

I certainly did agree with shooting GB protesters who think they have a right to hurl rocks and destroy property.

get a life seanin,

Tue Aug 05, 2003 21:44

get laid or something seanin,red baiting isnt big or clever(but then again you probably are not either)

seanin

by na

Wed Aug 06, 2003 16:22

he reminds of Avi, but without the passion.

Wild guess about Seanin's identity.

by The Insider

Wed Aug 06, 2003 18:11

FF member.

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Anti-Sami racism in Sweden

Comments (11 of 11)