Reindeer herders battle miners for Swedish land rights
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 — 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 for 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 roadblocks, 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. The two camps have hurled venom at each in social media.
“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. 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.
“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.”
The mining camp said the amount of land to be used for iron ore mining is so small it would hardly affect 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 1,500 square miles and the mine would use no more than 8 square miles.
And, he said, mining would create around 250 jobs, as well as opportunities for local businesses.
Sami herder Jonas Vannar, 34, said the reindeer need every patch of their grazing grounds to get enough food.