– I hope for more understanding and knowledge for the minority community in Norway. Elle Márgget Nystad is leader of the Norwegian Sami National Confederation Youth Committee (NSR-U). And she has high hopes after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented the report which is highly critical of Norwegianization. But she also fears that the report will be forgotten in a drawer afterwards. – A major concern I have is that it will only remain a report and a piece of paper that will become a checklist for the Norwegian state. That “now we have unearthed the truth and done our part”. Nystad believes it is important that more young people now gain knowledge of what has happened, and that it is also seen that Norwegianization has spread to the younger generation. – One of the biggest challenges that many young Sámi feel today is that we lack a lot of knowledge about our own language, history and culture due to Norwegianization, says Nystad and adds: – Simply because the generation of parents and grandparents has had such a great shame about it all, that they have withheld the knowledge they would like to teach us. – Can’t be reconciled now The day after the report was presented, Sami young people, with several others, campaign once again in front of the Prime Minister’s office. They will spend the night outside the Prime Minister’s office in the last hours until June 3. 600 days have passed since the Supreme Court ruled that the wind power plants at Fosen are an ongoing human rights violation against the Sami. In a press release, the campaigners write that they will not move if the police ask them to. Elle Márgget Nystad meets Jonas Gahr Støre and Terje Aasland outside the Castle. Photo: Biret Inger Mathisdatter Eira / news Nystad doubts that reconciliation can happen as long as this conflict is not resolved. – It is a bit challenging to accept that we have an ongoing violation of human rights here in Norway. The Norwegian state is carrying out modern Norwegianization through land encroachment on Sami lands, and this is having a severe impact on reindeer herding, says Nystad. She believes the Fosen case is just one of several examples of a modern Norwegianization. – We see that it also happens on the high mountain Rásttigáisá, Kvaløya and the Repparfjord mine. The Prime Minister believes that lessons must be learned from what comes in the report. – It is a painful and heavy report to read from that history, and we do not want that history to repeat itself. So I think that what is around Fosen, we have to solve that. The Supreme Court has decided that it cannot remain as it is, and we are working on that. I hope we can arrive at a solution that takes care of the obligations we have. – Can a reconciliation process be brought about now that the NSR believes that territorial encroachment against the Sami is taking place? – I don’t want there to be territorial encroachment on anyone. What is absolutely clear in Norway is that going forward we will build up power, and everyone in the country will need that, including the Sami population. Then we have to take important considerations into account that see industries and rights in context, says Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) Going too slowly with Sami issues On the more blue side of youth policy, there is partial agreement that Norwegianisation is also taking place in recent times. – Things are being worked on too slowly, such as the Fosen case. Otherwise, we have too few Sami kindergarten places, too few Sami teachers and few who are willing to teach the language and culture. So says Tonje-Martine Nerdal, board member of the Troms and Finnmark Progress Party’s Youth (FpU). – At the same time, we have come so incredibly much further than we had come before, if you look back at Sami history. It is much more accepted, and has become much better. Tonje-Martine Nerdal, board member of Troms and Finnmark Fremskrittspartiets Ungdom (FpU) believes that it is possible to start working towards a reconciliation, but that it could be demanding. Photo: Regine Anastasia Bakken / news When it comes to the question of whether it is possible to start a reconciliation process now – the answer is both “yes” and “no” from the FpU politician. – Yes, because the Fosen case has been going on for so long now. We very likely know what the outcome will be and where the situation is. But no, because things have gone very slowly and there has been a bit of unfair treatment, given the long time that has been used, says Nerdal. Will change Norwegian history – My expectations are that the Norwegian population will open their eyes with humility for more understanding of history, the Sami population and the great abuse the Norwegian state has done to us Sami, and what kind of influence it has on my generation as well, says Elle Márgget Nystad, in NSR-U. The Youth Party wants to make what appears in the report become part of Norwegian history, by having it included as a syllabus in upper secondary school. – Then we also cover the lack of knowledge among young people today about the Sami. She thinks we learn far too little about Sami culture in Norwegian schools. – We learn a lot about other indigenous peoples in the world, but at school we learn zero about the Sami population, barely a few sentences – so I hope that this report can contribute to people learning more, realizing and understanding more.
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Fears the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will just be a piece of paper – news Troms and Finnmark
