Stop mining plans on indigenous Sami land
This concerns the last great wilderness of Europe as well as Unesco World Heritage Laponia.
The Swedish government has decided to double the number of mines with no consideration for what will be left after the prospectors are gone. This madness is spreading like a plague through Scandinavia - it is all about the money now.
Future generations will be left with nothing but empty holes in the ground and stories about how once there was an indigenous people called the Sami who used to herd their reindeer in the north.
Sign and pass this on to everyone you know.
Background: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In Kallak, the mining company Jokkmokk Iron have sued protesters for a million SEK for delaying the prospecting. There has also been reports that even though activists have been in the area, detonations have been carried out none the less. This could go on since at that time, there was hardly any media coverage beyond local news.
In Sweden, all Sami people had their land stolen in the end of 1800, land they had owned since before Sweden existed. They even had legal papers and payed tax to the Swedish government. A few were given the right to continue herding their reindeer on the stolen land. Sweden refuses to ratify UN convention ILO 169 - which would legally guarantee the rights of the Sami people. The Swedish government has recieved criticism from the United Nations due to its treatment of the Sami.
Now, a little more than a hundred years later - the Swedish government has seen fit to ignore the rights of the Sami people completely in favour of foreign mining companies such as Beowulf mining plc. They have been blinded by lobbyists and are giving away the land for nothing. Sweden is one of the cheapest countries in the world to prospect in. Companies can leave with their profits, letting subsidiary companies go bankrupt. There are already examples where polluted water dams are left by the company Lapland Goldminers for the local community to tend to with costs of 1 million SEK per month and the final clean up will cost hundreds of millions. This would not have happened if the company had to deposit funds in advance for the restoration of the land (if at all possible).
Reports about the how little the actual profit for Sweden and the areas surrounding the mines will be in the long run have been completely ignored by politicians. People are led to believe that this will bring prosperity and new jobs and nothing is mentioned about the downsides.
Swedish media kept quiet at first, making it very hard for the Sami people to be heard. As a comparison, the felling of one single oak tree in Stockholm (TV-eken) in 2011 rendered about 150 articles in the major newspapers while the current protests about prospecting in Kallak rendered 7. Not until the Washington Post found out about protests in Kallak and reported it to the world did this change.
The large mining accident in Talvivaara, Finland where radioctive material leaked out was hardly mentioned in Swedish media which means that Swedish citizens get a very one-sided view of the mining industry. This also means that since people don't have the full picture, some are arguing that the Sami can be ignored as they are a minority.
Report from Al Jazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2013/11/under-northern-lights-201311279432224643.html
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Society/The-Sami-People/Reading/The-Swedish-Sami-Consciousness/
http://www.whatlocalpeople.se/
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-21/world/41431599_1_sami-iron-ore-mine-sweden
https://vimeo.com/42087872
http://www.dagensps.se/artiklar/sn/2012/03/07/275935/index.xml
http://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php/Talvivaara_mine:_environmental_disaster_in_Finland
http://magasinetfilter.se/uppfoljning/2013-8
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV-eken