Cultural Protection as Political Pressure? Implications of the Anti-Mining Movement in Gállok/Kallak for Sámi Rights and Liberties

Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy, University of Heidelberg (Institut für Politische Wissenschaft), language: English, abstract: This paper illustrates the conflict between the Sámi and the Swedish mining industry in the famous case of Kallak (Sámi: Gállok). A mine was planned to be erected on the lands of the native peoples of Scandinavia and parts of Russia, and these measures angered them. Therefore, they chose to erect a protest camp in which they stayed to prevent bulldozers and excavators from advancing onto their native soil. The Sámi deem it as culturally important because of reindeer herding and other nature-related, life-sustaining activities, which would be severely disrupted by the plans of the Beowulf Mining company. For context, the paper explores the essentials of Sámi life and their rights, before further diving into the conflictual nature of the Gállok case. Using the concept of (on-site) resistance, the analysis sheds light on the different forms of it as well as on the violent altercations between activists and law enforcement.