– SP has a lot to regret to
After eight years with no to most – and yes to one thing: Reindeer husbandry – the Center Party at the Sami Parliament is now trying to sell itself as the entire people’s party.
It’s not politics, it’s pure tactics. The Sami voters deserve better than being fooled by a new language suit when the content is the same.
When Sp’s Dan Håvard Johnsen says on weekend morning on May 11 that the Sami Parliament must say « Hi before they say no », it sounds nice. But behind the words are eight years of practice – and it has been consistent: No, no, no to absolutely everything.
-No to the Northern Norway Railway. – No to all socially critical infrastructure in the north. – No to other business activities in areas where there is reindeer, no matter how marginal. – No, no and again no.
These are not random individual decisions. It is a political line, carved out of a Sami Council where Sp has been proudly with NSR.
A line that has slowed down development, stopped initiative and reduced entire communities to scenes for the reindeer husbandry industry.
During this period, the majority of the NSR/Sp has stated that coexistence between reindeer husbandry and other industry is impossible. Period.
Sp’s own council member, Elisabeth Arkke, used this year’s women’s day to highlight reindeer husbandry – not women in fishing, not toddler mothers who run farm, not women in sea Sami villages. Reindeer herding, as if it is the only Sami women doing.
But most serious is perhaps the role of the Center Party in the pursuit of the « false » Sami through the investigation of the electoral number, cost whatever it costs. Knowing that now it is Sami himself who researches Sami on the coast.
In addition, we find their wholehearted defense of the Sami veto right: Sami should decide on all others. And reindeer herding more than everyone else. This is a political line that splits instead of collecting.
Now, just before the election, SP suddenly will be the party for all the Sami? Now they will say « Hi before no » – after eight years of just « no »?!
We know what SP prioritizes. And what they do not prioritize: Not the coast. Not resident Sami. Not business in the villages. Not Seaside Sami communities. Not the outfield industry and use. The Sami voters cannot be fooled by new rhetoric when the policy has been crystal clear. The only thing Sp has agreed to is the moving agency’s shuttle traffic from north to south.
If Dan Håvard Johnsen and Sp now want to claim that they represent all the Sami, they have much to prove – and even more to regret. So far, they have only lifted one industry, one reality, one voice – and it is not the voice of the coast, the villages or the Sami who actually live there.
The Center Party should like to try to steal our policy, but we must remind them that equality is not a word you can decorate in an election year. Equality contains somewhat greater: justice and coexistence, bridge building and dialogue. It’s about seeing the whole people – not just one industry, one group or one reality.
In the Northern Calotte people, equality is not just slogans for elections. Equality between people, and between people and industries is the basis for everything we do and has done since 2005.
