J. K. L. M. The showcases
Section 2: Local engagement for “the Sami cause”
The showcases (from left to right):
”We have to get organized…”
The beginning of the 1900’s was a pioneer area in Sami association building. The southern Sami Elsa Laula Renberg was an important person at this stage, side by side with Henrik Kvanndal and Peder Finnesen from our area.
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”… it’s time they wake up from their heavy, thousand year sleep of the Sleeping Beauty.” (Johan Johnsen 1959)
There was new activity in the Sami movement after World War II, after quite a long time of silence. Again there were people from our area that were active initiators and participants, both in founding Sami national and multinational organizations, and in working with central issues.
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”It was a Sami election.” (Mikal Urheim, about the local government election in Tysfjord, 1955)
The post-war period was a new era: welfare society and equalization. The Government did not want to provide any help and support to the settlements in the fjords that had no road communication. As the depopulation was on the rise, the Sami engagement in local politics increased.
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”The Sami Parliaments vision: A manifold society based on the Sami set of values…” (The Sami Parliaments plan 2002-2005). The conflict of the development of the waterway between Alta and Kautokeino and the consequences it had, led to the foundation of the Sami Parliament in 1989. Three of the representatives are elected from our area. Some of the Sami Parliaments activity is decentralized and placed here at the institution.
