neetainari: selchieproductions: Lahkoe Saemie...

selchieproductions:

Lahkoe Saemie åålmegebiejjie!

Or, in English, rather than South Saami; happy Saami National Day.

I have mixed feeling about our national day, not because I don’t like us to celebrate the fact that we survived colonialism, nomad schools, racism, religious persecution, forced relocation, linguicides and cultural genocides, I do like us to celebrate it - we’d be standing on the rooftops all over Saebmie as well as Stockholm, screaming fuck you colonialism if I got to direct this celebration - but because of the fact that this day makes a large number of Swedes react in two different but equally annoying ways that somehow sum up the way the Saami are treated.

So I guess I have mixed feelings about non-Saami reactions to our national day, rather than the day per se.

On one side, you find the ones who complain about the fact that we get one day -the audacity, the horror, how dare we ask for it - of the year to celebrate our existence. It is as if the fact that our land was taken from us is a minor detail that should be ignored and the state supported abuse the Saami have endured since way before Queen Kristina used North Saami men and women as slaves in the Laplandic silver mines back in the 17 century is something which we should have learnt to deal with by now. The closest comparison I can think of here would be those who complain about Black History Month in the States.

They’re like that, only able to speak Swedish as well.

When reindeer herding Saami - who suffer perhaps the largest amount of open racist attacks in Saebmie - protest against i.e. mining, they’re being irrational and selfish, when non-reindeer herding Saami complain about the same things they’re being disregarded with the phrase ‘you’re not a real Saami, why do you care’.

When reindeer herding Saami use their language in public, they’re met with loads of racist comments, when non-reindeer herding Saami try to make sure that their children receive lessons in one of the different Saami languages, they’re being obnoxious (you’re not a reindeer herder, all Saami are reindeer herders, why do you care, do you speak Saami - shush, I know it was stolen from you, that’s irrelevant to me - no you don’t, why do you care …)

What is more, discrimination and racism towards the Saami, in particular people who openly identify as Saami or who have obviously Saami names have become far more accepted and open in Sweden since the arrival of the Internet; while people might not have stones thrown at them for being Saami (though it still happens) when they attend school, the arrival of blogging platforms have facilitated a new wave of anti-Saami sentiments; the amount of vitriol about the Saami on the Internet could make the calmest person in the world go ballistic.

As an example; last year two traditional Saami gaåetieh (traditional buildings) were burnt down, a Facebook page advocated the extermination of all Saami and road signs with names written in one of the five Saami languages traditionally spoken in Sweden were repeatedly vandalised.

Sjeltie, the South Saami name has been taped over by some anti-Saami wanker.

And this while were all supposedly living in a world without racism, or other forms of discrimination.

Yeah, fuck that fairy tale.

On the other side you find a bunch of people who want to be allies but ultimately fail in that they find the Saami to be little more than an exotic addition to an otherwise rather bland Swedish make-up and the amount of well-meaning but frustrating comments from people who find the Saami to be so genuine, so connected to our history and nature, o lord the nature, so ethnic could really drive you crazy sometimes. The Saami are exotic and issues like land theft or language death never enter these people’s minds. Reality has little or no place in these people’s understanding of the Saami and the way the Saami are presented on TV falls into this second category.

As an example, picture this: last week, during the Jåhkkåmåhke Winter Market, YV4 - a Swedish TV station - interviewed a reindeer herder in one of their morning programs and the amount of ‘the Saami are so colourful/how many reindeer do you have/oh, I, too, can yoik/it’s so nice to talk with someone’s who’s Saami/I feel almost Saami when I touch your gapta (traditional dress)’ type of comments in that one program drew me up the wall.

Either we’re authentic, exotic beings or people that don’t deserve to exist, the Saami are never just people on the same level as non-Saami people.

The approach is close to the white privileged I guess somehow supposedly well-meaning but nonetheless fucked-up statement ‘we care about all people, whether black, brown, red or normal’, only, because the Saami pass as white we’ve had our skulls collected in the past to prove that, despite looking white, we were indeed descendants of a pre-human, more primitive people than ‘real’ white people.

Thanks for that.

Anyway, I am going to be celebrating my national day somehow, so forgive me if today turns into a pro-Saami spamming fest on my Tumblr.

Reblog for excellency, plus I’m looking forward to your spamfest!