Sami
The Sami ("sapmelas" in Sami) are the indigenous peoples of Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In Finland Sami people lives in Lapland and they speak Sami language. In Norway there are more than 40 000 Sami, in Sweden 15 000 - 25 000, in Finland 6 500, and in Russia 2 000.
The land in the North should belong to the Sami people but they have during hundred of years been repressed by colonisators from the south - id est. Finns in Finland, Swedes in Sweden, Norweigans in Norway and Russians in Russia. The Finnish Sate have failed in protecting the Sami people's right to reindeer herding. State owned companies get on cutting forest in the North and there is less and less suitable old forest for the reindeer to get food.
The following videos illustrate well the conflict up in the north:
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 1 of 6) 9:57 min
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 2 of 6) 9:48 min
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 3 of 6) 9:53 min
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 4 of 6) 9:47 min
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 5 of 6) 9:51 min
Last Yoik in Saami Forests (part 6 of 6) 4:53 min
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (he admits that in the end of the joik it went ower into an indian war song - but very suitable also for the Sami as every last stone in the North they want to make into a holiday village). Who was Nils-Aslak Valkeapää?
Listen to the Sami language. Nils-Aslak Valkeapää reading his poetry-epos "Beaivi, Áhčážan".