21-year-old Evelina is a Sami reindeer herder in a village in Oviksfjällen in Jämtland. Evelina says that she has experienced prejudice since she was a child and that her parents warned her about what could happen when she posts publicly on social media.
– But still, I was very shocked when I encountered that first storm of hate. It was the first time I posted a viral video and I think I had 160 comments in total of which 100 were hateful.
Kaliber has taken a closer look at the hatred and threats that occur against the Sami and their reindeer husbandry and what led to the conflicts that exist today. Many hateful comments are about prejudices that reindeer-owning Sámi profit financially from their reindeer being road-killed, because of compensation they receive.
We also contact a man who was convicted of incitement against a ethnic group after a comment he wrote online, to hear how he thought, and where the hatred comes from.
Knowledge of the extent of hate crimes against the Sami is lacking
In the Crime Prevention Council’s latest compilation of hate crime statistics, 20 hate crimes against the Sami were identified. The most common crime categories at the time were illegal threats and incitement against ethnic groups.
But the number of blackouts is judged to be large and there is a lack of knowledge within the justice system about the scope, says Martina Lindberg, who is a business developer and national coordinator for the police’s work against hate crimes:
– It’s both about research, but also about the fact that we have very few legal cases. We are working to become stronger at that, but we also have a very low inflow. That is to say, we have very few applicants.
“Went to threats that he would shoot the reindeer”
Reindeer owner Marcus Rensberg reported to the police a threat he says he received from a landowner.
– He did express some outrage at first that the reindeer were in a place he didn’t think they should be. And I can’t help but regret that, but then it took a turn that there was a threat that he would shoot the reindeer and he would shoot or yes, give us who were in charge of the reindeer a beating if we showed up there.
Caliber also takes a closer look at the political decisions that were supposed to reduce conflicts, but have instead increased them. Kerstin Calissendorff is the chairperson of the Truth Commission, which examines how political decisions historically up to today have affected the Sami, and the conflicts in the mountains.
– That the politicians have not managed to resolve these various conflicts of interest, many have existed for a long, long time. I will not say that there has been a lack of political will, but there has been a lack of political ability.
Source: ICELAND NEWS