Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute

Gabna community fear their traditional herding routes will be sacrificed as far-right rhetoric ramps up against them

For the Swedish-Sami politician Åsa Larsson Blind, it was something of a watershed moment in the national conversation around Indigenous rights.

In late April and May, as the country geared up for this month’s elections, the deputy prime minister and energy minister, Ebba Busch, gave a series of speeches and articles publicly attacking the Sami’s rights to graze reindeer herds on their ancestral lands. Reindeer husbandry, Busch said at one press conference, “is an industry that affects very large areas, but has limited economic significance”.