SiljeLB @ workJun 1, 2023
Øystein H. Brekke ᚯᛦᛌᛐᛅᛁᚿ ᚼ ᛒ

News from Norway: A truth and reconciliation commission on the Norwegianisation of Sami, Kven, Forest Finnish and Norwegian Finnish people, which has been working for five years, published their report today. Some key points from the publication today:

The Norwegianisation policy worked. The Northern Sami language is now endangered. Lule Sami and Southern Sami are severely endangered. Ume Sami, Pite Sami and Skolt Sami have only a very few speakers left.

https://uit.no/kommisjonen/presse/artikkel?p_document_id=813393

Overlevering av Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonens rapport | UiT

1. juni kl. 12.00 vil Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonen levere sin rapport til Stortinget. Programmet finner du her.

Jun 1, 2023 at 10:59amWeb
Show threadØystein H. Brekke ᚯᛦᛌᛐᛅᛁᚿ ᚼ ᛒJun 1, 2023

There are no longer any Finnish speaking Forest Finns who grew up with the language.

Norwegianisation became official policy in the 19th century. There was a political aim to assimilate these minorities, get them to give up their languages and culture. Discrimination and force was used to achieve this.

Show threadØystein H. Brekke ᚯᛦᛌᛐᛅᛁᚿ ᚼ ᛒJun 1, 2023

An example is how parliament in 1860 gave funding to the local government in Røros to cover the cost of placing children from poor Sami families in Norwegian foster families, in order to Norwegianise the Sami in the Røros area.

Schools, including boarding schools, were an important tool in Norwegianisation.
Norwegianisation was also seen as important for Norwegian security policy - ethnic Norwegian settlement of border areas in the north was seen as important to maintain Norwegian sovereignty.

Show threadØystein H. Brekke ᚯᛦᛌᛐᛅᛁᚿ ᚼ ᛒJun 1, 2023

In the 1920s and 30s, the authorities considered the Norwegianisation of the Forest Finns to be completed. They, and Kvens, were from then one largely ignored in public discourse. Emphasis was on continued Norwegianisation of the Sami.

The policy only ended towards the end of the 20th century. But even though the policy ended, the structures and attitudes that had been established, continued, and so did assimilation. New laws for securing minority rights haven't been sufficiently enforced.

Show threadTorgeir FjeldJun 1, 2023
@oysteib The sorry day is coming to Norway. However, a pressing question is how to deal with land rights in a society where all, including the ethnic groups mentioned, rely on the power grid.
Show threadleftiefrieleJun 2, 2023
@oysteib the fact we don’t call this a cultural genocide is quite baffling. we’ve invented this “cute” word which makes it sound like it was only the Norwegian language forced upon these people, kind of like the “bokmål vs nynorsk”. when it was in fact about the erasure of these peoples with the use of all kinds of violence.