The Importance of Resistance - A Study of the Saami Resistance Movement Against the Swedish Mining Industry

Sammanfattning: This study examines the importance of resistance in the context of political change through a presentation and discussion of the Saami resistance movement. The study was conducted by using methods such as literature review, semi-structural interviews and qualitative data analysis. In order to stress the relevance for environmental science the study is based on the aim to present how the movement is acknowledging environmental issues and consequences connected to mining. Further, the study provides an insight in the legal framework regulating the mining industry and how, by various form of resistance, the movement is criticising these regulations and advocates for changes in the environmental law, as well as the mineral law. In this era of time, where the political agenda concerning how to limit climate change is of great relevance, this study shows an alternative perspective in how to perceive Sweden’s extraction of finite natural resources and the state’s exploitation of valuable nature. Thus, the Saami’s resistance against an increasing mining industry is significant as it identifies the conflicts and shortcomings within the legal framework and, therefore provides an insight of the importance of resistance in order to reach political change. Finally, this paper provides a cross-disciplinary perspective to these issues as it shows how the Swedish state’s ignorance of human- and indigenous rights stands in direct relation to the political failure to reach the country’s environmental imperative and a sustainable development.