Samefolket, January 1999.
      Late breaking news


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          New book for teaching

          Mun Moai Mii is a new teachingresource written in the Davvi- or
          northsamilanguage. It's intended for primary school pupils grade 2 
-
          4. The first volume is a themebook intended for the teaching in
          natural- and social sciences as well as native crafts, whereas the
          second is a excersizebook with examples.
          The author Mrs. Inga Laila Htta is a teacher at the native school 
in
          Kautokeino in Norway and the illustrations are made by Mrs. Liv 
Vatle
          with additional photographs by Mr Klemet Ole and Mrs. Bente Htta.
          Mun Moai Mii r have been produces with financial support by the 
Sami
          educational board in Norway.
          Th 4/2. Sensational petroglyphs

          In the beginning of the 1990's a reindeerherder discovered a set 
of
          unusual petroglyphs in the alpine region of his native community. 
The
          site was kept secret until last week when the archaeologists at 
the
          native and mountain museum jtte revealed the fact. At the site
          there's many different kinds of images carved into the rock, 
amongst
          them are pictures of humans, reindeers and what appears to be 
abstract
          patterns. But the part that made the site sensational was the 
images
          of ships, which made the site unique since it is located very far 
from
          the ocean.
          According to one theory the ancestors to the Sirkas-Sami's 
travelled
          to the Tysfjord area in Norway some 1000-1200 years ago and did 
see
          Viking ships there, and that the sight impressed the Sami's so 
much
          that they tried to depict them when they had returned home.
          Mo 15/2.
          A.F
          Kalaallit Nunaat election
          Tuesday February 16 an election was held to the "Hjemmestyret" (= 
home
          rule) or self-governing parliament of Greenland which have been 
ruling
          the internal affairs of Greenland since 1979.
          During the electioncampaign there has been a number of scandals 
most
          importantly the misuse of funding where elected officials have 
given
          themselves taxfree allowances as well as a perceived waste with 
the
          self government funds. As a result the ruling partys, the liberal
          Atassut and the socialdemocrat Siumut (=forward) lost seats to the 
new
          party Kandidatforbundet (=The coalition of candidates).
          Yet the Socialdemocrat leader Jonathan Motzfeldt will most likely
          remain in office, possible he will have to negotiate for support 
from
          the communistic Inuit Ataqatigiit (Eskimo community) that made a
          decent election. A high number of the electorate turned up, 
somewhat
          more than 70% according to several sources, which is significantly
          more than in the previous election four years ago.
          As with other indigenous populations around the world, there's 
drug
          problems on Greenland, some suggestions to put a stop to the 
misuse
          have been of a rather extreme nature in the election campaign.
          One of the most startling came from Mrs. Frederikke Madsen of the
          coalition Kandidatforbundet who during her electioneering stated 
that
          she wanted to have the death penalty reintroduced for those who
          smuggles cannabis to Greenland.
          We 17/2.
          Aanta
          About Greenland, some links:

          CIA factbook
          Inuit radiocorporation KNR
          Socialdemocrat Siumut have a page in english
          Police stops dogtraining on reindeerpasture lands
          Saturday February 13 the local police from Jrpen made a raid 
against
          the leasure-time hunters who trains their dogs in the mountain 
area of
          Skalstugan, Kall Sami community. The illegal training of pointer 
and
          setterdogs are not only an disturbance for the local birdlife such 
as
          the ptarmigans, but also a source of stress for the reindeer that
          graze in the area. At times more than 30 dogs have been seen 
running
          loose in this area, despite the fact that there's signs along the
          mainroad that hunting, fishing and loose dogs are strictly 
forbidden
          in the area. The police also caught 6 fish-poachers in the same 
area
          during this weekend. Yet another example of the lawlessness that 
have
          spread to the native communitys after the government stole the
          huntingrights from the native communitys in 1993.
          Mo 15/2.
          Aanta
          SSR appeal against decision on funding
          The Swedish reindeerherding organization SSR protests the decision 
on
          the allotment of funds for 1999 made by the Sami parliamentary 
Culture
          council on December 15-16. The chairman of SSR Mr. Lars Anders 
Baer
          claims that the Culture council haven't "havn't followed the
          instructions and statues they are set to guide their work" and
          "protests that the Culture council have made politically biased
          decisions."
          Mo 15/2.
          Aanta
          Hopeful sign

          In a speech held in the community center of Jokkmokk, Saturday
          February 6'th government representative Pierre Schori announced 
that
          the government will make an official declaration that the Sami 
people
          are the indigenous population of Sweden and that there will be an
          ratification of the ILO 169 treaty for the rights of indigenous
          peoples.
          At the same time he also apologized for the governments part in 
the
          destruction of the Sami drums. Something which had disastrous
          consequences for the selfesteem and spirituality of the Sami 
people.
          In the speech Mr Schori also announced that the Swedish government
          have alloted 15 million SKr to be used to elevate the problems 
caused
          by the economical crisis for the Sami's living on the Kola 
peninsula
          in Russia..
          Mo 8/2.
          Aanta
          Link to the text of the ILO 169 convention conserning indigenous 
and
          tribal peoplesNo final rest?
          In Norway Sami's have began to question if it really are the skull
          after Mr Aslak Htta that the government have returned. He was
          executed by decaptivation in 1854 after the native Kautokeino 
revolt
          and the skulls after him and Mr Mons Somby was confiscated by the
          government. In later years local Sami's in northern Norway who
          considers the two men to be native heros started a protestgroup to
          have the skulls returned. Yet it took until 1997 before the 
government
          returned two skulls which was buried at a ceremony at Kfjord 
church
          in November 1997.
          Even though noone questions that the skull after Mr Mons Somby are 
the
          right one, there's doubt about the identity of the one claimed to 
be
          after Mr Aslak Htta. New facts unearthed by the Sami filmmaker 
Paul
          Anders Simma suggests that the identification might be wrong, his 
work
          suggests that there might have been a mixup when the skull was
          transported to the collections of the museum of Copenhagen in 
Denmark.
          It might be that only a DNA investigation might settle the issue, 
yet
          the authorities states that they don't intend to do any such and
          considers the matter to be closed.
          Th 4/2.
          Aanta
          A webpage describing the ceremony from the Norwegian newspaper
          Dagbladet. Norwegian text and image.
          Preserve the history
          An enigmatic stonecircle in souther Florida are threatened by the
          construction of condolonium housing and a shoppingcenter. Yet 
native
          american activists and concerned citizens have joined forces
          protesting that an archaeological site might be destroyed.
          The stone circle was discovered on the southern shore of the Miami
          river was discovered when work-crews cleared land for the
          constructionwork. It is thought that the artefact might have been
          created by the Tequesta indians that lived in the area before the
          Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon arrived in 1513. An official 
working
          for the local county historical preservation department stated 
that
          "Nothing like this has ever been found in the eastern United 
States,"
          hinting that it might be a site of national importance.
          Despite that fact no scientist have been able to give an 
explanation
          what kind of function the circle might have had. Some say they see
          images of turtles and dolphins carved in the rock, whereas others
          think it have had an astronomical function -like a smaller 
Stonehenge.
          The protests from the activists have forced the hand of the
          construction company that might pay the costs for cutting the 
circle
          out of the bedrock and moving it to safely placing it in a new
          location.
          Yet the work to save the circle have attracted the attention of 
some
          questionable individuals, amongst them the notorious Robert
          "Ghostwolf" Franzone, a non-native that bills himself as a native
          medicine man or shaman advocating "Ghostdance" rituals something
          Native Americans finds to be sacrilegious.
          Mo 3/2.
          AantaPersistent fellow
          Nils Gustav Labba have sent another application to the Sami
          parliamentary Culture council in hope of being granted funding to
          create a webbpublication with native news. The new application are
          almost identical to the one that previously was rejected.
          Tu 4/2.
          A.F
          Another one raise the voice
          Sami parliament MP Mrs Aina Jonsson joins the group that 
officially
          criticizes how the funding to the Sami organizations are 
distributed
          by the Culture council. In an interpellation addressed to the 
chairman
          Mr Per-Mikael Utsi she asks "what criteria that had been used when
          they reorganized the allotment of funds".
          Other native MP's have stated that they consider the distribution 
of
          funds to be a proof on the corruption in the Sami parliament. One 
of
          the facts which have spurred this strong slate are the fact that 
one
          native community which have political connections in the Sami
          parliament are the only one who have received special funding from 
the
          Cultural council, wheres other native communitys who have sent in
          applications for similar purposes have received none.
          We 3/2.
          Aanta





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