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

The cracks in the earth caused by the mine near Kiruna are causing buildings in the town to subside. Photograph: Johan Ylitalo/The Guardian

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”.