Alta controversy

The Alta controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway.

Key events

The background for the controversy was a published plan by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) that called for the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant that would create an artificial lake and inundate the Sami village of Máze. After the initial plan met political resistance, a less ambitious project was proposed that would cause less displacement of Sami residents and less disruption for reindeer migration and wild salmon fishing.

In 1978, the popular movement against development of the Alta-Kautokeino waterway (Folkeaksjonen mot utbygging av Alta-Kautokeinovassdraget) was founded, creating an organizational platform for first opposing and then resisting construction work. This group and others filed for an injunction in Norwegian courts against the Norwegian government to prevent construction from beginning.

In the fall of 1979, as construction was ready to start, protesters performed two acts of civil disobedience: at the construction site itself at Stilla, activists sat down on the ground and blocked the machines, and at the same time, Sami activists began a hunger strike outside the Norwegian parliament.

Documents that have since been declassified, show that the government planned to use military forces as logistical support for police authorities in their efforts to stop the protests. [http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1280217.ece]

The prime minister at the time, Odvar Nordli, pre-empted such an escalation by promising a review of the parliament's decision, but the Norwegian parliament subsequently confirmed its decision to dam the river. More than one thousand protesters chained themselves to the site when the work started again in January 1981. The police responded with large forces; at one point 10% of all Norwegian police officers were stationed in Alta (during which time they were quartered in a cruise ship). The protesters were forcibly removed by police.

For the first time since World War II, Norwegians were arrested and charged with violating laws against rioting. The central organizations for the Sami people discontinued all cooperation with the Norwegian government. Two Sami women even travelled to Rome to petition the Pope.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government in early 1982, at which point organized opposition to the power plant ceased, and the power plant was built.

Legacy

As the first serious political upheaval since the debate about Norwegian EC membership in 1972, the Alta controversy was important in several ways:
* It put the rights of the Sami as an indigenous people with distinct rights over the lands in Northern Norway, onto the national political agenda. This process reached a key milestone in 2005, when the Finnmark Act was passed. It is considered that though the Sami lost the battle over this particular issue, they made important long-term gains.
* It unified formerly disparate environmental groups with respect to a common cause.
* It raised for the first time civil disobedience and the potential of violence as a political tool.

References

* Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/history/032005-990463/index-dok000-b-n-a.html The Sami in Norway]
* Bård Berg: " [http://www.galdu.org/govat/doc/25_aar_i_skyttergravene.pdf 25 år i skyttergravene? Fra kampen om Alta/Kautokeino-vassdraget til Bondevik-regjeringens forslag til Finnmarkslov] " no icon
* Knut Nilsen: [http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/tusenarsskiftet/article448340.ece Ungdom som ville redde naturen] , in Aftenposten no icon
* Lars Martin Hjorthol: "Alta - Kraftkampen som utfordret statens makt", Gyldendal, 2006 ISBN 82-05-33943-0 no icon