Sápmi is the Land of the Midnight Sun, the Land of the Sun-Children, the Land Beyond the North, the homeland of the Sámi peoples.

February 6th is the anniversary of the first international Sámi conference, taking place in Tråante (Åarjelsaemien Gïele)/ Trondheim, Norway in 1917. 104 years later, Sámi National Day commemorates this historic coming together of Sámi peoples across imposed geopolitical borders; borders that seek to cut Sápmi into nationalistic fractures of itself.

The Sámi continue, as they have since ages untold, to live in a way that upholds the longstanding relation they have to their homelands. The same nationalistic forces that divide their homelands with borders and legislation also seek to pollute the air and water for the sake of capitalistic mining endeavors. Although largely underrepresented in world politics and international affairs, the Sámi continue to this day to combat the forces of colonialism against their peoples and to collectively build a path towards their own healing, autonomy, and liberation. Like many Indigenous peoples around the world fighting against imperialistic and capitalistic scourging of the Earth, the Sámi are at the forefront of the fight against climate change and injustice in Scandinavia.

What the Sámi are fighting for is something essential to all human and more the human life: clean drinking water, breathable air, a secure and safe environment to live one’s life and pass on to one’s children, and the freedom to live autonomously without imperialistic imposition. We must stand collectively with the Sámi to end the mistreatment of the Earth and Indigenous communities in every corner of the world.

---

As always, Decolonial Atlas maps can be reused under the Decolonial Media License 0.1.