Coward or courageous.

Last week, I wrote about the conflicts between the indigenous Sami minority people in Norway and the majority state. 150 wind turbines had been built in a traditional Sami reindeer herding area. Windmills and reindeer cannot coexist and the ethnic Norwegians must give up their livelihood and culture, at the expense of electricity production, never mind, green electricity. This week, I shall write a bit more about the concrete conflict, and I shall broaden it to include trust in politics in general, or lack thereof. Many times, the majority leaders are heavy-handed, ignorant and arrogant, leaving minorities, this time, ethnic minorities, suffer. Since most countries, if not all, have minorities, there are lessons to learn for all of us.

Last week, the Norwegian Sami people, led by their main organisation 'Norske Samers Riksforbund' (NSR), together with the main organisation for young environmentalists, 'Natur og Ungdom', held major 'dharna' demonstrations in the country's capital Oslo. They began with a sit-down manifestation in the lobby of the Ministry of Oil and Energy, making it difficult for staff and visitors enter the building, and then the demonstrators moved on to a similar manifestation outside the Ministry of Finance, before the police removed them, charging some if they refused to leave. The final manifestation was held last Friday, when demonstrators blocked the main street leading to the Royal Palace where the weekly cabinet meeting was to be held, forcing the ministers to enter from the back of the building. It was all done peacefully, with the President of the Sami Council, Silje Karine Muotka, present, a singer and actress by the name of Silje Marie Haetta Isaksen, and the world-famous Greta Thunberg, who came over from neighbouring Sweden to show solidarity with the indigenous people and environmentalists. Government ministers stopped by and talked with the demonstrators. PM Jonas Gahr Store came, immediately upon his return from the Svalbard Island in the far north-west of mainland Norway. This week, he visited Karasjok, at the Finnmark plateau in the north of the country, holding discussions with the elected Sami Council.

The reason for the demonstrations and conflict was that 150 wind turbines had been build on the Fosen Peninsula in Central Norway about ten years ago, but the Supreme Court decided 500 days ago that the construction was illegal, done without proper permits, not having taken into account the interests of...