Happy New Year, greetings from Sápmi!

Greetings from Sápmi, my name is Stefan Mikaelsson and I am a long time member of the Sámiparliament plenary assembly. I do live in the Sápmi part of the Arctic, without almost no visible homeless peoples on the icy streets in the swedish northern muncipalities. The pain of experiencing the political, economical and moral collapse of the welfare state with all its homeless peoples on #Vasagatan and inside the Central Station in #Stuehkie – citycenter of Stockholm, is a painful experience.

Should the Sami Parliament continue to arrange meetings and conferences in a capital that developed an economic system that so obviously abandons and omits the weakest group of the dominating people in the land of the setting sun, the kingdom of Sweden?

The world’s indigenous peoples can not trust European parliamentarism  if compassion, empathy and solidarity are just empty phrases and the greed of the growth economy is developed and favored by MEPs as well as the members of National Parliaments. And this at the expense of the unemployed, those on a sick leave, the uninsured and the poor retired old folks.

All this is allowed to happen due to lack of political will in the mainstream society within the European Union. Dear average Parliamentarian, You can never understand!

The human rights implications of the Covid-19 pandemic are huge and escalating. The global inequality of vaccine distribution is a quickly unfolding nightmare that should be a level one emergency for anyone who believes all human & all indigenous lives are equally important regardless of national or ethnic origin.

The UN development goals are the most ambitious agenda for sustainable development processed by the world community to, among other things, eliminate extreme hunger and poverty, reduce inequalities and injustices in the world, to promote peace and justice and to solve the climate crisis.

As we stand on the threshold of 2021, we may have already been fortunate enough to witnessing the Dawn of the Age of Aquarius, and thus, will we in near future experience a change in the injustice and sharing of wealth in the world ?  

A different world is possible but only if it includes the indigenous peoples and makes us part of the solution instead of the problem.

My best wishes for a very Happy New Year to all of you in the windy world. May the force be with us out there under the sun, moon and the stars! See you next year & Bon Voyage !

//Stefan Mikaelsson, long time member of Sámi Parliament!

Also available on You Tube with subtitles in english: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJYy-rnC8Ig