Contribution short abstract:

Colonial violence can translate into the language of sustainability through green colonialism. In May, 2023, a two-day event took place in Trondheim with the participation of representatives from the Indigenous communities to discuss its impact on their territories.

Contribution long abstract:

When the protests against the violation of Indigenous rights in Norway erupted in the capital of the country in February 2023, centuries of colonialism in this far north were put on the spotlight, this time in an area where the Nordics consider themselves proud of championing: environmentalism. Moreover, while Norwegian clean energy companies have irrupted in Sampi territories with windfarms, their actions extend to the other side of the ocean, where important rivers for the Mapuche people have been desecrated to install hydroelectric plants that disrupt local ecological balance.

Considering how these acts translate colonial violence into the language of sustainability, a group of migrants in the city of Trondheim, in South Sampi territory, organized a two-day event with the participation of representatives from the Sampi and Mapuche communities. During the encounter, we discussed green colonialism, together with Indigenous epistemologies and cosmovision, and opacity. Moreover, in the very making of the event, key issues were made open to discussion, such as the challenges of multilinguistic and multicultural collaboration, the meanings of solidarity when certain bodies are threatened with incarceration and criminalization, and how to counteract divisive narratives of stereotyping among Indigenous peoples.

As part of the organization team, we will refer in our intervention to the challenges, investments, and learnings in the making of this event, from a feminist standpoint that highlights the personal and the questioning of power. Moreover, we will share experiences as migrant scholars working on environmental justice while based in the global north.