| dc.description.abstract | On 11th February 2023, young Norwegian activists together with the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg occupied Norway ́s Oil & Energy Ministry. This marked 500 days since the Norwegian Supreme Court had found the licenses to Europe’s biggest onshore wind park in violation of Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), without any remedial solution being implemented. The protests were the activists last effort to get the Norwegian government to abide the Supreme Court decision from 2021, where the Supreme Court had found the wind turbines built on South Saami grazing land on Roan and Storheia located on Fosen Peninsula to violate the Sami right to pursue traditional reindeer herding. This thesis explores the framing strategies employed by the South Sami actors in the Fosen case over the period 2008-2021. I will do so by applying framing theory as both a theoretical framework and analytical tool. This study investigates how the actors strategically framed their human rights case through diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing. I argue that the actors strategically employed unique aspects of their indigenous culture to promote their political goals. Furthermore, I argue that the case must be understood within its historical context which elucidate their status as a minority within the minority. Despite fundamental aspects that differentiate the Fosen case from other cases, I argue that the precedent set by the Supreme Court verdict will have implications for future windmill and development projects. Based on my findings, I conclude that diagnostic, prognostic as well as motivational framing have been employed by the South Sami actors in the mobilization process. A common attribute within these frames is the actor’s deliberate accentuation of reindeer herding as a fundamental part of the South Sami actor’s identity. Through different framing concepts, my findings also demonstrate that the South Sami actors utilized rights frames as a master frame to generate greater resonance within the Norwegian as well as the international community. Lastly my findings illustrate that a frame alignment have occurred between the Sami actors and the environmental and nature protection organization Friends of the Earth (Naturvernforbundet). | |
