Let the River Flow: An Eco-Indigenous Uprising and Its Legacies in Art and Politics

The People’s Action against the Nordic Áltá-Guovdageaidnu Waterway (c. 1978-82) radically shook the course of history in the region. Its call to “let the river live” clamored against the construction of a large dam across the Alltáeatnu river in Norway. The action grew to an unexpectedly broad movement of solidarity across civil society―Sámi and Norwegian, as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples internationally―in which Sámi artists played a pivotal role.