In this episode we have with us Jean Thierry and Tobias Gregory from the organisation “Almen Modstand” which was formed in response to the 2018 so-called ghetto law that put strict requirements on the Danish General Housing sector. There are about half a million general housing homes in Denmark (app. 20% of total housing stock). What characterizes this sector is that it is open to all, not only low-income people. These homes are by right organized in associations democratically controlled by the residents themselves and no profit can be extracted. The rent is therefore also usually lower than in the private housing market.  About 25% of the homes can be used by municipalities to house low-income families, refugees, people with disabilities and so forth. With the introduction of the “ghetto” law in 2018, the government put strict and arbitrary requirements on educational level, ethnic/national origin, income levels, etc for residents. If a general housing association or neighborhood does not live up to the requirements stipulated in the law,  the association is put on the so-called ghetto list. If an association remains on the list for a number of years, the association can be forced to evict residents, sell off homes to private investors or even forced to demolish homes in order to get off the list again. Almen Modstand was formed to resist the law, organize residents, and expose its racist and capitalist logics.    

You can read more via these links: 

• You can read more via these links: 

• Learn more about Almen Modstand: www.almenmodstand.dk
• Read more about the litigation case against the Danish Ministry of Transport and Housing by the residents of Mjølnerparken:  https://www.justiceinitiative.org/litigation/tenants-of-mjolnerparken-v-danish-ministry-of-transport-and-housing
• Other resources:
  • https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/27/denmark-ghetto-law-eviction-non-western-residents-housing-estates
  • https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X221141427
  • https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09697764231165202

You can find a transcription here (pdf, opens in new tab)

In this episode, we are joined by Aili Keskitalo from Amnesty International and former president of the Sámì Parliament in Norway and PhD fellow at the University of Stavanger Cecilie Larsen to talk about green colonialism and the South Sámì struggles against the Norwegian government’s wind farm concessions around Fosen in central Norway. In 2010 the Norwegian state granted permission to build several large-scale wind farms on the Sámi ancestral lands of Fosen that are vital for Sámi reindeer herding and hence a vital part of South Sámi culture. The Fosen case, is the latest manifestation of continuous discrimination against indigenous people in Norway. The Supreme Court ruled against the Norwegian State in 2021, yet the farms are still in operation. While a few concessions have been made, the Norwegian state goes to great lengths to ignore the supreme court ruling despite massive Sámì protests and mobilization. With Cecilie and Aili, we discuss the relationship between the Norwegian state and indigenous communities, and how the pursuit of green growth leads to further appropriation of Sámi lands and attack on Sámi culture.

See these links if you are interested in reading more about the Fosen case:

Norwegian National Human Rights Institution assessment of supreme court ruling

Wind Energy on Trial in Saepmie: Epistemic Controversies and Strategic Ignorance in Norway’s Green Energy Transition

You can find a transcription here (pdf, opens in new tab)

This episode introduces several themes surrounding justice. In this first attempt, we have gathered the brilliant scholars Liv Sunnercrantz and Andy Lautrup to discuss environmental justice, social justice, and spatial justice in the Nordic Region. We think about the relationship between the practical and the theoretical, positionality, and the multiple and complex ways that justice can be conceived and who conceives it. We also delve into the Nordic Region and the surrounding discourses of goodness as explicitly Scandinavian. Furthermore, the conversation reflects on whether justice is a useful tool for criticizing systemic wrongdoings or if justice is an inherent part of a structure producing injustices, thus being unproductive for facilitating change.

https://www.uis.no/en/research/social-and-spatial-justice (Åpnes i nytt vindu)

Du finner transkripsjon av episoden her (pdf, åpnes i nytt vindu)