no one needs a visa to live in the
Arctic archipelago of salbar but it is
Norwegian
territory from the government side uh
they want this to be a Norwegian family
family
Society foreigners feel
ostracized the mayor and other local
politicians don't care about my problems
because I can't vote for
them will falar remain an open Society
in the future
[Applause]
a long descent into the permafrost
underground Mia lettas Works in Coal
Mine number seven in Spar the last
operational Norwegian mine in the
archipelago
now I'm doing blasting and Mining and I
really fell in love with uh both mine
and the swar and all the people so
originally from middle of
[Applause]
[Music]
Norway Mia started as a trainee in 2020
but for the past 2 years she's been a
full-time member of the team and the
only woman among the male
miners I think I am just curious so
somebody told me that SW is a good place
and maybe I should try to go there and I
did and they were right so from staying
3 weeks I I was supposed to stay for 3
weeks and I stayed for 6 weeks and went
home and packed all my stuff and moved
here today Mia is making the mine safer
by reinforcing its Vault safety is top
priority
[Music]
here the working language in the mine is
Norwegian and most of the miners here
are from Norway however a few
individuals from other Scandinavian
countries get by with Norwegian
too but up on the surface in longia it's
more
International mostly I speak Norwegian
uh most of my friends are Norwegian but
I do know people that are not so we use
a lot of English as well and also it's
almost impossible to order your food in
Norwegian so I have to speak English and
uh I think it's
okay coal and miners have long been
symbols of
longan however in recent times Cole
mining has decreased significantly
signaling a change in life onalar toward
tourism I haven't been to the place
where the coal is directly mined but
I've been right up to the mine
carts Valeria arrived inalar 4 years ago
initially she worked as a tour guide in
the Russian mining settlements of
badenburg in Pur aidin on the
archipelago
in 2021 she relocated to the Norwegian
town of
longan Valeria has continued working in
the tourism sector and is striving to
integrate into the
community I'm trying to learn Norwegian
because it makes sense to learn it
living on
salbar I watch movies in Norwegian
that's how I discovered Scandinavia has
really interesting
films Valeria is Russian but has
Ukrainian citizenship and comes from
Kone in Southeastern Ukraine her mother
chose to
stay Valeria is staying with a friend
and struggles to find a suitable
permanent accommodation in longan with
local authorities showing little
concern I can't believe that there isn't
some Corner in the whole town where I
can at least have a place to live with
my dogs especially if I can pay my rent
I mean I pay taxes here so I spoke to
the local it's sort of like the local
mayor's office I basically told them I'm
a Russian with a Ukrainian passport I
can't go back to any of the mainland
countries that are somehow more or less
native to me I met the mayor's assistant
who listened to me and harly said this
is the brutal reality you must go back
to the mainland if you have no place to
live
here industrial Norwegian companies can
offer housing for their employees while
Norwegians must find their own as demand
increases life for foreigners in the
town used to be easier according to
Elizabeth Bourne originally from Seattle
she's been living in spad for 7 years
runs an art gallery and advocates for
foreigners
rights Bourne has witnessed a
significant increase of new arrivals in
longan in recent years now comprising
more than a third of the town's
population of over 2,000
[Music]
I think that there's a lot of anxiety
about how this place is becoming less
Norwegian than it used to be well it
used to be a coal mining town that was
run by a Norwegian company and nobody
else could live here so of course it's
changed but I don't think that they I
don't think the Norwegian government
when they decided to promote tourism as
a replacement industry for coal mining
realized that one of the things that
would come with tourism would be a large
number of of non-n
Norwegians the falar treaty signed in
1920 grants Norway sovereignty over the
archipelago while ensuring equal access
to resources and fair treatment for all
parties fostering A Unique International
Community on the
islands today the majority of non-n
Norwegians inalar work in the tourism
sector
concerned about the increasing number of
foreigners on the archipelago Norwegian
authorities two years ago restricted
their voting rights to vote or stand for
election in the local Council one must
have resided on the mainland for 3
years the Norwegian authorities argue
that this requirement ensures a good
understanding of salvar policy and
framework in response a silent protest
emerged displayed at the Elizabeth
Gallery echoing the voices of those
non-n Norwegians who are fearful or
unable to speak due to the precarious
positions taking the vote away um is one
of the ways to keep people from feeling
like this is a good place to be I think
very much that Norway would like to
Norwegian IE longer
ban but the way that they're doing it
also alienates the Norwegians here um
you cannot Norwegian ISE a place when
you have 40% of your population cannot
speak the language and they can't speak
the language because there are no
language classes and there haven't been
for a very long
time tadia anik the mayor of longan was
elected last fall under changed election
rules which excluded many local
foreigners from
participating despite sar's unique
status tadia emphasizes that it remains
a part of Norway way albe it an
unconventional one still we're just
making more and more iron curtain like
people come to longin to work and it's
up to you when you arrive here to how
shall I say take care of yourself and
that's not only for foreigners that even
for Norwegian that we have lesser rights
here compared to Mainland even as a
Norwegian that's quite important also
part of the picture from the government
side uh they want this to be a Norwegian
family family Society but the growth in
number of people has been um mainly
going into
foreigners that doesn't mean that
foreigners are foreigners are not
welcome but the government wants it to
be a better
balance and then they have to to make
policy that makes this better balance
and sometimes I would that can
be um
considered as tighten up the grip kind
of so the rules in Norway are very
liberal and I don't think Norway wants
to have that kind of liberality here
because they feel a need to keep more
control here because this is such an
open Community I don't I don't blame
Norway for their concerns but I do think
they're going
about um trying to achieve their goals
in a way that actually is going to do
the exact opposite
the falar treaty has been responsible
for the balance for a
century non-n Norwegians view recent
changes as a restriction of their rights
despite the prohibition of
discrimination in the falar
treaty the local newspaper faad poon
closely monitors this
issue there was a lot of frustration and
sorrow amongst the non-norwegian
inhabitants of of longan um because a
lot of people have lived here for a long
time and and uh been kind of part of the
uh local democracy been in local St um
and maybe see uh Norway and longan as a
sort of a community that they want to
take part of un like the Norwegian uh
yeah democracy so so there was a lot of
feelings and and
frustration the Restriction of Rights
means that two groups Norwegians and
non-n Norwegians exist side by side
especially in political terms
the mayor's Aid the mayor and any other
local politician don't care at all if I
have a place to live or not or what my
problems are they're not interested in
helping as I cannot give them my
vote Elizabeth plans to continue raising
awareness about the challenges faced by
non-n Norwegians
inalar despite her love for the Arctic
she has chosen to leave and reunite with
her family
[Applause]
no one stays here forever this is not a
place where you can live forever I have
a four-year-old granddaughter and as my
son reminds me that uh if I intend to
know her then I need to be near her and
sending photos of me on a snowmobile
isn't going to make
it so I will I will leave next year and
I've I know that Valeria hopes to be
successful in finding accommodation
inalar but would move to the European
Mainland if necessary Mia's life lacks
stability as the mine is set to close
next year Norway is relinquishing its
coal Legacy
[Music]
inalar uh but I've been looking into
going through Australia
Greenland uh because I really like
mining so I would like to keep doing
that uh but I'm also open to be a
mechanic again on the main land
yeah life here doesn't suit everyone
months of sunshine then months of
darkness and the arctic
cold it still managed to draw in many
Internationals because of its unique
environment and the visa-free work
opportunities but the new law has
undoubtedly made living together more
difficult
[Music]