Representatives of the International Union of Sami and Norwegian Sami Parliament supported the leader of the Sami Parliament of the Kola Peninsula ("Sam Sobbar") Valentina Sovkina, positively assessing her contribution to the social movement of indigenous peoples. Foreign experts have admitted that behavior of the Russian authorities who put pressure on the Russian volunteers, including the resident of Murmansk, looks "scary". They expressed this opinion at the third Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council in Tromsø, Norway.
According to the participants of the forum, the authority of Sovkina strengthened after scandalous trip to a conference in New York. Let us recall that the day of departure social worker discovered that the wheels of the car were punctured. After repairing the car were several times stopped by traffic police who said that the car is listed as stolen. Close to the Russian-Norwegian border the unknown tried to snatch her bag with documents. A custom inspection lasted for several hours and only at the last moment the car of Sovkina was passed. She and the other participants missed a plane and were late at the conference, but they were met with standing hall!
“Mrs. Sovkina is not an opposition politician to be trapped that way, and she had to be a guest at the conference. In our opinion, the Russian authorities behave scary, and Valentina and other participants who were unable to cope with "unforeseen circumstances" before departure and didn’t arrive to the US, now they are a people worthy of respect, and we will consider their opinion first,” Norwegian Sami politician Kristina Henriksen assessed the situation.
Valentina Sovkina was not included in the official delegation to attend the Congress and presented in Tromsø as an honored guest. The fact is that there was a congress of Russian Saami in November 2014 in the village of Lovozero (the Murmansk region). Public figures estimated it differently. Some don’t doubt the legitimacy of the national assembly, while others call it "pro-government" and accuse some active participants of bias by the authorities. Members of the Congress chose new leaders and agreed with the proposal to create a new Saami Council with the same name as a public organization of Valentina Sovkina — "Sam sobbar". Thus, a new board of the Third Congress formed, and Parliament chosen at the Second Congress, whose chairman is Valentine Sovkina, remained unchanged. The authorities of the Murmansk region recognize the new board as selected by national assembly. That is why Valentina was not included in the official delegation.
“I was a member of the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples for six years and now I am a chairman of the "Sam sobbar" until the next election! Though some of the participants of the official delegation are trying to say that I was "abolished", but it is not. I am an honorary guest of the Congress,” murmanchanka said.
Experts in the field of psychology, sociology and PR easily explain a mechanism, which came into effect itself and helps public figures to become folk heroes. PhD in Psychology Valentina Likhoshva shared her opinion with "7x7":
“Any public conflict attracts attention. The viewer, listener or reader is involved in the conflict only through public media. Thus, a conflict coverage in the media draws attention to a forgotten or little known person. This is one of the technologies of shaping public opinion. There are images in any political struggle: "hero", "victim", "enemy", "rescued". "Hero" is a person (or a group of people), which makes active steps, usually in the fight against evil. "Enemy" is an immoral, corrupt, a traitor, a sinner, a destroyer. If there is a goal to turn an enemy into a hero, you can’t do without media. Publicized emotionally vivid publications and stories of greed, stupidity, or other negative side of the enemy must diverge from different sources. Several materials, devalues the enemy (usually it is an open ridicule or sarcasm), followed by a description of precedent, the fact of a criminal or immoral act. And an opponent has an image of the "enemy" for the masses. It is important to remember that a word has a double meaning. For example, the word "spy" and "intelligence officer" have the same meaning but different emotions. Another example: "agent", "representative", "public figure", "activist" — these words have a similar meaning, but cause different emotional attitude. Authors create informational messages so that the reader, listener or viewer follows them in reasoning, and in the end came to the "only correct" conclusion. This effect is achieved through the repetition of a simple idea and through simple inference. This method is called suggestion or infusion.
Yevgeniya Volkova, «7x7»
