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Photo: Kenneth Paulsson

Kiruna to me is a place, if not of milk and honey, so of reindeer meat and grannys cloudberry jam. Every time I go there I'm struck by the fact that the history of Kiruna in so many ways corresponds with my own history, and for that matter the history of Sweden and the 20th century.

That feeling is stronger than ever before this fall of 2004. Because Kiruna is now facing its destiny. The ground under the city is breaking. The railroad and the newly finished road E10 has to be rerouted, elecricity and water systems are in danger, houses and villas has to be bought back by LKAB. In accordance with the mineral law LKAB will buy the houses, but when and in what pace?

People who are getting divorced or handling the estate of a dead person are stuck. We do want LKAB to be successful, we know how depentent Kiruna is. But we need to know what to do, we need some goddamned place where we can go.

While the villas are threatened some of the community houses are allready doomed.

The Kiruna that recently celebrated its hundredth anniversary may not exist for very much longer. The city might be swallowed by the mine.

No other Swedish city represents the 20th century like Kiruna, with its hope for the future, visions of the Swedish welfare state, conflicts and ideologies. One can see it in the city planning, in the buildings, the street network and the names.

In the beginning here was nothing, as the saying goes. But if so you forget about the sami.

Now they are worried about the reindeer routes. And the two villages Gapna and Leavas. At least one of them will psobably have to go.

The laws on mining and wood industry always overrule the sami civil rights, klagar någon vid bordet. But ofcourse you have to compromise.

-It is important that the move is done with care, says Eva Svonni, so we don't loose the soul of Kiruna. That would be as if your house burned down and everything was new

A very similar article was published in Dagens Nyheter oktober 24 2004 10:20 but it was longer and all in Swedish and written by Ingergerd Waaranperä