Folkeaksjonen mot utbygging av Alta-Kautokeinovassdraget was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 organisation created on July 12, 1978 to work against the building of the Alta power station

Alta power station

Alta power station is a hydroelectric power station located on the Alta-Kautokeino River in Finnmark, Norway and is operated by Statkraft.The station is located 40 kilometers from the mouth of the Alta River, that receives most of the water from Finnmarksvidda. Below the power station the river...

 in the Alta River

Altaelva

The river Altaelva has carved out Sautso, one of the largest canyons in Europe on its way from the High Plateau of Finnmarksvidda down to the Altafjord. It lies in the municipality of Alta in Finnmark county, Norway...

. The NGO organised the opposistion against the construction in the Alta controversy

Alta controversy

The Alta controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway.-Key events:...

, and had at the most 20,000 members. Of these 10,000 actively participated in demonstrations, including the Stilla March. The organisation functioned as a cooperation between environmentalists

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

 and sami

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

 activists, and not only succeeded at putting focus on environmental issues but also on Sami rights.

After their acts of civil disobedience

Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...

, the four leaders, Alfred Nilsen

Alfred Nilsen

Alfred Nilsen was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party.He was born in Tromsø.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from the Market towns of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in 1950, but was not re-elected in 1954...

, Tore Bongo, Svein Suhr and Per Flatberg

Per Flatberg

Per Flatberg is a Norwegian environmentalist and pharmacist. Flatberg took the pharmaceutical degree at the University of Oslo in 1961 and started working at both the university and at a pharmacy. From 1981 he ran the pharmacy in Lørenskog and from 1990 the pharmacy in Levanger...

 (information leader), were sentenced for encouraging illegal acts.

Timeline

• Inhabitants of Maze rallied, and formed "Aksjonskomiteen mot neddemming av Masi", August 15, 1970
• A group named "Altautvalget for bevaring av Alta-Kautokeinovassdraget", had been documenting the detrimental effects on salmon and "naturen" of the Alta-canyon
  Canyon
  A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
  
  , since 1973. (The group has been credited, in large, for influencing "kommunestyret" in Alta's opposition to the construction project.)
• "Folkeaksjonen mot utbygging av Alta-Kautokeinovassdraget" was founded at the local highschool(Alta gymnas), by around 80 protesters, on July 12, 1978
• "Folkeaksjonen -" held an election at an "ekstaordinær" annual meeting in Alta on January 24, 1982, which concluded that the organization was to be disassembled. (One of the reasons for disassembling the organization, was to avoid being blamed for sabotage and criminal acts, such as the pyromanic acts that had taken place, in the previous Christmas holidays, against mobile constructions belonging to NVE.)
• "Folkeaksjonen -" had its last national conference, in May 1982.
• Proceedings in court(Alta herredsrett) against Nilsen
  Alfred Nilsen
  Alfred Nilsen was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party.He was born in Tromsø.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from the Market towns of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in 1950, but was not re-elected in 1954...
  
  , Bongo, Suhr and Flatberg
  Per Flatberg
  Per Flatberg is a Norwegian environmentalist and pharmacist. Flatberg took the pharmaceutical degree at the University of Oslo in 1961 and started working at both the university and at a pharmacy. From 1981 he ran the pharmacy in Lørenskog and from 1990 the pharmacy in Levanger...
  
  , commence March 1, 1983. They are later sentenced to fines(10 000 to 20 000 Norwegian kroner) and suspended prison sentences (60–90 days).

Leaders

• Kato Johansen lead the organization until the autumn of 1979
• Alfred Nilsen
  Alfred Nilsen
  Alfred Nilsen was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party.He was born in Tromsø.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from the Market towns of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in 1950, but was not re-elected in 1954...
  
  (from autumn of 1979)