By Elsa Bayoud
On 17th January, the streets of Greenlandic and Danish cities erupted in colours of Red and White and slogans of “MAGA: Make America Go Away” and “Hands off Greenland”.
There were Greenlanders, taking over the streets of the country that colonised and subjugated them, alongside Danish supporters, roaring in dissent to the advances of the imperialist from the west.
5,000 marched through Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk, making it the largest demonstration in the country’s history. In Denmark, thousands attended a protest in Copenhagen, as well as Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense.
The key organisers were Greenlandic groups, Uagut (an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark), Hands of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland’s indigenous name) and the Inuit Organisation (representing more than 20 Inuit groups).
The demonstrations were also supported by the Danish Trade Union Confederation, which signed a joint statement expressing solidarity with the Greenlandic people. Denmark’s Social Democrats and Red-Green Alliance parties were also in support.
A poll reveals that 85% of the population are opposed to becoming part of the US, preferring to remain in Denmark or become a sovereign nation. With Greenland now in the crux of an inter-imperialist struggle, we have to consider Greenland’s existing oppression under both Danish and American imperialism as well as what it could mean if the US seizes the country.
Trump’s self-declared aim is to dominate the Western hemisphere. He understands the China is America’s biggest competitor, economically and eventually militarily and is seeking to shore up American power and control as rivalry with China intensifies. His war of words with European imperialism, currently focussed on his claims to Greenland and threats to abandon NATO, can be understood as the US President demanding that lesser imperialisms acquiesce to the world’s only super-power – fall in line or else.
The battle is over Greenland is the result of its strategic importance to the United States, which has used the island as a military outpost for decades and resisted all attempts from Russia and China to access its mineral wealth. Melting icecaps potentially make Greenland even more strategic if new trade routes and mining areas open up.
Imperialism and self-determination
Greenland has the status of a Danish region/municipality and is effectively a colony with formal self-government. The country’s Inuit population (a word meaning ‘people’) suffers from widespread poverty and lack of access to public services. There is a long history of the Danish state seeking to limit the Greenlander population has long suffered from racist and restrict the use of their native language.
Increasingly, the Inuit have been calling for national self-determination. What America offers is not self-determination, but continued colonisation under a different ruler. Whether by military takeover or COFA (compacts of free association) scheme which would grant the United States significant military and economic control over Greenland in exchange for modest financial support to the population.
NATO and European imperialism potentially stand in the way of a military takeover. Sweden, Germany, France and Britain have symbolically sent troops to the island and are planning a permanent deployment. They will not be there, however, to protect the interests of the Inuit but of Denmark and the wider European Union. Greenland sits in the middle of a diplomatic crisis that is potentially reshaping the relationship between US and European imperialisms.
In full support of the Greenlander’s right to self-determination, we must support them in rejecting US invasion and increased militarisation by way of “reconnaissance” exercises from the EU. Because wherever the pendulum may swing between the two powers, the only inevitable result of that would be the continued subjugation of the Inuit. Those of us in imperialist countries (whether the US or Europe) must resist our government’s imperialist oppression of Greenland and the denial of the population’s right to self determination.
