Greenland: Resisting Modern Colonialism
Guest Post
As a result of Trump’s latest TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out), Greenland has temporarily faded from the headlines, but it will be back. For this reason, I was pleased to be able to solicit a piece from my good friend Mike Speirs, on the ‘race for Greenland’ from a long-term Danish resident and Danish speaker. Mike has previously worked as an advisor for the Danish government, and he also blogs here. In this ‘mini-essay’, Mike gives a personal, political and environmental perspective on the Greenland crisis, and its wider ramifications.
After moving to Denmark in 1983 I discovered that there were a couple of bonus packages attached to becoming a settled resident. Danish has many similarities to Norwegian and Swedish, which meant that a large Scandinavian cultural landscape was easily accessible as soon as I had mastered the intricacies of the language. However, there are some challenges in the differing vocabularies, dialects and accents in the three countries.
An even greater discovery was Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland): a huge island which has been part of the Danish Kingdom (Realm) since the 18th Century. The unfamiliar tones of the Inuit language, a history of seal hunting and precarious settlements, early warning radar installations, American airbases with nuclear bombers and the indigenous people’s struggle for self-rule suddenly pushed open a new window in my mental map of the world.
For one reason or another, I have focused mostly on the tropical regions in my adventures since the 1980s, but I have a lingering regret that we haven’t visited Greenland. Several of our friends have spent time on the island, teaching, nursing and exhibiting artworks, so we’ve heard a fair amount about the country. And flying to North America on a clear day means that the fantastic glaciers can be viewed in comfort from the window of an Airbus!
Indeed, the climatic changes affecting the ice sheet have been important phenomena in the background of my research and advisory work on global warming over the last 20 years or so. But maybe it’s an awareness of the cold – even as the atmosphere warms – that has kept me away, preferring more temperate and even humid tropical climes.
At the same time, it has been very interesting to follow stories about Greenland over the years: steps towards independence; regular visits by the Danish Queen donning traditional sealskin outfits and praising the hardy inhabitants, scandals associated with the clean-up of nuclear waste after a B52 bomber crashed near the Thule airbase in 1968; high rates of alcoholism and domestic abuse in poor families; scandals associated with attempts to convert Inuit children to the Danish way of life; and, (recently) a major human rights scandal concerning the forced insertion of contraceptive devices in non-acquiescing girls.
There’s never been a shortage of news from Greenland in Denmark, perhaps not surprisingly given its distinct geography and socio-cultural characteristics. Slowly but surely, Denmark has recognised Greenlandic rights to self-determination, culminating in the approval of the 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government (Self-Government Act), which replaced Greenland Home Rule, recognized Greenland’s right to self-determination, and established the Greenland Government and the Danish Government as equal partners.
Globally, the division of the planet between three rival ‘great powers’ and the opening of the sea route north of Canada as the Arctic ice sheet melts, have thrust Greenland - and the Arctic in general - to the top of the ‘geopolitical agenda’ in the 21st Century. Possibilities of fantastic earnings from the exploitation of mineral resources have whetted the appetites of hungry entrepreneurs and political grafters, keenly watching the rocky ground emerge as atmospheric temperature increase accelerates runoff from the ice sheet. Coupled with these trends are efforts to ensure that the Chinese and the Russians are kept at a safe distance from El Dorado in the north.
Enter the MAGA madmen, with their insatiable greed and their urge to make everything bigger, including the territory of the United States. Despite threats from the US Government about a proposed takeover during the first MAGA rule (2017-21), the Greenlandic, Danish and European responses were mostly subdued, beyond the insistence that the territory is not for sale.
More recently, the military might of the United States, combined with the destructive strategies outlined in Project 25 and the economic stupidities introduced since the inauguration of MAGA II one year ago, have produced panic scenes, as assorted European politicians try to restrain an American leadership which seems out of control.
As things currently stand, an ‘American acquisition by force’ scenario has been postponed, while a working group considers options for beefing up security in Greenland. Several European governments have joined the Danish in sending extra troops to the island, while desperate efforts have been made to ensure that disagreements between the MAGA bosses and European leaders wouldn’t lead to the collapse of NATO; a dream scenario for the Kremlin.
The issue is complicated by recent progress on self-rule and strengthened recognition of Indigenous rights in Greenland, which have been largely ignored in the offensive speeches and pronouncements by the MAGA mob. For the time being, the Greenland Government has emphasized its intention to remain an autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark.
As far as the Danish Government is concerned, having recognized that the colonial period is over, self-determination is now the name of the game. The Greenlanders have stated unequivocally that they do not wish to be re-colonised, and certainly not by the MAGA faction in the US.
Red lines have been drawn on the rapidly disappearing ice.
Further reading:
There are numerous assessments of the many facets of the ‘Greenland question’, including:
A very thorough historical survey of the Greenland crisis - Wikipedia