On Tuesday, Greenland will elect a new parliament. The fact that Donald Trump would like to annex their country does not play a major role.
It is a bitterly cold Thursday in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk: minus 13 degrees and an icy wind is sweeping through the streets. But despite the bitter cold, around 300 demonstrators are gathering in front of the parliament building to protest against what they see as discrimination by Denmark. With drums and chants, they are calling for a rethink in Copenhagen.
Among them is Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede, a supporter of an orderly separation from Denmark. The upcoming parliamentary elections on March 11 offer him the opportunity to once again position himself as a champion of Greenlandic independence.
“End colonialism, end the genocide” reads one poster, while another bears the message: “Indigenous rights are human rights”.
The couple Ann-Britta and Rasmus Olsvig are also among the demonstrators. “There is structural racism on the part of the Danes,” complains Rasmus Olsvig, citing the separate schooling for Greenlandic and Danish children as an example. “Many Danish parents do not want their children to go to school with Greenlandic children.”
His wife adds: “On social media, we keep reading comments from Danes suggesting that we should be happy with the annual 5.4 billion krone (around 670 million euros) in financial aid from Copenhagen. So more gratitude, fewer complaints.”
Greenland wants independence – from Trump and Denmark
Anyone who expected that the Greenland election campaign would be dominated by US President Donald Trump’s renewed threat to take over the strategically important island by force if necessary is mistaken. The vast majority of Greenlanders firmly reject a takeover by the USA. “We don’t want to be Danes or Americans. We are Greenlanders,” Prime Minister Egede said on Facebook , rejecting Trump’s intentions.
Nevertheless, the issue of independence from Denmark remains one of the central election campaign issues, alongside health and education policy. Most parties support independence from Denmark. However, they do not agree on how quickly this process should take place.
The left-leaning party of the Prime Minister is in favour of a slower separation process, while some other parties are pushing for more speed. It is difficult to predict the outcome of the elections, says Masaana Egede, editor-in-chief of Sermitsiaq, Greenland’s most important newspaper. “The centre parties may lose a little,” he says.
Are Greenlanders not taking Trump’s threat seriously?
The German cultural historian Ebbe Volquardsen, a professor at the University of Nuuk, has an explanation for why the relationship with Denmark is more important in the election campaign than geopolitical issues. “From the outside, it may seem bizarre that we are mainly talking about Denmark and internal party disputes,” he says. “I have the impression that these Trump advances, threats and offers are being received with a smile.”
Trump’s move may have indirectly benefited the Greenlanders, says Volquardsen. “Perhaps it can help them negotiate a new model with Denmark that, in the best case, will finally bring them real equality.” In the worst case, however, he warns, Trump could make good on his threats. “Then not only Greenland but the entire Western world would be in danger. In the best case, the Greenlanders are the only winners; in the worst case, they are on the losing side along with the whole of Europe.”
Although Greenland is largely self-governing, it still belongs to the Danish kingdom. The Inuit, who make up around 90 percent of the 57,000 inhabitants, have been striving for independence for decades. But so far these efforts have failed due to financial dependence on Denmark.
For a long time, the message from Copenhagen was unequivocal: “Anyone who wants to cut ties will not get any more money.” This is a difficult situation for Greenland, which has hardly any sources of income other than fishing and tourism. The country’s raw materials have not yet been exploited.
In 2009, after decades of struggle, Greenland was granted the right to self-government. Since then, the Danish government has tried to improve relations with a charm offensive.
The Greenlandic flag was integrated into the official Danish coat of arms, and Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced investments of almost two billion euros in Greenland’s military infrastructure at the end of last year. Since Trump’s takeover threat, the tone from Copenhagen has been even friendlier.
Colonization by Denmark is questioned
Volquardsen describes the Greenlandic-Danish relationship as a “complex issue”. Since around 2019, he has observed a growing willingness in Denmark to face Greenlandic demands for more participation and to address historical injustice. “It has only been about five years since we saw that official bodies in Denmark are willing to question cherished narratives about the supposedly humane Danish colonization,” he says.
A particularly dark chapter in this history is the so-called IUD scandal. In the 1960s, Denmark had IUDs inserted in thousands of Greenlandic women and girls, sometimes against their will or without their knowledge. The aim was to reduce the number of Greenlandic children and thus reduce costs for kindergartens, schools and hospitals.
Many Greenlanders and international lawyers are talking about a crime, and Prime Minister Egede even calls it “genocide.” Last year, the Danish government officially apologized, and a commission of inquiry is due to present its report in May.
Rasmus and Ann-Britta Olsvig do not believe that this report will provide new information. “How could it? There are Danes on the commission,” they explain on the sidelines of the demonstration. Naaja Nathanielsen, Minister for Raw Materials, Acquisition and Trade, is also among the demonstrators in Nuuk. Her accusation against Denmark: a lack of awareness of wrongdoing. “They still have not fully realized what they have done,” she told Handelsblatt.
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