By the editorial staff.
After US imperialism’s illegal attack on Venezuela, many were quick to speculate on what impact this would have on the Trump administration’s ambition to gain control of Greenland.
Sure enough, after breaking all kinds of laws by kidnapping President Maduro, the Trump administration’s spokespeople were quick to announce that “Greenland is next.”
This has now blown up into a major political drama, with lots of negotiations and conspiracies going on behind closed doors. The air has been filled with imperialist and colonial rhetoric to justify either one imperialist’s or another’s dominance over Greenland.
Danish imperialism exposes itself as a colonial power
In recent years, Danish imperialism has worked hard to reconcile the grim past between Denmark and Greenland. Many cases have been dug up, such as the “Spiral Case,” in which half of all women in Greenland in the 1970s were effectively forcibly sterilized. Last year, the Danish state took responsibility for this, issued an official apology, and offered compensation to the victims. Danish imperialism is not doing this because it is a more merciful or gentler colonial power, but to lead the process of Greenland’s transition from a colonial country to a semi-colonial country. It is working to ensure that this happens on the terms of Danish imperialism and to Denmark’s advantage. This is the next logical step in the transition from “home rule” to “self-government” to full formal independence, but still within the Commonwealth, so that Danish imperialism can refine its exploitation of the country.
As a result, the Danish government has been very cautious in its rhetoric about Greenland lately. It has come up with rhetoric about “Greenland choosing its own destiny,” but this rhetoric has fallen flat after pressure on Danish imperialism from the US has increased.
Shortly after the intervention in Venezuela on January 3rd, the Trump administration once again announced its intention to gain control of Greenland for “national security reasons.” The timing is no coincidence, as the intervention sends a clear signal to the governments and peoples of Latin America, as well as to all other imperialist powers in the world.
The situation prompted an emergency meeting of the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss Greenland’s future, but without any representatives from Greenland being present.
The situation reveals what Danish imperialism really still thinks about Greenland and its clear intention that Greenland should remain subject to Danish imperialism. This treatment of Greenland and the Greenlandic people as an inferior country and people has caused much resentment among both Greenlanders and Greenlandic politicians.
US imperialism in crisis
The pressure from US imperialism has now led to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, among others, sending symbolic contingents of military personnel to Greenland to participate in a Danish-led NATO military exercise called “Arctic Endurance.” At the same time, Danish imperialism, which currently has around 150 troops stationed in Greenland, has scrambled to arm itself in the country as quickly as possible.
There is talk of fears that US imperialism will occupy Greenland militarily, but the fact is that US imperialism already occupies Greenland militarily. Pituffik Space Base, which is currently the only publicly known US military base in Greenland, already has more military personnel in Greenland than Danish troops.
The Trump administration claims that it wants to gain control of Greenland for “national security reasons,” but the US imperialist treaty with Danish imperialism from 1941 is still in force and allows Yankee imperialism to set up military bases and station troops in Greenland without further ado.
If Yankee imperialism really wanted control of Greenland, they could easily do so; they previously stationed tens of thousands of troops in the country during the Cold War. If it wanted to, it could de facto achieve total military control by establishing bases and sending just a few thousand troops to the country. But the point is that Yankee imperialism does not want to protect Greenland itself, but wants to pressure the rest of the NATO countries to invest more resources in militarizing the Arctic.
On the other hand, there is the economic aspect, which we have described in previous articles, namely control of new shipping routes in the Arctic and access to Greenland’s natural resources, especially rare earth metals.
Due to the deep crisis it finds itself in, US imperialism is now trying to tighten its grip on Greenland, along with the rest of the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, it is pressuring the other NATO countries to look after its Arctic “front yard” for it.
In practice, US imperialism has no interest in formally annexing Greenland, but its interests in controlling Greenland are very real. The way it currently appears they want to do this is by sowing discord among the European powers through a dangerous game of punitive tariffs. They also want to make a purchase agreement that will bribe the big bourgeoisie in Greenland to speed up the process of going from colony to semi-colony, but where US imperialism takes over the leadership of this process for its own benefit.
Large protests against the US in Greenland and Denmark
In recent weeks, the largest demonstrations in Greenland’s history have taken place. Thousands of Greenland’s population of around 57,000 have taken to the streets.
In Copenhagen and several other cities, tens of thousands have also taken to the streets to reject US threats against Greenland.
Although many of the protests in Denmark have a clear progressive aspect and are entirely correct in rejecting US imperialism’s intentions to gain control over Greenland, they do not direct a nearly as strong and necessary attack against Danish imperialism. Denmark is the current colonial power over Greenland, so when the protests do not also direct their attack against more than 300 years of colonization and exploitation of Greenland, the Danish state can partially use them to legitimize itself as a milder colonial power.
News monopolies in Denmark, together with politicians, have now tried to stir up public sentiment in both Greenland and Denmark. The Commonwealth is highlighted as something good and positive, and the US as irrational and dangerous.
Danish imperialism claims that only it can guarantee Greenland’s transition to independence. But this is just as big a lie as the guarantee of independence offered by the US. The fact is that 300 years of Danish colonization and exploitation have caused enormous misery and pain to the people of Greenland.
Revolutionaries must clearly reject and combat US imperialism’s ambitions to gain control of Greenland. At the same time, they must not forget to combat Danish imperialism, which currently occupies and exploits Greenland. The only ones who can liberate Greenland from imperialism are the Greenlandic people themselves.
The situation currently unfolding around Greenland is the conflict between the imperialist powers and superpowers, which also sharpens the conflict between imperialism and the nation in Greenland. There is currently a great deal of politicization of the masses in Greenland, which makes the question of national self-determination more relevant than ever before. There are many things in motion, and we will continue to report on the situation and its development in the coming period.
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