By Múte Egede and Lotte Rørtoft-Madsen
January 17, 2025

The International Action Center publishes the comments of the prime minister of Greenland, reported Jan. 13 on Democracy Now!, and a statement by the chairperson of the Danish Communist Party supporting the self-determination of Greenlanders. These comments are reactions to the threats from President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 7 to buy or otherwise seize the world’s largest island. (NATO member Denmark is the historic colonial power in Greenland.)

Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede

The prime minister of Greenland said he is open to dialogue with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump but maintained Greenland is focused on its independence amid Trump’s continued threats to take control over the territory.

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede: “The desire for independence, the desire to be in one’s own house, is probably understood by all people in the world. And that struggle from Greenland’s side isn’t new. It didn’t just happen yesterday. It didn’t happen when I gave the New Year’s speech. But things have developed in that direction for many, many years, at least for many decades. … We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlandic. And, of course, it is the Greenlandic people who decide their future.”

Trump’s threats toward Greenland have shone a spotlight on the territory’s push to gain full independence from Denmark, which has long been accused of committing colonial abuses against its mostly Inuit population.

Danish Communist Party Chairperson Lotte Rørtoft-Madsen 

In recent days and weeks, Greenland and the Greenlandic people have been brutally thrown onto the grand political stage.

The almost 57,000 inhabitants and their large island are being turned into a bargaining chip, a pawn that can be moved around at will on the great chessboard of imperialism.

Under huge media attention, Donald Trump’s son made a lightning “tourist visit” to Nuuk on Tuesday and, in a well-organized propaganda show in Greenland and from Trump’s residence in Florida, it was made clear that the future U.S. president is ready to play his trump card. He did not reject the idea of using economic or military force to get his hands on Greenland. During the press conference, it was said:

A journalist asks: “Can you assure the world that while you are trying to get control of those areas [Greenland, Panama, ed.], you will not use military or economic force?”

“No,” Trump interrupts.

The journalist continues: … “and can you tell us a little bit about what your plan is? Will you negotiate a new treaty?”

“No, I can’t assure you … you’re talking about Panama and Greenland … I can’t assure you of either. But I can tell you this: We need them for economic security.”

In front of rolling cameras, the future President of the United States — not [Russian President Vladimir] Putin! — makes obvious military and economic threats against Greenland and the Danish Royal Federation.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comment? “The U.S. is Denmark’s most important ally. Today’s discussion does not change that.”

It is an unprecedented, absurd and thoroughly neo-colonialist drama that Greenland has been thrown into.

Egede calls Trump’s comments ‘serious’

The chairperson of the Greenlandic Self-Government Múte P. Egede [Prime Minister] and several other Greenlandic politicians have made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. After the Trump press conference on Tuesday, Múte P. Egede repeated what he also said in his New Year’s speech, namely that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” And — unlike Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen — he called Trump’s comments “serious statements.”

Within a few months, elections to the Greenlandic parliament Inatsisartut will be held. The question of independence was already high on the political agenda before the developments of recent days. It is not unrealistic to imagine a referendum in Greenland on independence in the foreseeable future. According to the self-government agreement that regulates Greenland’s relationship in the Danish Royal Federation, the Danish Parliament must subsequently approve this.

With the Self-Government Agreement, Denmark has officially recognized that Greenlanders are a people with its own rights under international law.

Nevertheless, the mindset of colonialism runs deep in the minds of those in power in Denmark. Some politicians won’t even guarantee that they will nod yes if a Greenlandic decision on independence comes to a vote in the Danish parliament.

Múte P. Egede charged ‘genocide’

On a more structural level, Greenland is still excluded from several forums and contexts where decisions affecting Greenland are made. Individual cases such as the outrageous IUD/coil scandal, which Múte P. Egede has called genocide against the Greenlandic people, are examples of how colonialism is not a thing belonging to a distant past.

The tone deafness and arrogance of the Danish government makes it more than understandable that independence is gaining more and more importance on Greenland’s political agenda. With their attitude and policies, the Danish rulers are themselves jeopardizing the Danish Royal Federation.

The Danish state’s centuries-long mistreatment of Greenland and the feeling of being looked down upon and exploited that it has caused is now being abused by the future U.S. president and those around him to advocate for Greenland’s independence. Naturally their purpose is to take over where Danish colonialism and imperialism ends.

Trump has already labelled Canada to the north as a possible new U.S. state. To the south, he has demanded the Panama Canal is returned to the U.S. Under the guise of fighting drugs and drug cartels, he has escalated his rhetoric against Mexico. And then there is Greenland.

From the vantage point of the ailing U.S. empire, the globe looks like there are a number of states and important facilities around the empire, on its periphery. Could they somehow be connected more closely? Or can the threat of this be used as a bargaining chip when it comes to economic and political agreements?

Seen from the Danish capital, the obvious situation is that if Denmark “loses Greenland,” our small country will also lose almost all foreign and security policy importance in the NATO alliance.

Seen from the Greenlandic capital Nuuk, the difficult situation is that when Greenland is made a pawn in a geopolitical imperialist game about resources, waterways, etc., it becomes extremely difficult to choose your own path and defend it.

Greenlanders’ right to determine their own future must be unreservedly supported and any form of interference, blackmail and bribery to which they are subjected must be condemned, whether it comes from the U.S. or Denmark or anywhere else.

The focus must be on finding ways for Greenlanders to be able to enforce their right to national self-determination in real and practical terms.

The International Action Center posts on the subject of imperialist land-grabbing in Greenland, Panama and Canada, can be read at https://iacenter.org/2025/01/11/the-hypocrisy-of-climate-change-deniers/ and https://iacenter.org/2025/01/18/the-panama-canal-from-teddy-roosevelt-to-donald-trump/ .