How Greenlanders view Trump takover bid amid autonomy push

DW (English)

New media reports allege secret US operations in Greenland that are promoting Greenland's independence from Denmark. How do locals feel being caught between Denmark and the United States?

Transcript

00:00Almost.

00:01Hastrina Holm and her sister Helena are clearing their garden

00:05before the snow comes back to Greenland.

00:08They say they've been reading the recent media reports

00:11about what the Danish press calls

00:13US infiltration in Greenlandic society with concern.

00:18If Donald Trump came here to your house, what would you say to him?

00:23I want to give him coffee and give him a slap on face.

00:29And let him go home.

00:32Tell him, go home.

00:38Their humour is balanced out by the very real overtures

00:42US President Trump is making,

00:44repeatedly saying he wants to buy Greenland.

00:48He says it's crucial for US national security

00:51due to its access to the Arctic,

00:53strategically important also for China and Russia.

00:57Greenland also has huge amounts of untapped mineral wealth.

01:02Pelle Broborg is the leader of the pro-independence,

01:06pro-America opposition Nalarak party in the Greenlandic parliament.

01:11And he's met, on at least three occasions,

01:14one of the three American citizens recently accused by the Danish press

01:18of nefarious activity.

01:20He says the man he met was clear about his intentions, business.

01:25But he doesn't want to make judgements about that man's character.

01:29You cannot do covert infiltration in Greenland.

01:32Everybody knows everybody.

01:34People they're talking about, they gave interviews here on national television

01:39about why they're here.

01:41Around two thirds of Greenlanders want to become entirely independent from Denmark.

01:46It's currently an autonomous territory of its former colonial ruler.

01:51Pelle, like many other people we've spoken to here,

01:54believes Denmark is trying to create fear in Greenland,

01:58to hinder their progress towards independence.

02:02To make the comparison that all of a sudden three Americans infiltrate in Greenland

02:08versus the 4,000 Danes that are living in Greenland

02:12that can vote for parliament,

02:14that always vote for non-independence parties.

02:19The official position of the Greenlandic government

02:21was to join a Danish government statement

02:24calling the allegations of U.S. infiltration unacceptable.

02:29Whether private U.S. citizens are trying to stir things up here,

02:34the American interest, it has changed things.

02:38Greenlandic public discourse is dominated by discussions about their future

02:45and the international power plays are making that future ever more unclear.

02:51In the beginning we were joking a lot about,

02:53oh yeah, let's join America.

02:55But then when things started becoming more serious,

03:00young people especially have really been out here saying,

03:04no, we don't want to be owned by the USA,

03:07we're not, we can't get bought.

03:09Greenland people are so neutral, so quiet, they don't shout.

03:15There's a lot of things we should be shouting about,

03:19but we are so neutral that we don't explode.

03:25Whatever the Greenlandic people might be feeling,

03:28European politicians are clearly starting to become more concerned

03:32about the intentions of the U.S. and are making frequent visits here.

03:36With the dark, extremely cold winters on the way,

03:41Hastrina says their priorities should be to remain focused on their lives here,

03:46on the land, not distracted by the turbulence of the global interest in their country.

03:52So that's one thing that we're thinking about.

03:54We'll find out they've been working on the United States.

03:56We'll find out.

03:57You're working on the United States.

03:58We'll see you in the United States.

03:59We'll find out you already.

04:00But we'll see if you've got any people in the United States,

04:01you're waiting to do the last year.

04:02And we'll see if you have a lot of them.

04:04So I was waiting for a few minutes in the United States.

04:05And a lot of them to do it.

04:06Then we're going to choose the left.

04:07Now that we can give that to our side-by-side tests.

04:10We want to give them some usable,

04:11and a little bit think of that I've done,

04:13so we can give them the picture of the next February

04:14up to the end of the country.

04:16So I'm excited.

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