DKU: Neither Denmark nor the USA, Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people!

Per request, we are republishing a statement from our comrades in Denmark’s Communist Youth (DKU). The statement was originally published on Proletarian Perspectives.


As a result of the US election, we now see how the imperialists in both Denmark and the US are falling over themselves to assure us who can best rule Greenland. The Danish bourgeoisie, represented by their politicians, are now putting forward one reactionary and racist viewpoint after another. What they all have in common is that they believe they can speak for the people of Greenland, even though at the same time they promote racist illusions about the people of Greenland. The Danish Democrats’ Inger Støjberg refers to them as “the young person who has moved away from home, who still gets his clothes washed at home” and the Danish People’s Party’s Alex Ahrendtsen says that “Denmark has as much right to Greenland as the Greenlanders themselves”. The so-called “self-government arrangements” that Denmark prides itself on are nothing more than a colonialist lie. The Danish state supports the Greenlandic state with DKK 5,700,000,000,000 a year just to keep Greenland in a permanent state of dependency. Through economic dependence and military presence, Denmark maintains an iron grip on Greenland, all while portraying their exploitation as “charity.” This is the same colonialist strategy that imperialists have always used – to disguise oppression as care. This hypocrisy is unlikely to change whether it is Danish kroner or US dollars that secures dependency of Greenland.

Throughout, the angle politicians and the press take is “What the Danes think about the Danish Realm”, whether it should be preserved or whether we are fine with Greenland getting a new ruler. In this way, they undermine the whole issue of Greenlanders’ own point of view and only reinforce the arrogant and colonialist idea that Greenland’s independence is a matter for Denmark and the Danes to decide. At the same time, the Greenlandic self-government is extremely wavering on this issue, not rooting for the idea of an independent and free Greenland, but trying to maintain close relations with Denmark.

Whether it is the US or Denmark, the result is the same, the continued plundering of the Greenlandic workers’ surplus value for the benefit of the Danish and international monopoly capitalists, and their natural resources subject to the monopolies, and not to serve Greenlandic independence. Furthermore, Greenland’s geographical location remains important to Denmark, the United States, and NATO in their attempts to secure position against Russia and China in the North Atlantic. The competition between the imperialists becomes a bargaining chip that most likely becomes the most important in the negotiations between Denmark and the US, thus subjecting the people of Greenland to the increasing and more direct confrontation between the imperialists.

In 1917, Denmark sold the so-called West Indies to the US, these islands where Denmark committed numerous crimes against the enslaved population. There is now the possibility that Denmark’s colonies will again change hands, and the numerous crimes Denmark has committed against the Greenlandic people will be forgotten and the country treated only as a business commodity. In this situation we see how critical the lack of a communist party in Greenland, Denmark and the US is. The Greenlandic workers are defenseless against the imperialists’ plans.

The Communist Youth of Denmark stands firm: Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic masses!

We strongly condemn Danish colonialism and American imperialism. Greenland’s future must not be determined by imperialists, but by the Greenlandic people themselves.

Build the communist party in Greenland, Denmark and the USA! Down with Danish and American imperialism!

No to chauvinism and racism against the Greenlandic people!

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