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By Espen S.
Over the past week, Greenland has been high on the global agenda after Donald Trump threatened to annex the island — with military force if necessary.
The last time Trump expressed interest in “buying Greenland”, this was largely dismissed in the Norwegian press as a funny idea (just see how NRK portrayed the issue in 2019). This time, the Norwegian bourgeoisie is reacting with horror. Is Svalbard next on the list? What about Northern Norway?
The instinctive reaction is solidarity with the Danish state, and a spasmodic defense of Scandinavian colonialism. The most heinous defender of colonialism is the Centre Party’s (SP) Ola Borten Moe, who blames the Danes for “giving autonomy” to the Greenlanders:
— Let’s say there were Inuit, Sami, or anyone else for that matter, living on Svalbard. And Norwegian policy was that they should be allowed to decide their own future. That’s an incredibly bad idea. But that’s what the Danes have done in Greenland,” says Moe.
— “There is a reason why the first paragraph of Norway’s constitution states that the Kingdom of Norway is a ‘free, independent, indivisible and inalienable kingdom’,” he points out. (Klassekampen)
We condemn Donald Trump’s plans to buy or annex Greenland, over the heads of the Greenlanders themselves. But the answer cannot be a joint Scandinavian homeland defense. Only the Greenlandic people can decide Greenland’s future — this is an inalienable principle.
The same principle applies for Sápmi, Kurdistan and Palestine. The imperialists violate the territorial sovereignty of indigenous peoples in order to promote their own interests, in competition with other imperialists. We revolutionaries must consistently defend indigenous peoples’ struggle for their own rights, especially when the struggle is directed against “our own” imperialism. The world’s indigenous peoples have a common interest with the international proletariat in fighting the imperialist world system.
In the years to come, the imperialist rivalry over the Arctic regions will become sharper. If Russia loses access to the Mediterranean, as a result of the regime change in Syria, it will become even more dependent on the Arctic. Russia and China are already working together to establish an Arctic trade route. It is against this backdrop that we need to understand Trump’s desire to control Greenland — it is about competing strategic interests, not “megalomania” or a “crazy whim”.
It is crucial that we communists are able to see the situation clearly and take a principled anti-imperialist stand. We must condemn the imperialists’ struggle to re-divide the world, without succumbing to the temptation to defend “our own” imperialists.
Denmark and USA – Hands off Greenland! Let the Greenlanders decide!