{"id":375,"date":"2026-05-29T07:41:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:41:02","slug":"greenlands-independence-champion-despised-denmark-trump-changed-his-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=375","title":{"rendered":"Greenland\u2019s independence champion despised Denmark. Trump changed his mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
NUUK, Greenland – Aqqaluk Lynge, Greenland\u2019s champion of independence, has undergone a radical conversion.<\/div>
Half a century ago, the Inuit activist and poet co-founded one of the island\u2019s biggest pro-independence parties, urging fellow Greenlanders to break away from Denmark, which he denounced as an exploitative colonial overlord.<\/div>
\u201cThey must be removed. We will no longer pay the price,\u201d he wrote in a 1975 verse. \u201cSuffering cannot be relieved by consolation. Oppression is something to fight against.\u201d<\/div>
Now, however, Greenland faces what he sees as a far graver threat: U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly demanded control of the giant Arctic island, citing national security. As a result, Lynge told Reuters, he now believes his homeland must forever remain part of the realm of Denmark, which he views as its protector from American aggression.<\/div>
\u201cWe feel betrayed by the United States,\u201d the 78-year-old said in an interview at his home outside the capital Nuuk, where from his window you can spy chunks of ice floating in a nearby fjord. \u201cWe are in a very difficult situation, where the only ones that can save us today are Denmark and Europe.\u201d<\/div>
Lynge is not alone. The U.S. president\u2019s comments have triggered a mighty backlash that has helped alter Greenland\u2019s political trajectory \u2013 much like in Canada, where patriotic anger at Trump\u2019s rhetoric about making Canada the \u201c51st state\u201d of America swept Mark Carney\u2019s Liberals back to power last year, after they looked destined for defeat. <\/div>
For decades, vocally pro-independence parties dominated politics in Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory of about 56,000 people. Now, following an election held in March 2025 in the shadow of Trump\u2019s threats, the government is led by a party that has ruled out any discussion of independence in the foreseeable future, while supporting a gradual approach to eventual secession. Even members of the government who previously advocated independence have swung against it in recent months. <\/div>
\u201cOur dream is to have self-determination, but right now we need to protect our future,\u201d Mute Egede, Greenland\u2019s foreign minister, told Reuters. \u201cIf the U.S. takes us, the dream of self-determination will not exist anymore.\u201d<\/div>
It\u2019s a seismic shift in Greenland. Politics here has long been shadowed by anger over past injustices perpetrated by Denmark, which colonized the island centuries ago and still controls its foreign policy and defense. In the 1960s and 1970s, for example, Denmark began inserting birth control devices in thousands of Inuit women and girls, many without their consent, to limit birth rates among the local population.<\/div>
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark\u2019s acting prime minister, told Reuters that \u201cGreenland belongs to the people of Greenland\u201d and only they should decide their future. She added that her government had offered apologies for colonial injustices including the contraception cases.<\/div>
\u201cWe must have the courage to face the wrongdoings of our shared past,\u201d Frederiksen said in a statement. \u201cThat is the only way to maintain a close and respectful relationship between our two countries going forward. Greenland and Denmark are standing closely together.\u201d<\/div>
A White House official said Washington was holding talks with Greenland and Denmark to address national security concerns, and was optimistic discussions were on a good trajectory. The U.S. State Department added: \u201cWe are confident we can find a solution that protects U.S. national security, acknowledges Denmark and Greenland\u2019s concerns, and dramatically improves future opportunities for the people of Greenland.\u201d<\/div>
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland\u2019s prime minister, did not respond to a request for comment. <\/div>
To understand the changes sweeping the Arctic territory, Reuters spoke to dozens of Greenlandic politicians, officials and residents. Several pointed to Lynge and his shifting views as an encapsulation of their homeland\u2019s morphing politics. <\/div>
Lynge\u2019s journey towards becoming a pro-independence firebrand began in the 1950s, when he was sent by his parents to study in Denmark. A seminal moment, he recalled, came in 1968 when a U.S. bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashed in northern Greenland. Copenhagen denied authorizing such overflights of the island, which would violate Denmark\u2019s nuclear-free policy. Lynge didn\u2019t believe the government at the time and denounced what he told Reuters was Danish \u201chypocrisy\u201d. A Danish government-commissioned report later found that Copenhagen had in fact signalled approval of the overflights to Washington, whose Cold War mission was to constantly maintain a nuclear deterrent against the Soviet Union. <\/div>
After returning to Greenland from his studies in 1976, Lynge co-founded Inuit Ataqatigiit, which dominated the island\u2019s politics for decades along with fellow pro-independence party Siumut. Both parties called for ambitious moves towards independence from Denmark while allowing time for Greenland to build itself up economically. Since achieving home rule in 1979, the government in Nuuk has steadily acquired increasing responsibility for public services on the island.<\/div>

\nOde to the Danaides<\/b><\/p>\n

\nBy Aqqaluk Lynge\n<\/p>\n

\n\u2013\u2013\u2013 \u2022 \u2013\u2013\u2013\nGreenland\n\u2014 the Danaides\u2019 trough\nCompletely gluttonous\nthey sent pigs\nsent beasts\nsent sewerpipes\nsent colonialism\n<\/i>\n\u2013\u2013\u2013 \u2022 \u2013\u2013\u2013<\/p>

Read more On the ground with Ukraine\u2019s drone forces targeting Russia\u2019s battlefield rear<\/a><\/p>\n

\nAn excerpt from one of Lynge’s poems, written in the 1970s<\/p><\/div>

In the previous national election in 2021, Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut, plus a smaller radically pro-independence party called Naleraq, together won almost 80% of the vote. Demokraatit, a pro-business party that advocates a more incremental approach to independence and prioritizes close ties with Denmark, languished with about 9% support.<\/div>
Enter Trump.<\/div>
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