Reject Trump's threats against Greenland: the struggle for Greenland's freedom is a struggle for socialism

US President Donald Trump wants to take over Greenland. He argues that he will bring peace and give independence to the Greenlanders, but that is obviously a lie.

When Trump says that the US must own Greenland, he is not just expressing his own whim, but US imperialism’s interests. The US cannot allow any of its rivals – Russia, and especially China – to gain influence in Greenland, either over its natural resources or geostrategically. The US needs control of Greenland to secure its interests in the Arctic amid increased conflict between the imperialist world powers.

[Originally published in Danish at marxist.dk]

The US can no longer act as ‘policeman’ of the entire world, and the relative decline of US imperialism has led to Trump's focus on the Western Hemisphere. They will stop at nothing to secure their dominance there, as we saw in early January in Venezuela. The US needs to own Greenland, and therefore their aim is to take over the country.

It is clear that the Greenlandic people cannot expect anything positive from the US, which treats them and their country like commodities that can either be bought or, if necessary, taken militarily. The Revolutionary Communist Party, Danish section of the RCI, strongly condemns the US’s imperialist threat to take over Greenland.

Danish politicians are appalled by Trump's ‘bullying tactics’ in Greenland and appeal to the so-called rules-based world order and the right of nations to self-determination. But their hypocrisy is glaring.

Where was their criticism of American imperialism before? There was none. On the contrary, the Danish government has unconditionally supported all of the US’s imperialist projects for the past 30 years, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and many other places. They have backed the US and Netanyahu in the genocide in Gaza. And when the US recently broke all the international ‘rules of the game’ in Venezuela, their criticism was non-existent.

The Danish ruling class only began to criticise US imperialism the moment their own narrow interests were at stake. Even now, when the threat from the US is real, they are doing everything they can to continue to appease the Americans. They are, among other things, steadfastly maintaining the base agreement that allows American military bases on Danish soil. Danish politicians have no intention of lifting a finger in a real fight against US imperialism. On the contrary, they cling to the hope of returning to a bygone era when they could travel to distant lands and secure their capitalist interests under the protective wing of US imperialism.

The Danish government presents itself as the sole guarantor of Greenlandic independence, but this is just as much of a lie as the one Trump is attempting to convince the Greenlanders to believe. The truth is the opposite. Greenland is a colony of Denmark. Trump's appeals to the Greenlanders strike a nerve when he points out how Denmark has brutally oppressed Greenland for more than 300 years. Danish imperialism is to blame for the poverty in Greenland, and Danish politicians still behave like colonial masters. They only took an interest in the Greenlanders the day Trump made his threats. They have no interest in granting them real independence, but only in maintaining Danish dominance through the preservation of the Danish Realm.

The Danish government defends Danish imperialist interests, i.e. the interests of Danish capitalists around the world. This applies to access to raw materials, markets, investment opportunities, and spheres of interest. But the Danish state is far too weak to assert Danish capitalist interests globally on its own, and hence has prospered by following the US.

Greenland is an extremely important component of Denmark's close relationship with the US, not least since Trump came to power, as Danish participation and engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine no longer count in Denmark's favour with the Americans. Danish politicians are therefore desperate not to relinquish control of Greenland, because it would sever a crucial link in the relationship between Denmark and the US. The situation in Greenland puts the Danish ruling class in a ‘catch-22’ situation: they need the US, but the US is now threatening to take away precisely that which gives them a special relationship with the US.

The rejection of American imperialism's attempts to take over Greenland must not lead us to defend the dominance of Danish imperialism.

Faced with the threat from Trump, the Unity List (Red-Green Alliance) has thrown its full weight behind Danish imperialism. With Pelle Dragsted in the lead, they are some of the most ardent defenders of the Danish Realm, i.e., Danish colonial oppression of Greenland. The only difference between their line and that of the Danish government is that the Unity List rejects US imperialism. But neither Danish nor European imperialism are an alternative to US imperialism. The only ones who have a real interest in standing up to American imperialism are the working classes: Danish, Greenlandic, and American.

These days, one of the most important pillars of Danish capitalism is faltering: the 300-year-old institution of the Danish Realm, indeed the Kingdom of Denmark itself. The government is extremely weakened, with historically low levels of trust and popularity. Now they are facing the worst foreign policy crisis since World War II, and at this moment it is our task to use this crisis to strike as hard a blow as possible against the entire capitalist order in Denmark.

First and foremost, we do this by exposing how the struggle for colonies and spheres of influence is an integral part of the capitalist system. The struggle for Greenland's right to self-determination can only be achieved through a struggle against imperialism, that is, a struggle for a socialist world revolution.

As communists in Denmark, that struggle begins with the fight against the Danish ruling class and Danish imperialism. We do this as part of the international struggle against imperialism and oppression, for a socialist world revolution side by side with our comrades in the US and the rest of the world, through the Revolutionary Communist International.

Condemn Trump's imperialist threats!

Join the struggle for a free Greenland!

Join the struggle against Danish imperialism!

Join the struggle for a socialist world revolution!