Greenland, an autonomous area that’s a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, goes to the polls on March 11.
Donald Trump’s ambitions of shopping for or annexing the nation are more likely to have scant bearing on the end result, however there isn’t any escaping the truth that there’s rising assist for breaking away from Denmark.
Greenland’s inhabitants of 57,000 have Danish nationality though this doesn’t imply that every one the Innuit neighborhood – the unique Greenlanders who arrived from Canada within the ninth century – consider they’re handled as first-class residents. Many would select independence.
Resentment got here to a head lately with Greenland’s White Gold, a documentary aired by Denmark’s nationwide broadcaster DR, that centered on cryolite, a mineral which seems like a block of ice and is significant for producing aluminium.
Cryolite was mined in Ivittuut on Greenland’s west coast from 1854 till 1987 when reserves ran out. In keeping with the documentary, the mineral earned 400 billion kroner (€54 billion) for the Kryolitselskabet Oresund firm and the Danish authorities.
Greenland claims cryolite contributed to Denmark’s wealth
The Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Firm which purchased unprocessed cryolite and bought it to different corporations amassed the same quantity, Greenland’s White Gold maintained.
The programme made uncomfortable viewing in Greenland and Denmark for various causes.
“The Danish typically declare that Greenland is simply an expense, when we’ve contributed an amazing deal to their well-being and prosperity,” Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Bourup Egede mentioned.
Egede was referring to the 4.1 billion kroner (€5.5 billion) that Greenland receives yearly from the Danish authorities. This accounts for roughly half of its Finances and is incessantly quoted as proof that independence just isn’t a viable possibility.
Documentary ‘didn’t distinguish between income and revenue’
Again in Copenhagen, economists queried the figures quoted in Greenland’s White Gold.
These didn’t permit for the overheads incurred in extracting and transporting the cryolite, or keep in mind the oblique advantages for Greenland, they mentioned, and the Danish authorities’s income had been “a fraction” of the €400 billion quoted within the documentary.
Tradition minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt identified that the programme’s makers had did not clarify “the distinction between income and revenue.”
“It’s deceptive, irresponsible and comes on the worst second,” Engel-Schmidt mentioned on Fb.
Nor did Greenland’s White Gold come at time for Thomas Falbe, editor-in-chief at DR Information, which initially defended airing the documentary however later withdrew it after the inaccuracies got here to mild.
Falbe has now resigned or was fired, relying on the supply consulted.
“It’s clear that you don’t finish a cooperation if there isn’t any good purpose for it,” DR mentioned, declining to remark additional.
