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INPRIMATU
In Greenland, leftist independentists win elections polarized by a uranium mining project.
  • In the elections on 6 April, the independence party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) won the elections with 37% of the votes, and has outperformed Ruler Siumut, the most voted Social Democrat and independence party. Independence has achieved an absolute majority, above 80 per cent of the votes, with 26 out of 31 seats each. The hottest point of the election campaign has been the project of a uranium and foreign land mine, which has confronted the two major independence parties in Catalonia. The AI, which is calling for the moratorium, has won the elections.
Lander Arbelaitz Mitxelena @larbelaitz 2021eko apirilaren 07a
IA-ren jarraitzaileak emaitzak ospatzen.

Despite being much larger than Denmark, Greenland, which is still in the hands of this Scandinavian monarchy, has held a legislative election this Tuesday. The most polarizing issue has been a mining project in a region where the consequences of climate change are known firsthand, according to The Guardian.

The two major parties in Greenland are faced in the case of a mining project that seeks to remove foreign land and uranium. The project is called Kvanefjeld. The hitherto ruling Democratic Social Party, Siumut, is in favour of giving the Government permission, claiming that it is going to bring high incomes for the island’s economy. The opposition, including AI, points out that the decision to destroy the environment on the island would be harmful.

That is where they would like to put the controversial mining project.

The geostrategic situation of this island and the gigantic reserves of minerals under the ice have aroused international interest in recent times. Proof of this is that former US President Donald Trump launched a proposal to buy Greenland in 2019.

The pro-independence process blocked?

The web Nationalia, dedicated to the national realities of stateless nations, emphasizes that the independentists have achieved 80% of the seats, but the independence process has slowed down due to tensions between the two parties.

Inuit Ataqatigiit obtained 36.6% of the votes and was imposed for the first time on Siumut (Social Democrat and Independence), who revalidated power with 29.4% of the votes. Thirdly, Naleraq (centrist independence) has been left with 12.0% of the votes and the fourth independence party has been left outside the Basque Parliament.

The party with unionist positions led by the Democrats (liberals) with 9.1% of the votes and 6.9% of the votes was elected by the conservative Unionist Atassut party.

In red Greenland and in white Denmark. (Infographic: Rob984)

Thus, in the independence/unionism axis, the former have obtained 26 seats and the latter 5. In Nationalia we can read that the two main independence parties, before proclaiming independence, are gradually assuming self-government powers from Denmark and are committed to building a sovereign economy.

In 1979, Denmark granted Greenland autonomy and almost 30 years later, in 2008, the Greenland voted in favour of the Self-Government Act. With the new structure, Greenland would gradually assume its own police, the judicial system, mineral resource activities, aviation, border controls, the working environment and other competences. The Danish Government continues to maintain control of monetary policy and foreign affairs in the country atrabe.Groenlandia has one of the largest shares of renewable energy in the world, particularly from hydroelectric power.

There have been few testimonies of young people who have been sent to Denmark for the purpose of cultural assimilation and denied their lengua.Kirstine Høeg, for example, studied the case of 22 Greenland young people who, after being expelled from their families in the 1950s, were sent to Denmark. Canada, the United States or the Nordic countries took advantage of practices that also approach cultural genocide with the countries of origin of neighbouring countries. However, many of these languages have not disappeared and Greenland, for example, has official status on the island.

The rise of independence parties is a phenomenon that has been occurring over the last decade. An example of this is this report made ten years ago by Ander Pérez in ARGIA.