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Björk sends a message to Greenland: ‘declare independence!’

Following his murderous attack on Venezuela, Donald Trump is once again talking about colonising Greenland. In response to this, the pioneering musician and activist Björk has spoken out:

Declare independence, Greenland!

Trump isn’t being shy about his plans for Greenland:

Björk’s message begins:

i wish all greenlanders blessing in their fight for independence
icelanders are extremely relieved that they managed to break from the danish in 1944 ,
we didn´t loose our language ( my children would be speaking danish now )
and i burst with sympathy for greenlanders , repeatedly ,
especially like when the case came up about the forced contraception ,
where 4500 girls as young as 12 got IUD without their knowledge between 1966 and 1970

4500 girls as young as 12 were fitted
…. they are my age and younger … childless ….
and still today the danish are treating greenlanders like they are second class humans
removing children from their parents in 2025 !

She links to two articles which back up her point. One is titled Greenlandic women sue Danish state for contraceptive ‘violation’, and the other is titled Danish parenting tests under fire after baby removed from Greenlandic mother. In the first piece, Greenland native Naja Lyberth is quoted as saying:

As long as we live, we want to regain our self-respect and respect for our wombs. There is no government to decide whether we should have children or not.

Björk’s message continues:

colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back ,
and the chance that my fellow greenlanders might go from one cruel coloniser to another
is too brutal to even imagine .
“úr öskunni í eldinn” , like we say in icelandic

dear greenlanders
declare independence !!!!
sympathetic wishes from your neighbours
warmthness
björk

Declare Independence is the title of a song from Björk’s Volta album:

Notoriously, Björk got in trouble with the Chinese government when she played the song in Shanghai and began shouting “Tibet!” between  “Raise your flag!” and “Declare independence!”. This was controversial because China notoriously annexed Tibet in the 1950s.

As we reported, Björk also spoke out in defence of the Palestinians:

Bloodshed

It’s reported that the US murdered 80 people in the attack on Venezuela, including civilians. While bloodless coups do sometimes happen, let’s be real; if the US goes on a mission to colonise new territories, there will be blood. Even if the US could take these countries without harm, it obviously has no right to do so, and it’s maddening that we need to explain this.

It’s time for politicians to grow a spine and make clear that we won’t support the US violating other nations’ sovereignty – like Greenland.

Featured image via Quentin Soloviev (Wikimedia) / Zach Klein (Wikimedia)

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.