On Wednesday evening, downtown Nuuk was busy with Greenlanders commuting home, picking children up from school and visiting local supermarkets. Yet as residents continued with daily life, there lingered an ever-present cloud of anxiety after Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to annex Greenland in a speech in front of world leaders at Davos.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, the US president said that he would not use military force to acquire Greenland, but that he was “seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States”.
Paarnannguaq Tiitussen, a local woman who owns a traditional Arctic jewellery store in Nuuk, told The Independent that despite ruling out force, Trump’s words were “still a threat” and that Greenlanders are taking his ambitions on their home “extremely seriously”.
She said: “We are very worried; it’s scary. We don’t sleep well.
“I hope it’s empty threats from Trump’s side.”
Other locals are growing exasperated with the continuous aggressive rhetoric coming from the US president and are trying to ignore the latest round of outlandish statements.
Shrugging off Trump’s claims that he will continue to exert pressure to acquire Greenland, Erik Christensen told The Independent: “We can’t trust anything anyone says at this point.”
The 24-year-old fire technician said there was a generational divide among Greenlanders, with many of the older residents feeling greater anxiety over Trump’s statements, while younger people were determined to continue with life as normal.
His friend Elias Larson, who works at the harbour in Nuuk, agreed that conflict needed to be avoided at all costs, but said he was starting to feel fed up with Trump’s threats.
The men described how Greenland had already suffered under one colonial power and said many people still resented Denmark’s control, but that the United States was now seen as the greater threat.
Christensen added: “Denmark may have done some bad things, but we don’t want a giant change now. We don’t have the energy.”
Greenland has a population of around 57,000, of which approximately 89 per cent are Indigenous Inuit.
On Wednesday morning, prior to Trump’s speech at Davos, Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, (National Organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark), said that she was constantly receiving messages from anxious local citizens seeking help, and that there was a growing need for mental health support for Greenlanders in both Denmark and the territory itself.
She added: “The threats from the American president to annex Greenland feel like psychological warfare and are terrorising for many Greenlanders ... for Greenlanders living in Denmark, but it is even harder for our compatriots in Greenland to withstand the pressure.
“Many are developing anxiety and are very afraid, and there are also a great many who cannot sleep and wake up from nightmares. Children and families with children have also been unsettled and are considering moving from Greenland to a safer life in Denmark, so it is a very difficult time to be a Greenlander.”
Many Nuuk residents who The Independent spoke to yesterday said they felt uncomfortable talking about the US. “We are trying to put the fear out of our mind and continue with our lives,” one young woman explained. “It’s always hanging over us.”
Another man in his mid-twenties said that although many local people were uneasy with the sudden interest in Greenland, it was a comfort that other countries were showing support for the territory. He added: “We can have our voices heard all over the world now and we hope that other countries will help us.”
Rademacher said that since the demonstrations last Saturday, 17 January, many Greenlanders have “felt a sense of unity and support from Danes, Germans, Americans, Europeans, and people from all over the world, just as Nato allies have expressed their support for Greenland”.
Rademacher added that “where there has otherwise not been support for military build-up … in the current situation, many Greenlanders have written on social media that they are glad to have European forces in Greenland and that it makes them feel safer”.
While there have been no further large demonstrations in the city since Saturday’s, one Nuuk resident has continued to stand up to the US president in the form of a one-man daily protest.
Every day before sunrise, 70-year-old Jens Kjeldsen marches up and down in front of the US Consulate in Nuuk – a simple red wooden building just outside the city centre – carrying a pole bearing the flags of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, in quiet resistance to Trump’s threats to take over the territory.
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