Can Greenland go it alone?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Until this year Greenland rarely made the international news and probably only the islanders themselves took much time to contemplate their future. But then US President Donald Trump said he wanted to annexe it for its strategic position and mineral wealth. So the question has become a lot more pressing. With a population of just over 55,000, the biggest island in the world has its own parliament, but foreign policy is controlled by Denmark, something many residents are unhappy about.

Denmark subsidises Greenland to the tune of around $10 000 per person per year. On an island where fishing is the primary source of income, independence would mean either increasing tourism or allowing the mining of minerals like rare earth metals. However the islanders have always favoured strict environmental controls when it comes to mining and it’s expensive for tourists. Hedi Nermin Aziz travels from Denmark to Greenland and talks to politicians, musicians and influencers about Greenland’s Innuit identity and to find out if it can and should go it alone.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC.
0:03.2	I'm Hedin Amin Aziz and I'm in Nook, the capital of Greenland.
0:07.4	I'm here to meet a cross-section of people to find out about Inuit culture and what they want for their future.
0:17.6	Down there we have Sasuma Anna, the mother of the sea,
0:21.9	which is like a mythical figure in Greenlanding history or an Inuit tradition,
0:25.6	like the protector of the sea of the animals, the hunting, the weather, survival, everything.
0:32.0	You know, she's a really core figure in Inuit mythology.
0:35.6	The colonial harbor in Greenland's capital, Nook, is home to two iconic monuments.
0:42.7	The mother of the sea is a sacred figure to the indigenous Inuit people who make up
0:47.6	around 80% of the population living on the biggest island in the world.
0:53.6	Akra Nibiana is an actor, artist, poet, and nuke resident.
0:58.0	When we talk about Sussuma Amna, or the mother of the sea,
1:01.0	she is the one that we want to respect,
1:03.7	but she's also a timbered woman.
1:06.0	You keep polluting the ocean, gets tangled in her hair,
1:09.2	and if it's too tangled and then she's going to get upset.
1:12.0	And then there's storm, and she will not provide any animals because we don't deserve that.
1:16.8	She can also just tell you to, yeah, nice try.
1:19.4	So she's a bit temperamental?
1:20.6	She is.
1:21.3	She is very temperamental.
1:22.9	And that's how we raised to respect her.
	...

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