The view from Greenland: 'We don't want to be Americans'
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland's security, recently announced that it would further boost its defense spending.
And a recent poll found 85 percent of Greenlanders are opposed to being part of the United States.
Parliamentary candidate Naaja Nathanielsen is one of them.
It isn't clear whether Trump's ambitions for Greenland will take. But some politicians in the territory are taking his calls for acquisition more seriously than ever before.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Donald Trump has had his eye on Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, since his first term. |
| 0:06.2 | Trump says he wants the island for national security purposes. |
| 0:10.5 | He and his allies point to Greenland's strategic location, as well as its reserves of rare earth minerals. |
| 0:16.9 | The president's renewed interest has thrust the island and its roughly 57,000 residents into an intense geopolitical spotlight. |
| 0:26.1 | Lila Sandgreen was born and raised in Alulah sat, the small town that's one of Greenland's most popular tourist destinations. |
| 0:33.5 | She and her husband run a tourism company there. |
| 0:35.5 | We want to be Greenlanders. |
| 0:37.8 | We don't want to be American. |
| 0:39.2 | We don't want to be Danish. |
| 0:40.9 | We only want to be Greenlandic people. |
| 0:43.7 | We want to be Inuit. |
| 0:46.2 | So Greenland is not for sale. |
| 0:48.3 | That notion that the people of Greenland don't want to be American and don't want to be Danish |
| 0:53.8 | was when I heard over and over |
| 0:56.1 | again on my recent reporting trip to the island. A recent poll from Danish and Greenlandic news outlets |
| 1:01.9 | backs up that sentiment. It found that 85% of Greenlanders don't want to be part of the United |
| 1:08.0 | States. We want to be independent. So we are not for sale. |
| 1:12.2 | This is Karen Quartson. We met her in between appointments at the hair salon she opened six |
| 1:17.0 | months ago in Alulacet. We are so isolated. We are not familiar with the military spaces or |
| 1:25.1 | something like European or American. We're not used to it because we just, |
| 1:32.9 | we are very calm, so we are not so interested. |
| 1:37.8 | Greenlandic and Danish leaders have also told the U.S. that the territory is not for sale. |
... |
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