“Colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back.”

Björk weighed in on Greenland’s political future after President Donald Trump once more floated the concept of annexing the island nation. While he made the menace beforehand, it resurfaced with renewed urgency throughout latest feedback to reporters.

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Icelandic musician Björk addressed the difficulty on Facebook, the place she tied Trump’s feedback to an extended historical past of colonial management. Although she targeted on Greenland, she additionally pointed to Denmark’s function, drawing on Iceland’s personal previous.

Trump repeatedly urged that the United States ought to take management of Greenland, citing protection pursuits. Recently, he instructed reporters that the U.S. “need[s] Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” in response to BBC News.

However, the feedback weren’t well-received by Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen.

Nielsen known as the concept “fantasy,” and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected the suggestion outright, saying Trump had “no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom.”

Björk linked Greenland’s future to its colonial historical past

Björk heard the information about Trump’s feedback and shared a prolonged Facebook assertion supporting Greenland’s independence. She wrote, “I wish all Greenlanders blessing in their fight for independence.” The singer linked the difficulty to Iceland’s break from Denmark in 1944.

As she defined, “Icelanders are extremely relieved that they managed to break from the Danish in 1944, we didn´t [lose] our language ( my children would be speaking Danish now ).”

She additionally referenced previous abuses tied to Danish rule. For instance, she talked about reviews of pressured contraception imposed on Greenlandic ladies. “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,” she wrote. She then shared a Guardian report detailing lawsuits from Greenlandic ladies.

She went on to say, “…. they are my age and younger … childless …. and still today the Danish are treating Greenlanders like they are second-class humans.” She linked to a different Guardian article describing pressured little one removals from mother and father who failed “parenting competency” assessments that the Danish authorities subjected them to.

She concluded with a warning about shifting energy, saying that “colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back.” She added that transferring “from one cruel coloniser to another” felt insufferable.

Finally, she urged motion straight, saying, “Dear Greenlanders, declare independence !!!! sympathetic wishes from your neighbours.”

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