FREEZING POINT

Greenlanders' Inuit identity revives as US plans to take over the island

On a boat, surrounded by snow-covered mountains and icebergs in shades of blue, Qooqu Berthelsen points to the breaking sea ice as a worrisome sign.

Now, though, something is worrying him and many Greenlanders as much as the retreating ice that endangers their livelihood.

"Greenland," said the 23-year-old hunter, fisher and tour company owner, "is not for sale".

Like Berthelsen, Greenlanders are now debating the best way to ensure they control their future.

This big Arctic island held a closely-watched parliamentary election on Tuesday, as the United States President Donald Trump has made it clear he wants to take control of the region that occupies a strategic North Atlantic location and contains rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy.

Preliminary data show Greenland's pro-business opposition Demokraatit party won the elections, beating the incumbent left-wing coalition.

Demokraatit, which favors a slow approach to independence from Denmark, secured 29.9 percent of the votes with all ballots counted, up from 9.1 percent in 2021, ahead of the opposition Naleraq party, which favors rapid independence and wants a defense agreement with the US, at 24.5 percent.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Demokraatit party's leader, said Greenland is not for sale and rebuffed Trump's interest in acquiring it, calling the aggressive overtures "a threat to our political independence".

Cultural revival

Greenland is a former Danish colony and has been a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed.

Most of those 57,000 Greenlanders are Indigenous Inuit. They take pride in a culture and traditions that have helped them survive for centuries in exceptionally rugged conditions.

Indigenous identity is now seeing a revival in Greenland after Trump said he wanted to acquire the island.

In a workshop in Greenland's capital Nuuk, goldsmith Nadja Arnaaraq Kreutzmann polishes metals and stones mined and gathered on the vast mineral-rich island. The jewelry she crafts is adorned with Inuit symbols of life and survival.

"We were told to act more Danish, to speak Danish, if we wanted to be something," said 43-year-old Kreutzmann.

"Now, speaking Greenlandic, looking Greenlandic, and all of Greenland's cultural heritage, are being celebrated," she said.

Most wanted Greenland to decide its own affairs, but many warned against acting rashly in light of Trump's comments — fearing Greenland could become worse off and expose itself to the US, Reuters said.

In a debate on Greenland's state broadcaster KNR on Monday, leaders of the five parties in parliament unanimously said they did not trust Trump.

Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland's government, said the election campaign early on focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings of colonization, but "the fear of the US imperialist approach has lately become bigger".

Erik Jensen, leader of government coalition partner Siumut, said, "He is trying to influence us. I can understand if citizens feel insecure."

Longest winter

On a frigid day, a group of kindergartners walked in line behind their teacher as they crossed a road covered in ice and snow. A few blocks away, teenagers played hockey on a frozen pond.

Bells tolled, and a recently married couple laughed as family members threw rice on them for good fortune outside Nuuk's wooden cathedral.

Life in Nuuk seemed to go on as usual these days, except for this "heat wave".

Some Greenlanders say they felt safe while being largely unknown to the world. Now, though, that feeling has dissipated. Greenlander Tukumminnguaq Olsen Lyberth said the wave of attention and polarizing comments prompted some friends to delete social media accounts.

"We're not used to having this big attention about us …Before, no one knew about us. Now, it's a blitz of attention," said Olsen Lyberth, 37, a cultural history student.

"I feel like this is the longest January," she said in February. "It's all of it. Everything feels too overwhelming."

Agencies Via Xinhua