Greenland is a peaceful country. You can go to the store with a rifle over your shoulder without anyone raising an eyebrow. No one sees it as a threat. Photograph: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times
So it is the new year in Greenland. New Year’s Eve is over, and now Mitaartut begins – this is the Greenlandic tradition where, around the time of the Epiphany on January 6th, we dress up in creepy masks and furs, knock on doors and scare people in the streets.
But it’s not Mitaartut that scares us this year. It’s the threat from the great nation towards the west: the USA.
We’ve been here before. The beginning of this year threw us right back to last year, when the US president Donald Trump first made his extraordinary claim to Greenland. A year later, the conversations we’re having are exactly the same – it’s all about what he wants with our country.
I am a journalist born and raised in Greenland, and currently living in Denmark.
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