this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
852 points (94.8% liked)

Europe

8720 readers
723 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] vdbm@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Here is a Google translated interview with the Greenlandic MP Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam (member of both the Danish and Greenlandic Parliament) in the Italian magazine Espresso today (original here).

Below my reaction:

"Her discourse is very nationalistic, heavily anchored in Greenland's colonial history, with a strong sense of recourse for wrongs received. She clearly has a painful tooth, which transmits throughout the interview.

While agreeing in principle (colonialism is indeed a deep wound and injustice, and Danes - I know since I lived there - can still be arrogant notwithstanding the Jante Law), she has to make a choice and face the reality of Greenland's extremely tiny population, similar to that of the small Italian city of Cuneo, therefore of an extremely limited amount of people to be able to act convincingly on an international level.

Greenlandic citizens have at the moment a Danish passport, not a Greenlandic one, therefore they are EU citizens (which she doesn't mention) while not being part of the EU (which she does), but part of NATO (she mentions this at well).

Are they more protected as EU citizens (with Danish or perhaps Greenlandic passports in the future) or as US citizens (as a territory, which - let's be real - excludes voting representation in the U.S. Federal government)?

In the end her discourse emphasizes the fact that the dignity of Greenlandic people ought to be recognized, but what if the other future partner/owner couldn't care less?

I am afraid the Greenlandic people are no stronger internationally (and with regards to the US in particular) than the much larger population of Gaza.

They (the Greenlandic people) will just as easily be ignored and abused in this new US setup as the Gazans are right now and as Greenlanders were historically in the Danish setup (perhaps no longer right now, although some Danish condescension remains).

Many Greenlanders are now considering emigration (moving to Denmark mainly) or simply being sidelined. It is not the moment, I am afraid, for Greenlanders to just adhere to principles, but to simply chose the best option available, while heavily insisting on those results that can be achieved in a very short time period (to avoid being on the menu of the 250th birthday party of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 2026).

The best thing they could do is to align themselves with Iceland (population 5 to 6 times larger than that of Greenland but facing unfortunately analogous challenges), Canada (same as far as the challenges are concerned) and the EU, and insist on actions on those levels, which she isn't doing.

I am concerned that her position might be noble in principle, but disastrous in reality."

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Aki Matilda Høgh Dam is a total joke who is using her inuit ancestry to parade around like she herself was ever remotely affected by the negative things Denmark has done in Greenland. Her entire personality trait is to cosplay as an oppressed inuit woman and she desperately wants to be a victim.

I remember her making a bunch of posts after going to the doctor and being recommended to get the spiral which is very very common. I have had it suggested by my doctor too because I sometimes forget to take my pill on time. Aki Matilda went off on social media about how she was now a victim too of the spiral case which is a scandal from the 1960s where some greenlandic women had the spiral inserted without consent. She soooo wants to be an inuit victim while looking like this:

I wouldn't take an extremist like her seriously. At all. I would rather listen to real greenlandic people who actually live in Greenland and have sensible and adult takes on the Denmark/Greenland situation. It is complicated and I'm not gonna pretend like we were innocent angels who always treated the inuit right. That is definitely not the case, but we have done a lot to fix past wrongs and give the people of Greenland as much freedom and comfort as we can, to the point where they get more things for free via the welfare system than we do. I'm okay with that because they live in a very rough area and have many challenges of various different degrees so it's the least we can do to make sure they have what they need to run a functioning society.

Fun fact: Aki Matilda's fiance, Kuno Fencker, was very much trying to be buddy buddy with Maga last year. Aki Matilda, Kuno and politicians like them are poison for the political discourse regarding Greenland because all they ever think about is their victim complex and their hatred for Denmark. There is very little rationality going on in those little heads of theirs and it is a total tragedy that their screeching gets a spotlight while the genuinely good and reasonable greenlandic politicians such as Aaja Chemnitz are drowned out by the extremists who go to Trumps inauguration with the greenlandic flag, livestreams their retardation from the white house and is called a traitor by their countrymen who were very much not okay with this unbelievably insane behavior. Cough, cough, Kuno, cough.

[–] vdbm@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 3 points 1 day ago

Your thoughts were pretty spot on, btw, but I see red whenever her name pops up anywhere. I don't want anyone outside of the Danish Kingdom to think this idiot is remotely representative for Greenland as a whole.

[–] fennesz12@feddit.dk 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I think this is unfortunately a fair assesment, speaking as a Dane. They want independence, but with a territory under so much pressure, it is unfortunately looking less and less feasible in practice.

What is worse is that right now they feel completely sidelined, as per Danish national media. They see the American propagonda machine throwing out that a deal has been made, and they feel betrayed, left out, in the cold, unsure of their future.

One thing is for sure though: we will not compromise on their land and their right to decide their own future. It's a wild and weird situation. 1/3 of Greenlanders also live in Denmark, and vice versa, looking at the news while two small countries try to cement some sort or deal through high level negotiation.

For now it's probably best kept out of media though so our countries can figure it out without the orange clown dancing on our doorstep.

[–] vdbm@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Thank you. Just for clarity: does your comment about it being a fair assessment refer to my comment or to the interview?