[Greenland Nuuk #14] A revival drive to find Greenland's identity, but young Greenlandic people lose their dreams
You may be richer than me,
but you will never be free like me
I'm traveler @rbaggo
who is finding 'Humanism' in
'Capitalism'
Greenland is a glacial continent located in the Arctic and is located between Iceland and Canada. The natives are Eskimos called 'Inuit', and their old ancestors from Siberia and elsewhere looked similar to the Mongolian race.
It was first discovered by Icelandic people, and then the Erika group, the Normans, settled down and began to colonize, which became Norway's territory, but naturally became part of Danish territory when the mainland became a Danish territory.
After that, the territorial dispute led to the International Court of Justice due to changes in territory, but eventually became Danish territory. Currently, two Greenland representatives are participating in the Danish Parliament by resident elections as a self-governing ordinance that applies the same welfare system as Denmark.
The first day I arrived in the capital, Nuuk, was very cloudy and dark. It was a rainy day. Let's look for the place to set up. There are 3 most important things about positioning.
- Camping 200 meters away from your home or private property.(Risks of Penalty)
- It should be a remote place where there are not many people.(Strength, risk of theft)
- Camping in a safe place. (Don't do it on roads, valleys, and cliffs.)
Originally, I was not supposed to hit this place, but I quickly pitched the tent because I thought it would rain soon. It took 3 minutes to set up the tent. Nuuk has no mosquitoes compared to Ilulissat. I'm so glad. But it's not reassuring, but there are always seven around my body.
I have a cozy space. How good it is to be free from mosquitoes from rain... I can feel happiness.
Once I was hungry, I ate sandwiches, frozen vegetables, and sauce together. The price in Nuuk, here was a little cheaper than Ilulissat, so there were many cheaper and more delicious foods at the mart.
I came out to shop for a while, and there was an event in the front vacant lot. I was wondering what it was. Turns out, various political parties come out and hold political events, ethnic competitions(?!) It was like doing the same thing.
I received free food there. I was very curious about what kind of food it is. It was a stew with chicken in it. It tasted really good, too..
One of them was a tent that could only be seen in Mongolia. I heard music coming out from inside. I was more interested. I can't wait, just enter to there, because I was curious. There were countless Greenlandic people sitting on chairs and watching the singer on the screen.
There were a lot of chairs in this tent, and I was playing a video on the screen. The video shows that many young Greenlanders leave Greenland, the mainland, to study in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. There are about 6,000 Greenlanders living in Denmark, and most of them don't know who they are, and even some younger generations forget about Greenland's identity.
They also interviewed the younger generation, and when asked if they had ever thought about being a fisherman in Greenland's main industry, most teenagers said, "No," and most of them said they wanted clerks, nurses, or kindergarten teachers. When the younger generation in the countryside all fell into the city, and asked what their dreams are, I felt like I was trying to show the uniformity of my dreams to make ends meet, such as answering YouTubers and civil servants.
In response, the band Sume began to make and sing a song about Greenland's identity, dreaming of independent autonomy from Denmark. By 1975, they wanted to achieve independence by resisting Denmark, but many people still thought that many young people were studying in Denmark and were not ready for independence.
One of the band's members, Malik's third album, is called "I'm Greenlander. We've been Sleeped," expressing Greenland's identity as a Danish spirit, and used to resist.
There are many concerns that independence and resistance for self-rule in Greenland will make relations with Denmark worse, but many observers say that Denmark will not change its national relations in the future because it is the military and transportation hub of the Arctic route and the prevailing opinion is that it will never give up Greenland, where natural gas and oil stores are expected.
And the reason I personally take the view that the good relationship between Denmark and Greenland will continue is because Greenland's soil is made up of rocky mountains, which are so rough, and in winter, most food is imported through Denmark because of the severe cold weather that it is very difficult to grow crops. Denmark feels like an economic powerhouse, consuming most of its industrial and food products.
Because of these environmental factors, Greenland has an environment where you have to buy a cucumber for 4 USD, and a kilogram of carrots costs 3 USD, but you have to eat it to live. Also, the life of Greenland, where housing prices are very expensive but not very high salaries, is gradually forgetting their identity by allowing young people to leave Greenland to study in Denmark.
Greenland has recently implemented projects for autonomous independence, including renewable energy projects, tourism, conversion of residential forms and new town construction, but whether the cry will reach the younger generation who are forgetting their history and identity... The voice of the band "Sume," which sang Greenland hoping for this, is echoing in my heart.