Today, about 80,000 refugees, mainly from Islamic countries, live in Denmark's five million population. Nationalist parties argue that the return of these migrants to their homeland should be 'stimulated.' But the leader of the New Alliance, Naser Khader, himself a native of the Middle East, proposed a 'Greenlandic alternative' to the voluntary-compulsory deportation of refugees.
Last week, Naser Khader visited Greenland, where, according to him, he met only two foreigners. And this despite the fact that local residents, unlike Danes from the mainland, are exceptionally friendly and open to receiving strangers. The idea of the head of the New Alliance will be discussed in parliament this week. Representatives of the Greenlandic Self-Government, in turn, viewed the possibility of a population increase extremely positively. 'We will gladly accept refugees from countries where these people are persecuted,' said Kuupik Kleist, chairman of the Socialist Party of Greenland, 'moreover, if we are striving for greater independence, we must take responsibility.'
Other representatives of the Eskimo political elite also expressed willingness to accept immigrants. The Greenlandic Self-Government believes that to start, 100-150 foreigners can be brought to the island. After all, Greenland, with a population of about 60,000, has a catastrophic shortage of labor. The Eskimos, having lost the opportunity to engage in traditional trades on their previous scale – hunting and fishing – refuse to retrain and acquire in-demand professions. For example, the tourism business is developing slowly because the natives consider it beneath their dignity to work as guides, restaurant staff, and other service professions. A correspondent for NI himself encountered this problem during a trip to Greenland, discovering that 'Eskimos for tourists' are actually Europeans specially brought to the island.
In addition to a multitude of jobs, Greenland can offer newcomers entire neighborhoods of empty houses that were once built by Danes for Eskimos. Representatives of the older generation of natives are reluctant to move into urban housing, while young people flee the island to Denmark and other European countries.
At the same time, the issue of accepting refugees has strained Greenland's tense relations with the mainland. The national consciousness of the Eskimos has grown significantly in recent years; discussions about complete separation from Denmark are underway on the island, and today's Danish xenophobia reminds the indigenous inhabitants of real and mythical grievances inflicted by Danish colonizers in the past. If not for total economic dependence on Denmark, the Greenlandic Self-Government would already have proclaimed a course toward independence. The different attitudes toward refugees in Denmark and Greenland are one way of Eskimo self-assertion.
The Danish press responded to Greenlandic hospitality with scathing comments. The newspaper Jyllands-Posten, for example, reminds readers that Greenlanders cannot cope with a host of their own social problems. Among the local population, 'drunkenness is rampant, Eskimos eat poorly, smoke a lot, and commit suicide.' All this has led to the average life expectancy in Greenland being 65 years, while in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, where climatic conditions are similar to Greenlandic, people die on average at 78 years.
The Eskimos perceive the attacks of the Danish media with poorly concealed irritation, as another sign of the contemptuous attitude of mainland residents toward them. 'Of course, we have social problems, but they exist in all countries that accept refugees. If we ever become independent, we must learn to take responsibility for the rest of the world today. The arrival of a group of refugees here will be good practice for us,' replied Kuupik Kleist, leader of the Greenlandic socialists, to the reproaches of the Danish media.
Without waiting for the decision of the Danish parliament, the leadership of the Greenlandic Self-Government has already issued a statement saying that the 'Ice Island' will gladly accept refugees who have received residency permits in Denmark. Unfortunately, as Greenlandic authorities report, they are not yet entitled to conduct independent foreign policy, and therefore all immigrants, before heading to Greenland, must first arrive in Copenhagen and undergo the usual procedure for reviewing their cases.
Alexei Smirnov.
Novye Izvestia