“The chance that my fellow Greenlanders might go from one cruel colonizer to another is too brutal to even imagine,” the Icelandic musician wrote on Instagram, hitting out at both Donald Trump and Denmark.
The US President has repeatedly hinted at the prospect of having Greenland become an annexed part of the United States. He recently told reporters that the country “need(s) Greenland from the standpoint of national security”, citing how the country’s location is of strategic value when it comes to defence purposes.
Trump’s threats have renewed fears of a US invasion of the island, which is self-governed but remains part of the Danish kingdom. Denmark also continues to control Greenland’s foreign affairs and defense.
Now, Icelandic music legend Björk has shared a note of solidarity with the people of Greenland, hitting out at Trump – and Denmark – and voicing her support for the country’s independence.
“I wish all Greenlanders blessing in their fight for independence,” she began, going on to make reference to her own country’s history. “Icelanders are extremely relieved that they managed to break from the Danish in 1944. We didn’t lose our language (my children would be speaking danish now), and I burst with sympathy for Greenlanders.”
Björk went on to highlight the scandal of “forced contraception” in the mid-’60s and early ‘70s. She acknowledged last year’s lawsuit by 143 women accusing the Danish government of forcibly giving them IUDs without their consent in an effort to limit Greenland’s population growth. An official inquiry found that around 4,500 Greenlandic Indigenous women were impacted by the forced contraception campaign.
Björk also criticised the parental competency tests that were banned in May 2025, tests which forced families to be separated as young Inuit children were taken from their parents and given to Danish foster families.
Source: EuroNews. Header image is courtesy of Vanity Fair, cropped by me.
Against the Grain 