Björk Expresses Heartfelt Support for Greenlanders in Response to Trump’s Annexation Threat
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Björk expressed solidarity with the people of Greenland on Monday morning (January 5), shortly after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a bold military operation on Saturday (January 3).
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“I wish all Greenlanders blessings in their fight for independence,” the Icelandic singer wrote on Instagram, highlighting the shared Viking heritage and historically amicable relations between Iceland and Greenland. “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 added.
This message appeared to be a reaction to recent comments by Donald Trump, who reiterated plans to annex Greenland, citing strategic defense reasons. “We need Greenland for a national security situation,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday (January 4). “It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.” In a separate interview, he expressed that the U.S. “does need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Since Trump’s election, he has shifted from the “America First” policy, making statements about potentially incorporating both Greenland and Canada into the United States. His focus has also shifted toward military engagements in the Caribbean, culminating in the recent capture of Maduro, leading Trump to claim that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela indefinitely, although no clear plans have been released.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former ally of Trump, weighed in on the potential for conflict arising from the Venezuela attack, stating to the New York Times, “this could lead to the kind of open-ended conflict that Trump has repeatedly claimed he was against… Boy were we wrong.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen countered Trump’s suggestions of annexation, declaring that the U.S. should cease its “unprovoked saber-rattling.” She stated, “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland. The U.S. has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom,” emphasizing that both Denmark and Greenland are part of NATO and thus protected under the alliance’s security framework.
Frederiksen also pointed out the existing defense treaty between the two nations, while Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen described Trump’s remarks as “very rude and disrespectful.”
“Colonialism has repeatedly given me horror chills up my back, and the chance that my fellow Greenlanders might go from one cruel colonizer to another is too brutal to even imagine,” Björk stated, adding an Icelandic expression meaning “from ashes into the fire.”
“Dear Greenlanders, declare independence!” Björk implored. “Sympathetic wishes from your neighbors’ warmth.” Trump’s renewed calls for U.S. control of Greenland underscore the ongoing tensions surrounding the issue.
