Proposed new nationalist party in Greenland challenges Inuit Ataqatigiit

Nikku Olsen of Nuuk wants to start a new party in Greenland, called Ilorpiatta Akisunnera (our conscience). (FACEBOOK PHOTO)

A new political party in Greenland wants to break ties with Denmark and focus on “Greenlandic values.”

“We must cut the umbilical cord to Denmark before we can take a step forward as a people. We must work together based on our Greenlandic values. Anyone who understands and appreciates our goals are welcome,” says Nikku Olsen, the organizer of a new political party in Greenland called Ilorpiatta Akisunnera (our conscience.)

Olsen used to belong to the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party, the current governing party in Greenland.

But Olsen resigned from IA last October.

“The people of Greenland need a new rallying point, and we must build on our nationality and Greenlandic values to achieve our political objectives,” he told Sermitsiaq/AG, Greenland’s Nuuk-based newspaper.

Ilorpiatta Akisunnera’s main focus would be to promote Greenlandic nationalism, Olsen said.

“It has become clear that the people and their needs are not the most important element at the highest political level in today’s Greenland, but materialism has become an essential factor in recent years. It has also increasingly buried the Greenlandic mentality,” Olsen told Sermitsiaq/AG.

Greenland needs to reevaluate its legal connection to the Danish government, he said.

“The Greenlandic population is actually ruled by Denmark, just our way of life is strongly influenced by the Danish mentality,” he said.

Olsen plans to start collecting the 920 signatures necessary for Ilorpiatta Akisunnera to recognized as an official party.

He’d like to hold the party’s first general assembly in October.