Greenlanders Go To the Polls on Self-Rule
November 24th, 2008, 4 Comments »
I write this entry mostly because I wanted to include the title “Greenlanders Go To the Polls”. How often do you get to say that? In any case, the 39,000-strong population of Greenland is voting in a referendum on greater independence from Denmark:
If the “yes” side wins, the local Greenland government has the chance to take control of new areas such as natural resource management, justice and police affairs and to a certain extent foreign affairs.
There are potentially lucrative revenues from the natural resources under Greenland’s seabed, which according to international experts is home to large oil deposits. Greenlandic would also be recognised as the island’s official language.
In case you were wondering (and I sure was), Greenlandic is a close cousin of the Inuit languages.