The Peace Paradox of Kalaallit Nunaat

 The Peace Paradox of Kalaallit Nunaat

In Primary School in the Western world we learn the names of continents and our countries are marked out with lolly-stick flags stuck together with pva glue.

We are taught to pin our dreams safely to soft, cork-boarded maps, and sail across peaceful waters in triangle-shaped boats into circular suns by means of our ever-expanding imaginations.

— To these children Greenland is an icy island in the Arctic Ocean, perhaps where Father Christmas lives, near the North Pole.

In Secondary School in the Western world we learn topographical terms, the names of native cultures and the ways in which our countries made their marks on history as leaders of the free world, including slavery, wars and alliance building. We’re taught to dream like Martin Luther King did and to question the norm, to build a better future for our own children.

— To the next generation Greenland is marked out as an island of peace in a sea of troubles; an example of how historical alliances forged by NATO members after the second world war remain important to this day.

And when we are grown up, we vote for the leaders who fly our flags and pledge to uphold the values of equality, dignity and fair treatment for all. We learn to question why alliances are no longer honoured and why loving thy neighbour is now punishable by death.

— The Inuit call this land Kalaallit Nunaat. Land of the Greenlanders.

A Wensley

20.01.2026