As Trump targets Greenland, history warns us about empire in familiar disguise

By Walter Hesford | FāVS News Columnist

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. 

As I lay sleepless one night in January, the tune to “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” popped into my head and wouldn’t leave.

Doubtless my memory of this hymn was triggered by Trump’s relentless campaign during most of this month to acquire Greenland by any means necessary. 

The hymn was written in 1819 for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Lands by Reginald Heber, a Church of England clergyman and prolific hymn writer who became Bishop of Calcutta in 1823, dying there three years later.

I must have heard “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” in my youth at rallies to raise money to support missionaries. It is not in the hymnal of the church I now attend.

It is not there because its lyrics are no longer deemed appropriate. Here are the first two stanzas: “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains / From India’s coral strand / Where Afric’s sunny fountains / Roll down their golden sand/….They call us to deliver / Their land from error’s chain. // Can men whose souls are lighted / With wisdom from on high / Can they to men benighted / The lamp of life deny?”

As subsequent verses make clear, it is Christianity that offers the lamp of life, and it is the enlightened white man’s burden, his duty, to spread his religion to “benighted” heathens throughout the world. The full hymn can be found on Hymnary.org).

Many would hear this now as an example of religious imperialism, which at the time of the hymn’s writing was aligned with British imperialism. By this time, the Inuit who had been inhabiting Greenland for centuries had already been missionized by Catholics, then by Lutherans and Moravians from Norway and Denmark. 

They aligned themselves with the imperial interests of these nations, particularly in cornering the market on walnut tusks and other then valuable commodities.

Trump’s imperial appetite makes no pretext of being interested in saving the souls of the Inuit. It is simply the now valuable precious metals beneath those icy mountains he wants … or is it to ward off trumped-up future threats from China and Russia? Or is it, as he told the prime minister of Norway (according to Jan. 19 and 20 news reports), revenge he wants for not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

In any case, Trump’s desire to take Greenland may rightly be compared to Putin’s desire to take Ukraine. The egos of both Trump and Putin need constant feeding, and empire building fills this need. 

Both see themselves as strong men confronting a weak Europe. Trump is even like Putin in the business of striving to undermine NATO, a league of our traditional allies, in order to satisfy his appetite.

And what about the wishes and needs of the Inuit? Why does Trump think he can buy their land from Denmark? Why does Denmark, for that matter, think it is theirs to sell, if it wants to? Shouldn’t it be those who have the best long-term claim to Greenland who determine its future? 

As much as I want to distance myself from the ideology of that hymn I sang in my youth, I want to distance myself even further from the soulless, heartless imperial greed of Trump. 

But how far can I distance myself when my whole way of life as an American is being fueled by our addiction to fossil fuels that is contributing heavily to global warming, thus melting the glaciers on Greenland’s icy mountains and undermining the environment on which the Inuit’s welfare depend? 

Since I drafted this column, Trump has temporarily backed down from his plans to take Greenland aggressively. Thanks to our European allies, our beloved neighbor to the north, and even some Republicans for challenging Trump. Lesson: it’s worthwhile to stand up against bullies even if you don’t think you have an iceberg’s chance in hell of succeeding.

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