For an Arctic zone of peace!
Donald Trump’s renewed and sharpening rhetoric about annexing Greenland to the United States is quickly escalating into a dangerous confrontation among countries within the US-NATO imperialist camp.
Both Trump’s threats and the response from many NATO states – to deploy troops to Greenland as part of joint exercises – are rooted in the drive by the most powerful capitalist economies to divide and redivide the world’s territory into areas of control and influence. This inter-imperialist rivalry tramples Indigenous sovereignty and risks massive militarization, resource plunder and ecological disaster in Greenland and throughout the Arctic.
The Arctic is enormously important from a geostrategic view, due in part to its proximity to Russia, which is why Trump claims Greenland’s annexation is necessary for his proposed “Golden Dome” missile shield which the Canadian government has shamefully expressed interest in supporting. But the region is also increasingly significant as climate change risks opening it to new trade routes and extraction of rare earth, oil and gas resources located there. The current political crisis is a direct result of intensified competition among huge monopolies, including those within the US-NATO camp, to secure economic advantages in this context.
But the Arctic is also an international region: it is home to hundreds of thousands of Indigenous peoples in more than 40 nations who have lived in the territory for thousands of years, and eight UN member states share borders within the region.
Trump’s latest drive to annex Greenland coincides with his January 3 military attack on Venezuela, a clear violation of international law which was conducted with his stated objective of controlling the hemisphere of the Americas for the economic benefit of the United States and US-based monopolies.
Ironically, the same political leaders in Canada and Europe with whom Trump is currently in conflict over Greenland have been performing diplomatic backflips in their attempt to justify the illegal US attack on Venezuela and abduction of its head of state, Nicolás Maduro.
The response is different, but the key issue is the same – respect for and defense of sovereignty in the face of imperialist aggression.
Clearly, sovereignty – including Canadian sovereignty, which Trump has also specifically targeted – will not be protected through imperialist military blocs like NATO which demand high military spending and drive a global arms race, in order to expand the reach of their capitalist states and monopolies. Rather, protecting sovereignty requires respect for international law, and genuine diplomacy through the framework of the United Nations covenants, treaties and mechanisms.
The Communist Party of Canada condemns Washington’s moves to annex Greenland, as well as the calls from NATO countries to increase their military presence in the region.
The Party reiterates its longstanding call for Canada to withdraw from NATO and other military blocks, to disentangle its foreign and military policies from the United States, and to adopt an independent foreign policy based on peace, disarmament, global cooperation and respect for sovereignty.
We also call for Canada to get out of corporate trade deals like the USMCA and to pursue mutually beneficial trade policies with the world, based on full employment, respect for Indigenous rights and environmental protection.
Furthermore, we call for new and urgent efforts to craft an international treaty through the UN, creating a demilitarized Arctic zone of peace which respects and guarantees the social, economic and political rights of the Indigenous people who live in the Arctic, and which protects the delicate and precious natural environment in the Arctic.
Communist Party of Canada
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