Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2009, Blaðsíða 38

Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2009, Blaðsíða 38
22 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 12 — 2009 Flight provided by Air Iceland. Book fl ights at www.airiceland.is Travel | Greenland Politics, Culture and Driving in Circles A shallow glimpse at life in Nuuk “People are very private here. You need a local to gain their trust,” Piitaaraq ex- plained in an attempt to quell my dis- appointment upon being shunned by a dozen individual locals I had attempted to speak with. “You need a man – I’m the man.” Nuuk is an enigmatic place. There’s a cultural dichotomy in play that is natural and common place for those Greenland- ers and Danes who live there but seems so isolating and exclusionary for visitors not familiar with that reality. Requiring a native to gain the trust of those with whom I wished to speak meant that I look 1) too Danish or 2) too foreign for Greenlanders to want to speak with me. Just as I look too Danish to visit a lengthy list of bars I was given, scrawled in pen under the header: “don’t go!” THE POLITICS OF CULTURE There’s a push and pull in Nuuk between the Greenlanders and the Danes, with the former trying to secure their inde- pendence from the latter in any way they can. Even the once Danish street names have recently been changed to Greenlan- dic ones, something that some Green- landic locals find confusing, according to Piitaaraq, a 29-year-old Nuuk local and employee of Nuuk Tourism who played host to the Grapevine during our time in Greenland’s capital. “The old politicians are getting on in age and are thinking ‘I want people to remember my name,’” he said. “But I think it’s rushed.” At the time of our visit in the first week of June, Greenland was undergo- ing an election to put in place the gov- ernment that would be the first national party to have control over judicial affairs, policing, and natural resources before June 21st (the cut-off date decided upon by the Danish government). This histor- ic event seemed to affect everything we experienced while in Nuuk. The streets were decorated with signs of the change, with election posters covering every elec- tric pole, lamppost and bus shelter early in the week, and spread over the concrete and strewn through the ditches post- election. The elections and the debate over Greenland’s ability to adopt responsi- bilities that had previously been tended to by the Danish ruling parties was on everybody’s minds, and everybody had an opinion on the matter. Most of those who would speak their minds, through the trusted local Piitaaraq, seemed scep- tical, having endured years of political scandal – misappropriation of funds and sex scandals, specifically – but oth- ers were optimistic that the young and educated politicians of the victorious Inuit Ataqatigiit party would be capable of fostering real and positive change for the nation. As Theresa, director of Nuuk Tourism stated, “a lot of politicians had a vision but they didn’t have the education to back it up. Now there’s a lot of young people, educated people, and that’s a good thing.” HOME IS WHERE 1% OF THE POPULATION IS Upon arriving in Nuuk, the housing is likely to be the first thing that leaps out at you. Idealized visions of colour- ful fishing cottages along the shore are immediately replaced with the reality of monstrous and expansive blocks of apartments, decaying façades and rusted balconies, dominating the city. Those quaint Crayola-colour wooden homes do exist, making for a picturesque walk around the old harbour, but direct your gaze away from the sea and the real Nuuk hits you with great force. One of the apartments, Blok P, houses more than 1% of Greenland’s population. Now, Greenland happens to be the most sparsely populated nation per square kilometre in the world, but that statistic is still impressive. The long rectangu- lar building appears to be somewhat of an optical illusion if viewed from one of its ends, as is seems to cover an impos- sibly long expanse of land in the centre of Nuuk, consecutive columns of rusted, laundry-strewn balconies disappearing into the horizon. It’s depressingly im- Fly and discover Action-packed day tours 2009 websales@airiceland.is / tel. +354 570 3030 Air Iceland is your West Nordic airline, a customer-driven service company responsible for scheduled domestic flights and flights from Iceland to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Air Iceland offers a variety of day tour packages, in Iceland and to Greenland, which include flight, bus transfer and guidance. All these magical locations are but a short, comfortable flight from Reykjavik. Come fly with Air Iceland BORGARNES STYKKISHÓLMUR SNÆFELLSJÖKULL DRANGAJÖKULL FLATEY NESKAUPSTAÐUR BLÖNDUÓS SIGLUFJÖRÐUR BOLUNGARVÍK HRÍSEY FAROE ISLANDS AKUREYRI EGILSSTAÐIR VESTMANNAEYJAR ÍSAFJÖRÐUR VOPNAFJÖRÐUR ÞÓRSHÖFN HÚSAVÍK GRÍMSEY Blue Lagoon Geysir Gullfoss Jökullónið Kárahnjúkar Krafla Hallormstaður CONSTABLE POINT Greenland ILULISSAT Greenland KULUSUK Greenland NUUK Greenland NARSARSSUAQ Greenland AKRANES REYKJAVÍK KEFLAVÍK

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