June 21st, 2021 speech
(Inuit Nutaat member Rasmus Olsvig speaks - you can watch the video of the speech event here )

The speech is translated as follows:

We are gathered here today because it is our National Day.
We are gathered here today to celebrate us, those we are, Kalaallit!
We are proud and beautiful Kalaallit!

But this year also marks the 300th anniversary for the Danish colonization of Kalaalllit Nunaat.
This year is also the 100th anniversary for when Denmark proclaimed the territorial right to all of Kalaalllit Nunaat.
It is almost 70 years to the year of 1953 where Denmark annexed Kalaallit Nunaat.
In the past 50 years brave Kalaallit have striven to reach political solutions to escape from the yoke of colonialism.
A yoke which leaves us with conditions that are not equal. Which are not based on mutual respect.

Our Home Rule Act gave us hope. Our Self Rule Act gave us hope.
Hope because our language was recognized as the official language.
Hope because our people was recognized, even if the definition is vague.
Hope because we Kalaallit were given the rights to future income from our land.
Hope because independence was written into the Self Rule Act.

But we stand before you today and see that
After 50 years we are still colonized.
After 50 years we are still being being more and more subjected to Danization.
After 50 years Denmark is still seeking an economic return from Kalaallit Nunaat, where Denmark demands half our income which otherwise should finance our efforts for full independence.
After 50 years the people of Kalaallit Nunaat are still a minority in our own nation.
After 50 years you can hardly even die in your own language.

Therefore, today is not a real National Day!

But our National Day will come one day.

We talk about problems as superficial issues all the time. We talk about what is visible.
If our society was a plant, we try to fix each and every leave in order to make them more beautiful.
But we forget the root.
We forget that our identity, our self-esteem and our soul has to be a part of our solutions.
We do not speak openly about taking responsibility for ourselves as free people, because all talk about freedom and independence is being silenced by doubts and incomprehensible consequences.

To move on with the next steps we must start with the root. We must dare to be free.
We must dare to be independent.
We must dare to demand our rights to what is ours.

There are those who will work against this.
There are those who doubt.
There are those who once believed in it but where the belief is now replaced by resignation.

Those in denial and doubt have chosen to believe what the suppressors are saying:
That we cannot afford to be independent,
That we do do not have enough well-educated people,
That we do not have our own military defense and therefore will be overrun by other nations,
That we are not entitled to discuss independence when there are so many problems we need to solve first,
That we cannot exempt ourselves for responsibility because our forefathers wanted to establish closer ties with Denmark,
That we do not have a statute protecting us as an indigenous people, because we have common families and bloodlines with all Danish people.

Suppressors talk down on freedom. Freedom fighters talk freedom up. Let’s go all the way up!

We respect those who doubt, and also those in denial as our fellow citizens.
We understand the uncertainty, but freedom gives us strength.
We will not hold back on our desire for freedom just because we see the effect of historical colonial powers.

Taqilluni naami atunngiveqaaq
Kalaallit siumut makigitsi.
Inuttut inuuneq pigiuminaqaaq
Saperasi isumaqaleritsi.

We must dare to demand,
We must dare to say no to see Denmark built into our administration.
We must dare to demand a full picture of what Denmark gains from the approximately DKK 5 billion which is paid each and every year.
We must dare to demand of all citizens that we take full and real responsibility for our nation, or otherwise accept a time limited stay.
We must dare to show all of us that we can find solutions for the economy, alliances, ways of doing things.
We must dare to demand that Denmark pays the price now for 30 years, in return for the human, economic, and geopolitical value that Denmark has extracted from Kalaallit Nunaat in the past 300 years.
We must dare to be a part of the entire world, standing on our own feet.
We must dare to say yes to our self-confidence and to the belief in our own abilities (sapinngilagut!)
We must dare to demand full acceptance of full independence for our Nation.

It has been a long cold winter for 300 years.

We can feel that spring is coming. It is becoming warmer.
We feel good about it.
(Upernaleqaaq, kiatsileqaaq, nalunngilarput nuannersisoq)

Many have suffered and experienced pain in the times we have experienced.
Pain from being looked down at,
Pain from losing family members and friends who gave up.
Pain from seeing that day by day a small piece of us disappears in the name of Danization,
Pain from the division of our society because we are not at home in our own land.

For each day we do nothing, we will die little by little.
For each day we do nothing the hope is evaporating and our souls is being watered out.

But even when we are in pain, our fight for freedom is not based on anger.
Our fight is not based on hatred.
We are not cutting ties, but we are building a nation, a nation that brings people together.
We are building a nation which joins other nations.
We are building a nation which can proudly be with others
We are building a nation built by us, for us and with us, and those who wish to be Kalaallit.
We build a nation which is ours.
We move on from our anger.
We believe that with a clear sense of identity we can join the global community of other nations.
But all this demands from us that we are ourselves. That we are independent.

One day when we wake up, we know who are citizens and who do not wish to be citizens.
One day when we wake up it will be the citizens of Kalaallit Nunaat who take the responsibility to develop our nation.
One day when we wake up, we have our own voice when we are with other countries, in UN, In the Arctic Council and in other international organizations.
One day when we wake up, our children will grow up as independent people and with a clear idea of their identity and with a passport from Kalaallit Nunaat.
One day when we wake up, we can send our own people to take part in sports events, as students, and cultural messengers as representatives for Kalaallit Nunaat, without having to explain that we are not Danish.
One day we will wake up and experience a truly equal relationship with Denmark. We will have to earn the respect, but we have the freedom to build the basis for it.
One day when we wake up, we will have a true National Day, on the date for our Independence!

Let us all wake up together soon!

We are gathered today to celebrate us as Kalaallit. Thank you for being here!
Go back with the belief that freedom indeed does exist.
Go back with the belief that we too have our place in the global community.
Go back with the belief that where there is a will, there is a way.
Go back with the belief that we can do things because we want to.
Go back with the belief that our successors can move on as Kalaallit.
If all freedom loving Kalaallit have this belief, we have the strength to move on.

Our land may be old, but it is rich. Let us rise as a people in our demand to leave it to our successors as the land of the people, led as a proper nation, a nation which will stay in their hands (as in Inuit nunagaat, aqussavaat ataatsimut, pigissaavaat qaqugummut!)

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