Greenlandic Inatsisartut election, 2018

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Atassut are likely to be punished for this, it was clearly not what their new young voters wanted, but that also makes the coalition more durable as they are likely to fear new elections.

This of course also means that Aleqa Hammond will get back into the Inatsisartut as alternate for Vittus Q.

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As one of the commentators on AG Sermitsiaq said "Siumut, New Siumut, Newest Siumut and Supplier to Siumut have formed a coalition". Once again relegating themselves to supplier of seats to Siumut is really a sad state for Greenland's old liberal, unionist party which once was the biggest in the country; they got back from the brink this time thanks to capable economically liberal young candidates and a down to earth, pro-business message, but this likely seals their fate (no pun intended). They will go back to being a rapidly declining pensioners' party.

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Naleraq chairman Hans Enoksen is new Speaker of the Inatsisartut. 

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The new government has - finally - been announced. Seven men and two women. Siumut get five ministries, Naleraq two, and Atassut and Nunatta Qitornai one each. Young Aqqalu Jerimiassen gets the Atassut post rather than their chairman and 24-year old Bentiaraq Ottosen replaces him in parliament. Former Ilulissat mayor Anthon Frederiksen, who wasn't elected to the Inatsisartut, gets a ministry. Pilot and wannabe businessman Pele Broberg gets finance, which he doesn't seem qualified for, but no one really is in those parties. IA and the Democrats have the people that could actually run the department properly. Vittus Q. gets mining, which will likely lead to corruption, but he has knowledge about the field both as mining consultant in SIK and as mineral hunter and amateur mineralogist, and he likely demanded it as his prize for joining the government. Vivian Motzfeldt from the most nationalist part of Siumut gets education, which will lead to speedy Greenlandization, haphazard replacement of Danish with English without proper planing and preparation and declining standards. Erik Jensen has spent his entire career working with housing, so naturally he doesn't get that portfolio  , but fishing, which is the second most important after finance.  

Of the ministers Kielsen, Simonsen, Frederiksen are broadly competent, Jensen and Broberg would likely be competent if given different portfolios, but are probably in over their heads in finance and fishing, Jeremiassen lacks experience (but seems bright and sensible), the two women are both incompetent, but Siumut only have three female MPs and Kielsen likely felt he needed to appoint some, Vittus Q. is a typical "jack of all trades, master of none". 

Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut,("Prime Minister"), Minister of Nature & Environment Kim Kielsen (S)
Deputy Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut ("Deputy PM"), Minister of Housing & Infrastructure Simon Simonsen (S)
Minister of Fishing, Hunting and Agriculture Erik Jensen (S)
Minister of Education, Culture, Church & Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt (S)
Minister of Health & Research Doris J. Jensen (S)

Minister of Finance & Taxes Pele Broberg (N)
Minister of Social Affairs, Family and Justice Anthon Frederiksen (N)

Minister of Trade & Energy Aqqalu Jerimiassen (A)

Minister of Minerals, Labour and the Interior Vittus Qujaukitsoq (NQ)

[Adam in Stroud]

May 11, 2018 21:07:01 GMT @vintris said:

The new government has - finally - been announced. Seven men and two women. Siumut get five ministries, Naleraq two, and Atassut and Nunatta Qitornai one each. Young Aqqalu Jerimiassen gets the Atassut post rather than their chairman and 24-year old Bentiaraq Ottosen replaces him in parliament. Former Ilulissat mayor Anthon Frederiksen, who wasn't elected to the Inatsisartut, gets a ministry. Pilot and wannabe businessman Pele Broberg gets finance, which he doesn't seem qualified for, but no one really is in those parties. IA and the Democrats have the people that could actually run the department properly. Vittus Q. gets mining, which will likely lead to corruption, but he has knowledge about the field both as mining consultant in SIK and as mineral hunter and amateur mineralogist, and he likely demanded it as his prize for joining the government. Vivian Motzfeldt from the most nationalist part of Siumut gets education, which will lead to speedy Greenlandization, haphazard replacement of Danish with English without proper planing and preparation and declining standards. Erik Jensen has spent his entire career working with housing, so naturally he doesn't get that portfolio  , but fishing, which is the second most important after finance.  

Of the ministers Kielsen, Simonsen, Frederiksen are broadly competent, Jensen and Broberg would likely be competent if given different portfolios, but are probably in over their heads in finance and fishing, Jeremiassen lacks experience (but seems bright and sensible), the two women are both incompetent, but Siumut only have three female MPs and Kielsen likely felt he needed to appoint some, Vittus Q. is a typical "jack of all trades, master of none". 

Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut,("Prime Minister"), Minister of Nature & Environment Kim Kielsen (S)
Deputy Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut ("Deputy PM"), Minister of Housing & Infrastructure Simon Simonsen (S)
Minister of Fishing, Hunting and Agriculture Erik Jensen (S)
Minister of Education, Culture, Church & Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt (S)
Minister of Health & Research Doris J. Jensen (S)

Minister of Finance & Taxes Pele Broberg (N)
Minister of Social Affairs, Family and Justice Anthon Frederiksen (N)

Minister of Trade & Energy Aqqalu Jerimiassen (A)

Minister of Minerals, Labour and the Interior Vittus Qujaukitsoq (NQ)

Why does Greenlandisation involve replacement of Danish with English rather than indigenous languages? I can see the value of English generally and especially with proximity to North America but surely there is an existingDanish-speaking community - would not trilingualism make more sense? Or is it a case of a deliberate snub to the former colonial power?

[Deleted]

May 11, 2018 21:29:59 GMT Adam in Stroud said:

May 11, 2018 21:07:01 GMT @vintris said:

 Vivian Motzfeldt from the most nationalist part of Siumut gets education, which will lead to speedy Greenlandization // haphazard replacement of Danish with English without proper planing and preparation // and declining standards. 

Why does Greenlandisation involve replacement of Danish with English rather than indigenous languages? I can see the value of English generally and especially with proximity to North America but surely there is an existing Danish-speaking community - would not trilingualism make more sense? Or is it a case of a deliberate snub to the former colonial power?

Why does Greenlandisation involve replacement of Danish with English rather than indigenous languages?
It doesn't, I was listing different things they will do and their - in my view - inevitable consequence.

is it a case of a deliberate snub to the former colonial power?
Yes, and they never tire of telling how useless Danish is. They also ignore that 15-20% of the population has Danish as their mother tongue, instead claiming its only 8%, which is the share of white Danes, implying that no one with any Inuit ancestry has Danish as their first language, which is a ridiculous claim.  

Both high schools, colleges, vocational training and the university are still mainly in Danish, apart from lessons in Greenlandic ofc. Though more vocational training are now done in Greenlandic. Bilingual academics can make a lot more money doing other things than teaching since they are in short supply, so there are very few Greenlanders in the high schools and tertiary institutions. 

English is the second foreign language and used for aviation school and a bit at the university, but not much elsewhere in the education system. Trilingualism is the ideal, but young Greenlanders typically get their English from music and movies since there is a dearth of qualified Greenlandic English teachers and they aren't good at academic English or "school English". The government wants to make English the first foreign language in the primary school, which will make the pupils worse at Danish without necessarily improving their English much due to the lack of competent teachers. This is of course pure ideology and serves no practical purpose given the rest of the educational system will be in Danish. Even if the Danish high school and college teachers started to use English most students would be worse at English than they are at Danish today. 

Add to that Danish being the common language of the Kingdom of Denmark, the rights of the Danish speaking minority (who are after all living in the Kingdom of Denmark so hard to deny them the right to a thorough education in their mother tongue), the high number of Greenlanders migrating to Denmark, the ability to study and board for free in Denmark, but not in anglophone countries, and the support network for Greenlandic students in Denmark and ability to be admitted with lower grades than other students and you get a lot of arguments for why its a bad idea to downgrade Danish. Switching to English makes sense in an independent Greenland, but not really in the current set-up, and in any case it needs to be carefully planned and done in the entire educational system.

[Adam in Stroud]

May 11, 2018 23:18:05 GMT @vintris said:

May 11, 2018 21:29:59 GMT Adam in Stroud said:

Why does Greenlandisation involve replacement of Danish with English rather than indigenous languages? I can see the value of English generally and especially with proximity to North America but surely there is an existing Danish-speaking community - would not trilingualism make more sense? Or is it a case of a deliberate snub to the former colonial power?

Why does Greenlandisation involve replacement of Danish with English rather than indigenous languages?
It doesn't, I was listing different things they will do and their - in my view - inevitable consequence.

is it a case of a deliberate snub to the former colonial power?
Yes, and they never tire of telling how useless Danish is. They also ignore that 15-20% of the population has Danish as their mother tongue, instead claiming its only 8%, which is the share of white Danes, implying that no one with any Inuit ancestry has Danish as their first language, which is a ridiculous claim.  

Both high schools, colleges, vocational training and the university are still mainly in Danish, apart from lessons in Greenlandic ofc. Though more vocational training are now done in Greenlandic. Bilingual academics can make a lot more money doing other things than teaching since they are in short supply, so there are very few Greenlanders in the high schools and tertiary institutions. 

English is the second foreign language and used for aviation school and a bit at the university, but not much elsewhere in the education system. Trilingualism is the ideal, but young Greenlanders typically get their English from music and movies since there is a dearth of qualified Greenlandic English teachers and they aren't good at academic English or "school English". The government wants to make English the first foreign language in the primary school, which will make the pupils worse at Danish without necessarily improving their English much due to the lack of competent teachers. This is of course pure ideology and serves no practical purpose given the rest of the educational system will be in Danish. Even if the Danish high school and college teachers started to use English most students would be worse at English than they are at Danish today. 

Add to that Danish being the common language of the Kingdom of Denmark, the rights of the Danish speaking minority (who are after all living in the Kingdom of Denmark so hard to deny them the right to a thorough education in their mother tongue), the high number of Greenlanders migrating to Denmark, the ability to study and board for free in Denmark, but not in anglophone countries, and the support network for Greenlandic students in Denmark and ability to be admitted with lower grades than other students and you get a lot of arguments for why its a bad idea to downgrade Danish. Switching to English makes sense in an independent Greenland, but not really in the current set-up, and in any case it needs to be carefully planned and done in the entire educational system.

Your last para on the value of links with Denmark seems especially strong. I'd have thought here was also a value in keeping open the door of Danes coming to work in Greenland, after all with a population so small you want to be able to bring in expertise which is not available locally. Of course if English language takes off then there is a much larger pool for that but it seems to me that English speakers are not queueing up to move to Greenland and they would have a better chance of attracting Danes or other Scandinavians.

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Vittus Q. also gets Independence and Constitutional Matters, which is a recipe for new provocations and confrontations with the Danish government; unless he is kept on a tight leash, which seems unlikely given they depend on his seat for a majority. Its pretty remarkable that he managed to sell his one seat for that high a prize compared to Atassut, which had two seats and unlike Vittus Q. could have chosen to back the other side.

They also get Aleqa Hammond back in the Inatsisartut, which is a further source of trouble. She of course has chosen to keep her salary seat in the Folketing and her chairmanship of the Greenland Committee. Lots of criticism of this.

Among the other notable appointments and omissions:

Siumut deputy chairman Karl Kristian Kruse isn't in the new government, according to Kim Kielsen that was on his own request, but if it isn't that spells trouble as Kruse has a strong internal base. Kruse was behind the new and ambitious fishing law and it seems odd that he steps down before the final negotiations and the implementation of it, especially to be replaced by someone with much less experience with the sector.

Political novice Pele Broberg gets finance, which is an odd portfolio to give to a newcomer.

Doris J. Jensen was sacked from education, which she wanted to keep. She is a former MP, so that is a bit of a snub - but she isn't in a position to rebel.

Vivian Motzfeldt steps down as chairman of the Constitutional Commission now she is entering the government and it will be interesting to see who replaces her.

Former mayor and "town king" in Sisimiut Hermann Berthelsen isn't in the government despite a good election and is by-passed by several less competent people, so he could make trouble.

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Newly elected MP Henrik Fleischer has left Naleraq, he won't say whether he joins a new party before "after Whitsun", but claims it won't affect the government.

EDIT: He joined Siumut, so no direct consequences for the government, though it might make their internal cooperation a bit more awkward. He is a fisherman and was offered the chairmanship of the Fisheries Committee, but wanted to chair Foreign Affairs & Security (= lots of traveling abroad). The inclusion of non-MP Anthon Frederiksen in the government likely played a role as well. Pretty blatant opportunism to jump ship before parliament had even convened.