Dear Elna
Statement of Solidarity
On behalf of NASUWT – the Teachers’ Union in the United Kingdom, we write to reaffirm our solidarity with IMAK and with Greenlandic teachers at this critical moment.
We are acutely aware of the pressures and challenges you are facing, including the very real and escalating threats posed by statements from the U.S. administration regarding Greenland, and attempts to exert external political pressure through coercion, militarisation, and disinformation. As colleagues and members of both Education International and the ETUC, we recognise that these circumstances are not abstract or distant, but are being lived daily by teachers working in classrooms and communities across Greenland — often in remote and demanding conditions, and with a deep sense of responsibility to future generations.
Teachers everywhere understand that education is inseparable from culture, language, identity, and the right of peoples to determine their own future. Greenlandic teachers, as custodians of indigenous heritage and as educators of young people, carry this responsibility with courage and clarity. Your understanding of history, and of what is at stake when rights, resources, and sovereignty are placed under external threat, commands our deepest respect.
We also note the resolute stance of the people of Greenland, as expressed through the largest protests in the country’s history and through the leadership of unions such as SIK. As the ETUC has affirmed, Greenland has made clear its position: that integrity, dignity, and respect must guide the future of the country, and that external coercion or pressure is unacceptable.
We stand alongside Education International, the ETUC and the wider trade union movement in expressing our full support for IMAK and its members. No outside force has the legitimacy to decide the future of Greenland or its land. That authority rests solely with the Greenlandic people themselves, who have cared for and sustained their land, culture, and society for centuries.
At times such as these, international trade union solidarity is not about speaking for one another, but about standing together. Please know that teachers in the United Kingdom and across Europe are watching developments closely, with concern, with understanding, and with unwavering support for your union, your members, and your just cause.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Wrack
General Secretary
