Greenland Ruby Update by Greg Valerio: Part 1: The Journey

When Greenland got home rule on June 21st, Greg Valerio, fair trade jewellery activist and staff writer for Fairjewelry.org, was there to negotiate with the new Home Rule Government in support of the 16 August Union.

In Part 1 of this post, The Journey, Greg provides context for the visit.

In Part II, Day of Eternal Light, Greg discusses the negotiations with the Greenlandic government. Post Home Rule.

In Part III, The King of Ruby Mountain, Greg writes of the astonishing experience of walking among a treasure house of beautiful gems in the pristine landscape.

~Marc Choyt, Publisher, Fairjewelry.org

June 19, 2009

I am on a trip to visit The 16th August Union, Greenland’s first official small-scale miners association. The aim as a fair trade jeweller is to work with the Union in their dealing with the Danish run Bureau for Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) who have criminalized Union members for owning ruby and have stopped them selling their rocks to jewellers like me who want a stone from the hand of local people, not the big impersonal mining companies.

As we descended through the whiteness of cloud and banked across the airport, I could see a gaggle of press on the tarmac waiting to greet the VIP’s who have come to celebrate Greenland’s ‘Nearly Independent from Denmark’ celebrations.

These celebrations will involve the handing over of executive political powers for Police, Judiciary and Mineral law to the Home Rule Government. Stepping out into the chill of Greenland’s June, I pass into arrivals, no passport checks and am greeted by Niels, Jens and a few others from the 16th August small scale miners Union.

I had not been in Greenland since July 2008 and it was great to be back. We sat down and launched straight into updates. The recent change in government has created a tangible buzz of excitement about a new future for the Island. The optimism in the air was only muted by the reserve of the Greenlanders natural stoicism.

Native Rights In Greenland

The struggle for native mineral rights in Greenland came knocking at my door some two years ago when I was contacted by William Rohtert, a geologist and gemologist based out of Los Angeles.

William had worked for a medium sized Canadian mining company True North Gems (TNG). William had deep empathy for a marginalised and forgotten people, particularly for the Inuit because he was of Native American ancestry. Williams’ professional skills applied to this gem rich Island catalysed the opportunity to uncap the deep well of frustration that had been created by Danish Colonial mastery over human dignity.

William built upon the Inuit ancestral relationship with the Ruby and taught Niels Madsen and his friends how to prospect, facet and polish ruby in a professional and modern way. He also imparted true knowledge of their wealth and value, which created conflict True North Gems and the Danish run BMP found.

On the 16th of August, 2007, Niels and friends went to protest their rights in law by prospecting ruby on the TNG exploration site. In Danish mineral law TNG had no exploitation license that would have granted them exclusivity and therefore had no legal power to stop the protest. Gandhi called this action ‘rightful economic protest’.

TNG rang their friends at the BMP who sent the Police to arrest and confiscate the ruby collected by Niels and his four friends. This act on behalf of the BMP broke their own law. But because Copenhagen runs the Police, the law courts, and the mineral code, they have the power to act without accountability or due process.

This injustice catalyzed the creation of the 16th August Union, the infamous date the miners were arrested. The arrest led to an island wide clamp down on all indigenous local people having the rights to mine. Mr. Lars Lund Sorensen, the head of a division at the Minerals Office at the time, said, “We don’t want your sort of people having access to this kind of wealth”.

Since then, the BMP have ignored reasoned argument for responsible small scale mining. They have hired lawyers to construct erroneous interpretations of Danish laws to cover up their behaviour and to protect the vested interests of TNG.

For example, the BMP had the same lawyer instruct the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute local people. They have offered to drop charges against miners if they would sign paperwork stating they will not mine again. They have issued fines against those who would not take the bribe and have hidden behind the facade of Danish reason and civility.

This Imperial spirit that assumes ownership and control over people and land is an ancient evil that has wrought untold misery over humanities history and inspired some of its noblest actions in the name of freedom, truth and justice. The Greenland Ruby is another story to be added to the stories of freedom.

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