Inuit hunters are to ask Denmark's Supreme Court on Monday to close down one of America's most secretive and strategically important military bases. The Inuit claim they were illegally evicted from traditional grounds in northern Greenland and they are demanding the right of return. The US would like to use Thule air base as a site for the controversial Star Wars National Missile Defence System. The case pits a superpower against the world's smallest indigenous people. Thule contains powerful surveillance equipment, making it an ideal existing site for America. Lawyers representing the Inuit claim that their very survival is at stake as the territory to which they were exiled no longer has sufficient food stocks to sustain them. In 1953 the Danish authorities forcibly evicted the Inuit from their ancestral lands in Northern Greenland where for thousands of years they hunted whales, polar bears and other arctic creatures. Their removal enabled the Americans to establish a vital arctic outpost. Thule's location allowed the Americans to monitor Soviet military activities and, most importantly, to give early warning of any possible first nuclear strike. Right of return Four years ago, a Danish High Court ruled that the Inuit had been illegally exiled but denied them the right of return. The Supreme Court justices now have to decide whether or not they have the legal right to go home. Acalug Lunga is a member of the Greenland home rule parliament and author of a book called Right of Return. "The Americans need to understand that you don't just take away the homes of people - even in Greenland - and you don't take away their livelihood. I think it's also important to send a message through this process here at the Supreme Court in Denmark that United States also recognises our rights," he said. The Inuits' lawyers believe if they win the Danish authorities may have to order the Americans to move their base. Since the Cold War ended Thule has evolved into America's ear on the northern hemisphere. Washington is planning to upgrade its surveillance capabilities and is also seeking Danish permission to use the base as part of the Star Wars National Missile Defence System. The Americans will not be represented in court as this dispute is technically between the Inuit and the Danish Government but a spokesman for the US embassy in Copenhagen said it was keeping a close eye on the case. Legal experts assess the Inuits' chances of success at 50-50. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3236083.stm5 responses total.
the inuit are not the world's smallest indidgenous people. some of them are taller that YOU, prolly.
Nor could they possibly be the world's least numerous indigenous people. Check out the list of dying languages -- there are quite a few which have less than 25 native speakers left. (Almost every one of those language groups would qualify as "an indigenous people".) Overall, it's silly to make that kind of claim.
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We'd have to know more about the geography. The base could be occupying most of the fruitfully occupyable land. (There is an entertaining article about Greenland and the Thule base, including an "aerial" photograph, at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/4466/mapintro.html)
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