Denmark uninvites American officials from its big 4th of July bash

to each one summertime for thomas more than a century, American flags, raging dogs and loyal songs have filled a small Danish town to celebrate the Fourth of July.

This year, that tradition has taken a turn. For the first time, the largest Independence Day celebration outside the U.S. Will not allow American government representatives to take part.

Local authorities gave Rebild National Park Society, the program organizers, a choice: exclude American officials from the event or lose public funds to run the event. 

Since 1912, thousands of Danes and Americans have gathered in Rebild, a small town in Denmark, to celebrate the ties between the two countries. Denmark and the U.S. Have shared a longstanding relationship since the end of the Second World War, one that has been close and pragmatic.

But U.S. President Donald Trump’s vocal push to acquire Greenland — Denmark’s semi-autonomous Arctic territory — has put a strain on relations between the two countries. 

'Fundamental disagreement' remains with Trump over Greenland after high-level talks

Greenland's prime minister demands respect for sovereignty in U.S. Talks

Although Trump later stepped back from those threats in late January, he has not abandoned the idea entirely, leaving lingering concern that the dispute over Greenland is far from settled.

Lasse Olsen, a council member in Aalborg, Denmark, the municipality that neighbours Rebild, who led the campaign against the participation of U.S. Officials and has been against the entire event for years, told The New York Times that Trump is an “imperialistic mad man.” 

He spoke to As It Happens guest host Karina Roman about how he led the campaign. Here is part of their conversation: 

At the city council, you put forward a motion to cut off funding for this event if American officials were included. What was the argument you made? 

It was the threats that Donald Trump has made towards Greenland that I think is preposterous to be celebrating the relationship between Denmark and the U.S. 

It's fine to make the celebration, but I don't think that our tax money should go into a celebration of the Danish-U.S. Relations because I think we could spend that money in a better way, and it seemed that a lot of people in the public agreed with me on that. 

How did the council vote? 

It was the financial committee of the city council and it was a consensus decision so everyone agreed on it. 

When I suggested the same thing about a year prior, I was the only one in favour, and the Socialist People's Party, who were not at the time represented in that committee, agreed with it but that was like the minority position. But through debate, and the response I think that my arguments got, the mood shifted in the city council so everyone agreed that we should cut funding.

We agreed on cutting it in half and then spending the money we save on activities commemorating and celebrating the long-standing relationships between Aalborg and Greenland. We're the city in Denmark with the highest portion of Greenlandic citizens. 

This tradition goes back to 1912. How did this small town in Denmark end up hosting what was the biggest Fourth of July party outside of the U.S.? 

It was Danes who immigrated to the United States, made some money, and then agreed to buy an area in the north of Denmark that supposedly reminded them of somewhere in the Midwest. They bought that and then they donated it to the Rebild Society who organizes the annual Fourth of July event. 

I'm not sure how [attendance] is now because participation has plummeted. 

We have reached out to the American Embassy in Copenhagen for comment, but we haven't heard back from them at this point. Did you hear anything from American officials about this? 

No, but I know that when the Rebild Society informed the U.S. Embassy that they could not send official representatives of the U.S. This year, they were saddened but accepted the message. 

What do you think would happen if the American ambassador showed up anyway? 

No one's going to stop him, I guess, but it would mean that the funding that the organizers receive from our city will be cut off in the future. 

What message do you hope this sends to Americans, not just officials, but regular people hearing this news? 

I hope that they will reflect on the fact that the words of Donald Trump and the threats against Greenland don't happen in a vacuum. It is [has an impact on] people's lives. 

It’s a dire situation that the president of the U.S. Is threatening to take over a territory which is a lot of people's homes, and it has shown that the U.S. That Donald Trump stands for is not necessarily a friend or an ally of Denmark.  

Journalist

Audio produced by Chris Trowbridge

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