Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.06.2009, Blaðsíða 46

34
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2009
CONTINuED FROM PAGE 16
one’s time and a waste of time (or
water, for that matter) must never, ever
be directly associated with literature.
However, all my sympathy lies with
British charity organisations as well as
the Icelandic public. If I were to write to
save my life, metaphorically speaking, in
the eyes of an English king or, rather, the
British public, I would point out that I
have at least gone out to the streets along
with thousands of other Icelanders and
protested against both the government,
financial institutes, and business
tycoons. The demonstrations here are
called "The Kitchen Revolution" and
consisted of grouping in front of public
buildings and making an enormous
racket with pots and pans whilst chanting
slogans. Professional percussionists
joined in and this made for wonderful
music, to which I myself have played my
part with a casserole dish. The music
is working, the government has fallen
and the millionaires are intimidated; I
address the subject of music and discuss
it in detail in a letter to another institute,
but suffice it to say, by way of an apology
to the ill treated British citizens, that
at least many of us here are protesting,
which is more than can be said of the
British public, as far as I know; that is
to say, until the G20 demonstrations.
Should a poet or a human being not be
rewarded for his or her efforts and life at
least spared?
I considered to send an application
to an Icelandic institution but then
came Icesave – and not only Icesave,
also it seems that the now nationalized
bank Kaupthing owes her majesty the
Queen of England in person a huge
sum of money for rent; it seems she
owns some buildings in the West End
of London which she rented to Singer
& Friedlander, a company owned by the
idiots and criminals at Kaupthing. So it
seems that I, a common man, must pay
her majesty her salary! Fuck! Pardon
the expression. Should you suspect that
I am making some sort of morbid joke
in this letter, let me assure you; it could
never be as ridiculous as this! We are
not amused. I immediately cancelled
my letter (actually part of a series) to
the Icelandic institute as it now seems
much more logical to me that as long as
I am paying for Icesave and her majesty,
a royal literature fund in England, such
as the one you represent, should pay my
allowance or reward me in some way.
Thinking back to the times of Eric
Bloodaxe, it is a matter of opinion who
really has the axe in hand now. I do
hope that your respected institute is not
in the habit of chopping anything off
Icelandic writers, directly or indirectly –
symbolically or literally.
Read the stunning conclusion to
Hermann Stefánsson's 'A Letter From
Iceland' next issue!
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CONTINuED FROM PAGE 19
“The alternative is unthinkable,” said
Einarsson. “It would be closing off the
country. The EEA Agreement could be
canceled by the EU and as I understand,
this has been threatened. Since the
emergency laws in October, Iceland
has not fulfilled its obligations in the
EEA. There is no free-f low of capital
now. The cancellation would have
a devastating effect on the country.
Iceland needs good relations with its
neighbors. The loans that have been
promised to Iceland by governments
of the neighboring states through the
IMF would also be in danger. The IMF
has said that Iceland only receives these
payments after reaching an
agreement with
the UK. So, the
UK is in a very
strong position,
also because
we have made
h o r r i b l e
mistakes in the
process of the
negotiations.
We are in a
very difficult
p o s i t i o n .
I’m glad
that I’m
not in the
Icelandic
government. I wouldn’t
know what to do, I wouldn’t know if I
should accept this agreement or not.”
Elíasson, for his part, isn't entirely
convinced that Iceland has no other
options, stating that Icelanders need
to better explain their position to the
world prior to negotiating a deal. “We
haven’t been explaining their position
very well up until now, because our
government, which is so keen to get
into the EU, doesn't seem to want to
protect our interests first.”
Jóhannesson, however, doesn't think
the EU is as strong an underlining
inf luence as the threat of economic
isolation.
“It goes without saying that the
Social Democrats are determined to
join the EU,” he told us. “I don't think
there's some secret EU link there, but
obviously, if Iceland were going to say,
we're not going to accept this, that would
pretty much make us as isolated as
countries as North Korea or Myanmar.
This isn't just about EU membership.
If we were to say we're not going to
pay for Icesave, we could lose access
to foreign loans, the EEA agreement
could be in upheaval, and there's also
trade with European markets. They
say our economy is mostly based on
fishing. Well, we have to sell the fish to
someone. If we walked away from this
deal and these other countries put an
embargo on us, we'd be hard-pressed
to find someone else to trade with.
We might not like the Icesave deal,
but the alternative is much worse, and
maybe this is the best we or anyone
else could get. Take it or leave it, that's
the message we got. I think anyone
criticizing the negotiations team for
being weak are ignoring, wilfully or
not, the incredibly difficult position the
Icelandic authorities find themselves
in.”
Where do we go from here?
Jóhannesson sees in Iceland's future
both hard times ahead,
but also
hope.
“ I
try not
to be too
pessimistic,
but I foresee
cuts in the
w e l f a r e
system. I
think a lot
d e p e n d s
on whether
there will be
a thorough
i nves t i gat ion ,
and that those
who were guilty
of wrongdoings
will be sentenced. Unless that
happens there is no hope here. If it
turns out that Iceland is struggling
under the weight of this agreement,
then it should be in the interests of
Britain, Holland, and our partners in
the European Union to renegotiate.
Also, we're used to breaking treaties
with Britain,” citing the 1961 fishing
waters agreement that Iceland signed
with Britain and subsequently violated
ten years later. “Breaking treaties is
nothing new to us. If we break this
treaty with Britain, it wouldn't be the
first time, and that's just the plain,
honest truth. But the sad bottom line
is that there needs to be an agreement.
Whether this one is the best one that
could have been reached, I can't say.”
Einarsson agrees, adding that the
real culprits of the banking crisis need
to be brought to justice, saying “Well
there is the special prosecutor’s office
with limited number of people and the
advisory role of Eva Joly, which is meant
to investigate all these things, also
the responsibility of individuals. The
problem is that the authorities weren’t
ready to go after these people right away,
when everything happened. It took a
long time to set up the mechanism to
do that.”
“Who broke the law?” asks
Jóhannesson. “That I'm not able or
willing to answer. But I think that
bank managers, politicians and
officials should be the subject of
investigation, and they should welcome
an investigation. It would clear the
innocent of any wrongdoing, and bring
the guilty parties to justice.”
Einarsson is also philosophical about
Iceland's future. “Of course, some of
the main players, which have behaved
outside of the law, will hopefully be
prosecuted. Some of them might even
see some time behind bars. But that
complete systematic investigation
leading up to a final justice where
everything is clear, that’s not going
to happen. It’s going to be a halfway
solution. It’s always like that here in
Iceland. And after ten years, we will
stop worrying about it. That’s how it
goes. These people used to be the heroes
here. They walked down the streets like
they owned the place. Now they are all
personae non grata. In this society, this
is the biggest punishment anyone can
receive, humiliation and shame. Many
of these people are my personal friends.
Everywhere they go, what has happened
taints their lives. They hide in their big
houses with their fancy cars in front of
them, but they can’t enjoy them.”
At the time of this writing, the
Icesave agreement is being hotly
debated in parliament. What will be
entailed in the full agreement, and
whether or not Iceland will go back
to the negotiations tables remains
to be seen, but Jóhannesson, for his
part, believes at least one important
lesson will be learned from the Icesave
debacle:
“The dream of making Iceland a
financial powerhouse will never appear
again. At least I hope not.”
“I’m glad that I’m not in the Icelandic government.
I wouldn’t know what to do, I wouldn’t know if
I should accept this agreement or not.” Guðni
Thorlacius Jóhannesson
“We might not like the Icesave deal, but the
alternative is much worse, and maybe this is the best
we or anyone else could get. Take it or leave it, that’s
the message we got.” Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
“[The evocation of the anti-terrorist law] not only
illegal, but also politically very hostile. I think
that the Icelandic authorities made a devastating
mistake in these early days. When the UK
authorities used these illegal means to seize the
property of Landsbanki, the Icelandic authorities
should have said, that the UK government by that
also overtook the obligations of the bank.” - Einar
Bergmann Einarsson
A letter from Iceland Broke, Busted,
Disgusted