Ný saga - 01.01.2001, Page 100

Summaries
ANNIVERSARY (AFMÆLI)
Halldór Grönvold
A timc to rcst. Thc 80th annivcrsary of liniits on
working hours
(Hvíldar er þörf. Vökulög í 80 ár)
In 1921 the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, passed
a Iaw providing for fishermen on Icelandic
trawlers to be entitled to a minimum of 6 hours of
rest every 24 hours. This essay discusses the
events which led up to the passage of the Act in
question, seeking to explain how and why this
happened. It gives an account of social and indus-
trial developments in Iceland during the early
years of the 20th century. There is a survey of the
struggle against the veritable slavery aboard the
trawlers, the establishment of seamen’s organisa-
tions and the international basis for trade unions
which can be seen, for instance, in the struggle for
the right of trawler seamen to a minimum period
of rest. Parliamentary clashes between conflicting
attitudes of social democrats and those of the ves-
sel operators and conservatives are described.
The latter part of the essay looks at develop-
ments in legislation and collective bargaining
agreements concerning trawler seamen’s rest
periods since 1921. It also gives an account of the
development of labour laws concerning working
and rest hours of workers in the Icelandic labour
market to the present day. It demonstrates that
the social partners have played a key role in shap-
ing the rules which have been adopted and the
legislative authority has taken their joint conclu-
sions fully into consideration. Furthermore,
developments in occupational safety in the
Nordic countries and subsequently in the
European dimension have served as the basis for
those in Iceland. This influence became even
more evident and began to affect Iceland directly
when the country became a member of the
European Economic Area.
Ragna Garðarsdóttir:
Untying the knots ofthe past - the memory of'the
Nazi era
(Óleysanlegir fortíðarhnútar. Minningin um nazista-
tímabilið)
The Millennium appeared to most Germans as a
certain turning point in their history and cultural
progress. Recognising and coming to terms with
that horrific period in their past referred to sim-
ply as "the Nazi era" was more unavoidable than
ever. Discussion of this question proved to take a
completely different direction than had earlier
been the case, revolving in this instance on the
question of what form the memory of this terror
should take and whether amends had been made
for the crimes committed against Jews and other
social groups considered undesirable. The discus-
sion of recent decades was subjected to a thor-
ough review and parties differed as to whether
the grounds for emotions such as shame, regret,
bitterness and anger had not been completely
transformed by the altered cultural as well as
social circumstances in the Western World. A
decision was taken to erect a mentorial to the
people killed by the Nazis during their rule in
Germany, which was to pour oil on the flames of
the arguments. There was no opposition to the
idea of the memorial, but rather on what grounds
it should be based and what form it should take.
The outcome of this debate is still to be deter-
mined, but it is clear that it has given increased
depth and variety to discussions of the Nazi era.
Davíð Logi Sigurðsson
The chains ol' nationalism and the drcani of Tito’s
resurrection
(Fjötrar þjóðcrnishyggjunnar og draumurinn um
upprisu Títós)
Some people in the countries of the former
Yugoslavia long for the time when Tito ruled the
country with an iron fist. Under Tito all ethnic
strife was kept under check and it was only after
his death in 1980 that nationalist fervour found
fertile ground to grow amongst Croats, Serbs and
Slovenians, in their respective provinces as well
as ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina, bringing
about the fall of Yugoslavia and destroying the
lives of millions of people. Trouble had been bre-
wing all along, however, in places such as Kosovo,
where ethnic Albanians and Serbs had long found
il difficult to live together. It was here that
Slobodan Milosevic made his name in politics,
and fanned the flames of Serb nationalism in the
late 1980s. Although things stayed quiet through-
out the period of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia
1991-95, Kosovo finally erupted in 1998-99.
The author, who has recently worked for the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo, documents this histo-
ry and shows how the tables have now been
turned on Serbs in Kosovo by ethnic Albanians
who bear deep grievances towards their Serbian
tormentors, and who are blinded by the national-
ism that has already caused so much trouble in
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