Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2006, Page 4

The Intercultural Centre, standing directly
across from the National Theatre, plays a vital
role in Reykjavík’s immigrant community.
Their staff provide an array of services and
information, publish a magazine and even run
a coffee shop on the ground f loor. The Grape-
vine went to speak with the centre’s director,
Einar Skúlason, and asked him about the
work they do there, what life is like for im-
migrants in Iceland, and what part he thinks
they will play in the upcoming elections.
/// The Centre’s magazine has been covering
the upcoming elections in some detail. What
kind of reaction have you been seeing from
the immigrant community?
– I’d say most people I have spoken to have
shown some degree of curiosity, but there is a
significant segment of immigrants with voting
rights that doesn’t seem to feel these elections
are any of their business.
/// Do you think they are afraid of rocking
the boat?
– The general feeling seems to be more along
the lines of: “This is not my concern.” Which
is odd, because when you are a taxpayer and a
citizen of a particular society you are obviously
going to need to interact with many aspects of
service and governance in that society. When
the time comes to actually vote and inf luence
practical and political issues, however, people
back off and become strangely indifferent.
/// There has been much talk of forming an
anti-immigrant, nationalist party in Iceland.
This is obviously a worrying prospect for the
people you represent, has it given more impe-
tus to your attempts to involve immigrants in
Icelandic politics?
– I don’t think people have responded strongly
enough. I expected a much more pronounced
reaction to this kind of talk. A dialogue must
be established between immigrants and, for
lack of a better term, ‘those in charge.’ There is
a relatively small group of people in our society
who wield more inf luence than others, and if
immigrants do not become a part of that group
there is a distinct danger of a cultural chasm
opening up. Sadly, we have already seen this
happen in some European countries.
/// Do you think it’s generally difficult for
immigrants to have to give up language and
customs to blend in?
– You know, one often sees full page articles in
major newspapers like Morgunblaðið, touting
the achievements of some ‘West Icelander’
with far-fetched family ties to Iceland. Can
you imagine the reaction here, if a major Thai
newspaper ran regular stories highlighting
the emergence of a culturally distinctive ‘Thai
Town’ in Reykjavík? I think making part of the
city a Thai language zone and renaming the
streets would probably result in some mixed
reactions, to say the least.
/// What was the main goal you had when you
launched your quarterly magazine?
– Mostly we try to focus on education people
about their rights and other practical informa-
tion relating to life in Iceland. In the last issue
we had a feature on the kennitala system, for
example. National identification numbers are
new to many people, and many of them find it
hard to understand why you need some kind of
centrally registered numerical code to do the
simplest things, such as rent a video. We also
make a point of interviewing varied people
from all over the world, if only to give a small
insight into the different cultures and societies
they hail from.
/// Do Icelanders, particularly those in posi-
tions of authority, freely grant interviews as
well? How are the authorities treating you in
general?
– The relationship is quite good. We inter-
viewed Jón Kristjánsson, the Minister for
Social Affairs, in our last issue and the parties
currently in government were apparently very
pleased with the result. They have requested a
great number of copies to take on the cam-
paign trail and pass out at workplaces that have
a high percentage of immigrant workers. After
the elections, we have a series of meetings
planned with representatives of all the parties,
during which we plan to go over what went
right, what went wrong and how we can better
involve new Icelanders in the election process
in the future – both as voters and candidates.
/// The politicians seem to be interested,
then. What kind of impact do they think the
immigrant vote can have on their election
prospects?
– Some very rough math indicates that we have
around 9000 potential voters of non-Icelandic
origins.
/// But most of them not terribly interested in
exercising their right to vote?
– Sadly, I don’t think there is nearly enough
interest in these elections. We hosted a series
of open meetings with representatives of all the
parties, and a number of translators, but only
a handful of people showed up and we had to
cancel the last three in a series of twelve.
/// Did you get the feeling that those who did
show up were learning from the experience,
though?
– Actually, I think the politicians learned the
most from the experience. For one thing, they
all seemed to come away understanding how
meaningless the word ‘immigrant’ is when
trying to describe such a disparate group of
people. I think the main thing the Iceland-
ers came away with was an appreciation of
the diversity of the immigrant community in
Iceland.
/// What campaign issues concern immi-
grants the most, in your experience?
– The school system is a major concern, as are
day care facilities, as the way those institutions
are run can touch on many critical issues such
as language proficiency, cultural identity and
tolerance. Secondly, there is housing, particu-
larly its rising cost.
/// Do they tend to vote along ‘left-right’
political lines?
– One thing that worries me sometimes is
the degree to which the political leanings of
political parties in Iceland can be translated
into terms that outsiders can relate to. I think
the political landscape in Iceland is not all that
varied, most of our politicians seem to straddle
the middle and there isn’t any fascist or com-
munist party to draw away the fringe. Thus it’s
important to explain to people that the Inde-
pendence Party is not ultra-conservative and
the Left Greens aren’t actually a communist
party, either. We don’t have those extremes.
/// Do immigrants in Iceland feel empow-
ered, generally speaking?
– I’m afraid that would be the exception. There
has been some talk about moving democracy
in Iceland to the grass roots level and making
politics more local, but non-native Icelanders
as a group have not been part of that trend.
/// Couldn’t that be key, then, to increasing
the election turnout – to give immigrants
a better opportunity to become invested in
their adopted society?
– Well, that’s basically the message we have
been trying to get across. Iceland is a demo-
cratic country, we have a parliamentary system
and it is possible to affect change through that
system. Apart from our efforts to promote this
approach, the political parties themselves will
also need to open up to a much greater extent.
/// The Intercultural Centre is the main
hub for non-native residents and citizens of
Iceland, which of your services are most in
demand?
– The translation and legal services, definitely.
We translated over thirty five hundred docu-
ments last year and have a registry of about two
hundred interpreters. As far as the legal side
goes, we have a perpetually booked lawyer here
that gives free advice, mostly pertaining to
residency permits and such. Many people come
here without the expectation of settling down,
only to change their minds. They then require
legal advice on how to go about applying for
the paperwork their family would need to join
them – in cases where that is even possible. It
should be noted that, as of two years ago, it
became a lot harder to get such permits.
/// Lastly, what do you, and the people who
come to your centre, need the most right
now?
– There is not nearly enough being done to
help people learn the language in a timely and
affordable manner. Politicians pay lip service
to this problem, but there is little movement to
be seen.
/// Árni Magnússon, then Minister of Social
Affairs, once told the Grapevine, when asked
how he could defend the policy of making
150 hours of Icelandic classes mandatory
while doing nothing to curb their rising cost:
“That’s life.”
– That’s an interesting way to put it. I wonder
if “well, that’s life” would still be his response
if government mismanagement of immigra-
tion issues were to actually ignite serious social
strife in this country in the future.
“I’d say most people I have spoken to have shown
some degree of curiosity, but there is a significant
segment of immigrants with voting rights that doesn’t
seem to feel these elections are any of their business.”
The Immigrant Vote
An Interview with Intercultural Centre Director Einar Skúlason
by gunnar hrafn jónsson photo by gúndi
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