Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.01.2010, Blaðsíða 21

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2010
21
OcTObER
Leftist-Green MP
Ögmundur Jónas-
son resigned from
his post as Minister
of Health, citing
irreconcilable differ-
ences with regards
to the Icesave deal.
This led to tensions
running high within
the party, but in the
end the waters calmed for the time being.
Representatives from Icelandic, British and
Dutch authorities signed an agreement
over Icesave, over a year after the collapse
of Landsbanki. Meanwhile, parliament's
opposition parties continued to battle the
basic precepts of the deal, citing among
other things the unusually high 5.5%
interest rate to be paid on former deposi-
tors' returns. Also grabbing international
headlines McDonald's closed its doors in
Iceland, saying it was unlikely it will ever
return.
NOVEMbER
Cases of swine flu
began to increase
into the double digits.
Lonely Planet’s Best
in Travel 2010 named
Iceland among the
top ten Best Value
destinations for
tourists. The National
Assembly—a bold
experiment in direct
democracy—was held this month, drawing
in thousands of Icelanders to submit ideas
on where the country should be headed,
what makes the country distinct, and what
issues are most important to the average
Icelander. Corruption, according to both
Icelanders polled and according to foreign
observers, was on the increase.
DEcEMbER
Tensions rise as
the youth groups of
both ruling parties,
the Young Social
Democrats and the
Young Leftist-Greens,
strongly criticize
proposed cuts to
the country's social
welfare system,
most notably cuts
to maternity leave. Public dialogue with
regards to foreigners ends on a mixed note:
while the Ministry of Justice has decided
that creating a think tank designed to see
how far they can supervise Iceland's foreign
residents and still stay within the law is the
answer to the human trafficking problem,
a resolution is submitted in parliament
calling for legislative changes that would
give greater protections to foreign women
who fall victim to domestic violence. A
new article appearing in USA Today goes
down a list of countries "poised to be where
the action is" in 2010, and names Iceland
among them. But the biggest story of the
month—if not the year—is Icesave. With 70%
of Icelanders polled in two separate polls
opposed to the Icesave bill's passage, and
nearly 50,000 signatures gathered on an
online petition urging the president not to
sign it into law, months of bitter wrangling
within the halls of parliament lead to a
squeeked-by victory for the bill, 33 MPs in
favour and 30 against.
The president in a move that surprised
gamblers the world over, effectively trolled
the international community and vetoed the
Icesave bill, referring it instead to national
referendum. Prime Minister Jóhanna
Sigurðardóttir countered that according
to Icelandic law, the Icesave deal is still in
effect until a national referendum is held
that defeats the law by simple majority.
She emphasized that the government will
honor its commitments, and that the ruling
coalition will hold. 2010 promises to be a
year possibly as tumultuous as 2009; maybe
even more so.
This issue, our 101st, was a real toughie to pull off. Our designer had envisioned some crazy sculpture project for the cover that
we had to abandon at the last minute because the logistics were just plain impossible to manage. However, we managed to
pull off this nice graphic at the very last moment – it’s meant to celebrate a hundred Grapevines. HSM
In the midst of a harsh economic recession, Icelanders have started selling off their valuable energy resources to
international corporations at KREPPA-rates. Grapevine's Catharine Fulton investigates the sale of HS Orka to Canada's
Magma Energy, how the deal went down and if it is an indication of what's to come. PG. 12.
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Issue 18 – December 4 - January 7 – 2010
Christmas is upon us. While a lot of things are pretty wrong in the world right now,
we feel the only sensible thing to do is indulge in some good old-fashioned Holiday indulgence.
Eat, Drink & Be Merry
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SPECIAL SPECTACULAR www.grapevine.is
The merry Christmas men that are plastered all over the Grapevine this issue just happen to be some of the city’s top restaurateurs. Chef Úlfar Eysteinsson runs Þrír Frakkar, Reykjavík’s best loved fish restaurant (Baldursgata 14) and Tómas Tómasson operates the Iceland’s all-time favourite hamburger dive, Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar (various locations). Why do we love having them pose for photos and then putting those photos on our covers? Because they are very awesome people, and their food has given us a lot of pleasure, for instance. But also because they sport these cool, long beards. Why did they grow these beards?
Úlfar: I was being interviewed on the radio last May, and I happened to sport a beard. The journalist asked me why I was so hairy, and I replied that I was protesting the Central Bank’s way-too-high interest rates, that I would not shave until it was down to a one-figure number...
Tómas: I heard Úlfar on the radio, talking about whale meat as usual, and he started talking about his protest. I decided this was something I wanted to get behind, so I called him up immediately afterwards – my friend of 40 years – and told him I would join him in his protest. I’ve been growing a beard since the end of May now, and Úlfar since the beginning of May. They’re pretty hefty beards by now.
Did you envision having to grow your beards this long? Do you expect to cut them anytime soon?
Úlfar: I didn’t suspect it would take this time, but we’ve still had some progress. A year ago, the interest rates were at 18%, they’re down to 11% now. Once they go down by 1.5%, the beards are gone!
Tómas: They’ll announce the new interest rates on December 10th. I am not convinced they will go below 10% then, but I imagine it will happen next year. I hope they do.
We hear you’re planning to do some fun Christmas stuff with those beards...
Úlfar: Yes, we acquired 1.000 decks of playing cards from Icelandair, and a mysterious benefactor sponsored 1.000 candles from Sólheimar. We are in the clouds about this. We’re in the process of gift-wrapping the mall and are planning to dress up in Santa gear and deliver those goods to children at the local children’s hospital and kindergartens around town, spreading some Christmas spirit.
Issue 18
Xmas 09
Tómas’ grill-charred leg of lamb (serves many)You’ll need: a filleted leg of lamb (femur intact), BBQ sauce of choice (“Any brand, almost all BBQ sauce is good”), spices. “Marinade the leg of lamb in the BBQ sauce for 24 hours, preferably at room temperature. Salt and pepper according to taste, then throw it on your barbecue for 45 minutes to an hour – the more burnt, the better. You’ll have to keep turning it from the start – eventually it will start to burn, as I said, but that’s good. Let it burn! The charred flesh is really good. Keep your BBQ sauce of choice on hand throughout the process, so you can douse the leg in it each time you turn. Serve with mushroom cream sauce and potatoes. For the potatoes, you should boil them first and cool them down, then cut them into 4-5 pieces each (without peeling them!) and fry them in olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley.” Photo by Baldur Kristjáns
Úlfar’s Halibut w/Langoustine (serves two)You’ll need: flour, spices, two halibut fillets (around 200 grams each), two large langoustine (split at the middle), cream, white wine and some Icelandic butter. “Coat the halibut in flour and then fry it in hot butter on one side for around two and a half minutes. Then you flip the fish and place the langoustine split-down in the butter. Spice with BBQ seasoning and add garlic and salt according to taste. Splash some white wine over the pan before adding the cream (250+ mls.). The cream will come to a boil, making the gravy nice and thick. If it’s too thick, add some more white wine. Serve with boiled potatoes and salad, if you will, squeeze a slice of lemon over your plate according to taste.“
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News | Paul Nikolov
The Year In brief

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2009 | Paul Nikolov, Grapevine.is News Editor
This past year in Iceland has
probably been most memorable
on the political front. The usual
stories that get us international
headlines—whaling, music, anything
about green energy—all took a back seat to the
January Revolution. After months of weekly
protests, often to the derisive laughter of oth-
ers that Icelanders have no stamina for sus-
tained protest, the centre-right coalition of the
Independence Party and the Social Democrats
was forced to dissolve. A couple of months lat-
er, when new elections were held, Icelanders
voted a leftist government into power, for the
first time in the history of the republic.
Those were heady times, weren't they?
After nearly two decades of bowing to the
nearly feudal stranglehold the conservatives
had over the country, the Icelandic people
said, “No. You ruined us; you have revoked
your right to rule.” But more than just a shift
from right to left was the hope that now, having
seen what can be accomplished, the average
Icelander would finally realise the real advan-
tage of living in a small, tight-knit community—
that direct democracy can happen. This was
underlined when a new party comprised of
a collection of activists, the Civic Movement
(Borgarahreyfingin), at the time of the spring
elections only a few months old, managed to
win four seats in parliament.
Hope was certainly alive and well. This was
months before the Civic Movement would end
up dissolving after an embarrassing e-mail
leak revealed inter-party bickering that led
to one of their MPs leaving and the party re-
inventing itself (at least in name, anyway), and
months before opinion polls showed that the
majority of Icelanders would, in fact, vote the
conservatives back into power if parliamentary
elections were held again.
breathtaking hypocrisy
I'll repeat what I said in the news story I wrote
on the Icesave bill: the hypocrisy of the Inde-
pendence Party is breathtaking. Watching the
final vote streamed live to my browser from
government television, and seeing one con-
servative after the other pour scorn and ridi-
cule on the people cleaning up the mess the
conservatives made, was truly rage-inducing.
Speaking of which, the economy has also
been a sort of partisan banner, with conserva-
tive opponents frequently citing it as an exam-
ple of the leftists' incompetence. That is, if you
ignore the fact that since the leftists came to
power, unemployment has dropped (taking a
modest rise in recent weeks though), taxes still
remain the lowest in Scandinavia even after
tax hikes were passed, and Iceland's economic
rating by international financial institutions
such as Fitch has been steadily if modestly ris-
ing.
Troubling trends
Of course Icesave and the economy weren't
the only stories on the political front. Some
troubling trends in the area of immigration
and refugee rights have come up as well. Cries
for reform in refugee law have been getting
stronger with each passing month, and will
likely not abate. Apparently, people fleeing
totalitarianism and war aren't exactly keen on
being deported without their cases reviewed,
being sent to notorious human rights violators
in Greece with little reason given by Icelandic
authorities beyond “because we can.” Minister
of Justice Ragna Árnadóttir doesn't seem too
motivated to do anything about refugee law,
but it certainly has been interesting seeing
parliamentary reactions. Or the lack thereof.
Remember Paul Ramses, the Kenyan asy-
lum seeker who was deported to Italy in 2008,
separated from his wife and infant child here
in Iceland? Remember the public outcry that
rightfully arose from this, and the politicians
who spoke openly about what a horrible thing
this was? Yeah. Many of those same politicians
were the ones who rejected a bill that I co-sub-
mitted which would have made the changes to
refugee law that would have kept Ramses in
Iceland. I guess these MPs have gotten more
consistent, as they haven't uttered a word
about refugee law reform now.
Another revolution?
Human trafficking, on the other hand, looks
like it's finally getting the attention it deserves.
Members of parliament recently approved a
resolution to legislatively protect women of
foreign origin from domestic violence, and
police started focusing a lot more attention
on human traffickers. We can only hope, then,
that they'll also be extending their efforts into
educational campaigns, informing buyers of
women (in particular, guys who like to go to
strip clubs) that they are taking part in a night-
marish practice. We'd hate to think the police
would actually be inconsistent; giving great
attention to the demand side of drugs, but
virtually ignoring the demand side of human
trafficking.
The year to come is certainly going to be
an eventful one. While the Icesave bill was
passed into law on the second to last day of
the year by a wafer-thin majority of 33 MPs to
30, the president held off on signing it right
away. The following Monday, he announced he
had vetoed the law, refering to national refer-
endum instead. Cue one furious government
(the news was just as much a surprise to them
as it was the rest of the world), a dumbstruck
opposition, a seething mad foreign press er-
roneously declaring that Iceland intended to
refuse to pay, and a nation left with finding out
what it means when you get what you ask for.
At the time of this writing, only 41% of the na-
tion agrees with the president's veto. Tentative
plans schedule the referendum to take place
on the 20th of February. Unless and until the
law is killed by simple majority, the current Ic-
esave law still stands. Even so, 2010 will - to
the greatest dismay of the Icelandic people
themselves - in all likelihood be dominated by
Icesave. God help us.
Iceland's Year in Politics
2009: Politics & Life
2009 | Dr. Gunni, Journalist / Musician
2009 | Dóri DNA, Student / Rapper / Comedian
2009 | Ari Eldjárn, Comedian / Copywriter
One maybe expected some change, as there was a revolution in Iceland. In retrospect
it maybe wasn’t anything. The Independence Party left office and the Left-Greens
come instead, then everyone stopped being angry. Nothing happened. Then we
humped on Icesave for around ten months, so you really just stopped following the
news or expecting anything. Right now I hope that the Icesave bill gets vetoed and Eu-
rope goes crazy, invades Iceland and takes over. I have grown bored of being an Icelander; maybe
it’s fine to just call the whole thing off.
Everything has just been kind of ridiculous. You would have thought that in a situation such
as this one everyone could just unite in rowing our little boat to safe shores. Instead, everyone
continues paddling their own pathetic little cause, so our boat just goes in circles and the whole
nation gets seasick.
To retain your sanity you turn off all the media—radio, TV, internet—everything. And when you
dare turn it back on and they start yapping on about Icesave you’ll turn to the zombie-pop station
and listen to Lady GaGa.
It was easy being angry at the Independence Party. All of the major players from the collapse
are rooted there, and you really want to kick their arses. Now they are back with their yapping and
expect us to believe everything will be totally great if we just hand the reigns back to them. So I
don’t know. Mainly, I’m tired.
Looking back to January of 2009, when the shit hit the fan and everything was happening,
those were some spirited times. I read over what I wrote back then—I blogged like a maniac. I
blogged about New Iceland and exciting new ways of doing things and blah blah blah... then real-
ity took over, the cold, dark Icelandic winter and Christmas stress and somehow... let’s just say I’m
glad the year is over. The whole of it went towards this Icesave bullshit, which is only really the tip
of this whole iceberg. Everyone just keeps going crazy over everything without us ever reaching
any sort of conclusion.
You could add that I’ve wanted to somewhat blindly stand behind [Minister of Finance,
head of the Left-Green party] Steingrímur J. Sigfússon and back him up. I still haven’t lost
faith that he knows what he’s doing. He isn’t the one that sank the boat, and he seems keen on
rowing forward.
I learned this year that money is a
joke and if you have it, you should
spend it immediately.
Was I surprised by
anything? Yes, how forgetful Ice-
landers are. The whole hate-song Icelanders
sang in front of Parliament was forgotten and
suddenly it was alright to have Davíð Oddsson
editing the most prestigious newspaper and
all of the sudden we have people claiming that
“finally the right person is manning the decks,”
while we were very evidently making fools of
ourselves globally.
I was surprised that partisan party politics
could prevail in a crisis like this, and that ev-
eryone has a gleam in their eyes and wants to
better position when it’s evident that a national
government of all parties working towards the
same goals must be formed. Everyone knows
that if we could just agree on some very basic
things, we could ride out smoothly. I am sur-
prised that people are so intent on maintaining
the party lines and the party system.
The politician of 2009 is clearly Minister of
Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. He took on
the hardest and worst government post there
is and is daily subject to a shitstorm of allega-
tions and accusations, yet manages to stand
firm while doing a good job. We still need a
leader, someone that will talk courage into the
people, and I am not talking about a master
of rhetoric here. Someone with novel, forward
thinking ideas, ambition and charisma. Some-
one that can get the people behind him, and to
realise what they truly want. And one thing’s
for certain, it ain’t [Independence Party chair-
man] Bjarni Benediktsson.
As for our generation, we’ve done nothing.
We’ve been spectators to this spectacle, may-
be banging on pots and pans to express our
rage, but that’s the extent of it. Our generation
has no representative or proponent anywhere
in the nation’s power structure. Oh, there are
young politicians, but they somehow manage
to be and act older than the oldest of the old
politicians. How I look forward to the day when
our generation can step up with its voice—not
the one spoon-fed to it from birth, but the one
it has been slowly developing over the years.
Legalising cannabis, looking forward, thinking
forward—open, not closed.
Hopefully, this generation will step out of
the current ruins of Iceland. We maybe have
two terms left of the rotted woollen socks of
the old generations. But who knows. Maybe
our ideals will fall flat and we will all fall into
the same old partisan party politics that have
plagued Iceland for decades. The same old
arguments, the same kickbacks and knick-
knacks. I still maintain a hope that from the
rubble of this mess we’re living through a
voice of a new generation will sound, clear and
strong. It can happen.
Icelanders’ national identity changed a lot in 2009. It was the year Icelanders went
from craving the outside world’s attention to getting hugely worried about outside
attention. This was the year that concepts like “the international community” sud-
denly became known—I don’t remember hearing that one before, and it has never
meant a thing to me. It was the year that our national identity shifted completely and went upside
down—from “Iceland, best in the world,” to “Iceland, barest in the world”
I am unsure how it can be summed up in a word. Until now, the best thing Icelanders knew
was when they were mentioned in the international press. 2009 was the year Icelanders really
started worrying about bad press. It’s a key factor behind most of what’s been discussed this year.
Everyone keeps saying the same thing; they say we’re out of touch with the outside world, “the
international community”... it’s like a new motto. Few people realise what being in a community
with other nations entails, really, but now no one knows where we stand, in regards to Scandina-
via or the whole outside world.
It was a year of great distrust. The entire nation grew tremendously sceptical towards each
other. Still, not a lot seems to have changed. I hear Christmas shopping didn’t go down at all this
year and is pretty much the same as in 2007. But the discourse changed a whole lot.
Lastly, I would like to note that I don’t think 2007 was such a bad year at all. It’s like we decided
in 2009 that 2007 was a sort of ground zero for our woes; we keep bringing it up, comparing ev-
erything to it, using it as a curse word. “The year we all went mad.” I really don’t think it was that
bad a year for regular people. They don’t need to worry about having bought too much stuff then
or whatnot. I really don’t think anyone did.
bored Of being An Icelander
The Same Kickbacks & Knickknacks
2007 Wasn’t Such A bad Year