Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.07.2010, Blaðsíða 7

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2010
Response | Jim Rice Response | Ben Frost
There was a time in the not distant past when I
would have bought all of what he had to say in
Grapevine’s last issue. However, in light of our
current (and past) circumstances, there is just no
other name for this than nationalist alarmism. All
of his points are totally redundant if not solely for
the fact that Iceland has never even tried negotiat-
ing with the EU over its resources—as it stands we
don't actually know a goddamned thing.
Perhaps this is one of those 'lost in translation'
moments, where old men scream independence
and what they are actually trying to say is "fuck
you Denmark!" rather than the slightly more
succinct dictionary version. It seems to me all of
the public backlash against the EU negotiation is
firmly rooted in a history which has nothing to
do with contemporary circumstances. The politi-
cal backlash, however, has its roots in far darker
places (I’ll get to them in a moment).
Pray tell Ó Granddad of Independent Iceland
what we have left to lose by going into talks with
Bruxelles and actually testing out and fielding your
grave concerns? The fishing industry is already
lost—it is owned and manipulated by a tiny group
of extremely wealthy men, not by you or the Ice-
landic people (you are currently being denied your
human rights under that arrangement, according
to the UN—how very independent of you!) and our
remaining natural resources are being sold off in
a post-Kreppa fire sale (the Chinese visited us last
week just to say "hi," right?). How much worse can
it get? Furthermore, Independence Party chair
Bjarni Ben and his special friends are not OLD
powers, they are the hip-young new powers, and
they seem to be keeping the fires of corrupt, dis-
honest, fear-mongering politics smouldering away
without much help from anyone. Bjarni, by the
way just, announced his party's brilliant, forward
thinking plan for the future of Iceland: To pull out
of any negotiation with Bruxelles. Period (remem-
ber I said I would get to the far darker places? Read
on).
Anyone who believes this stance has anything
to do with independence—aside from protecting
the insidious circle of corruption that bankrolls
that party—is living in a fantasy. Staying away
from the EU has nothing to do with forging a new
path for Iceland. Rather, it has everything to do
with continuing business as usual, without any ac-
countability—running the fishing industry like a
mafia racket, selling off natural resources to write
off debt, fast tracking us back to 2006—as long as
we are all driving fancy cars and living in designer
apartments with harbour views again nobody will
ask the hard questions about what it cost to get
there.
"Independence" in Icelandic society today
means we have no control over anything and none
of the aforementioned jerks are accountable to
anyone: this is why Bruxelles scares them, plain
and simple. We are owned from within, and the
irony with which this man stands on his soap box
after being replaced at the national newspaper by
one of the most deplorable members of team 'let's-
fuck-Iceland' would be hilarious were it not so
nauseating. And this is the problem; the majority
of the population thinks it’s ok that Davíð Oddsson
is now controlling a once respected media source
largely because he is an ‘Icelander.’ He is one of
us, so when he manipulates reality, and history it’s
OK, because he does it ‘independently.’
I think Iceland has Stockholm Syndrome.
What we have failed to comprehend or address
in this debate is the fact that Iceland never really
had independence (I include myself in that equa-
tion because, like I said, until recently I was really
buying all this anti-Euro rhetoric—yeah, protect
the nation!). But Iceland is part of the world and
depends on other nations for almost everything,
especially the members of the EU, and yet, we
are currently democratically barred from hav-
ing any say in the way in which it runs. I cannot
think of anything more subservient. And yet, Ice-
land is clutching onto this word, "independence,"
like a child with the last piece of chocolate cake,
although nobody in Bruxelles has demanded we
hand it over to the other kids.
As it stands we are living in a fake democ-
racy, with a fake economy and a fake currency.
Something needs to change and, recession or no
recession, Iceland continues to prove in spectacu-
lar fashion, time and again, that—in spite of an
overwhelming preference for transparent democ-
racy and self-governance—it is not capable of that
change alone.
I, for one, want to know exactly where we stand.
I want to know what our options are.
I want to hear a different point of view.
We have nothing to lose.
As the part-time proofreader for the Grapevine, I
rarely submit for publication. I tend to prefer to re-
serve my opinions for the academic forum where
the conventions of style dictate a reserved, schol-
arly approach and which puts a lid on my usual
state of indignation. And this is a forum where I
am guaranteed that my views will be received by
an audience of dozens. A select few get to see my
vitriolic side—the editor of this publication being
one. This usually comes in the form of tirades
about what I perceive as racist/sexist/homopho-
bic/disableist language in some submissions that
I vent upon in emails to the editor. I suppose our
esteemed editor was amused this time around and
suggested turning my blatherings into a public
response.
The piece in question is ‘Deal With It: Vooral
Gerard van Vliet On Why Iceland Needs to Pay the
Icesave Depositors,’ by Paul Nikolov. I have never
met Paul in person, oddly enough, but I have had
respect for his opinions over the years—even more
so now as an interviewer. After reading this piece I
have no idea how Mr. Nikolov managed to conceal
the emotions I would have felt at the arrogance dis-
played by Mr. Vooral Gerard van Vliet. Here are
my proverbial two cents, or three.
I am an anthropologist currently working in
disability studies in Iceland. I do not claim to have
very thorough knowledge of economics, business
or the particulars of the Icesave fiasco. But one
does not need to have specialist knowledge to take
exception with some of the points raised by Vooral.
Yes, it is terrible that people lost their money
due to the greed and seemingly criminal activities
of the Icelandic banking sector, as well as certain
political elements who put their trust in ideolo-
gies and theoretical models ahead of good busi-
ness sense, or even common sense. I share Mr.
van Vliet’s anger about that. But please don’t play
the ‘saving children in Africa’ card to justify why
you want your money back. I have my own suspi-
cions about international development initiatives
in the so-called developing world, but the tone of
his argument recalls the eye-rolling line from the
Simpsons: ‘Oh, won't somebody please think of
the children!!!’
I apologise if I appear insincere about a serious
issue, but my reading of this is that of someone
who is angry because he was cheated—robbed es-
sentially—and rightly so. But I am not going to
be swayed that some people deserve their money
back more than others just because it was to go
towards noble purposes. It sounded to me like a
worthwhile cause, but I am sure there are many
others who deserve their savings back as well.
Quote: “I put my money [in Icesave] on the 27th
of August 2008.” Mr. van Vliet claims by all ap-
pearances that the Icelandic banking sector was
fine at this time and the knowledge of problems
was confined to insider specialists. I don’t buy
this. All summer long of 2008 it was obvious—
even earlier for those paying attention—that there
was trouble afoot in the Icelandic banking sector.
In late August of 2008, I would rather have giv-
en my money to that Zambian fellow who keeps
emailing me. But seriously—putting money into
an offshore internet account seems risky to me in
general, whether said bank is in Iceland or else-
where. I am sure there were safer alternatives,
but perhaps Mr. van Vliet was directly misled and
I apologise if this was the case. But claiming the
attractive interest rate wasn’t a factor in why he
chose Icesave over similar Dutch options? I don’t
buy that for a second.
Vooral Gerard van Vliet makes some valid
points, and I am not trying to mock his plight. But
the acerbic tone in my response was wrought from
this line: “If your administrators, your govern-
ment guys, your statesmen are fucking up, then
the whole of the nation carries the burden.” And,
as he continues, “That's the bad part of democra-
cy.”
Well, since Mr. van Vliet seems fond of profan-
ity laced discourse, I shall reply in kind. Not...a...
fucking...chance. Are you seriously trying to sug-
gest that people with multiple and profound physi-
cal and/or intellectual disabilities living in insti-
tutionalised or semi-institutionalised situations
share one iota of responsibility in this? That their
services and support systems that are now under
threat is not problematic because it is part of their
‘collective responsibility’ of their happening to
live in Iceland? Please. Having an impairment, of
course, does not exclude one from the responsi-
bilities and the general duties of being a citizen.
But I am talking about people who have been side-
lined and marginalised by the larger society who
are now supposed to pay for the excesses of the
financial sector. It’s a strange position to adopt for
a humanitarian—and if this argument sounds fa-
miliar, it is. Mr. van Vliet seems concerned about
marginalised and disempowered people in Ke-
nya—and kudos for that—but this is a reminder
that there are people who are disempowered in all
regions of the globe, sometimes the result of simi-
lar forces.
If he lost money in a Kenyan bank, would this
‘collective responsibility’ apply to the children he
advocates for? The arrogance and dismissive atti-
tude Mr. van Vliet displays when he is challenged
on the point that this debt could become the prob-
lem of unborn generations of Icelanders I find to
be quite callous and infuriating.
The idea that all citizens of a democracy bear a
collective responsibility for the acts of the state, or
select elements within the governmental-financial
complex, is faulty for a number of reasons that I
will let more astute political thinkers than I dis-
cuss. But the bottom line is that voting in parlia-
mentary elections has often struck me as some-
what farcical. Western democratic governments
are more often than not professional cliques and
personal networks of career politicians, senior bu-
reaucrats, and the representatives of financial-in-
dustrial-military interests, the sum total of which
displays the invariable track record of doing what-
ever the hell they want once in office. This does
not apply to Iceland alone.
Is the government of Iceland responsible for
the Icesave debacle? Yes. Is ‘the government of
Iceland’ the people writ large? No—unless you
subscribe to a rather naive view of the world and
politics. ‘That,’ Mr. van Vliet, ‘is democracy.’
Regarding
Styrmir Gunnarsson
Ben Frost is an Australian-born Icelandic musician. He has to date released two great al-
bums, and was recently awarded the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative, which means
he will be mentored by Brian Eno for the next year. Brian Eno!
We Aren't The Government
Grapevine’s proofreader responds to Vooral Gerard van Vliet
JIM RICE
JULIA STAPLES
BEN FROST
JULIA STAPLES