Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 14

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010
It is time for the discussion about
borders, states and nations, to be re-
moved from internal debates amongst
philosophers and anarchists—it needs to
come to the surface as a real discourse.
WE CANNOT EAT MONEy
Some will undoubtedly oppose inter-
nal arguments within the environmen-
tal movement, asking those who agree
that Magma should not own HS Orka to
drop the debate on ideology, tactics and
emphasis, now when the purchase has
to be stopped. But if we drop critical
discourse, internally and externally, the
environmental ideal is bound to stagnate
and become one-sided.
Then again, we may ask if these really
are internal fights.
On the one hand we have people
who ask the public and authorities to do
what they demand, so that they can start
making music again. Instead of alumin-
ium production, they suggest all kinds
of production requiring huge amounts
of water, the design and production of
identification software for law enforce-
ment, nanotechnology solutions and
long-term biotechnology research.
On the other, we have people who
fight for a completely different culture.
Free from overproduction. Free from
overuse of water and other goods. Free
from identification repression and law
enforcement. Free from nano- and bio-
technologies, which focus on making
man even more of a sovereign than he
already is. And between these two direc-
tions, there are endless views, opinions
and facts. Sharing an enemy does not
necessarily make us comrades in arms.
In the discourse about Magma Ener-
gy, nature conservation, energy produc-
tion and ownership, there is a need for
much wider range of views and opinions.
So far, hardly no-one has given convinc-
ing arguments, proving that nature is
better set in state hands than private
ones. So far, none of those who oppose
the privatisation of nature have reasoned
for man’s ownership of the Earth to be-
gin with.
An old American Indian proverb says
that not until the last tree has fallen,
the last river polluted, and the last fish
caught, will people realise that they can-
not eat money. These foreboding words
are something we need to take seriously.
We cannot dismiss them as philosophi-
cal reflections, important to keep in mind
but never supposed to be brought into
real discourse and actions regarding the
Earth, its protection and liberation.
SNORRI PáLL JóNSSON úLFHILdARSON
>> CONTINUEd FROM PAGE 12
Opinion | Fundamental questions
Article | Civil Rights
We Are All Assistant Nurses Now!
America has many foes. From the pres-
idential palaces of Pyongyang and Ca-
racas to the barren mountains on the
Afghan-Pakistan borders, villains of
James Bond-esque proportions con-
stantly conspire against the beacons of
liberty and freedom. And then there is
Lalli the assistant nurse.
The funniest man in Iceland
Lalli, or Lárus Páll Birgisson, is an as-
sistant nurse—hence the nickname
(Icelandic nicknames are rarely very
original). He is also the United States’
Number One Nuisance in Iceland, an
honour that has already brought him to
court once, with more such visits likely
to follow soon.
Far from being the stereotypical
left-wing activist, Lalli first gained mi-
nor local fame several years ago when
winning a stand-up competition, less
than modestly named ‘The Funniest
Man in Iceland’. He was later noted
during the ‘Household Appliance Rev-
olution’, were he gave some powerful
speeches at rallies mostly marred by
poor oratorical skill.
Yet, overthrowing incompetent gov-
ernments is not Lalli's greatest passion.
Rallying for peace and disarmament is.
Strangely, Lalli—a devoted Christian
and YMCA-member—started out as a
military-buff. “As a kid and teenager,”
he says, “I was obsessed with guns,
war and soldiers. I aspired to join a
military and witness combat. Instead
I had to settle for the Icelandic Coast
Guard, although scrubbing floors on a
patrol vessel turned out to be a really
poor substitute for Rambo heroics.”
“War is Evil”
In early 1999, opportunity came knock-
ing. In the spur of the moment, Lalli
hitchhiked to war-torn Bosnia and later
visited Kosovo, where ethnic tension
was on the rise. A few months later,
civil war broke out. Using his consid-
erable persuasive powers, Lalli some-
how convinced Icelandic Red Cross
staff flying in aid and medicine to let
him sit on the plane to Kosovo, where
he witnessed the chaos firsthand and
took pictures. The two visits were an
eye-opening experience and to this day
Lalli has been among the most-active
Icelandic peace-activists, especially
since outbreak of the Iraq-war in 2003
and the infamous declaration of sup-
port by the Icelandic government.
The typical activist prefers protest-
ing in groups—the more the merrier.
Then again, Lalli was never the typi-
cal activist. Instead of waiting for for-
mal meetings or marches he goes and
protests when he feels like it (assis-
tant nurses work long, irregular shifts
anyway). Thus, Lalli may be seen on
a regular Tuesday morning in front of
Parliament carrying a placard with hor-
rid pictures of terribly injured Iraqi chil-
dren or perhaps a simple slogan such
as “War is Evil”.
The activist’s bread and butter
One quiet afternoon, Lalli sat with such
a placard on the pavement in front of
the American Embassy on Laufásvegur,
luckily accompanied by two friends
and a video camera. This threatening
behaviour promptly caused the em-
bassy staff to call the police (listening
to the videotape, the arriving police-
men can clearly be heard cursing in
disbelief that they are being bothered
because of a guy carrying a sign in an
empty street).
The policemen then asked Lalli to
cross the street and stand on the op-
posite sidewalk. Lalli refused, pointing
out that he was not sitting on embassy
property but on a public sidewalk. Why
should he stand in front of the house of
some innocent neighbour when it was
the US government he had issues with?
Now the policemen repeated their re-
quest, this time formally ordering Lalli
to move. Again, he refused and was ar-
rested—the activist’s bread and butter.
Months later, Lalli was summoned to
court, charged with disobeying po-
lice orders. An experienced district
court judge, who had spent most of
his career sentencing petty thieves
and drug dealers, could hardly con-
ceal his amusement when listening to
the charges and subsequent detailed
descriptions of events. Yet, in the end
Lalli was found guilty, however without
any kind of sentence.
This is important
This ruling has several consequences.
Because of the verdict, Lalli has little
chance of charging the police for ille-
gal arrest (protesters have in the past
filed such lawsuits and won. Most fa-
mously a group of activists, that had
been arrested in order to stop them
from appearing in the background of a
live ‘Good Morning America’ transmis-
sion, were paid damages which they
wisely spent on printing a new edi-
tion of their anti-imperialist magazine,
showing Margaret Thatcher on the
cover in a disrespectable position). It is
also doubtful whether Lalli can appeal,
given that he was not sentenced. And
thirdly there is the not-so small matter
of the legal fee.
Trivial as it may sound to some, Lalli's
case should be of huge interest to all
Icelandic political activists and the
peace movement in particular. It is
simply intolerable that fundamental
rights, such as the right to protest and
free speech, can be swept aside by
law officers which make unfounded
claims based on arbitrary decisions
that peaceful protesters must move
from one place to another (which has
happened repeatedly in the past). The
complete unaccountability of the police
when it comes to such decisions gives
it a free card to sabotage organised
protest, thus depriving the citizens of
one of their most important rights. We
are all Lalli the assistant nurse now!
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