Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.01.2011, Blaðsíða 30

30
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
Magnús is a economic historian. He worked for the Special Investigative Com-
mittee and during the past year he has taught at Bifröst University. He holds a
MA degree from the University of Minnesota, and is currently working on a PhD
dissertation.
While history—meaning:
‘the past’—does not change,
history—meaning: ‘the nar-
ration of past events’—does
in fact change. This is because we view
history through the lens of the present.
As events unfold, the meaning and sig-
nificance of the past changes. And be-
cause our view of the past changes we
constantly need to change our history
textbooks.
So, it is pretty hard to predict how
any event, let alone a whole decade,
will be remembered. Because we do
not know what the future holds, or what
academic fads will reign among future
historians, it is exceedingly difficult to
say with any certainty how future his-
torians will judge this first decade of
the 21st century. Still, even if we lack
the necessary hindsight of history, we
can make some pretty good educated
guesses.
A DECADE OF PROGRESS
The first decade of the 21st century
in Iceland will most certainly be re-
membered as a decade of progress
and achievement by those future his-
torians who will emphasize social and
cultural history. Important milestones
were met in the history of human rights
and equality, most recently with the
2010 law, which gives gay couples the
right to marry. Another milestone was
reached in 2009 when Jóhanna Sig-
urðardóttir became the first woman to
serve as Prime Minister of Iceland and
the first openly gay person to serve as
a PM anywhere. An important step in
world history.
Also, Iceland became a truly multi-
cultural society as large numbers of
foreigners, primarily Eastern Europe-
ans, migrated to Iceland in search of
work. And despite the occasional flar-
ing up of xenophobia, Icelandic society
welcomed these immigrants. By the
end of the decade, Reykjavík authori-
ties had even acknowledged that peo-
ple from other cultures had the right to
construct their own houses of worship,
finally granting the nation’s small Mus-
lim community the right to build their
own mosque.
The decade was also important
in Icelandic cultural history. The arts
flourished and Icelandic musicians en-
joyed considerable success both in Eu-
rope and America.
All in all, Iceland in 2010 is far more
cosmopolitan than it was in 2000.
A DECADE OF FAILURE
However important these developments
are, I would argue that none of them is
as important as the colossal, utter and
inexcusable failure of the Icelandic eco-
nomic miracle, which certainly is the
defining event of the decade. The neo-
liberal experiment of creating prosper-
ity by slashing taxes and regulations in
order to turn Iceland into some sort of
business friendly tax haven and global
financial centre finally ended with the
complete collapse of 2008.
The reason the public went along
with this experiment in the first place
was that Icelanders had been led to
believe they lived in a country charac-
terised by fair play, equality and—above
all—honesty. Iceland was ranked as the
least corrupt society in the world and
Icelanders believed they were gov-
erned by honest politicians and that
their businessmen were equally hard-
working and honest.
The collapse and its aftermath
showed Icelanders that this had been
a mirage. The bankers, hailed as fi-
nancial wunderkinder were actually
looters. The politicians incompetent
morons. Like the hapless Minister of
Economic Affairs, caught like a deer
in the headlights, without a clue as to
what to do when they were faced with
tough choices. Others, bursting with
arrogance and delusion, like former
Minister for Foreign Affairs Ingibjörg
Sólrún Gísladóttir, declaring that those
who dared protest the inaction and
incompetence of politicians were “not
the nation.” Davíð Oddsson refusing to
step down from the chair of the Cen-
tral Bank. The managers of Kaupthing
contemptuously declaring that they had
absolutely nothing to apologise for.
A DECADE OF SQUANDERED TRUST
Trust is obviously important for all so-
cieties. But too much trust, as well as
undeserved trust, is dangerous, and I
would argue that one of the greatest
weaknesses of Icelandic society at the
beginning of the decade was excess
trust: excess trust in politicians, busi-
ness leaders and the market ideology.
One of the main reasons for the pro-
tests that began in the fall of 2008 is the
public’s realisation that the elites, both
political and economic, had betrayed
the trust that they had enjoyed.
In fact, this appears to be part of
a global pattern: everywhere, trust in
politicians and business leaders has
collapsed. Everywhere the reason is the
same. The economic failure and finan-
cial collapse, caused by reckless finan-
ciers and complacent politicians, are
not the primary reason—the real reason
is that people feel they were betrayed
by their elites.
During the bubble, people tolerated
growing income inequality because
they were promised that the wealth
would trickle down. It turned out the
public was not allowed to share in the
wealth, only the debts, because when
the crash came, the public was forced
to shoulder the cost of bailing out the
speculators. To make matters worse,
the left wing government, which prom-
ised to protect the homes and families,
has been unable to come up with a
comprehensive plan to help the public,
and no concrete steps have been taken
to increase social justice.
LESSONS LEARNED
This is not all bad, of course. People
have learned the hard way that it is im-
possible to build permanent prosperity
for an entire society on speculation,
market manipulation and corporate
raiding.
Icelanders have also learned impor-
tant modesty. But at a steep price. His-
torically, Icelanders have been plagued
by a certain mix of insecurity and self-
importance. During the boom years the
insecurity was replaced by arrogance,
creating a poisonous certainty and
delusions of grandeur that fuelled the
Icelandic financial bubble. As the bub-
ble burst, people realised that Iceland
was not the centre of the universe. To
paraphrase the Borat-esque mangled
Icelandic of the first lady: Iceland is
certainly not “the most big country in
the world” (stórasta land í heimi).
Finally, Icelanders have also learned
that protest can be effective. It is not so
long ago, that it was a commonly held
belief that Icelanders were somehow
genetically incapable of political pro-
test. Groups like Saving Iceland were
vilified and political activists were con-
sidered suspect. The financial collapse
rekindled a spirit of political engage-
ment that had all but died out during
the bubble.
One can hope that this newfound
political engagement and activism will
lead to more democratic politics and
more responsive politicians.
The Decade Of Failure
Decades | Magnús Sveinn Helgason
</2010 HISTORY>
</2010>
Business has been good this year.
Of course, it has not been as good
as it was a few years ago [before the
crash], but it has still been good and
I can’t complain. I don’t have any ma-
jor problems, just the usual hassle of
importing foreign food products, but
it’s like this everywhere. [Regarding
the last year], everything has been
okay and business has been just
fine…very fine.
<A new decade...>
I hope that everything will be alright
in the next years. I hope. As long as
things go well and I can work, I don’t
think about much except for con-
tinuing to work. I am happy [with the
present situation] and I am positive
about the future.
[Linda Lek Theiojanthuk, Propri-
etor, Mai Tai]
Icelanders who lived
through the first decade of
the 21st century found it to
be the most interesting, and
the most infuriating, epoch in our his-
tory. We experienced the highest highs
and the lowest lows. We imagined our-
selves to be the richest people in the
world, and then saw our illusory gains
vanish in the span of a few days. We be-
lieved our leaders were supremely
competent and just then discovered the
depths of their incompetence and cor-
ruption.
I suspect that statistically, we are
better off financially in 2010 than we
were in 2000, but it doesn’t feel that
way. Having tasted the good life, we feel
impoverished by our sudden inability
to buy new cars every year, to indulge
in shopping sprees abroad or to take
tropical vacations every few months.
After years during which there was es-
sentially no unemployment and plenty
of foreigners to perform shit jobs, we
are traumatized by the permanent loss
of high-paying jobs at the banks and
long periods of scrambling to just get
by.
People were seduced by govern-
ment guarantees and low interest rates
to purchase outrageously expensive
homes, only to see their incomes plum-
met and the effective interest rates rise,
essentially relegating them to the sta-
tus of indentured servants.
Although it is obvious that our sys-
tem of government has failed us, Ice-
landic voters showed little interest in
the recent elections to the Constitu-
tional Assembly. Although it was the
policies of the Independence Party that
opened the door to the massive abuses
we witnessed, and its leaders who fa-
cilitated and participated in the finan-
cial fraud, the unrepentant IP remains
Iceland’s single largest political party.
Will the next decade be any better?
Although Iceland’s prosperity is largely
dependent on that of the much larger
economies in America and Europe, we
retain the power to determine our own
happiness. Numerous studies have
shown that the level of a nation’s hap-
piness, once its people’s basic needs
have been assured, does not correlate
strongly to its wealth. The four gener-
ally accepted pillars of societal happi-
ness include: promotion of sustainable
development, preservation and promo-
tion of cultural values, conservation of
the natural environment and establish-
ment of good governance.
The first three of these pillars are
largely dependent on the fourth pillar—
good governance—and on this measure
I am not optimistic. Bertrand de Jouve-
nel observed that “a society of sheep
must in time beget a government of
wolves.” Other than that brief, glorious
moment in January 2008 when popu-
lar protests forced the resignations
of Geir Haarde’s government, nothing
that I’ve seen over the past couple of
years indicates that we are willing to
do anything meaningful to wrest con-
trol of our country from the wolves. No
one has accepted responsibility for the
abuses and crimes that culminated in
the kreppa, and the courts have not
held anyone liable for their blatant in-
competence, negligence, and corrup-
tion. The thieves have kept their riches,
and the rest of us are more subjugated
than ever.
The ultimate problem is ourselves.
We learned the price of everything, but
the value of nothing. We learned much
about ourselves, and then deliberately
exorcised those lessons from our col-
lective memory. Þetta reddast allt. Until
our attitude changes, nothing else will.
Total Drama Island
Drama | Íris Erlingsdóttir
Mountaineers of Iceland • Skútuvogur 12E • 104 Reykjavík • Iceland
Telephone: +354 580 9900 Ice@mountaineers.is • www.mountaineers.is • www. activity.is
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