Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2011, Síða 38

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38
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2011
Since May 8, when 53-year-old Iranian
Medhi Kavyanpoor attempted self-
immolation in the Icelandic Red Cross
offices, intending to give up his own
life to draw attention to the inhumane
treatment of asylum seekers, the rac-
ism and xenophobia inherent to this
republic has been on my mind. On my
blog I have pulled together some exam-
ples and anecdotes, the first of which
was the public response to Medhi's
act. RÚV's first headline read: "Asylum
seeker caused risk of explosion"—and
described at length the threat caused
to the Icelandic Red Cross staff by the
gasoline fumes, while making no men-
tion of the seven years Mehdi Kavyan-
poor has waited for an answer to his
asylum request. Even after taking this
desperate measure, Iceland refused
to acknowledge his existence. Interior
minister Ögmundur Jónasson's initial
response, at least the first quoted one,
claimed the whole thing must be based
on 'a misunderstanding.' Media and
public officials thus seemed to do their
best to collectively minimise any poten-
tial meaning the act might have.
I went back to 1936 and dug up the
story of when Iceland decided not to
join the League of Nations, the forerun-
ner of what is now the United Nations,
in order not to upset one Benito Mus-
solini, whose taste for cod was highly
appreciated. The League of Nations
put fascist Italy under embargo after
the latter's invasion in Ethiopia, where
mustard gas was amongst Italy's weap-
ons of choice. Iceland chose rather to
partake in the riches secured with said
mustard gas and the eventual 30 thou-
sand dead, who all served the Icelandic
króna well. Mussolini showed his grati-
tude for Iceland's declared 'neutrality'
by personally signing a new contract
about fish imports from Iceland.
‘THE FOREIGNERS SURVEILLANCE’
Somewhere I mentioned that what you
English-speaking lot know as the Di-
rectorate of Immigration, for which the
Icelandic name is 'the Foreigners' insti-
tute', was originally founded as 'the For-
eigners' surveillance' and to begin with
headed by one Agnar Kofoed-Hansen.
He was put in charge of the matters
after a crash course organised by the
German SS, at Heinrich Himmler's per-
sonal invitation, in the summer of 1939.
That was some years after the Icelandic
socialist writer Þórbergur Þórðarson
was prosecuted at Germany's request,
and convicted in Icelandic courts, for
libel against Adolf Hitler, whom he had
described as a sadistic mass murderer.
I mentioned the Jews who sought
asylum from German persecution,
also in the late 1930s, whom Iceland
turned away without a second thought,
it seems. I proposed that their eviction
should be seen in the context of 300
German workers invited to work on Ice-
land's farms soon after the war, people
'preferably of north-west-German
stock' as demanded in the contract
they would sign. The farmers' union
had already explained that the pro-
posed stock 'would cause little danger
in terms of "national nature."'
I mentioned the dozen or so Roma-
nian Roma musicians who appeared on
the streets of Reykjavík in the summer
of 2007, with their instruments, and
were removed by police authorities
faster than you can say 'racism'. Or al-
most—the officials gave their time quite
generously to the media, distributing
slander about "this sort of people" who,
according to police intelligence, always
bring trouble. They were evicted with-
out being evicted, simply thrown out of
the country without any appeal to the
rule of law. That was necessary since
the people had every right to be here,
as any other citizen of the EU.
BE CAREFUL
You see, I went back and forth through
these bits of history in a few blog posts
to provide a sense of continuity. To do
such history any justice, a book is obvi-
ously needed, one that remains unwrit-
ten. In my mind, the current unwritten
state of any such book bears witness
to this society's reluctance to face its
faults, let alone bloody ones. In 2005,
when documents revealed the above-
mentioned eviction of Jews to Denmark
and Germany in the advent of WWII, the
Progressive Party's then-Prime Min-
ister, Halldór Ásgrímsson, responded
that one should be very careful about
apologizing for ancient events, dating
from times when handing Jews over to
Nazis was considered normal …
Right on. Let us be careful. Now,
after this briefing, this minor attempt
to give some context to the strange
response to an exhausted man's at-
tempted self-immolation, to reflect
upon this republic's systematic lack of
compassion, as one might put it mildly,
systematic racism as I phrased it pub-
licly, the local intelligentsia makes itself
heard: Illugi Jökulsson, a public intel-
lectual I've known of and looked up to
since my childhood, and a member of
the constitutional committee currently
drafting a new post-2008 constitution,
makes public his and his fellows' ideas
on the rights chapter.
The rights chapter—it's chapter 7—
comes right after the chapter on the
Church, right after Parliament and
taxation. The changes proposed regard
article 65, which constitutes equality
under the law, also known as the pil-
lar of political modernity. Chapter 7,
article 65 currently reads, in a rough
translation: "All shall be equal before
the law and enjoy human rights, with-
out distinction of sex, religion, opinions,
national origin, race, colour, economic
means, kin or any other status." It
broadly resembles the classic Article 2
of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
ELIMINATE RACE
The constitutional committee will now
propose a change of this text. Accord-
ing to Illugi, the committee will propose
that the word 'race' be eliminated from
this enumeration. Why? Because they
have found out that the racists were
wrong all along: there are no races. “It
has now fortunately been scientifically
refuted that the races exist at all—they
are make-believe, a myth, and people's
different appearances and cultures are
not caused by their ‘racial’ differences”.
Well, excuse me, but: duh.
This was a few days ago, and I'm
still stunned. Instead of race, the clause
shall now specifically mention 'geno-
type'. I refuse to cite the supposedly
good intentions involved. Iceland just
might, it just might outdo its own, as
of yet unexamined, history of wilful ig-
norance of other people by explaining
racial discrimination away as, to use the
phrase employed by our interior minis-
ter above: a misunderstanding. Mean-
while, Mehdi Kavyanpoor is in custody,
facing charges for the attempted self-
immolation. His biggest chance of es-
caping charges and his biggest chance
of finally reaching something akin to an
asylum in Iceland is supposedly to cite
mental illness. Which would of course
explain his intense, prolonged misun-
derstanding of the locals' generous
hospitality.
Racist? You Misunderstand ...
Society | Racism
Border Control
Landamæragæsla
Economic principles, diagram 6
Undirstö!ur atvinnulífsins, sk"ringarmynd 6
When married or
in a domestic
partnership with a
person from an
unequal economic
zone, said couple
must prove their
love before legal
authorities.
“Within the next ten years, Iceland expects
to have one million tourists per year. Last
year there were 500 thousand.”
– Björgólfur Jóhannsson,
CEO Icelandair Group, according to Vísir.is.
EU, US, Canadian and Australian citizens
are exempted from Visa requirements.
(GDP per capita > $24 thousand)
NORMAL PEOPLE
:-)
(GDP per capita < $24 thousand)
OTHER PEOPLE
:-(
1.000.000
Au-pairs (18–25 y.o. exclusively)
Single year permit, without extension option.
Temporary labour shortage
One-year permit when labour cannot otherwise
be found in the EEA, EFTA or Faroe Islands.
Can be extended once.
Family ties to an EEA citizen
Good for 3-6 months. Does not apply to
wage earners from Romania and Bulgaria.
Marriage with
an Icelander
Info gathered from the Directorate of Immigration website, utl.is, on March 25, 2011. GDP statistics are based on 2008 data from the CIA World Factbook.
The permit application fee is 12.000 ISK and it will not be refunded in case of rejection. Entering the country before application approval is illegal. Most
foreigne residents must undergo a health examination upon entering Iceland and will be required to bring a doctor’s certificate to the Directorate of
Immigration. All foreigne residents must have their photo taken at the Directorate of Immigration or the nearest sheriff’s office. East-Asian nationals who
would like to travel to Iceland are asked to contact their local Denmark Embassy, which ignores their applications on Iceland’s behalf.
Field Experts
Students
Spouses of PhD students and
American citizens qualify too.
Professional athletes
Refugee standing?
Family
reunification
permitted
Family
reunification
not permitted
Rights
are
unclear
?
© Bíddu a!eins, 2011
Residence permits granted in case of: … enter freely.
HAUKUR MÁR HELGASON
HAUKUR MÁR HELGASON