Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2011, Síða 20

20
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2011 If you’d like to help in the effort or donate any kind of material that
may help, you can get in touch with the couple via their Facebook
‘Hjartpark,’ or by e-mailing them at Hjartpark@groups.facebook.
Gamla góða
In a recent issue of Time Maga-
zine, columnist Joel Stein talks
about how he helped Iceland re-
write its constitution by logging
o n to the Constitutional Committee’s
webpage and offering a suggestion. He free-
ly admits to knowing little about the coun-
try, which is just as well, as he spends half
the article talking about elves. He says that
his only connection with Iceland is to have
gotten drunk there and interviewing Björk.
During one of my sober spells, I managed
to interview Björk too (see Grapevine 2004,
issue 7). She told me how tired she was of
being thought of as an elf, although, admit-
tedly, she has been known to play that up to
the foreign media.
Still, it is interesting that almost three
years after the economic collapse, Iceland
is again thought of as a land of elves and
hidden folk, rather than as a country of ir-
responsible bankers. After all, irresponsible
bankers are everywhere, whereas elves are
harder to find. The volcanic eruptions have
probably played their part in this reposition-
ing back to the traditional “land of fire and
ice.” Stein even calls his article “Joel vs. the
Volcano” without otherwise mentioning vol-
canoes.
The Constitutional Crisis
In itself, it’s not such a bad thing if people
like to think of Iceland as something ter-
ribly exotic. Anyplace far away from home
would seem to be. What’s annoying is Stein’s
statement that “Icelanders seem to agree on
everything.” No country exists, however ex-
otic, where everyone agrees on everything.
The very decision to rewrite the constitution
arose out of conf lict: economic meltdown,
mass protests and something that could be
called a revolution. And even if the authors
may eventually agree on wording, the whole
process itself has been marred by conf lict of
another kind.
One of the major debates raging over the
new constitution has to do with the right of
ownership over natural resources. In 1994,
use of the country’s foremost resource, the
fish in the surrounding seas, was handed
over to a few families which created a new
class of super rich Icelanders and started the
country on the road to economic ruin. The
country’s other major resource, renewable
energy, is now up for grabs and who gets to
control it will to a large extent determine Ice-
landers’ living standards in the future. Will
that too go to a select few, or will it be owned
by and used to benefit the general popula-
tion?
Hug thy neighbour
These are serious questions, and great inter-
ests are at stake. This may have led to the Ice-
landic Supreme Court’s decision to declare
the elections to the Constitution Parliament
(now known as a committee instead) illegal,
a move very much reminiscent of the US Su-
preme Court’s decision in 2000 to stop the
recounting of votes in Florida. The new con-
stitution will be written anyway, but its le-
gitimacy, vital to such an august document,
is nevertheless impaired.
Stein states that “the document strongly
implies the right to unlimited hugs.” This in
itself implies a country with few divisions
and no real problems. If only it were so.
Opinion | Valur Gunnarsson
Back To Elves, Then
Tómas Magnússon and his wife Tanya
Pollock saw an area calling for help one
day when walking their child through the
Hjartatorgið park. “I brought my kid over
there and I was upset that I couldn’t take
him out of the stroller because it was full
of glass, needles, and other stuff,” Tó-
mas said. Hjartatorgið was meant to be
a friendly park for adults to spend sum-
mer days and for children to play, but it
had grown to be neglected by citizens
of Reykjavík due to the lack of care and
upkeep given to the area.
From this sadness, an idea was born
to clean up the park of its dangers. The
couple created a Facebook group and
started posting events, asking anyone
who wanted to help restore the park
to come out and lend a hand. The first
clean up was scheduled for July 20. After
that, the project kept growing with more
and more volunteers until the area was
cleaned up enough for children to play
there safely.
But the couple doesn’t plan on stop-
ping there. “We want to have a play-
ground,” Tanya said. “As soon as people
see that it’s a child friendly area, they
tend to respect the area more. We want
to build our own benches; people are
more likely to respect something that’s
personal. And hopefully we can take one
of the empty houses around it and make
it some sort of activity centre.”
But, there’s a question of funding to
get these things done. Due to the fact
that the park is privately owned, govern-
ment funding is not readily available.
Tanya made this concern clear. “We
aren’t paid to do this,” she said. “We’re
just volunteering, and we have jobs and
bills to pay, so we can’t do this every
day.” Still, she hopes that their continued
work on the project will inspire the gov-
ernment and other people to help them.
Hjartatorgið
Restoring a park to its former glory
Looking for something exciting to
do on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sun-
day afternoon? If games like Kubb,
Frisbee, Frisbee Golf or Twister
strike your fancy, you may want
to head over to Klambratún park
where the Kampur recreation cen-
tre has been wheeling out a couple
of boxes full of toys and fun games
for park goers to enjoy completely
free of charge.
“The Toys box is designed to give the
people in the city of Reykjavík some-
thing fun to do with their families and
friends while putting this awesome park
to good use,” Toys Box Project Manager
Sigþór Ási Þórðarson says.
“The idea started four years ago
after seeing all the different leisure
activities available at Central Park and
Washington Park in New York. It took a
while for the project to gain headway in
the city, but we now have funding and a
lot of good will.”
With twenty to seventy people
showing up depending on the weather,
Sigþór is happy with the project’s ini-
tial success and hopes that they will
have even more to offer at Klambratún
next summer. He would also like to see
a similar box at Hljómskálagarður, a
grassy area in downtown Reykjavík.
“It's been really fun to see all these
people coming around to have fun and
make use of our good summer weath-
er,” Sigþór says. “It's been people of all
ages, including a lot of young kids from
the nearest neighbourhood who have
been showing up.”
Unfortunately the box will be packed
up on August 14 until next summer, so
hurry up and enjoy it while it lasts. And
if you’re really lucky, you may be able to
join the “Muggle Quidditch Society of
Iceland” (Yes, that’s right) who will be
there running around with broomsticks
between their legs!
The box is available for use at Klam-
bratún, free of charge on Tuesdays and
Thursdays between 16:00 and 19:00
and on Sundays between 12:00 and
17:00.
Reykjavík | Park Life
ANNA ANDERSEN
JULIA STAPLES
S. ALESSIO TUMMOLILLO
JULIA STAPLES
City sponsors ‘Toys Box’ at Klambratún
Oodles Of Fun At The Park
Reykjavík | More Park Life