Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.08.2011, Blaðsíða 10

Doesn't that lamb look yummy? Don't you just want to chomp a huge bite out of it? Its blood spray-
ing all over your face and its wonderful, succulent meat all up in your mouth? Mmmm... being a
carnivore is awesome. Or what? letters@grapevine.is10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2011
Icelandic lamb meat, often touted
as the best in the world, has in many
ways come to represent the country
itself. The demand for this meat, on
a global scale, has been increasing
dramatically in recent years. The ex-
porting of Icelandic lamb meat has
been encouraged on a state level,
too—Minister of Agriculture and
Fishing Jón Bjarnason has been one
of the most vocal advocates of the
trade, and Iceland's sheep farmers
have benefited directly from it.
However, it is this focus on exporting
Icelandic lamb meat—along with a strong
protectionist policy against importing
agricultural products—that has led to an
artificially created shortage of lamb meat
on the domestic market, while the prod-
uct continues to stream out of the coun-
try to markets abroad.
How did this happen? To understand
why, it is important to understand the
minister himself.
WHAT IS A ‘JÓN BJARNASON’?
Jón Bjarnason hails from the Leftist-
Green Party. While it is the official policy
of the ruling coalition that Iceland will join
the European Union, the Leftist-Greens—
who share the coalition with the pro-
EU Social Democrats—have tradition-
ally been against joining. Opinion is still
somewhat divided within the party, but
Jón remains staunchly against the move.
His main reason: its supposed effect on
Iceland's farmers, who fear that elimina-
tion of a trade barrier will put them out of
business. Allowing a free-flow of agricul-
tural imports, the rhetoric goes, will hurt
farmers who will not be able to compete
with the lower prices imports will sell for.
Thus, while exporting products is fine,
imports should be tightly restricted.
This theory has been put into practice
with regard to Iceland's lamb. Although
there are just under half a million sheep
in this country of about 320.000, and lamb
has long been one the symbols of the na-
tion, exports of Icelandic lamb have been
on the rise to meet growing overseas de-
mand. The demand has been so great, in
fact, that over 40% of the country's lamb,
or about 3,600 tonnes, was exported in
2010.
While on the one hand positive news,
the unexpected consequence is now that
lamb available for the domestic market
has reached a serious shortage. Rather
than reduce the number of exports and
divert some of them to Iceland's home
market, one meat packing company has
asked for permission to buy lamb for im-
porting.
WHICH POLITICIAN IS LOOKING
OUT FOR CONSUMERS?
Leifur Þórsson, the director of Ferskar
Kjötvörur, told RÚV that he has not been
able to find lamb available except at Slá-
turfélag Suðurlands, where he would
have to pay up to 20% more for lamb
meat than he is used to. As such, he
would not be able to turn a profit buy-
ing and selling Icelandic lamb. In order for
him to import lamb for sale in Iceland, he
needs to get special permission from the
Ministry of Agriculture.
The minister has responded to this
request with a resounding “NO,” stating
that his first priority is “ensuring the food
quality in Iceland.”
Iceland | Agriculture Opinion | Magnús Sveinn Helgason
How on Earth are Icelanders facing a 'lamb shortage'?
WE NEED MORE YUMMY LAMB!
“Leifur Þórsson, the director of Fresh Meat Products, took out
a full-page ad in Fréttablaðið offering a free iPad for anyone
who could bring him 600 tonnes of lamb meat.”
Words
Paul Fontaine
Photo
Julia Staples
Icelanders like nothing bet-
ter than confirmations of
their belief that they are
somehow the greatest, the
strongest, the most beautiful or the
smartest people in the world.
This love affair with being number one
started in the 1980s, when an Icelander,
Jón Páll Sigmarsson, won the title ‘World’s
Strongest Man”’ in 1984, and then in 1985
when Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir—Hófí—be-
came ‘Miss World.’ A second Icelandic
woman, Linda Pétursdóttir, won the Miss
World pageant in 1988 and Jón Páll went
on to win the ‘World’s Strongest Man’
competition three times in the ‘80s. In
the 1990s another Icelander, Magnús
Ver Magnússon, won the title four more
times. While Icelandic musclemen have
not managed to reach the top three since
the ‘90s, the unparalleled beauty of Ice-
landic women was again acknowledged in
2005. Having these titles conferred upon
Icelanders, I believe, had a permanent ef-
fect upon the Icelandic psyche.
STILL #1!
The victory of Annie Mist Þórisdóttir last
week in the world CrossFit champion-
ships was therefore a welcome addition to
this tradition of being number one. The
media declared that Annie had been rec-
ognised as the fittest or toughest woman
alive (CrossFit is a extreme endurance
and fitness sport), Icelanders rejoiced on
Facebook and in blog comments. Clearly
the nation needed a reminder that it could
produce these kinds of übermensch. An-
nie, being tall and blond, fit the ticket
perfectly.
Shortly after her victory, however, this
national choir of celebration was inter-
rupted by the whining shrill voices who
did not want to rejoice and celebrate a re-
markable achievement, but rather wanted
to gripe about taxes and argue politics. Ac-
cording to these malcontents the real sto-
ry was that Annie would have to pay taxes
out of the cash award! Oh the outrage!!
This issue was first raised in a name-
less editorial column “Týr,” on the pages
of Viðskiptablaðið, a business weekly. Týr
speculated that the first person Annie
would meet when she returned to Iceland
would be the chief of the National Rev-
enue Service, who would force her to fork
over 40% on her earnings on the spot.
After Viðskiptablaðið raised the issue,
Andríki, the most prominent libertarian
blog in Iceland (the name translates liter-
ally as “anti-state”) followed up, speculat-
ing whether this kind of taxation would
not strangle the striving toward excel-
lence: There would be little reason to work
hard to reach the top when the taxman
was there to collect his due.
ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY?
By now the national conversation about
Annie Mist had been perverted into a
story about victimisation at the hands of
the tax authorities, not about the remark-
able achievement of a young woman. It
is one thing if Annie Mist herself had
started this discussion by complaining
publicly about having to pay taxes. But
she didn’t. After Viðskiptablaðið used her
victory as an excuse to launch into one of
their anti-tax tirades Pressan asked her for
comment, but all Annie Mist offered were
the kind of complaints you get from any
taxpayer: Of course she was not thrilled
about paying taxes on her winnings, but
added that “that’s life” and that she had
“not really thought about the money yet.”
Which makes sense. People who strive
to achieve, be it sports, the arts or aca-
demia, rarely do it with a singular focus
on the money. Of course money and greed
drives some people, including the types
who reigned supreme during the Icelan-
dic “financial miracle,” lawyers, invest-
ment bankers and corporate raiders, and
high tax rates might dampen the drive of
these people to seek “excellence” as they
seek ways to construct complex deals and
find legal loopholes.
But as it turns out, Annie Mist will
not pay a penny to the Icelandic taxman!
When real journalists at the Internet
news outlet Smugan looked into the mat-
ter (rather than use it as an excuse to rail
against the government for raising taxes
to pay for the financial mess the Conver-
vatives left when they were driven out of
power), they found that according to trea-
ties between Iceland and the US, Annie’s
winnings will be taxed in the US, not Ice-
land. So, there was virtually zero reason to
complain about how much she would pay
in taxes.
But of course that did not change the
anti-tax crusaders of Viðskiptablaðið and
Andríki from attempting to turn a story
about athletic achievement into a story
about taxation and a political controver-
sy—all so that they could get a chance to
take a shot at their political opponents or
rail against taxation. Some people are like
this—to them all things are ultimately po-
litical issues or somehow a comment upon
a political controversy and any news story
somehow validates their political ideol-
ogy and worldview. And they will search
for any opportunity to take a shot at their
political opponents, proselytise for neo-
liberal economic policies and pontificate
about the evil of taxes.
But not everything is about politics or
taxes, and sometimes it is just ok to focus
on celebrating achievement rather than
search for opportunities to stir up phoney
controversies.
The Politisation
Of Achievement
Continues on page 25