Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.08.2011, Blaðsíða 10

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
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