Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2012, Qupperneq 10

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2012 Did you attend Gay Pride? Was your parade
rained on by all those pink elephants?
On the topic
of the Russian
Orthodox
Church and
Gay Pride,
Reykjavík mayor
Jón Gnarr showed his
support for recently-jailed Russian
punk rock band Pussy Riot by
dressing as a member of the band
while atop a float in the Gay Pride
parade. Icelanders have generally
been supportive of Pussy Riot, with
people staging protests in front of
the Russian Embassy in addition to
Minister of the Interior Ögmundur
Jónasson and Foreign Minister
Össur Skarphéðinsson condemn-
ing the band’s two-year prison
sentence for performing a protest
song in an Orthodox church.
Meanwhile, four Iceland-ers face charges of flag
desecration related to last month’s
protests at the Russian embassy,
when their flag was taken down by
protesters. Yes, Iceland has a law
against flag desecration—and it
carries a sentence of up to six years
in prison. Police have still not re-
vealed who is behind the charges,
but they say it’s not the Russian
embassy. Suuure it isn’t.
Seems Russia was in the news a lot these past
couple of weeks.
An Aeroflot
flight bound
for Moscow
was forced to
land in Keflavík
when police
authorities in New
York alerted the airline that there
were explosive materials on board.
The plane was immediately landed
at the airport, kept well away from
other planes, and all the passen-
gers were evacuated. A thorough
search turned up no explosives,
and everyone got picked up later
that evening to continue on to
Moscow. Whew!
Like clockwork, the Ice-landic media once again
reported on rumours of the govern-
ment splitting up and, as per usual,
collected statements from sources
within the government who once
— Continued —
Continues over
Those who have been arrested and inter-
rogated for partaking in political protest,
in Iceland and abroad alike, know that the
search for leaders plays a huge role in the
authorities' standard procedure. Unable
or unwilling to understand the power of
spontaneous, organic and anarchistic co-
operation, the police never tire of asking
for whom they believe to be the designers
and directors of mass resistance. In many
cases, as this search most commonly
results in nothing, the authorities end
up having to harness their creativity by
manufacturing those leaders themselves.
And while this should surely be ex-
pected by a system based on such mon-
strous hierarchy as is the legal system's
case, it is usually a bit more surprising
when someone from the actual resis-
tance takes on the leader's role. Iceland's
much-talked-of 2008-9 uprising, often
misleadingly referred to as a revolution,
sports one such figure: Hörður Torfason,
musician and self-proclaimed conductor
of the revolt.
It felt like a repeated venture through
a colourless Groundhog Day reading
yet another interview with Hörður in the
latest issue of Grapevine, wherein he
is once again displayed, by himself as
well as the journalist, as this grandiose
leader, celebrated for “orchestrating the
Pots and Pans Revolution.” As such, the
interview is but a repeated cliché—an
unaltered reverberation of earlier inter-
views, for instance Grapevine's year-old
one—meaning that responding to it may
seem, to the writer just as the readers, as
an integral part of the Groundhog Day.
However, as this cliché is just the tip of
the iceberg of a large-scale fabrication of
history, it is more than necessary to raise
a point or two in response.
Considering himself a leader, Hörður
has, from the first days of the upris-
ing until today, allowed himself to state
obscure things such as he does in the
abovementioned interview—“we don't kill
people; we don't use violence; we don't
use masks”—forcing one to wonder how
many “we” there actually are in “Hörður
Torfason.” In a dictatorial manner he be-
lieves himself to have the power to de-
cide how people dress during protests,
how they use their bodies and minds,
how they communicate their feelings
and, in fact, what feelings they have to
begin with. Additionally, when the chief
of the Reykjavík police recently raised his
voice claiming that the uprising had been
remote-controlled by a few leftist parlia-
mentarians, Hörður replied stating: “No
one controlled the Cutlery Revolution...
except me!”
While the last point is of course ut-
ter nonsense—I wouldn't need a single
finger to count the people I know having
followed the troubadour's commands—
Grapevine's half page doesn't allow for
even a short introduction to the beauti-
ful and powerful potentials of an uncon-
trolled revolt. It is, nevertheless, notewor-
thy to look just a paragraph lower, where
after listing some of the countries visited
by Hörður lately the journalist claims that
“Iceland however is a very different na-
tion to some of those he has visited of
late,” followed by Hörður's grand state-
ment: “In our country we have the right to
protest. We are allowed to step forward
and criticise.”
Surely, such a line may be found in
tourist guides and brochures produced
by the Icelandic Image-Ministry, alias
“Promote Iceland,” but recent history
surely proves Hörður and his PR com-
panions wrong. During the most recent
court cases waged by the State against
political activists—the Reykjavík Nine and
Lárus Páll Birgisson, for instance—the
constitutional right to protest has in-
deed been brutally overstepped by the
police's right to demand limitless obedi-
ence. Those sentenced have all been so
because of acts they committed after and
in response to orders that obviously went
against the constitutional right to protest
and—absurdly—against the very same
cases' verdicts regarding charges that
these same people were acquitted of.
This arrogantly ignorant stand—acting
as if no one really has to pay the price for
rocking the Icelandic boat—can possibly
be explained by the fact that Hörður him-
self hasn't had to face a single article of
law for his great revolutionary leadership.
Whatever it is, a bit more knowledgeable
interviewer, able to challenge some of
Hörður's nonsense, is needed for the next
annual portrait of him and this astonish-
ing series of events in Iceland's history.
Hereby, I gladly volunteer.
Reykjavík Pride 2012 (a.k.a. Queer Days)
was celebrated in a rather wet and windy
Reykjavík on Saturday August 11. On the
surface, everything seemed to be run-
ning by the book, but a closer look at
the crowd and the day's events reveal a
few interesting connections. Some quite
positive. Other, less so.
Moscow – Washington –
Tórshavn
As usual the mayor of Reykjavík showed
up, this time donning a dress and bala-
clava in support of the women of Pussy
Riot, who now face two years behind bars
for challenging Russia’s power elites—
church and state. The mayor’s approach
was very fitting. President Putin has re-
peatedly showed that he cares nothing
for civil rights or freedom of expression,
and authorities in St. Petersburg have just
recently criminalised all talk about LGBT
issues. And, oh yes, pride parades have
been banned in Moscow for the next one
hundred years.
Things have been developing in a
rather different style in the US. Presi-
dent Obama and Hillary Clinton support
LGBT rights and even show it globally by
participating in pride events and donat-
ing money to LGBT causes. This could
be seen at the Reykjavík parade where
employees of the US Embassy proudly
walked behind a banner that read ‘Gay
Rights Are Human Rights’.
But Reykjavík Pride 2012 wasn’t just
marked by the superpowers.
Sonja J. Jógvansdóttir, from LGBT
Faroe Islands, gave the keynote speech
on stage that day. She started out with
addressing the poor status of LGBT peo-
ple in the Faroes, who do not enjoy any
of the rights their friends in Iceland now
take for granted. There are no registered
partnerships or same-sex marriages in
the Faroe Islands. No adoptions rights for
LGBT people. No artificial insemination.
No law on the legal status of trans people.
Sonja referred to Icelanders as role
models and called for a co-operation on
LGBT issues. A call that should and must
be heeded immediately. It is high time
that Icelanders show real interest and
support to their neighbours’ fight for cul-
tural identity and human rights. This also
applies to their friends in Greenland.
Icelanders have previously partici-
pated in small pride events in the Faroes
and with the participation of The Reykja-
vík Queer Choir and the Mayor of Reykja-
vík at Faroe Pride 2012 you might say the
tone has been set for future relations. A
formal co-operation will undoubtedly im-
prove and strengthen both communities.
Their struggle is our struggle.

The pink elephants in my
parade
Various things cast a shadow on Reyk-
javík Pride this year. Newspaper Frét-
tablaðið published an anonymous ad
quoting the Bible on Pride morning,
stating that “homosexual offenders”
and other criminals will not “inherit the
kingdom of God.” Although this Bibli-
cal hatespeech is nothing of a surprise,
it was sad to see Fréttablaðið lend their
pages to such cowardly attacks. Howev-
er, the advertiser didn’t stay anonymous
for long. Another newspaper, DV, re-
vealed their true identity later that same
day: The Russian Orthodox Church. Pu-
tin’s Church. Quelle surprise!
Christian bigotry also thrives in other
places, like in the Faroe Islands, where
LGBT people are still haunted by Chris-
tian fundamentalists. And although the
Icelandic state church has gone softer
on LGBT issues in recent years it is still a
bit of a dinosaur. The newly elected bish-
op, for example, recently said that she
doesn’t see any problem with priests re-
fusing to marry same-sex couples if they
feel it contradicts their religious beliefs.
This leaves us wondering when it be-
came OK for civil servants to discriminate
on grounds of sexual orientation, and
whether she would send this message to
other minorities.
Things could also get worse in the
US. Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney bases his opposition to
LGBT rights on Christian values. He re-
cently chose a running mate—a man who
is known as one of the biggest homo-
phobes on Capitol Hill. A congressman
who believes that people’s rights come
from nature and God—not through leg-
islation. I dare not imagine what conse-
quences it could have for LGBT rights in
the USA should Romney win come November.
Yes, there were a few pink and big-
oted Christian elephants present at Reyk-
javík Pride 2012, although many people
chose not to see them. But this is, after
all, the thing with pink elephants. Their
presence practically screams at you, but
somehow most people manage to ignore
them. With this I am of course not imply-
ing that bigotry and hatred are somehow
exclusive to Christians. And of course I
am not saying that all Christian people
are hateful bigots. I’m only saying that we
really do need to talk about the elephants
that were hiding in the crowds of Reyk-
javík Pride 2012. And hope there will be
fewer of them next year.
Opinion | Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson Opinion | Hilmar Magnússon
Hail To Thee, Great Leader
Or how many “we” are there in
“Hörður Torfason”?
There
Are Pink
Elephants In
My Parade!
Snorri Páll is anactivist, a writer and he also plays some
pretty mean drums. - www.wheelofwork.org
Hilmar Magnússon is an is an
architect who holds a master's
degree in international affairs. He is
a founding member of LBGT activist
group The Pink Fist.
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