Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2013, Side 22

NINE YEARS AGO
Hooray! We turned ten this year. For a
humble street rag like Grapevine, turn-
ing ten is a pretty big deal—we barely
expected to make it to ten issues (and,
indeed, all of our contemporaries Reyk-
javík's street rag market have long since
bid farewell... miss u, Undirtónar!).
To celebrate our decade of existence,
we thought we'd get a little introspective
and reprint some choice articles from
the past that are for some reason signifi-
cant, accompanied by commentary and
even updates. Call it a "blast from the
past" or "a look into the dark cauldron
of time" if you want to—we call it fun.
Thus, for ten issues, expect a page dedi-
cated to a year of Grapevine's existence,
starting one issue ago, with a look back
into magical 2003.
This issue is a look at 2004, our sec-
ond year of existence when Valur Gun-
narsson was editor. The articles below
are printed as they were printed then,
typos and everything.
“Just One Big Misunderstand-
ing” by Paul Fontaine (then Niko-
lov) is probably one of the most
important articles in the early
history of the Grapevine. Pub-
lished in the first issue of 2004, it
marked the first of many of Paul’s
contributions to Grapevine. For
the next issue, we put an im-
migrant in traditional Icelandic
dress on the cover, which caused
a something of a storm. Here is
an abridged version of his piece:Not Really A Misunderstanding
Iceland Goes to War
“On May 5th, I attended a public debate regarding
a new set of immigration laws passed by Alþingi on
May 1st. The meeting was sponsored and publicised
by Heimsþorp, a group of Icelanders working to end
racism. The keynote speakers were Sigurður Hólm
Gunnarsson from Ungir Jafnaðarmenn and Jón Hákon
Halldórsson from Ungir sjálfstæðismenn.
Crowded into a small room in the basement of Kaffi
Kúltúr, Mr. Halldórsson was surrounded by
Icelanders and a few foreigners who all share one thing
in common - none of them are happy about these new
laws. Sitting beside him, I noticed his hands shaking
as he held his written statement, reading the party line
which has stirred up so much outrage and bewilderment.
I certainly have to give the guy credit for facing a
room full of angry Icelandic liberals. Even if there were
only fourteen of them.
A regular tightening of immigration laws is nothing
new, and when various new restrictions were added in
2002 (including the compulsory attendance of at least
150 hours of Icelandic classes - to be paid for by the im-
migrants at a total cost 100.000 krónur; about a whole
months’ wages for many), resistance was limited to
foreigners and a few sympathetic Icelanders. However,
whether due to growing sympathy among Icelanders
or the fact that these new laws affect Icelanders them-
selves, resistance is growing rapidly. The new laws
regarding immigration bear many inconsistencies. To
name a few:
1) While it is perfectly legal for an Icelandic cou-
ple to apply for a bank loan to buy a house or apart-
ment when they’re as young as 18 years of age, foreign
couples, or couples of one Icelander and one foreign-
er, must wait until they are 24.
2) For the police to search the home of an Iceland-
er, they must make a strong case for suspicion of a
crime to get a search warrant from a judge. Yet for the
police to search the home of a foreigner, a member of
the police force need only suspect that the foreigner
has broken an immigration law, and needs no such
search warrant.
3) Most bizarre of all, the parents of a foreigner
may not immigrate to Iceland until they are at least 66
years of age.
Mr. Halldórsson was received politely as he read
his statement, explaining that this set of laws was be-
ing wildly protested based on a “misunderstanding”
of what the law actually was. There was no misunder-
standing, however, among this group of people in at-
tendance as to what this new law had to say. As Mr.
Gunnarsson noted: “We contend that these laws are
flat-out racist.
They send a message to all foreigners immigrating
to this country that we consider them to be dishonest,
and not worthy of our friendship or our respect.” And
then the meeting began to get really hot.”
Read the full article in Grapevine issue 1, 2004.
Paul later went on to become the first non-Icelandic
born serving member of Parliament. As for the im-
migration laws, the notorious “age 24” law was later
repealed, but that is not to say that all is well with
attitudes towards immigrants here.
“Are you going to call the documentary ‘The Secret
Army’?” One of the guys said jokingly as he and the
other Icelanders switched from pistols to machine
guns at the shooting range in the Afghan desert just
outside Kabul. “That’s a thought,” I replied as my
partner in the project, Friðrik Guðmundsson, contin-
ued to film the men in fatigues with the Icelandic flag
on the shoulder load their weapons and gush bullets
at the targets.
The explosive sounds echoed in the hills above.
Below us a young herdsmen passed by with his goats.
Neither he nor the goats seemed disturbed by the
shots being fired. They’ve heard it before. The herds-
man probably vaguely remembers the Soviet invasion
a quarter of a century ago, the civil war that followed,
the terrible Taliban era and then the American inva-
sion. All that time Kabul and the neighbourhood was
a battlefield and to add to the horrible situation, a
drought has plagued this country for the last four to
five years...
Outside the HQ soldiers in different types of uni-
forms walk past and I have become accus¬tomed to
trying to make out the flags on the shoulders to see
where they are from. I have no sense of rank markings
and the Icelanders tell me they are fairly relaxed when
it comes to respecting rank. “We sometimes forget
that everything has to go through the right chain of
command,” Major Ævarsson tells me, “We do not
have the same background of military culture as other
countries.”
“I tried in vain to get my men to call me Óli, but
they insisted on sticking to ‘Sir,’ Major Ólafsson, a 27
year old Political Science student at the University of
Iceland, tells me. He is in charge of 130 people at Gar-
rison KAIA. “They are soldiers and explained to me
that it is not right for our relationship to become too
relaxed. In their eyes I might be the person to demand
that they confront enemy fire to take that hill. So I let
them call me ‘Sir,’ Ólafsson adds.
A few days later we fly with a Turkish Major on a
patrolling flight over Kabul. The doors are open and
on each side the heavy guns are manned. We fly over
a city that has been shelled so of¬ten and for so long,
one wonders why anything is left. Not much is. Most-
ly small houses or huts built out of mud bricks. The
Palace has been shot to pieces and is barely standing.
Commander Halli looks over the city. “We are doing a
much appreciated job here, but it will take a long time
until we see considerable improvements in Afghani-
stan. But we Icelanders have a lot to offer, not least the
Icelandic mentality to just go and do the job.”…
The stillness of the night is broken by the alarm
sound ordering everybody to get out of bed, put on
their protective gear and head to the bunker, arms
in hand. A rocket has been fired at KAIA. The men
call it a bunker party – it’s the fourth this summer.
Nobody has been injured and only one of the rockets
has actually exploded within the airport area. “The
terror¬ists are badly equipped so they have a prob-
lem aiming these rockets,” Commander Halli says
and adds that the danger should neither be over nor
under-estimated. “But I have to say that I feel pretty
safe here at KAIA – at least safer then I would feel in
downtown Reykjavik late on a Saturday night.”
Read the full article in Grapevine Issue 8, 2004.
The Icelandic invasion of Afghanistan ground to
a halt after the Battle of Chicken Street, when our
soldiers went carpet shopping in downtown Ka-
bul and a bomb went off. Fortunately, no one was
killed, but the Icelandic contingent was relieved of
command of the airfield and later withdrawn. The
author of this article, Kristinn Hrafnsson is now
the spokesperson for Wikileaks and is currently
working on getting the whistleblower Edward
Snowden to Iceland.
By Paul Nikolov
By Kristinn Hrafnsson The NATO combat mission in
Afghanistan is now officially
at an end, with local forces
having taken over security op-
erations this week. No doubt
Afghanistan will presently
become a blossoming peace-
ful free market democracy as
intended. Iceland’s contribu-
tion to turning Afghanistan
into the Switzerland of Central
Asia was documented on-site
by Kristinn Hrafnsson, one of
Iceland’s finest journalists and
now spokesman for wikileaks.
This article was published in
the last issue of the summer
of 2004, entitled “Dressing for
the Occasion.”
22The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 8 — 2013