Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2011, Síða 8

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8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2011
Opinion | Magnús Sveinn HelgasonOpinion | Iceland
Last week, the National
Audit Office of Iceland
published a report criti-
cising the National Police
Commissioner for having violated
laws on public procurement when
he purchased riot equipment from
firms with close connections to his
own staff and/or other police of-
ficers. The Police Commissioner
had not put these purchases up to
tender, as is required by law. Part
of the criticism of the Audit Office
focuses on how the Police Com-
missioner split his purchases from
one firm up into smaller lots, each
under five million ISK, apparently in
an attempt to flout the law, which
stipulates that any purchase by
the government or a government
agency over the amount of five mil-
lion ISK must be offered to public
tender. This in itself is a violation of
the law.
What makes this story of classic gov-
ernment graft and nepotism shocking
is not the fact that the government of-
ficial in question is the National Police
Commissioner. What makes it truly
shocking is how the Police Commis-
sioner explained his actions—and how
the right wing has flocked to his de-
fence.
The reason the Police Commissioner
gave for his violation of the law was that
“it was impossible to follow the letter of
the law on public procurement to the
utmost extent in the midst of the pots
and pans revolution.” Icelandic society
had plunged into “a state of chaos,” he
argued, and the house of parliament
was “under siege.” During these try-
ing times the police, which was under
enormous stress as it upheld the law
and order by holding angry protesters
back, desperately needed all kinds of
riot gear. How could anyone expect him
to worry about boring legal formalities?
This might sound like a reasonable
excuse. Until we consider the fact that
the questionable purchases took place
almost a year after the protest wave of
2008–9 had peaked.
When pressed on this point, the
Police Commissioner argued that the
“conditions” that had formed in the
winter of 2008–9, presumably the state
of chaos and the siege of parliament,
had not yet passed. According to this
logic we are now living under some
kind of permanent security threat that
exempts the Police Commissioner from
having to follow the law to “the utmost.”
What is perhaps most interesting is that
the Icelandic right has not only bought
this argument, but accuses not only
those who have criticised the Police
Commissioner for having broken the
law, but even those in the media who
have covered the story, of ‘sinister po-
litical motives’ and of ‘waging a ven-
detta against the police.’
Björn Bjarnason, who as Minister of
Justice appointed the Police Commis-
sioner in question, accused the Na-
tional Audit Office of participating in a
campaign by the current government to
weaken the police, thus contributing to
“increasing sense of insecurity in soci-
ety, thus risking even further chaos.”
Morgunblaðið (whose editor is Davíð
Oddsson, former leader of the Inde-
pendence Party) published an editorial
dismissing the concerns of the National
Audit Office. The purchases in question
were ‘insignificant,’ and the amounts
in question too small to warrant the
“absurd propaganda campaign” be-
ing waged by some in the media. The
editorial went on to warn the National
Audit Office not to “participate in the
games and spin of the media.” Presum-
ably the office should not issue rulings
that could in some way inform or enter
the political conversation.
The radical right-wing AMX echoed
these arguments, claiming any criticism
of the Police Commissioner was pay-
back from the Left Greens party MPs,
who have supposedly been seething
with resentment against the police ever
since it “defended the house of parlia-
ment against attacks” in the winter of
2008–9.
What we are witnessing here is an
interesting development in the politi-
cal discourse. Not only does the police
believe that it as an entity is entitled to
break the law due to an imagined per-
manent security condition—which is
bad enough—but it finds staunch allies
on the political right who are willing to
argue that anyone who dares question
the police force’s illegal behaviour does
so out of a hatred for the police and the
law, and a wish to engulf society in cha-
os. I think anyone who values the rule of
law should be deeply concerned.
Nearly three years ago, on October
6, 2008, then-Prime Minister Geir
Haarde offered this grim prognos-
tication on Icelandic national tele-
vision:
“There is a very real danger, fel-
low citizens, that the Icelandic
economy, in the worst case, could
be sucked with the banks into the
whirlpool and the result could be
national bankruptcy.”
At that time, his message reflected an
economic shot heard around the world,
one that translated into demonstrations
and reforms. Now, for better or worse,
that energy is gone, but the problems
remain. Protests against these prob-
lems seem like bursts of irrational an-
ger, directed at only the most public
figures, with the nation’s supply of eggs
taking heavy losses. The guiding slo-
gan could be: “We’re pissed off. Let’s
do something useless about it!”
In this pursuit, perhaps mirroring
the situation in the United States re-
garding Occupy Wall Street, Iceland-
ers joined a protest at Austurvöllur on
Monday night. It had them up in arms,
screaming, yelling, pouting, banging
drums and lighting flares, for sure, but
those energies are misplaced. Iceland’s
recent protests in the city centre have
been pointless exercises, affecting little
change in a stubborn political process.
HISTORY NOW
Saturday morning and Monday night’s
protests were according to most ac-
counts inspired by the Icelandic econ-
omy, as well as the unchanged struc-
ture of the housing loan system. The
demonstrations were peaceful and
somewhat articulated the very real
problem of Iceland’s political paralysis.
Many scholars and politicians engaged
in similar behaviour, pointing out how
inaction exists simply because we are
in the middle of recovery, and that re-
covery is a slow, painful process. With
that said, one must ask, how can we
end this political gridlock and speed
this recovery up in a meaningful way?
Though the uselessness of politi-
cal protest is endemic in most cases,
in 2008 Iceland was special because
of its grassroots, direct approach to
quelling the crisis. 2008 is history now.
As a portrait of the current situation,
the ongoing placement of barricades
around Alþingi asserts how the Icelan-
dic government is getting used to toler-
ating a comfortable, acceptable margin
of complacent dissent. With that said,
Icelanders need new, sensible politi-
cal direction and guidance leading to
practical change, be it currently legal
or illegal, or unpopular against the elite
dictates found in international financial
media.
“I LOST EVERYTHING”
Icelanders are genuinely suffering, and
politicians in Alþingi may shudder at the
thought of harassment by barricaded
activists clamouring for their resigna-
tion letters, but the kind of pressure ex-
erted on the Icelandic elite is too loose
to be useful, and it shows. Voices at the
demonstration were enraged, comical,
desperate or marginally relevant:
“We are against everything that the
government does! We have nothing!
All the people in the government can
do what the fuck they want, but we get
shit, so fuck them!”
-a beer-drinking punk rocker banging
at the Alþingi barricades.
“I’m so mad I made a sign”
–Humorous and ironic poster at the
demonstration.
“I lost my company, I lost my home,
I lost everything,” said one Icelander.
Another, holding a large crucifix, of-
fered: “I lost my business!” One said, “I
lost my house in Reykjavík, and I’m do-
ing something for the people. We have
to take out all of the people in the gov-
ernment. It’s about economics.”
“I am here to protest against the
government, because I think they are
not fit to run the country… I don’t think
it has an understanding of how eco-
nomics work, and what society needs…
everybody has been affected. I have not
been affected very badly. It’s killing the
economy, how the economics are or-
ganised and how they are governed
here in Iceland.” This demonstrator
went on to say, “The government wants
to support a Palestinian terrorist state.”
WHERE ARE THE ANSWERS?
As you can see, like in politically splin-
tered and economically battered Amer-
ica and continental Europe, Icelanders
are now turning to a diversity of causes
to make up for the shortfall of galvanis-
ing and unifying political causes.
Thankfully, some officials attempt-
ed at quelling the disturbance to the
peace. Although the actions of Dorrit
Moussaieff, the President’s wife, jump-
ing over the barricade comically harks
back to an older tradition of direct de-
mocracy, it was more spectacle than
substance.
Since 2008, only superficial changes
have occurred in the political or regula-
tory landscape of Iceland. Where are
the answers, and where is the way out?
How can Icelanders help?
All Icelanders will need to engage in
activities that disrupt their normal be-
haviour in order finally to build a new
political reality that shakes up status
quo of their four party system. A lack
of cooperation here is a hindrance.
Icelandic protesters need to find the
specific legislation to reform, a serious
way of punishing politicians and finan-
cial crooks, and the appropriate means
of altering the political system that fully
erases the legacy of the international
embarrassment of 2008. They will also
need to diversify their means of pro-
test. Parliamentarians are not the only
responsible parties. This will require
insider information, new methods of
organisation, as well as old-fashioned
persistence and discipline. More than
anything, whatever answer that pres-
ents itself will need determination and
spine.
Protesters Force The
Police To Break The Law
Revolution For The Hell Of It
A parody model of the 2008 Icelandic movement develops
It DOES seem odd when cops are trying to justify
'breaking the law', does it not?
The below is what our cool new intern Chris surmised from attending
the protests and interviewing some protesters. What do you think?
letters@grapevine.is
CHRISTOPHER CzECHOWICz
SIMONE DE GREEF
“According to this
logic we are now living
under some kind of
permanent security
threat that exempts the
Police commissioner
from having to
follow the law to 'the
utmost.'”