Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2011, Blaðsíða 10

We have skimmed Jóhann's book, and there are countless examples of crazy cor-
rupt practices in it. We are thinking of translating a chapter and printing it for your
perusal. Would you enjoy that? Or not? letters@grapevine.is 10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2011
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jóhann Hauksson is an award-
winning journalist who worked for
many years for the newspaper DV,
writing mostly about Iceland's po-
litical scene. He has just published
a new book, ‘Þræðir valdsins: Kun-
ningjaveldi, aðstöðubrask og hrun
íslands’ (“Threads Of Power: Nepo-
tism, abused positions and Iceland’s
collapse”), which covers a subject
many Icelanders are all too familiar
with: the culture of nepotism, crony-
ism and corruption in Iceland. The
Grapevine got in touch with jóhann
to ask him what he learned in the
writing of this book, and what can
be done to fight back.
I understand that you've been writ-
ing about politics in Iceland for a
number of years, culminating in
your winning a journalist of the
Year award in 2010. What initially
sparked your interest in politics?
I studied politics and sociology a long
time ago. Incidentally, I became a jour-
nalist. It was almost natural for me to
be interested in politics. But after some
time, I began to feel strongly that there
was something "rotten in the state of
Denmark," and started thinking about
corruption and cronyism. It was against
all off-hand experience and evidence
that Iceland was rated amongst the most
"clean" countries in the world, as shown
in Transparency International surveys. I
started writing about corruption in late
2005 to early 2006.
INVISIBLE POWER
It seems to me that some Iceland-
ers are bored with the entire topic of
corruption in Iceland; that is, they're
aware of it, and don't seem particu-
larly surprised when corruption is
brought to light. What do you think
contributes to this?
I think you have a point there. The thing
is that the general public have an unsat-
isfying access to information. Our soci-
ety is still closed and it still lacks trans-
parency. I am trying to help the readers
of my book to clarify our cronyism,
nepotism and corruption. In decades of
corrupt practice in politics and business,
we have "cultivated" an elite class who
runs the country, both in business and
politics.
This is bad for democracy. If the ma-
jority of the voters are loyal and submis-
sive to this elite, nothing will change. Or-
dinary people will reaffirm this situation
in their daily manners. They are afraid of
losing jobs or other repercussions if they
defy the authorities and other power-
ful people of the elite. Open discourse
will be suppressed. But this part of our
civic culture is invisible in a way. Invisible
power is the strongest form of power. It
is taken for granted. It is in ourselves. It
is our habits in everyday life. We are like
the fish in the ocean, who do not know
that they are wet.
jIGSAW PUzzLE
When you were writing your book,
were you ever contacted by anyone
and encouraged to stop?
No. But I am aware that some eminent
people in business and politics are not
content with my new book. I guess the
readers will wait and see if they will find
some weak points in my evidence and
arguments. But nobody tried to stop
me. And after all, there is no reason to
be afraid as a journalist here in Iceland.
I have defied powerful people and been
driven away from at least two jobs as a
journalist and reporter. But when you
feel that losing a job is not the end of
the world, you sense a strong feeling of
freedom. My message to young journal-
ists is that whenever they are certain
and they know their data and evidence
is true, they should also have the cour-
age to publish it.
Was it difficult to be able to trace
the connections between e.g. busi-
ness and politics? just how publicly
available is this information?
It is good to stick to some hypothesis
about the relations between business
and politics. Janine Wedel, an American
anthropologist, has written a stimulating
and thought provoking book about the
new "shadow elite." She calls those per-
sons "flexions," because they blur the
boundaries between private and public
interests. Instead of being constantly in-
volved in conflicts of interests, they rear-
range things and the outcome is "coinci-
dence of interests." In times of extensive
privatisation, the risk of corruption near
the border between public and private
interests increases. This hypothetical
model is useful to look at corrupt rela-
tions and cronyism in Iceland. Wedel's
work has been very useful for me and I
use her arguments in my book.
This is like a jigsaw puzzle. You un-
cover something that becomes a scan-
dal. You arrange the pieces you have
and you will see how things clear up in
your puzzle. The hypothesis and your
theory help you to discover the miss-
ing parts. Your theory or hypothesis and
your evidence are interrelated. If you get
new data or evidence, it either confirms
that your hypothesis is right or it will be
refuted.
BRIBERY IS BRIBERY
Was there anything you learned that
surprised you? And what do you
think was the most damning revela-
tion you uncovered?
William K. Black, who captured and put
to jail 600 criminal banksters in US in
the Savings & Loan scandal many years
ago, has told us to call things by their
proper name. Fraud is fraud. When FL
Group and Landsbanki donated 55 mil-
lion ISK to the Independence Party in
2006 (less to other parties); this was a
kickback, even bribery. They wanted
the politicians to privatise the geother-
mal- and hydropower companies. When
the media uncovered this in 2009, the
Independence Party decided to return
the money. In my view, the leader of the
party thereby confessed that the money
was dirty. In my book I try to show this
and make things transparent. I don't
think this would be without serious con-
sequences for the leadership of a politi-
cal party in other civilised countries.
What solutions do you propose to
undo the tangle of nepotism and
cronyism in Iceland?
I think Eva Joly is right. She has fought
corruption in France as a judge and an
inquisitor. She and other well-known
judges have put forward a principle for
reconstructing justice: "Transparency
without freedom is an infringement of
human rights. Freedom coupled with
opacity is an open door for crime."
So transparency is probably the so-
lution to our problem, at least partly.
I guess it would be good for this little
population to introduce and implement
some international framework of rules
under multinational supervision.
Iceland | Corruption
Journalist Jóhann Hauksson on Iceland and corruption
Transparency Is The Answer
“In decades of corrupt practice in politics and
business, we have "cultivated" an elite class who runs
the country, both in business and politics. This is bad
for democracy. If the majority of the voters are loyal
and submissive to this elite, nothing will change.”
Words
Paul Fontaine
Photo
Hvalreki