Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.01.2006, Page 22

Known to sniff out BS from a mile away, 
Kristján Kristjánsson is one of the most re-
spected journalists in Iceland. On January 5th 
and 6th, Kristján attacked celebrated musician 
and long-time proponent of Iceland and its 
culture Damon Albarn, only to follow up with 
a soft-edged interview with controversial Min-
ister of Industry Valgerður Sverrisdóttir. 
Leaders affiliated with the Hætta movement 
are claiming foul: the state-owned television 
station obviously defended the government 
with little care for journalistic integrity. We at 
the Grapevine are unsure. To be fair, Damon 
Albarn is an easy target—often soft-spoken, 
often searching for words, and often coming 
up with the wrong ones, music journalists love 
to mock him, so we understand that Kristján 
may have wanted to take the bait. And it is 
possible that Mr. Kristjánsson was unable to 
see through Minister Sverrisdóttir’s logical 
fallacies and factual errors (we have appended 
the four most egregious errors and corrections). 
Or perhaps Mr. Kristjánsson just didn’t like 
Damon, and liked Valgerður, as was indicated 
by his facial gestures and mannerisms. 
Below is the transcript of both interviews. You 
decide.
Interview with Damon Albarn,
Kastljós, 5 January
Intro: Announcer points out that Damon 
Albarn “was a pop star in the late 1990s”, and 
will be playing a concert with Björk on January 
7. (A curious introduction, as Damon Albarn’s 
band Gorillaz was both one of the best-selling 
and most critically acclaimed bands of 2005.)
Kristján Kristjánsson: Are you very much
involved in these issues, nature conservatism
[sic]?
Damon Albarn: This is actually the first kind 
of event that I’ve been involved in, but I’m 
definitely active in quite a few areas. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: But not in this particu-
lar area or anywhere else?
Damon Albarn: No, I think in Britain we’ve 
virtually destroyed our countryside anyway. 
What’s being done here should have been 
done 50 years ago in Britain and was never 
even considered, really. I think the interest-
ing thing about this is that Iceland is such a 
beautifully preserved piece of nature. That 
is something very tangible that we’re talking 
about. In Britain it’s just kind of little bits and 
yeah, we’ve got preservation orders on what’s 
left of Britain. Compared to Iceland it’s almost 
irrelevant.
Kristján Kristjánsson: Is this an issue you feel
strongly about?
Damon Albarn: Well, yeah, I think amongst 
friends in Iceland it’s been a discussion point 
for many years. I remember before the first alu-
minium factory was built and I’ve sort of really 
watched it grow. And like most of these things, 
once they’re there for a while, people just sort 
of accept that they’re part of the landscape, and 
I think what people need to do is not accept 
that in this case. Actually really say, “No, we 
don’t accept that.”
Kristján Kristjánsson: But you’re a little bit
too late, aren’t you, protesting, because the
undertakings are so well underway?
Damon Albarn: Yeah they are, but speaking 
as a frequent visitor, a sort of migratory bird, 
I think it sends a really bad message to people 
who want to come here that things like this are 
happening. I don’t know how much Iceland 
values its tourist trade, but it’s certainly sold 
on the fantastic nature, of the people and 
the place. I think that this will be harmed 
dramatically if this goes ahead. And you can 
stop things like this. I was heavily involved 
with the Stop the War campaign and we 
managed to get two million people to march 
in London, but our biggest mistake at the time 
is that we didn’t do it again. We thought we 
had achieved our goal but really it has to be a 
relentless thing. So this concert on Saturday 
I’m sure will garner a lot of new support and 
open people’s eyes to what potentially could 
happen. But it needs to be ongoing because 
government’s don’t change their policy from 
one event. It needs to be a relentless thing. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: Yeah, of course, but
we’ve had this discussion for years now;
should we preserve the nature or should we or
build a big power plant –
Damon Albarn: I know but it’s just a ridiculous 
argument, isn’t it? 
Kristján Kristjánsson: Try telling that to the
people who are getting new jobs, building
new houses *–
Damon Albarn: But what’s always struck me 
about Iceland is the people are very inventive 
people. Surely you can find another source of 
development other than destroying the one 
thing that you’ve got that’s unique?
Kristján Kristjánsson: Which is the nature,
you mean?
Damon Albarn: Yeah. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: Do you meet many
people in London, or Britain let’s say, who
know about this at all? 
Damon Albarn: I don’t think anyone’s aware 
of it.
Kristján Kristjánsson: No?
Damon Albarn: No.
Kristján Kristjánsson: It’s not something
people discuss?
Damon Albarn: Well, it really wouldn’t be 
a blip on our kind of radar as far as news is 
concerned because, you know, it’s all about 
Iraq and terrorism. But this is another form of 
destruction, and it just doesn’t make any sense. 
It’s really depressing. I’ve been coming here 
since 1997. I’ve built a house here. My daugh-
ter’s been coming here since she was a baby. 
And I hate the idea that any sort of legacy 
that I’m going to leave her is going to end up 
somewhat tainted by greed.
Kristján Kristjánsson: But don’t you think
that most people would consider this just an
argument from sort of a young, rather wealthy
man who lives in a big city somewhere else
and just doesn’t understand the needs of
the people who live on the eastern coast of
Iceland?
Damon Albarn: Well, you could say that about 
anything that I get involved with. I didn’t 
understand the needs of the Iraqi people, but 
I felt very passionately about that. I felt it was 
absolutely the wrong thing for my country. 
I don’t really like to stand as a representative 
of my own country; I like to be a representa-
tive of people and I don’t think anyone would 
advocate something like this, really. Our future 
is dependent on our management of it. This is 
bad management. You’ll lose something that 
you’ll never retrieve, and the soul of Iceland 
will in some way be sort of darkened by it. 
*Mr. Kristjánsson suggests, in his tone and language,
that locals in the east of Iceland are getting jobs and buy-
ing houses. Our study of Hagstofa, (Statistics Iceland),
indicates that the native-born population of east and
especially northeast Iceland has fled during the construc-
tion of the Kárahnjúkar dam. In other words, only a few
people are getting houses, and those are not the same peo-
ple who are getting jobs—the vast majority of the newly
employed are foreigners, and those who are Icelandic are
rarely from the section of the country in which the dam
is being built. Therefore, Kristján’s response to Damon
Albarn is extremely misleading.
Interview with Minister of Industry
Valgerður Sverrisdóttir, Kastljós, 6
January
Kristján Kristjánsson: Is there a change of
heart among the public regarding environ-
mental issues? I get the feeling there is a large
group of people who is reaching the ears of
MPs with their viewpoint on preserving the
environment?
Valgerður Sverrisdóttir: It is good that people 
generally consider themselves to be environ-
mentalists. I consider myself to be an environ-
mentalist. Even if some people think that I am 
not, like your guest last night, who seems to 
believe that all I do is travel around the country 
and point out where we should dam or build 
aluminium smelters. That’s not how it is. But 
there is a lot of interest in the environmental 
issues, we have a very beautiful country that we 
should not spoil of course. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: But which we are
spoiling on grand scale?
Valgerður Sverrisdóttir: But we are, to some 
extent. In order to harness the water power, the 
effects of that can be seen on nature. Without 
question. It is always a question of picking and 
choosing. As for eastern Iceland, for example, I 
dare people who are against Kárahnjúkar dam 
and the aluminium smelter to go to the eastern 
part of Iceland, to witness the energy within 
the society there. To see what is happening 
there. It is a new life for people there. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: How do you answer
what some people have called sentimental
arguments*, and I noticed that Independence
Party MP Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson said that
it was time to pay more attention to these
arguments than we have before. How do you
answer when people simply appeal to their
love of the country, the untouched nature,
that people believe to be our greatest asset?
Valgerður Sverrisdóttir: Like I said before, we 
have to pick and choose. We are not spoiling 
nature for the fun of it. If we decide it is right 
to use hydroelectric power to create jobs, to use 
this green energy that we have a lot of, then 
that is also a viewpoint. We are getting atten-
tion all over the world for being environmen-
tally friendly. I am talking about how we use 
reusable energy, we are producing hydrogen, 
we are binding greenhouse gasses**, we have 
just been awarded for that in Toronto recently. 
These viewpoints are all too seldom heard. 
Keep in mind, if we built an aluminium factory 
in Iceland that uses green energy, then the 
amount of greenhouse gasses released is almost  
ten times more if it is built outside of Iceland 
and powered by coal***. So if we think globally, 
which is considered to be a good way to think 
nowadays, then Iceland is an ideal place to 
build aluminium smelters****. 
Kristján Kristjánsson: Perhaps not for the
people who live here?
Valgerður Sverrisdóttir: Why not? I was on 
a visit today at the aluminium smelter in 
Straumsvík, I met a lot of people  who have 
worked for 20-30 years. The turnover rate 
of employees is very good. People are very 
happy to be working there. It is the same way 
in Hvalfjörður and it is going to be the same 
way in Reyðarfjörður. So we should not talk 
down to these workplaces that are in fact very 
good workplaces. And we need diversity in our 
employment market. I think there are all too 
few people that are thinking about the employ-
ment market as whole, including the MPs. We 
want to live a good life here in Iceland and in 
order to do that we need strong companies, 
and the aluminium companies are really strong 
companies*****. 
While Damon Albarn did not intentionally mislead or
misstate facts, the Grapevine found four clear cases, all
unchallenged by the interviewer, in which Valgerður
Sverrisdóttir misstated facts.
* Kristján employs the celebrated Fox News method,
using “some people” instead of citing a source when
introducing a biased description. The Hætta movement
has argued that the Kárahnjúkar dam project is an envi-
ronmental and economic disaster for Iceland—they have
not clearly stated that it is a “sentimental” one.
**Iceland, at present, releases minimal greenhouse
gasses. This will change as the economy turns to heavy
industry—by definition, smelting aluminium produces
greenhouse gasses. Specifically, aluminium smelting pro-
duces large amounts of carbon dioxide and the PFC CF4.
According to the International Aluminium Institute,
“On average the smelting process itself is responsible per
tonne of aluminium for the production of 1.7 tonnes of
CO2 (from the consumption of the carbon anodes) and
the equivalent of an additional 2 tonnes of CO2 from
PFC emissions. PFCs are potent global warming gases
as compared to carbon dioxide and have long atmos-
pheric lifetimes. For example one kg of PFC (CF4) is
equivalent to 6500 kg of CO2.” (For more information,
view the Aluminium and Climate Change Report from
the International Aluminium Institute at www.world-
aluminium.com.)
***This assumption depends on two misleading concepts:
1) that only in Iceland will aluminium smelters be pow-
ered by hydro-electric power, and that everywhere else in
the world only uses coal. The International Aluminium
Institute argues that the assumption that this is “an erro-
neous assumption” and that “the current overall propor-
tion of 55% energy sourced from hydroelectric power” will
continue into the distant future. Only 30% of aluminium
smelters use coal.
****This does not consider that the destruction of virgin
land and fragile habitat should not be considered in a
discussion of what is “green.” If untouched and vulner-
able ecosystems are to be considered “ideal” places for
aluminium smelters, one might suggest the Amazon
River as the next logical step. In suggesting Iceland as
ideal, Ms. Sverrisdóttir does not consider the transport of
the aluminium: aluminium is not mined on this volcanic
island, nor are there any facilities that demand its use in
production. As Iceland has no aluminium ore, and as it
has no use for aluminium—there is not even a cannery
in the country. Iceland also has some of the highest costs of
labour in the world. The only thing that seems to make
Iceland ideal is its lax attitude toward the environment
and toward work regulations—Iceland is not a member
of the EU.
***** Alcoa’s earnings for this quarter “broadly missed
Wall Street projections” according to a 10 January report.
The stocks took a tumble, losing 5.5 percent, as, though
the company was profitable, it did not do as well as it
could. Alcoa does, however, have 129,000 employees
and it operates in 42 countries, which means that Alcoa
would beat most Icelandic companies in a tug of war,
qualifying, therefore as a “strong company”, even if the
stocks aren’t doing well.
The Grapevine is not stating that the Kárahnjúkar dam
project is a faulty one, nor that Iceland should avoid
heavy industry. We simply believe that this is a difficult
subject that should be discussed openly, with all the facts
on the table. We are not faulting Valgerður Sverrisdóttir
for intentionally misleading the public and misstat-
ing facts. We lay the blame for the broadcast of these
mistruths entirely at the feet of RÚV, Kastljós, and of
the journalist who should have been questioning them,
Kristján Kristjánsson.
Is the State-Owned Journalist Truly State-Owned?
Why did Kristján go on the attack?
by Bart Cameron, Sveinn Birkir Björnsson and Paul F. Nikolov
22