Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Page 6

6
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 3 — 2012
News | Roundup
News In Brief:
February Edition
MONSTER HUNTING!
February started out with some paranormal
activity, when a farmer in northeast Iceland
recorded a video of something moving in a
snake-like motion across the river Jökulsá
í Fljótsdal. It so happens that the lake fed
by this river is Lagarfljót, and it also just so
happens that this lake is the mythical home
of the Worm of Lagarfljót. Sightings of this
creature have been made since the four-
teenth century, but this marked the first
time that maybe, just maybe, someone had
visual proof of its existence. The video be-
came an internet sensation of sorts, prov-
ing especially popular in Japan. Naturally,
some were suspicious, but the farmer who
recorded it, Hjörtur Kjerúlf, denied hav-
ing staged the recording in any way. Later
study of the video revealed that what was
probably moving across the river was a
chunk of twisted fishing netting covered in
ice. And so the Worm of Lagarfljót remains
an elusive creature, for the time being.
OFFENSIvE BOOzE GETS THE BOOT
The State Alcohol and Tobacco Company
of Iceland (ÁTVR) decided not to allow the
sale of Motörhead shiraz, reasoning that
the band’s songs promote unsafe sex, drug
abuse and violence. Hjörleifur Árnason,
who wanted to import the wine, was baf-
fled by the decision, pointing out that there
is a beer for sale in Iceland called “Surtur”
which, while also the name of an old Norse
god, also happens to be a very offensive
(albeit outdated) term for a person of Afri-
can descent. Later on in the month, ÁTVR
made the decision not to allow the sale of
the beer Black Death, this time reasoning
that the phrase, “Drink in peace,” written
on the label, violates what stipulations
about what kind of information is allowed
to be printed on a bottle of alcohol.
SUpREME COURT UpHOLDS INSIDER
TRADING SENTENCE
Arguably the best news this month, if
not the best news since the financial col-
lapse, occurred when Iceland’s Supreme
Court upheld a two-year prison sentence
against former Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Finance Baldur Guðlaugsson.
Baldur had a significant amount of shares
in Landsbanki before the 2008 crash, and
also sat in on meetings where he was
privy to knowledge not available to the
general public. On September 17 and 18,
he sold his shares in Landsbanki for 192
million ISK. Shortly thereafter, Landsbanki
crashed. Baldur was charged with insider
trading, and convicted in Reykjavík’s Dis-
trict Court last April. He appealed to the
Supreme Court, which upheld his sen-
tence. This marks the first time in Icelandic
history that someone has ever been con-
victed of insider trading.
HOMOpHOBIC SCHOOLTEACHER ON
pAID LEAvE
Primary school teacher Snorri Óskarsson
was put on six months paid leave after
his blog, which rails against homosexual-
ity, was discovered. Although Snorri con-
tended he was merely exercising his right
to free speech, school officials pointed
out that, as a number of his students likely
were homosexuals, his blog effectively
violated the ethical guidelines laid out for
teachers to treat all their students equally.
Psychologist Pétur Maack decided to take
the matter a step further and press charg-
es against Snorri, citing Article 233 of the
Icelandic Penal Code, the “hate speech”
section, which expressly forbids the type of
speech Snorri used against homosexuals.
FINANCIAL SURvEILLANCE AUTHOR-
ITY DIRECTOR SACKED
Gunnar Andersen, who had been direc-
tor of the Financial Surveillance Authority
(FME) since 2009, was much to his dismay,
relieved of his duties last month. The deci-
sion stems from it coming to light that in
2001, when the FME asked Landsbanki for
information about its holdings, Gunnar—
who was an executive at Landsbanki at the
time—had failed to mention two Guernsey-
registered companies that, while owned
by holding companies, were fully owned
by Landsbanki. Gunnar left Landsbanki in
2008. The FME believed this hurt Gunnar’s
credibility as an FME director, so they de-
cided to let him go. Gunnar told DV that the
FME never listened to any objections in his
defence, and that his sacking had been a
foregone conclusion. Unnur Gunnarsdót-
tir, who is the chief legal expert at FME,
is temporarily filling the director position
until a new replacement is found.
Continues over
Egill Helgason is a journalist, political commentator, blogger and the host of
Iceland's only literary TV show, as well as Iceland's premiere political talk show.
How he has time to write articles for us, we do not know. But he does.
president Ólafur Ragnar Gríms-
son has decided—after insinuating
in his New Year's Address that he
would not run and then dodging
the question for two months—that
he will in fact seek re-election this
summer.
There are no limitations on how long
a president can stay in office. Thus,
we’ve only had five presidents in the
68 year history of the republic: Sveinn
Björnsson for the first six years, Ásgeir
Ásgeirsson for sixteen years, Kristján
Eldjárn for twelve years, Vigdís Finnbo-
gadóttir for sixteen years and now Óla-
fur Ragnar Grímsson for sixteen years.
QUASI-REGAL pRESIDENCY
Until now, limiting the number of presi-
dential terms in Iceland didn’t seem
necessary. The president has tradition-
ally been a figurehead—a ceremonial
person, a host for dignitaries, a giver
of rather empty speeches on Icelandic
nationality.
The presidency has been quasi-
regal in the sense that it has been
considered bad form to run against a
sitting president. Thus a real challenge
has never been mounted against an in-
cumbent in the history of the republic,
and presidents have been able to sit as
long as they pleased. There have been
elections, but those who have dared
to oppose our presidents have always
been far from the mainstream in poli-
tics—some of them have actually been
considered quite mad.
NO RIGHT WING pRESIDENTS
It is noteworthy that presidents have
invariably been chosen from opponents
of the right wing Independence Party,
which has otherwise dominated Ice-
land's political history. In 1968, Kristján
Eldjárn—an archaeologist, curator at
the National Museum, and the son of a
farmer in the far north—won a landslide
victory against Gunnar Thoroddsen—a
scion of the Reykjavík bourgeoisie, the
former mayor of Reykjavík and Minis-
ter of Finance. Many believed that they
were really socking it to the ruling class.
At this time the major question was
whether the candidates had been for
or against the US Naval Air Station in
Keflavík—the defining rift in politics for
decades. However, candidates did not
discuss this because it was considered
bad form for presidents to raise real po-
litical issues.
The process repeated itself in 1980
when a left-leaning theatre director,
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, was elected
president. She had also, at one point,
been an opponent of the US Naval Sta-
tion. Whereas Kristján Eldjárn had been
rather shy as president and mostly
concerned with the country’s cultural
heritage, Vigdís became very popular
as a symbol for the fast emerging wom-
en’s movement. As was the rule of the
game, both of them became completely
apolitical upon entering office. Both
enjoyed very high approval ratings and
were seen as symbols of national unity.
ENTER ÓLAFUR RAGNAR
Enter an altogether different species:
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Whereas
Kristján Eldjárn and Vigdís Finnboga-
dóttir were people of culture and learn-
ing, Ólafur Ragnar could be described
as a political adventurer. Easily the
most ambitious young politician of his
generation, he started out in The Pro-
gressive Party, a rural centrist party,
which had long been the second most
powerful political force in Iceland. Óla-
fur became a leader of the leftist frac-
tion of the party. It was closely linked
to The Co-operative Movement, which
had abandoned its roots and become
a business conglomerate with many
interests, not least of all the lucrative
and corrupt trade with the US military.
Eventually Ólafur and his followers
were kicked out of the party.
For a while he seemed to have no
place to go in politics. He dabbled in ra-
dio and television—his broadcasts were
aggressively critical, which was a nov-
elty at the time. The government con-
trolled the airwaves and he was soon
banned from broadcasting. He was also
one of the first political scientists in the
country and, despite his impertinence,
became professor at the University of
Iceland.
ÓLAFUR RAGNAR JOINS THE
SOCIALISTS
In the mid ‘70s Ólafur Ragnar joined
The People’s Alliance, a socialist party,
which could trace its roots back to the
now defunct Communist Party of Ice-
land. Ólafur Ragnar was surely no Com-
munist, and maybe not even a Socialist,
and much of the old guard loathed him
for being an opportunist. However, with
the support of young people, he man-
aged to become leader of the party and
Minister of Finance in a left wing gov-
ernment that was in power from 1988
to 1991. There he earned the moniker
“Skattmann” (meaning “Taxman”), and
was feared for his sharp intelligence
and ruthlessness.
AND EMERGES AS A pRESIDEN-
TIAL CANDIDATE
In 1996, a new version of Ólafur Ragnar
emerged. He was running for presi-
dent and the nation saw a milder, more
humble character. Many of his old op-
ponents, both from the right and from
within his own party, were dismayed.
What playacting is this, they asked?
But Ólafur Ragnar managed to win the
elections with 40 percent of the vote,
again beating a candidate fielded by
The Independence Party.
Even if Ólafur Ragnar still got on the
nerves of his old foes, especially the
conservative newspaper Morgunblaðið
and then Prime Minister Davíð Odds-
son—who made a point of leaving him
out of official functions—he was soon
accepted as president. His approval
ratings were high. He travelled a lot,
and he seemed to be in his element
among foreign dignitaries. His hair
whitened and he became more distin-
guished looking. It also helped that he
was married to elegant women, first to
Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir, who had
no little part in getting him elected in
the first place, and then, after her death,
to Doritt Moussaief, an extremely lively
heiress and socialite from Israel.
Ólafur was also the first president
to embrace the emerging tabloid press.
Unlike the former more reticent presi-
dents, he was always in the eye of the
media—he seemed like a new kind of
man for new times.
ÓLAFUR RAGNAR BEFRIENDS THE
BANKSTERS
The Icelandic economic boom, which
ended with the crash in 2008, started
in the late 1990s. Here Ólafur found
natural allies in the financiers and busi-
nessmen, who became welcome guests
at Bessastaðir. He flew in their jets and
hung medals on their jackets. One
might even claim that Ólafur Ragnar
became their chief ideologue: he for-
mulated their ideas of world conquest
and a specifically Icelandic way of do-
ing business. Many of Ólafur Ragnar’s
utterances from this time are cringe
worthy—he spoke of the Icelandic
"business-Vikings" as a special, almost
chosen breed of people. When it turned
out that the Icelandic boom had been a
debt fuelled speculative bubble—mixed
with a certain degree of fraud—most
people thought that Ólafur Ragnar was
finished.
After the crash Ólafur was mocked
in a way no Icelandic president has ever
been mocked. In a popular New Year´s
comedy show on television, Bessas-
taðir was portrayed as a den of cocaine
snorting scoundrels. All the sanctimony
of his office had been stripped.
THE GREAT COMEBACK
But never to be underestimated Ólafur
Ragnar came back with a vengeance.
Early in 2010 he refused to sign a law
stipulating how much Iceland should
pay back to the UK and Holland for
the so-called Icesave saving accounts.
The law was then put to a general ref-
erendum and the people voted against
it. Ólafur Ragnar was victorious in the
eyes of many who felt that he had saved
the nation from debt and disgrace. This
repeated itself in early 2011 when a
second Icesave bill was also vetoed by
him and voted down by the people.
Thus the government seemed weak
and willing to give in, whereas Ólafur
Ragnar was defiant. He did interviews
with media outlets from all over the
world—seemingly totally in his element
on CNN, BBC and al Jazeera—and for
the first time, an Icelandic president
was not just echoing the standpoints of
the government.
A NEW SET OF SUppORTERS
Ólafur’s supporters were originally
mostly from the left, but now the leftists
stayed with the government, nominally
the most left wing in Icelandic history:
a coalition between The Social Demo-
crats and Left Greens.
So Ólafur had suddenly become a
darling of the right—well, not everyone
loved him, but they liked the way he
stood up to the government of Jóhan-
na Sigurðardóttir, leader of the Social
Democrats, and Steingrímur J. Sigfús-
son, leader of the Left Greens. Jóhan-
na and Steingrímur were horrified by
Ólafur's conduct—they are not really
on speaking terms with him anymore.
Ironically they both sat in government
with him from 1988–1991.
A CHANGED pRESIDENCY
While Ólafur has decided to run in the
upcoming election, some more inter-
esting questions remain. Ólafur Ragnar
has dramatically changed the nature of
the presidency. He is the first to use the
presidential veto, a power that has al-
ways been in the Constitution, but was
considered outmoded. Ólafur Ragnar,
the political scientist, has not been un-
constitutional; he just started using the
powers that were written into the Con-
stitution. In fact, it could be argued that
the president has even greater powers
than Ólafur Ragnar has used—the pres-
ident is allowed to present bills to the
Words
Egill Helgason
Illustration
Inga María Brynjarsdóttir
Iceland | Analysis
THE LONG pOLITICAL JOURNEY OF
ÓLAFUR RAGNAR GRÍMSSON
Continues on page 23
“It also helped that he was married to elegant
women, first to Guðrún Katrín Þorbergs-
dóttir, who had no little part in getting him
elected in the first place, and then, after her
death, to Doritt Moussaief, an extremely lively
heiress and socialite from Israel.”