Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Page 18

18
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012
For many centuries Iceland was
a colony of Denmark. Due to its
isolation, it was largely neglected
until the nineteenth century when
Danish cultural influence became
overwhelming. Icelandic towns
were essentially turning Danish;
the merchant class was Danish and
well off Icelanders started speak-
ing their language. The cuisine be-
came Danish, with heavy sauces
and cabbage—to this day bakeries
still sell Danish pastries. Icelanders
read Danish magazines and knew
all about the Danish Royal Fam-
ily. Donald Duck even came to Ice-
land via Denmark; he is still called
Andrés önd (meaning Anders the
Duck) in Icelandic.
WHy WE LEARN DANISH
Iceland became independent from Den-
mark in 1944, but the Danish influence
persisted. By now the bonds between
the two nations have mostly disap-
peared; we are no longer familiar with
Danish celebrities and Danish words
have ceased infiltrating our language.
Still, Danish is taught in school. It is a
very unpopular subject, but the idea is
that we should be able to communicate
with people in the Nordic countries in
a dialect close to our own. Of course
there are also historical reasons.
Copenhagen used to be the second
capital of Iceland. Up to World War II,
almost every Icelander who sought a
higher education studied there. Some
kinship remains in this area, and Co-
penhagen is still the most popular
destination for Icelanders who travel
abroad.
However, much of Danish culture
is derived from Germany, so one could
also say that Iceland was heavily influ-
enced by Germany during the period of
Danish rule. It is worth noting that Ger-
mans have for a long time been quite
interested in Iceland—more so than the
British, for example. The Germans were
keen on the Sagas and the image of this
savage Nordic country—and Germany
is still by far the largest foreign market
for Icelandic literature.
AMERICANIzATION
In many ways Iceland is also a very
Americanized country. The island
straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with
Europe on one side and America on the
other. The greatest single revolution in
Icelandic history happened when Brit-
ish and then American soldiers occu-
pied the country during World War II.
Occupied, yes—for no one asked them
to come. Even so, Iceland was quite
happy being under American dominion
rather than the German yoke.
But this was quite decisive for our
culture. Iceland at the beginning of the
war was a poor, backward society. The
Americans brought cars, films, music,
Coca Cola—and lots of money. Sud-
denly there was ample employment
and Icelanders became wealthy almost
overnight. Some say that it was at this
time that work ethics deteriorated with
Icelandic workers learning to cheat
their foreign employers. Unlike Scandi-
navians, Icelanders don’t especially like
playing by the rules.
The Americans stayed on after the
war and founded a large military base
in Keflavík, which was considered very
strategically important during the Cold
War. This was for decades the most
divisive issue in Icelandic politics. Na-
tionalists and socialists wanted to drive
the Americans out and they went on
long marches, singing songs and re-
citing poems about this affront to the
newly founded republic. But the right
wing was delighted—Iceland did its part
in the fight against global Communism.
THE CULTURAL WARS
During this time cultural influence from
the States pervaded. Icelanders aspired
to drive American cars, the only tele-
vision station in the country was run
by the US military, their radio stations
pumped out Elvis Presley to rock hun-
gry Icelandic youth. By comparison, the
only Icelandic radio station allowed to
operate at the time, which was state-
run, only seemed to feature sympho-
nies, folklore and long weather reports.
Guardians of Icelandic culture,
mostly men who would nowadays be
called patriarchs, were worried about
this. They talked disparagingly about
the impact of chewing gum, vulgar
music and TV shows. Icelandic televi-
sion finally saw the light of day in 1966,
and soon after it was decided that the
broadcasts from the US television sta-
tion be limited to the Keflavík base.
Thus ended this cultural war—maybe it
is symbolic that one of those active in it,
Kristján Eldjárn, the curator of the Na-
tional Museum, was elected president
at this time.
The US presence had an economic
and political impact in many ways. Rev-
enues from the US base were divided
evenly between political groups—there
was a lot of corruption involved. When
Icelanders couldn’t sell their fish, the
Americans were forced to buy it. Ice-
land had quite a lot of international
leverage—more than ever since—which
became evident during the Cod Wars
when they threatened to kick out the
Americans if the British kept on fishing
in the newly expanded economic zone.
Henry Kissinger once referred to Ice-
land as the most arrogant little country
he had ever encountered.
ALSO SOME SOVIET INFLUENCE
Paradoxically, Iceland had quite good
relations with the Soviet Union at
this time. This was due to the relative
strength of the communist movement
in Iceland and its surprisingly good
relationship with the conservatives
(both wanted to keep down the So-
cial Democrats, the strongest political
force in the other Nordic Countries).
The Icelandic government made large
trade agreements with Moscow, selling
herring and wool products to the So-
viets, and getting oil and cars instead.
The Icelandic oil retailers, Shell, Esso
and BP, all sold Soviet oil. So in the pe-
riod between 1950 and 1980 you could
have an alternative lifestyle in Iceland,
driving around in Moskwitsch or Volga
automobiles and viewing Soviet films
exclusively.
At this time Icelanders gazed envi-
ously at the Keflavík base where sol-
diers had access to various consumer
goods and beer, which was not allowed
in Iceland until 1989. In the eighties,
the first shopping malls rose in Reyk-
javík, and Iceland finally became a fully
fledged consumer society. Soon you
had soldiers on leave coming to Reykja-
vík, eyeing things in shops they couldn’t
afford to buy. The allure of the base was
gone, and when the Cold War finally
ended, it didn’t really arouse any pas-
sion. The Americans left in 2006—that
was the end of an area.
Many old friends of America were
very hurt by them leaving—and some
members of the conservative Indepen-
dence Party, notably ex-Prime Minister
Davíð Oddsson, tried hard to get them
to stay. Their ultimate reaction was a
mixture of anger and dismay, which
became clear during the collapse of
the Icelandic economy in 2008. Davíð,
who had become governor of the Cen-
tral Bank, announced that the Russian
government had offered a huge loan to
rescue the economy. This loan would
have made Iceland very beholden to the
Russians—and many were reminded of
famous words spoken by one of writer
Halldór Laxness’s heroines who was
betrayed by her lover and marries a fa-
mous drunkard: “Rather the worst then
the second best!”
LONDON BECOMES A SECOND
CAPITAL
The second half of the 1990s ushered
in what could be called ‘the British age.’
Well, Icelanders have long been keen
on British music and football, but dur-
ing this period London really started
seeming like it was Iceland’s second
capital. Icelandic businessmen started
flocking to the UK, picking up all the
tricks of casino capitalism, takeovers
and leveraging. Many of them settled in
London and started buying companies
like there was no tomorrow. For a while
it was said that Icelanders were buying
up the high streets of the UK. These
high flyers started living like no Icelan-
dic businessmen had done before, trav-
eling in private jets and keeping yachts
in the Caribbean. Before it had always
been considered bad form in Iceland to
flaunt your wealth.
But times had changed, the new
business Vikings were actually ad-
mired. A 2004 poll showed that the
person most Icelanders wanted re-
semble was the billionaire Björgólfur
Thor Björgólfsson. He still lives in Lon-
don and does most of his business in
Eastern Europe, but now he is almost
universally despised in Iceland for he
is seen as one of the men who bank-
rupted the country in the crash of 2008.

Iceland | Analysis
ICELAND AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
“Copenhagen used to be the second capital of
Iceland. Up to World War II, almost every
Icelander who sought a higher education
studied there.”
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.
Part 1 – From colonial times to the present
Words
Egill Helgason
Photography
Inga María Brynjarsdóttir