Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.03.2014, Blaðsíða 15

15 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 3 — 2014
“It is three, four, five times as much
work for a woman to be in an official
position than it is for a man.”
I was not dreaming. I was working,
travelling all over the country meeting
people. So many people, not the least men,
wanted me to run. People knocked on my
door at the theatre and said, "you have to
do this." So I yielded. I wanted to prove
that a woman could campaign. Two of us
[Guðlaugur Þorvaldsson, State Arbitrator]
alternated being ahead in the polls and it
so happened that I won with a narrow mar-
gin [33,8% versus 32.3%]. Typical woman,
I actually felt bad for my opponent—he
was a nice man and would have been a
good president. There were times when I
thought the margin was too narrow, but
now I realise that I can be proud of that.
I’m also very proud of my Icelanders for
having had the guts to vote a woman into
the office—for daring to be the first in the
world to do so.
When you were running, did you realise
that you could be the first in the world?
No, I didn’t think of it. I knew of strong
women—Golda Meir [fourth prime min-
ister of Israel] and Indira Gandhi [third
prime minister of India]—but they weren’t
presidents or elected in a general election.
Theatre Director
Becomes President
Was there anything in your background
that prepared you to be president? Was
being a theatre director helpful?

I think being a theatre director was very
good preparation, that and having studied
the humanities and being a literary per-
son. From morning when the rehearsals
start until night when the curtain falls,
theatre involves analysing humanity—the
human being versus society, society versus
the human being, love and jealousy, how
people manage to live together—all the as-
pects of life. This leads me to the question:
What is a presidency about?
That’s a good question actually. What is
the presidency about?

It’s about human beings. It’s about
understanding and being sensitive to how
people think and feel. I didn’t think of
myself as a political figure. It’s clear to me,
as I understand the Constitution, the presi-
dent—which is a non-partisan post—del-
egates executive power to the government.
I understand my people—I understand the
Icelanders, their way of thinking.
What is the Icelandic way of thinking?
Can you describe it or is it a difficult
thing to get at and more just something
that you sense?
The Icelandic way of thinking is very
linked to nature. Icelanders have to get the
hay into the barn before it starts to rain.
They have to catch the cod before it swims
past the coast. So they have to get things
done and they are impatient and they are
stubborn and stick very stubbornly to what
they think is the truth.
Icelanders are not trained in the
art of discussion because they don’t
have philosophy in their heritage. The
Nordics—except for the Danes who have
Kierkegaard—don’t have philosophers. Say
you’re with six French friends and nobody
agrees—the arguments are very intellectu-
al: ‘Remember what Pascal said,’ someone
will say. ‘No, you can’t say that because
Schopenhauer…’ another will say. They
can always refer to ideas. We don’t refer
to ideas and so our discourse can become
very harsh. Do you think there is truth in
that? [she laughs]
Absolutely. I think that’s probably a
good description of what’s going on
today.
This is a shortcoming that can harm
us as an entity—because we are so few
it is extremely important that we stand
together and that we do not have feuds in
our society.
Being A President
Above Politics
Feuds seem to be a hallmark of Icelan-
dic society today. The government is
bickering back and forth about the EU.
Icelanders are protesting at Austurvöl-
lur. If you were president today, how
would you address this?

It is very sad that people cannot find a way
to work through their disagreements. I
would try to encourage my people to stop
arguing. I would always encourage the
nation to concentrate on what is worth
safeguarding in this country: identity, lan-
guage—memories that are stored in the
language—and not least, nature. I think
that we have to take great care of the real
treasure that is our nature. Safeguarding
Icelandic nature is a huge responsibility.
I ask because one of the reasons that
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson gave for decid-
ing to seek re-election had to do with
the fact that times were uncertain.
There were so many big questions facing
the nation, such as the EU.
Do you really believe that?
Of course one could argue that he’s
been a divisive figure. I’m not sure if
whatever he’s doing counts as acting as
a unifier.
I would not mix politics with the presi-
dency.
You were politically active, speaking out
against NATO in Iceland for example,
before becoming president.
Yes, I’m a pacifist.
…But you never felt that you should be
more political in office?
Absolutely not. The president is voted for
in a general election as a non-partisan
figure. In my time, the people chose me
to be a spokesperson for this country—to
represent our identity—and they realised
at the time that I could speak to the world
as a woman.
In 1993, 34,000 people signed a peti-
tion protesting the government’s plan
to join the EEA. As a representative of
the people, did you ever consider using
article 26 [the president’s power to re-
fuse to sign a bill into law and thereby
refer it to a referendum]?
I thought because the bill had been put
forth by parliament that I should sign
it into law or resign if I were against
it. I had meetings in this very room
with scholars and specialists, and we
discussed it from all sides. It was a tre-
mendous responsibility, and I considered
resigning because I thought I had been
asked too much as an apolitical figure.
When I signed it, I explained that this
had never been done before in the his-
tory of the republic and I preferred not
to take that step. After all these years, I
think it was wise.
You’ve said people were upset after-
wards, that they stopped greeting you
on the street.
Yes, it was a sensitive issue for a while
and I felt it because I knew exactly who
wanted me to do it. Who told you all of
this?
Actually [current president] Ólafur
Ragnar Grímsson mentioned it when
I interviewed him before the last
election. He said that every president
had done something that made them
temporarily unpopular, and he brought
this up as an example.
Well, he has taken this up as his morn-
ing bread.
I know you mentioned you didn’t want
to talk about politics, but if it’s not out
of bounds I wonder what you think
about the last election results and the
implications they have for the chang-
ing role of the president.
I’m not a judge of the opinion of my
people. Sometimes I understand them so
well, but sometimes I do not understand
them. Let’s put it this way: politically, I
do not always understand them.
I would never say anything negative
about my successor, but that doesn’t
mean that I am a “yes woman.” I’ve nev-
er been that. I have very strong opinions,
but I don’t air them. If I disagree with
something I would never say it, because
I care for my people. I care more for
whatever opinion they have—it’s strange
to say it—I don’t think there are many
that they can count on to be neutral.
Nobody can say who was right or wrong
until history analyses it.
Tell me more about what you wanted
to accomplish as president. Looking
back, what are you most proud of?
I think those were good years for the
Icelanders. I promoted the country. I
was the first president to adopt that
role because I became so well known
after being elected. It was extraordi-
nary. I was invited all over the world
because—I would joke about it—the
world wanted to see what kind of phe-
nomenon this was: a woman president.
It was so alien. I was like an alien.
I helped Icelanders understand the
importance of safeguarding nature.
It was a symbolic thing to start tree
planting and I really encouraged that.
Safeguarding nature—binding the land
and making Iceland greener—was one
of my emphases, and I’m very proud of
that. This country is blowing out to sea,
and we have to reclaim it.
I also promoted intellectual life, the
culture of the country and language,
which is our national treasure. The
land—our nature—and language,
those are our national treasures. They
are what makes us a nation.
Language is your main focus today?
Today I focus on the [Vigdís Finnbo-
gadóttir] Institute of Foreign Languages
under the auspices of UNESCO