Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2014, Blaðsíða 12

12
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2014
Tell us about your party.
What’s it all about? Does it
have a history? Are you proud
of that history?
Bright Future in Reykjavík is a
descendant of the Best Party,
created four years ago. The Best
Party has changed the face of politics
both in Iceland and internationally. In
2012 it was decided to create a political
wing of the Best Party, which resulted in
Bright Future running for the 2013 par-
liamentary elections. We got six city
council members elected in 2010 and six
MPs in last year's elections. If we get six
council members again, we'll have the
holy number 666.
Dögun (“Dawn”) was founded
in 2008 by people who were
protesting against the govern-
ment following the financial crash. They
felt that the government was not serving
the people justly. The party is about de-
mocracy and justice, and we are very
proud to work with people who have the
same ideals and are ready to do some-
thing about them.
We are The Progressive Party
and also have independent peo-
ple on our list, who are called
the Friends of the Airport. The Progres-
sive Party has a long history in Icelandic
politics, but this is the first time in Reyk-
javík that we united with independent
members. Given our long history, there
are things that we are more proud of
than others.
Samfylkingin is a social demo-
cratic party with roots in a num-
ber of progressive movements that have
shaped Nordic welfare countries over
the past hundred years, including the la-
bour movement and the feminist move-
ment.
The name says it all. Or almost.
The Left-Green movement
rests on three pillars. First of
all, we are proud to trace our roots to the
struggle of labour activists, and radical
leftists who fought for economic justice,
a living wage and decent working condi-
tions during the first decades of the 20th
century and who built the Icelandic wel-
fare society. Today, we are the only truly
left-wing political party in Iceland. We
are equally proud of our roots in the
green movement and our fight to bring
environmentalism to the centre of Ice-
landic political discussion. The third pil-
lar of the movement is feminism, and we
are very proud of being the only party
running for city council that is unapolo-
getically feminist.
What do you admire about the
current city council coalition
and what it accomplished in the
last four years? What do you dis-
like? What will you do better?
The current coalition, and
the mayor in particular,
have made some statements for human
rights and against military visits to
Reykjavík. On the other hand, they have
not defended ordinary people from being
hit by the economic crisis. We will do
that better.
We believe Jón Gnarr has done
some good things. Especially
when it comes to his activism
for gay rights and peace issues.
We have, of course, worked with the ma-
jority to advance those issues we agree
with, while opposing vigorously those
that we disagree with. Unfortunately,
there have been too many issues we dis-
agree with. For example: We think the
current majority has gone too far in
slashing the budgets of day care centres
and other essential services.
Do you support what your
parliamentary counterparts
are doing? Would you be doing
something differently?
No, we do not. They are not
working for the people who
most need it. Iceland’s wages for
working people are too low and many
people can’t make ends meet and don’t
have homes to live in. [Note: Dögun does
not have any MPs in parliament.]
Yes. Yes we would.
Absofuckinglutely do we sup-
port them! We have a great team
in parliament. It's hard to say
whether or not we'd do things differently
since we have never worked there, but the
Pirate codex and core policy are pretty
clear so there's that. It is a humongous un-
dertaking for a small parliamentary group
to even try to be on top of all the issues
they need to be on top of and we're really
proud of how diligent they are, under-
manned like that. The strong support from
the Pirate grassroots community does
help somewhat, but it's still a bucket-load
of work for three people.
Yes, Samfylkingin in parliament
is stressing the need for more
rental flats and a healthier hous-
ing market. The parliament in general
should learn more from the city because
we manage to have a much more peaceful
and reasonable political discourse and cul-
ture.
In what way will citizens be
able to influence policy with
your party in city council?
If we give more power to the
neighbourhood councils, the
people themselves will be able
to vote for the members of the council.
We will also open up the books so every-
body can see where the money goes.
We want the suburbs to elect a
council that will act as an adviso-
ry group to the city council.
What other parties can you
imagine working harmonious-
ly with? Are there any parties
that you will not work with in
a coalition? Why?
We are willing to work
with any party that takes
our views into account. We think the
Sjálfstæðisflokkur (The Independence
Party) is least likely to do so.
We want to work with all par-
ties that want to fight for hu-
man rights and democracy. We
personally have more faith in the new
parties (like the Pirates) than the old
ones, because the old ones have lied to
voters too many times.
What Does Your Party Think
About The Local Rental Mar-
ket?
It is in shambles, basically. We
want to bring real democracy to
the table in this important mat-
ter, as in all others. Working alongside
other citizens, we aim to gather infor-
mation and open it up for scrutinising,
discussing and brainstorming to find
the best actions available for improving
the situation.
It is insecure and unhealthy.
We have introduced extensive
improvements that will help to
combat discrimination against immi-
grants. We are aware that it exists in the
rental market.
The biggest problem is that
not enough plots of land have
been made available [for hous-
ing development] in recent years. This
must change immediately. Increased
land supply will lead to an increase in
available apartments, which will result
in greater competition and lower rent
for consumers.
The local rental market is,
to a large extent, a target
for capital speculation.
That is a big problem for common people
in Reykjavík who can hardly afford to
rent an apartment, as the rent is much
too high.
No Answer
The demand is far more than
the supply, and therefore the
market is very fragile and inse-
cure. It is very high priced and will not
feasibly provide long-term housing ar-
rangements for people.

The rental market is not healthy
and we think it's justifiable for the
city to step in and help make it
healthier. In the last term we worked on
getting the so called "Reykjavíkurhús"
["Reykjavík houses"] project started, in
which the city helps rental companies get
land or a discount on road-making fees,
provided they make flats and rent them
out affordably.
The idea is to collaborate with Félags-
bústaðir hf [a public limited company,
owned by the city of Reykjavík, which
owns, runs and maintains social apart-
ARTISAN BAKERY
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LAUGAVEGUR 36 · 101 REYKJAVIK
What On Earth
Are These People
Talking About?
A crash course in a few of Reyk-
javík’s hot button issues…
The Dublin Regulation is a Eu-
ropean Union law (which Iceland
has also ratified) that is intended to
establish which EU member coun-
try is responsible for reviewing an
asylum application. This law allows
a participating country to return an
asylum applicant to the EU country
that he or she first entered to pro-
cess their case, but it does not ob-
ligate such deportations. Iceland’s
Ministry of the Interior has often
cited this law as justification for
deporting asylum applicants rather
than reviewing their applications.
(Do note that the city's influence on
asylum seeker issues only extends
to what kind of support it offers
them when they are here.)
The Reykjavík domestic airport
was built in the Vatnsmýri area by
occupying British forces during
WWII. For the past two decades,
the city has been working to relo-
cate it, despite a large number of
people wanting to keep it where it
is, particularly out-of-towners. Re-
cently, it was agreed that the airport
would stay in its current location
until at least 2022, while a commit-
tee considers alternative locations
around Reykjavík.
Reykjavík Energy is a municipally
owned utility company that sup-
plies Reykjavík and surrounding
areas with heat, water and electric-
ity. Despite the steady demand for
its services, Reykjavík Energy man-
aged to rack up a 233 billion ISK
debt (2 billion USD), which is nearly
four times the city’s annual budget.
Turning this company around has
been one of the biggest tasks that
The Best Party / Social Democratic
Alliance majority faced when it en-
tered office in 2010.
In 2011, the current administration
embarked on reforms, combining
several schools despite loud pro-
test from the city council minority
and general public. This has freed
up 30 million ISK per year, which
opponents argue is not enough
to warrant the measures, but Jón
Gnarr claims it will have a profound
effect in the future.
Q&A's