Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2014, Blaðsíða 20

20 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 06 — 2014
Drunk At Work
Wow. That’s a confident way of put-
ting it. So you feel that being mayor
didn’t alter your beliefs in any way?
Doesn’t the cliché state that people
enter politics full of fire and ideas
and ambition to serve the public—
only to make one concession after the
other, eventually becoming part of
the system they meant to reform?
Well, entering politics is kind of like
taking up drugs. Politics is an environ-
ment of addiction. Becoming a politician
is like moving to Christiania [A Danish
“free state” where Icelandic druggies
have traditionally gone to pursue their
high]. There is a certain culture and
there are certain precedents and certain
models and blueprints and paradigms.
My ambition was always to enter the
druggie neighbourhood and be kind
of the neat, good little boy who doesn’t
drink or smoke and is tidy and polite to
everyone [laughs].
Then, of course, there are two sub-
stances that are very prevalent in poli-
tics. One of them is invisible—that’s
power. And power has a side effect, es-
pecially for men, which is sexual energy.
Power comes intertwined with sexual
energy, it is an aphrodisiac. And then
you have the more visible substance, al-
cohol, which is ubiquitous in politics.
When you combine power, alcohol
and sexual energy, anything can hap-
pen. All bets are off.
The so-called addictive-compulsive
personality is very common in the politi-
cal sphere. There is a lot of alcoholism—
many of our leading politicians are alco-
holics. This isn’t confined to Icelandic
politics; alcoholism is endemic in leader
types.
Obviously, it would be preferable if
those people had already tackled their
demons, resolved their problems, be-
fore assuming a position of leadership.
I believe there should be a precondi-
tion for politicians, just as there’s one
for athletes and even folks applying for
random jobs. Those who want to run
for office should be made to take vari-
ous personality tests, and those who
are active alcoholics should be dis-
qualified.
Are you saying our politicians are
literally drunk at work, or that
their condition just clouds their
judgement in general?
Yes, a lot of them are drunk at
work. Or hung-over, not at their best.
Or under the influence of something
or other. And yes, it obviously clouds
the judgement.
You’re saying you’ve witnessed this
during your time in politics?
Yes. Yes. This is very prevalent in
politics.
Did this come as a surprise?
It did. I didn’t expect it to this ex-
tent. But it quickly became apparent.
It’s interesting to note that a lot of
us in the Best Party are former users
or alcoholics. The people in our group
mostly range from all-out straight
edgers to abstainers to moderation-
ists. When we were starting out in
politics, people would sometimes ask,
“how are you going to get to know peo-
ple if you don’t even drink?”
12 Steps To
Democracy
You’ve said that you modelled the
party after AA...
Yes. I really like the philosophy be-
hind AA. It’s very unique; it’s really
a lifestyle of sorts that the members
adopt. And it seems to work. You never
hear anything about
a scandal connected
to AA. The organisa-
tion receives dona-
tions and handles
money, but you nev-
er hear about a char-
ter somewhere that
was misappropriat-
ing funds or any-
thing of the sort...
that type of thing
doesn’t seem to
happen in AA. This
indicates that the
programme and the
organisation work,
that it’s healthy.
The Best Party is
built like a 12-step
prog ra m me —you
could call it a po-
litical 12-step pro-
gramme, or a 12-step
programme for de-
mocracy. I think this
is one of the reasons
why the Best Party
works better than
your average protest
party or joke party.
Those parties don’t
work. They have no
ideology to build
on, no philosophy to
ground them. Their
basis is often an
emotion, like rage,
or plain tomfoolery.
And you guys build on an ideology, a
philosophy? What is it, then?
Well, our ideology is grounded in
our admitting our powerlessness over
democracy, that we need help from
a greater power to change it [intense
laughter].
In this surrender, in this humility,
lies a hidden power that we can build
on.
In that light, some of the AA tenets—
like admitting that you can’t handle
your life, that you need the help of
good people and a higher power to
manage it—bring to mind your re-
sponse when you were first seriously
interrogated by Kastljós [respected
news magazine show] as mayor. You
admitted that you didn’t know the
answer to a specific question, that
you would have to look into that,
which is very unorthodox for an of-
ficial.
That was in line with my beliefs, yes.
Still, as I left the interview, I felt like I
had been humiliated, that I was an idiot.
I thought, “what are you doing, wading
into something you have no idea about.
You know nothing!” After that, howev-
er, people would approach me in Bónus
and at the pool, patting me on the shoul-
der and thanking me, saying they had
never seen anything like it, that it felt
refreshingly honest.
Why should people vote
for your party? Why
should your leader become
the next mayor? How will
your leader be different
from Jón Gnarr?
The main difference be-
tween Þorvaldur Þor-
valdsson and Jón Gnarr is
that Þorvaldur is a socialist and Jón
Gnarr is not. If Þorvaldur were mayor, he
would champion the interests of the pub-
lic in general and the poor in particular.
For a bourgeois politician Jón Gnarr has
been a good mayor in many respects, es-
pecially in promoting peace and human
rights. His main deficiency is that he has
relied too much on "experts" and his so-
cial democratic partners, which has led
him to make mistakes such as with the
school reform.
Because we are a well-educated
and strong group of people who
are willing to give our time, en-
ergy and enthusiasm to the inhabitants of
Reykjavík. We are proud to have four
women in the top four places on our list.
Our mayor should become the next lead-
er because she has a well-grounded
knowledge of the city’s affairs. She can
lead the city and she will. She is different
from Jón Gnarr in many ways. Get to
know her on Facebook.
A vote for the Pirates is not just a
vote for the current candidates
but for a unique ideology and le-
gions of dedicated volunteers in Iceland
and around the world. It's a vote to em-
power the people, not the current power
structure. Pirates utilize transparency to
ensure checks and balances, providing
the public with the tools to examine all
decisions made by elected representa-
tives. Pirates have a flat structure and
while they respect expertise, political de-
cisions are taken on an equal basis. One
might say that it is not in the Pirate char-
acter to flock towards 'strong leaders' and
we have not given much thought as to
who would be the next mayor. We believe
the voters of Reykjavík should be given
an option to choose between qualified
candidates, but mostly we want to spark
discussion about, and define the role and
responsibilities of the mayor, and how he
or she should be chosen.
Jón Gnarr is a comedian, actor,
playwright and novelist who, in
2009, formed the satirical politi-
cal party Besti Flókkurinn (The
Best Party) to run in the 2010
municipal elections.
Winning 34.7% of the vote, The
Best Party gained six out of 15
seats on the city council, with
Jón becoming the 20th mayor of
Reykjavík.
INFO
“I am not a strong, mas-
culine problem solver.
In fact, I strive not to
be one. I believe strong
masculine problem
solvers have caused a
lot of damage through
the years, and I am
proud to be thought of
as the opposite.”