Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.06.2014, Blaðsíða 8

Iceland | For Dummies
Alternative modes
of transportation
continue to be a hot
topic, and we may
very well see some
big developments in carless travel in
the near future. For one, the town of
Reykjanesbær’s Environment and
Planning Department has applied
to construct a bike path to the
Keflavík airport, about five kilome-
tres away. This path is hoped to im-
prove commuting options for the 750
Reykjanesbær residents who work at
the airport, as well as “tourists who
increasingly opt to cycle from the air-
port, down Reykjanesbraut and on to
Reykjavík.”
More locally (but perhaps less
practically), Reykjavík resident
Eysteinn Þ. Yngvason applied to
operate a fifty-seat train alongside
the Reykjavík harbour. The train
would run at walking speed and stop at
various points around the old harbour.
If the application is successful, the
train could be running by early June.
Also on the move was Sigríður
Sörensdóttir, who opted to take a
four-day horse trip rather than be
forced to celebrate her 90th birth-
day. “I decided to go on this trip so I
wouldn’t have to throw a party or par-
ticipate in all that birthday hassle,” she
told reporters, noting that she also has
a ten-day riding trip planned for July.
Guðríður Guðbrandsdóttir, who
turned 108 last month, was
also reflective on her own birth-
day, saying that the biggest change
she’s experienced since her birth in
1906 was the introduction of electric-
ity, and that the worst part of growing
old was seeing her friends, 10 siblings
and three children pass away. How-
ever, being only one of four Icelanders
(all women) to reach 108, Guðríður did
have some tips on how to live a long
life: be cheerful and easy-going.
Elsewhere, the Pig Farmer’s Society
of Iceland came under fire for il-
legal practices this month, namely
for castrating pigs without the use
of anaesthetic. The Animal Protec-
tion Association of Iceland called for
a boycott of Icelandic pork until the
practice was abolished and, follow-
ing a public outcry, the association
issued a statement that it would
immediately adopt more humane
methods, using local or general an-
— Continued —
8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07 — 2014
Oh, you heard ab-out it? It seems like a lot of people did not. Turnout was at an historic low for all mu-nicipal elections
around Iceland, including Reykja-
vík. Since 2002, the population of the
city proper has grown from 110,000 to
120,000. At the same time total votes
cast have gone from 69,000 to 57,000.
Nationwide only 66 percent of eligible
voters cast their ballot, which is the low-
est electoral participation in 60 years.
That doesn't sound so bad, that's
almost as many as the votes cast
in the Eurovision Song Contest
every year.
Reykjavík gave its douze points to the
Social Democratic Alliance and its
top dog, the genial, floppy-haired Da-
gur B. Eggertsson. For the first time,
the Social Democrats got the most
votes of any party in the city, with five
out of fifteen members on the City
Council. Three other parties who are,
generally speaking, on the left, also
received enough votes to get candi-
dates on the council, Bright Future
got two and the Left-Greens and the
Pirate Party one each, and these par-
ties will likely form the new majority
coalition. All in all, it was a great day
for the left.
If I know my left-wingers right
they've found a turd lining on
that happy cloud.
Yes, the 10 percent received by the Pro-
gressive Party. Traditionally they have
been strongest in the countryside, and
did not manage to get any candidates
into Reykjavík’s city council last time
around. So they went from having no
members to having two.
Ah, so they ran a really good,
professional election campaign?
Oh no, not at all. Their initial top can-
didate quit because it looked like the
party would get barely any votes. Then
they were going to draft in an old par-
liamentarian and minister whose post-
political career was to be a spokesman
for agricultural products and tell lewd
jokes at business shindigs. He decided
not to run the night before he was to be
formally announced, leaving the party
flapping in the wind like a Welcome
Home Daddy balloon when daddy has
decided he likes his other family in
Selfoss better.
But then they found dynamic
new leadership team who con-
nected with the people of their
city?
The person they found to lead their
list, Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdót-
tir, did not actually live in Reykjavík.
She lives in the bordering municipal-
ity of Kópavogur. At first she seemed
like nothing so much as another mile-
stone in the most hapless run for office
that Iceland had ever witnessed. No
one really paid attention to her until
she started to talk about how Mus-
lims should not get to build a mosque
in Reykjavík. She proposed that a
citywide referendum would be held
to decide if a local Muslim congrega-
tion should be allowed to build their
mosque. Freedom of religion does not
mean much if the majority can decide
who is allowed to demonstrate their
faith.
Some people desire power more
than they want to love their
neighbour.
Some members of her party criticised
her. Hreiðar Eiríksson, the person in
fifth place on the party list, withdrew
his support. The chairwoman of the
Progressive Party's parliamentary
caucus, Sigrún Magnúsdóttir, said
that the opinions of Sveinbjörg Birna
did not reflect the views of the party
and went against its tenets. Progres-
sive Party MP and Minister of For-
eign Affairs Gunnar Bragi Sveins-
son reposted Sigrún Magnúsdóttir's
words on his Facebook page. While
these people were a credit to their
party, the Prime Minister and party
leader Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugs-
son declined to comment until after
the election, when, to be fair, he did
say that he thought that Muslims
should be allowed to build a house of
worship in Reykjavík.
Good thing he waited until after
the election or else racists might
have been discouraged by his
words to go vote for his party.
The devil, as they say, is in the de-
tails. The Prime Minister specified
that the mosque would need to fit in
with its surroundings, which is not
the full-throated support for free-
dom of religion that is ideal to hear
from the head of government. This is
even more worrisome in light of an
article written by Guðrún Bryndís
Karlsdóttir, a candidate who lost her
seat on the Progressive Party list in
a reshuffle. According to her one of
the main things discussed during the
run-up to the election was how she
felt about Muslims. One of the ways
her opinion was tested was how she
reacted when one party official made
a dick joke about Muslims. Appar-
ently it was a disappointment when
she did not laugh. Which reminds me
of an old joke. What do you call a rac-
ist Icelandic politician? A dick.
NEWS IN BRIEF
LATE MAY
So What's This City Election
I Keep Hearing About?
Words by Kári Tulinius @Kattullus
Illustration by Inga María Brynjarsdóttir
TEMPL ARASUND 3
BREAKFAST,
LUNCH & DINNER
Continues over