Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.08.2014, Blaðsíða 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Editor:
Anna Andersen / anna@grapevine.is
Journalist:
Larissa Kyzer / larissa@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Tómas Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
+354 40 3610
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Fred Q. Labelle
Eli Petzold
Elliott Brandsma
Björn Teitsson
Davíð Roach
Gabrielle Motola
Hallgrímur Helgason
Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson
Jonathan Pattishall
Larissa Kyzer
Michael Leonard
Óli Dóri
RX Beckett
Haukur Már Helgason
Varvara Lozenko
Yasmin Nowak

Editorial Interns:
Arnulfo Hermes / arnulfo@grapevine.is
Liam Harrison / liam@grapevine.is
Rebecca Scott Lord / rebecca@grapevine.is
Susanna Lam / susanna@grapevine.is
Tyler Clevenger / tyler@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Design:
Hrefna Sigurðardóttir
Photographers:
Alísa Kalyanova / www. alisakalyanova.com
Matthew Eisman / www.mattheweisman.com
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
Óskar Freyr Pétursson / oskar@grapevine.is
Distribution manager:
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Jim Rice
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submissions inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
Subscription inquiries:
+354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is
General inquiries:
grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken
ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this magazine may be repro-
duced in whole or in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around
Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes,
Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all
major tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the
country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles
in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions
expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
On the Cover: Páll Óskar
Cover by: Börkur Sigþórsson
(www.borkurs.com)
Make-Up: Steinunn Þórðardóttir
Editorial | Anna Andersen Music | Free
To those that don’t understand Icelandic,
“D.R.U.S.L.A.” (which roughly translates
to ‘S.L.U.T.’) may seem just like an upbeat
synth-y song with a hip hop-y vibe and a
few “bitch” shouts. The lyrics, however,
deal with a rather serious topic: slut-sham-
ing and victim-blaming. The message, in
typical Reykjavíkurdætur fashion, is that
it doesn’t matter how you dress, whether
you are wearing makeup or under the influ-
ence, that doesn’t give anyone an excuse to
violate your autonomy. The song then goes
into the fact that people who are raped face
an uphill legal battle in order to get justice,
as there is an impossible burden of proof
on the victim. The solution to all of these
problems, according to the band, is em-
powerment through information. And that
is a nice solution, isn’t it?
“D.R.U.S.L.A.”
Reykjavíkurdætur
Download the FREE track at www.grapevine.
A Growing Divide?
Anna’s 46th Editorial
It’s that time of year again, when everybody is talking
about everybody else’s salary. “Did you see? Grímur
Karl Sæmundsen [CEO of the Blue Lagoon] makes
6.2 million per month [645,000 USD per year],” some-
one will say. “Wow, Davíð Oddsson [Editor of daily
newspaper Morgunblaðið and former Prime Minister
and head of the Central Bank] makes 3,3 million per
month [345,000 USD per year],” another
will say. “Did you see how grossly un-
derrepresented women are amongst
the top earners?”
It might sound strange to
foreign readers, but Icelanders’
salaries come under scrutiny
every July, when income tax data
becomes publicly available. A
publication called Frjáls Verslun,
for instance, has been printing ex-
tensive lists of well-known people and
their salaries for nearly 20 years now. It’s
their annual “Salary issue,” and it reportedly sells like
hotcakes.
While it is uncomfortable for some to have their
high salaries published, it is also undoubtedly embar-
rassing for others to have their low salaries made pub-
lic, and it might have been a case of social justice when
newspaper DV published the salary of Gylfi Ægisson,
a musician known for his opposition to the Gay Pride
parade. “Well Under Average,” the DV headline read.
“Gylfi Ægisson, artist and musician, makes 87.078
ISK [9,000 USD per year].”
This is par for the course. What’s more interesting,
however, is the fact that the numbers seem to betray
a growing income inequality. “The salaries of the top
200 CEOs in the private sector increased on average
by 300,000 ISK per month last year, from 2.3 million
ISK per month to 2.6 million ISK. This is roughly a
13% increase—while the wage index increased by
5.7% from year to year,” according to Heimur, which
publishes the aforementioned Frjáls Verslun.
Reading this, I’m reminded of a recent memo
published in the July/August issue of Politico maga-
zine, in which American entrepreneur Nick Hanauer
warned his “fellow zillionaires” that an uprising was
on the horizon.
“No society can sustain this kind of rising inequal-
ity,” he wrote, referring to the growing divide between
the haves and the have-nots in the States—the gap
between the top 1%, who share roughly 20% of the
national income, and the bottom 50%, who share just
12%. “In fact, there is no example in human history
where wealth accumulated like this and the
pitchforks didn’t eventually come out.
You show me a highly unequal so-
ciety, and I will show you a police
state. Or an uprising. There are no
counterexamples. None. It’s not if,
it’s when.”
Here in Iceland the “the pitch-
forks” actually came, in the form of
the Pots and Pans Revolution, after
the financial collapse in 2008 when
the actions of the top 1% caused the col-
lapse of the economy.
In the decade leading up to the crisis, there was a
growing class divide, with the top 1% sharing nearly
20% of the national income in 2007, not far off from
the 23% share enjoyed by the 1% in the States. “Ice-
land went from having one of the greatest income
equalities amongst Western countries in 1995 to hav-
ing one of the greatest income inequalities amongst
Western countries in 2005-2007,” according to re-
search by Stefán Ólafsson, a professor of sociology at
the University of Iceland.
This great income inequality decreased signifi-
cantly after the crash, with the top 1% enjoying only a
6-7% share of the national income by 2012, bringing
us closer, but not quite back to level of equality that
prevailed before 1995.
This last year, however, it seems Iceland is headed
in reverse and, as Heimur notes, “when you look at
salary increases amongst CEOs and other top execu-
tives at companies, the question arises if everything is
returning to the same madness as before.”
But will all of us, the employees, who took low
wages after the crash so as not to bankrupt our com-
panies, or even the country, as it was sometimes
phrased, sit back this time?
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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2014
What’s The Deal With
Those Crazy Icelandic
Letters Yo?
Here Is Your Kreisí Æcelandic Frase For Þis Issue!
ÞþÆæÖö
æ
ð
þ
We thought we’d explain. We’re ripping the idea off from
the Icelandair magazine. Go read that magazine if you
can. It’s free.
We like spelling things using Icelandic letters like
‘æ’ and ‘þ’ and also those crazy accents over the vowels.
Like Icelandair’s inflight magazine—IcelandairInfo—says,
the Icelandic language can use accents on all of the
vowels, making them look all unique, like this: á, é, í, ó,
ú, ö, ý (the accent also changes the pronounciation of
the letters. The á in “kjáni” sounds quite different from
the a in “asni”, for instance). We also have an additional
three letters. As IcealandairInfo notes:
(often written as ae) is pronounced like
the i in tide.
(often written as d) is pronounced like
the th in there
(often written as th) is pronounced like
the th in think”
“Sæl frú mín góð! Hvar er eiginlega þetta
Bláa lón sem allir eru að tala um?”
(Saah-iihl froo meen goeth! Quarh ehr ay-
yin-lehgha thett-tah Bl-ow-ah lone sehm
ah-dlir eh-ruh aeth tahwla uuhm?)
Greetings, madam! Where can I find this Blue
Lagoon that everyone keeps talking about?