Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Síða 12

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It comes and goes, the rage against The
Machine. Every so often it boils over,
causing an uproar of surprise and dis-
may about the blatant abuse of power by
society’s purported watchdogs. Swine,
slaves, cops. Call them what you will, but
rest assured that it won't be long until an-
other video of Iceland’s finest strangling
a teenager or pepper spraying reporters
stirs grunts and growls in the otherwise
peaceful dorm-halls of Icelandic journal-
ism and debate.
The outcome is a wave of opinion col-
umns where the political left shares its de-
lusional views on proper police work. The
week after, it yawns economics, confirm-
ing the painful fact that debate in Iceland
mostly serves as recreation for the com-
mentators.
The most recent example of this is
the reaction to a video that shows a po-
liceman in downtown Reykjavík brutally
arresting a lady so shitfaced that she can
hardly stand. He is currently undergoing
investigation, while a softball version of
the 'rotten apple' game is played in the
media. Instead of shunning institutions
and waiting for 'a few rotten apples' to
come rolling back, the Icelandic left as-
sumes rottenness in this particular indi-
vidual and waits for the state to deny it.
The fuss
Shit happens and people get all worked
up. Yet it should come as no surprise. It
happens like this and worse than this. All
over, all the time.
Sure, the arrest was unnecessary
and undignified, but what gets me is the
amazed and confused pitch of the dis-
cussion. The seemingly genuine surprise
at the fact that heavy-handed officers
sometimes make the law up as they go.
In recent years we've learned of mass
deportations, surveillance, torture and
sexual offences; illegal actions executed
and (sometimes) initiated by this band of
pesky authoritarians. It's not cool, but by
now it ought to be expected.
The flip side
I've covered the reaction of the left. The re-
actionary left. But the right has a voice too.
If you bother the police, they should
arrest you, it claims. If the law states
otherwise, their reactions are still un-
derstandable and should be tolerated.
American cops are much harsher. Polic-
ing is stressful and unappreciated work.
Fuck-ups result from cutbacks. The police
needs more money. And more weapons.
Convincing. Still, most of the piglet’s su-
periors have been suspiciously hesitant to
defend him. Some cops have even written
to the media and condemned his actions.
This breach of unity within the police
force is highly unusual. Be it heavy han-
dling of suspects, losing drugs or money
or the occasional death of people being
held in custody, the cops tend to stick up
for one another. Like any institution they
need to project a credible image.
They need to seem reliable, sober and
just, but most importantly the guys with
the batons need to seem sympathetic. They
must appear presentable and yes, cuddly.
One such cop is Gísli Jökull Gíslason.
The good cop
Small and mild mannered, Gísli emits
the friendliness essential to this image.
Unlike many cops, he's difficult to put
off balance and if he indeed suffers from
the megalomania common to most in his
line of work, he takes good care to hide it.
With his upright posture, stoned eyes and
politely arrogant smirk he reasons with
wasted hoodlums or furious protestors
without giving way or changing his mood.
In 2010 he ran as candidate for the Con-
stitutional Council, despite having, in his
own words, “few radical or fully moulded
views.” He said he was running so he
could be “an active participant in these
dramatic times.”
It is this cocktail of presentability,
mindless acceptance and voluntary par-
ticipation that lead me to classify him as
'a dangerous man.’
The bad cop ain’t that bad
Being able to articulate his thoughts
without casting disgrace on his office,
Gísli wrote an article in Fréttablaðið in
defence of the officer who appears in the
video (July 11). Reeking of objectivity, he
notes the high tolerance that the Icelandic
police usually show, before stating that
the video doesn't reveal every side of the
event. Then he explains how the action
mostly follows a standard Norwegian ar-
rest method, and credits the officer for his
directness. In closing, he mentions that
street cops risk getting injured or taken
to court for trying to do a good job and
urges us not to blow things out of propor-
tion when we judge others.
Good lad! Aiding his pal while pro-
moting sympathy for the police at large.
The good cop steps in to pacify a crowd
infuriated by the bad cop, and his calm,
humanistic approach damn near covers up
the fact that he isn't the least bit apologetic.
They do this all the time, playing good
cop/bad cop. As if extracting a convic-
tion, they play our full emotional scales
like a keyboard. In exercising and defend-
ing their authority they appear like the
inverse/antithesis, but every action and
every word reflects the same conservative
ideology. Their diplomacy and aggrava-
tion both serve the same institution, the
same set of social values. The Yin and
Yang of state dominion.
'All Coppers are Basterds'
An old hooligan hymn warns against cops
like Gísli in the language of unrepresent-
ed minorities: “All Coppers are Basterds.”
Although this poesy may sound a little
dualistic and judgmental, it's worth con-
sidering its full meaning: the resonating
anger towards the willing participants of
this blood-ridden power structure.
To be a cop is to denounce responsi-
bility for your most ethically questionable
actions and act out the most authoritarian
ideas of society; to align with the perpe-
trators of history and against its victims;
to monitor and control other people’s
behaviour while taking an indisputable
stance with nationalism, observation-
society, bureaucracy and hegemony.
Trust in the police amounts to an ab-
surd faith in 'the social contract' and con-
tentment with heavy losses of individual
autonomy. Those shaken by police brutal-
ity would do well to consider the sanity
of employing armed overseers. We must
recognise the horrors of authoritarianism
and question the motives of those who
defend it. Human dignity is threatened,
not so much by brutish oafs as their slick,
idealist counterparts.
We must never trust the cops.
Especially the nice ones.
Like many capital area residents, I depend
on the bus for my daily travels. And like
many who use the bus, I find the service
sorely lacking. Fares increase, service de-
creases, and the website is, at this point,
infamous for being one of the most mad-
deningly unnavigable Icelandic websites.
However, I don’t think the situation is in-
tractable. The bus service just needs to be
collectivised.
A lot of people aren’t aware that the
capital area bus company, Strætó bs., is
actually a private company. They have
contracts with Reykjavík and surround-
ing municipalities, but they are a private
company, with all that comes with it—an
interest in maintaining a profit and mak-
ing budget cuts from the bottom up—ex-
cept for the usual headache of having to
face any competition from other compa-
nies in the same industry.
To those who are accustomed to their
mass transportation being a public service,
the idea of a private mass transportation
service might seem absurd. And they’d be
right, it totally is. To rectify this situation, I
propose a few changes that would be to the
benefit not just of those who use the bus,
but also of car drivers, too.
1. Make public transportation
truly public
In other words, eliminate individual bus
fares and subsidise the operation through
taxes alone. I’m sure a lot of car drivers
would balk at the idea, but they would
in fact stand to benefit. Bus service in
Akureyri has been free for years now.
The result they saw when they made the
change was a huge spike in people using
the bus, which has undoubtedly reduced
car traffic, allowing for faster travel
times. Furthermore, fewer cars means
less wear and tear on roads, resulting in
lower costs for road maintenance.
For those who ask why everyone
should pay for a service only a fraction
of people use, I would ask that we remem-
ber that a socially-minded society pays
collectively into all kinds of services that
only a fraction of the population will use
at any given time: unemployment insur-
ance, maternity pay, disability and so
on. We do this because it benefits us all
to have these services available to us all.
Mass transportation should be no differ-
ent.
2. Make public transportation
accountable
Ideally, the committee that runs the
planning and scheduling for the bus ser-
vice should be an elected position. Say,
a seven-person committee, where each
member serves four years at a time. They
must convince the people they hope to
serve why they should be elected, and
they should be able to be voted out if
they don’t live up to expectations. Which
brings me to …
3. Make public transportation
transparent
I envision a website where the general
public can submit their own questions,
suggestions and complaints. These are
posted publicly, as are responses from
committee members. Furthermore, the
committee would post their own propos-
als, with input from the public.
I believe the result of collectivising
the bus would not only be reduced road
wear, reduced air pollution and decreased
travel times; it would mean a cheaper bus
service that more people use, serving both
transparently and with accountability.
There is absolutely no reason why a mu-
nicipal area of just over 100,000 couldn’t
do this, especially as the alternative is
either more car traffic, or a continuation
of the broken, limping machine that is the
capital area bus service today.
Haukur Hilmarsson works part time
for the social services in Reykjavík
Paul Fontaine has been writing for the
Reykjavik Grapevine since issue two, 2003
Especially The Nice Ones
Collectivise The Bus!
Reflections on police brutality and public discourse
12The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 11 — 2013