Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.11.2015, Blaðsíða 8

Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.11.2015, Blaðsíða 8
Garðabær location. In the past, ar- sonists have more often than not set the goat aflame, when our robust winds haven’t torn it to pieces. Tak- ing no chances, IKEA set up an elec- trical fence and CCTV around the goat… only for the goat to set itself on fire, most likely through faulty wir- ing in string lights festooned around the creature. Who could’ve predict- ed that stringing electrical wiring around a giant pile of straw would result in a fire? Are you a Belieber? Chances are, then, that you’ve seen Justin Bieber’s video, shot in Iceland. The video, for the song “I’ll Show You,” shows Bieber gallivanting and cavort- ing around the country. Most notably, it seems he also tromped through some naturally protected areas— some of which are covered with frag- ile moss that takes decades to grow— before taking a swim in the waters of Jökulsárlón. Tourism industry workers in Iceland were none too pleased with the example the young pop star set, and said so. We’re just lucky Bieber’s video didn’t also show him doing donuts in a Land Rover and offroading, which is also frowned upon in Iceland. Björk has once again spoken out to protect Iceland’s wilderness. In particular, she recently held a press conference with author Andri Snær Magnason, wherein the two outlined government plans to develop the highlands for power cables and hy- droelectric dams. Her call to action to prevent this from happening made in- ternational headlines—and also drew the attention of Minister of Indus- try Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, who contends that Björk has it all wrong. There are only plans to develop the Highlands, the minister said, and those plans haven’t been approved, yet. Right. Maybe not the slam-dunk retort Ragnheiður was shooting for. Lastly, the police questioned and then released two men accused of raping and torturing at least two women. These two guys subsequently left the country. The outrage this sparked, exacerbated by stonewalling from the police, culminated in a mas- sive demonstration in front of Reyk- javík police HQ by Hlemmur. The lawyer for the accused, Vilhjálmur H. Vilhjálmsson (a guy who recently noted that the media spends too much time covering sex crimes), denies the allegations, has filed countercharges of false accusation against the two women, and is planning to sue not only newspaper Fréttablaðið, for covering the story, but also every person on social media who shared the names and faces of the accused. Where this case goes from here is anyone’s guess, but we’ll keep you posted. NEWS IN BRIEF I C E L A N D 4 D U M M I E S 8 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 17 — 2015 Politics | Bright?Brand ng | Nation This call for solidarity instantly caught international attention: “Icelanders Use Facebook to Open Door to Refu- gees,” claimed the New York Times, while Time.com headlined: “Thou- sands of Icelanders Have Volunteered to Take Syrian Refugees Into Their Homes.” While the country's centre- right government gratefully accepted the campaign's value for nation-brand- ing, looking good does not necessitate doing good. The number of refugees to receive protection in Iceland this year remains between fifty and one hun- dred persons. Public relations Geographically, Iceland is remote from Europe's southern borders. Politically, it is not. “Fifty refugees?” people asked when late summer's impossible im- ages appeared. Children by the shore, drowned. A truck in the alps, filled with corpses, suffocated. Is asylum for fifty people really the most we can provide? On August 30, Welfare Min- ister Eygló declared her joy over peo- ple's solidarity with refugees, calling it “strong support for the Government's refugee policies.” “What will the gov- ernment do, then?” pressed the radio host. The minister equivocated: “The matter is under review.” Right. What will that mean, materially? “For this to work out and work well, we need help,” said the Minister. “I want to encour- age those thousands of people to step forward, contact us, at the Ministry of Welfare or the Red Cross, and ask what they can do to help.” In response to the minister's open call, author Bryndís Björgvinsdót- tir created the Facebook event cited above. Within a day, Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson re- sponded. Many Icelanders want to accept more refugees, interviewers pointed out—what is your perspective? The Minister sounded viscerally ill at ease at such questions, and spoke at length about the enormity of the chal- lenge, before replying that he intended to swiftly… “form a ministerial com- mittee.” The following night, three-year-old Aylan Kurdi's family made the journey which ended as an icon of our evil, an image that will continue to haunt us. The boy's dead body was found by Turkey's shore on the morning of September 2. The subsequent wave of sorrow may have fuelled the demand for any sign of hope. In any case, the good news from Ice- land spread through headlines like wildfire: 10,000 Icelanders of- fer to house Syrian refu- gees after a u t h o r ' s call, 10,000 Heroes Open Their Homes to Syrian Ref- ugees, and so on. The company you keep A few days later, PM Sigmundur Davíð began his an- nual policy statement by m e n t i o n i n g the refugee crisis. Syr- ian refugees remind us, he said, “how grateful we can be for the life which our good and peaceful society has given us, so far away from the world's field of mas- sacres.” Through the 20th century, however, Iceland rarely proved too far away from massacres to partake in their profits. The first significant ex- ample may be when Iceland opted out of the interwar League of Nations, in order to maintain fish exports to Italy, at the time under sanctions for war crimes in Ethiopia. Mussolini showed his appreciation by personally signing the two countries' trade agreement. More significant in the current context, however, is Iceland's ap- proach to refugees before and during World War II. Hermann Jónasson, Sigmundur Davíð’s precursor as both Prime Minister and leader of the Pro- gressive Party, refused entry to any Jewish refugees “on principle.” When Icelandic families sought to foster ten Austrian Jewish children through the war, Hermann proved principled enough to reject their applications for permits. Why? At the time, Germany was a major importer of Iceland's fish, the country's main export product. Economics may not, however, fully explain the Minister's choice of prin- ciples. Only after the war did Iceland's parliament learn that in July 1939, Hermann had sent the 24-year-old Agnar Kofoed-Hansen to Berlin, for police training. The young air captain was greeted as “Heinrich Himmler's personal guest,” then studied for 40 days with Police chief Kurt Dalüge, who was later tried and hanged for war crimes. Bypassing Agnar Kofoed-Hansen's lack of academic credentials, Her- mann appointed him as Police Chief in January of 1940. When the Brit- ish army occupied Iceland that April, they saw reason to disarm Agnar's paramilitary forces. As Police Chief, however, he remained in office until 1947. Among his duties was the estab- lishment and organization of Iceland's first immigration office. In 2002, the institute's mandate and name were al- tered, but to this day the Directorate of Immigration processes all applications for residence permits and asylum. "No coloured troops" The current relevance of Agnar Kofoed-Hansen's Nazi in- ternship remains un- clear. On the one hand, the actual reasoning be- hind Agnar's training in Germany has never come to light. His report from the journey has not been made public, and Prime Minis- ter Hermann Jónas- son seems to have easily evaded all relevant questions. On the other hand, Iceland's immigration policies remain obscure. No Icelandic government has ever declared an of- ficial immi- gration policy. Some patterns may, however, be deciphered through au- thorities' ac- tual practices. In 1941, as American forces replaced the British oc- cupiers, Ice- land made eight official requirements of the newcomers. Stipulation number four in the two countries' agreement was that only “select soldiers” would be deployed to Iceland. Prime Minis- ter Hermann Jónasson clarified the euphemism to a concerned Alþingi: “Due to internal affairs in the USA, it was not considered proper to state this explicitly in the agreement, but we have made it clear to the parties involved that what was meant is that no coloured troops shall be deployed here.” At the establishment of a perma- nent NATO air base in Keflavík in 1951, Iceland reiterated the demand. Whenever the racist policy was pub- licly criticized in the US, however, Icelandic media not only downplayed the criticism but actually denied that the well-documented policy existed. “No racial discrimination in Kefla- vík,” headlined the social-democratic daily Alþýðublaðið as late as 1964, in response to a mention of the policy in an American academic publication. As refutation, the newspaper pointed out that “there are now two negroes” at the Keflavík air base. Little data is available on Iceland's exclusionary policies, but anecdotes run endless. Lest anyone think Ice- land's exclusion of minorities is lim- ited to African-Americans or a bygone era, consider what transpired when twenty-one Romanians of Roma eth- nicity ventured to Iceland in 2007. As members of the Schengen area, the Romanians were by then officially free to travel and stay in the country. None of them were known to have broken any law. Unable to officially deport the group, then, police officers instead slandered the newcomers in the media —“it is well known that criminality follows these kinds of people,” and so on— until hotels collectively refused to accommodate them. Within a week of their arrival, all the Romanians had accepted return flight tickets, “of- fered” to them by the Police, according to whom the group thereby “voluntari- ly” left the country. This extra-legal process received little critical media coverage. It has been repeated since. There are no Roma communities in Iceland. In a twisted variety of egalitarian- ism, Iceland discriminates against all ethnic minority groups equally. Dependencies Icelandic had no word for the Holo- caust until an eponymous American TV series needed translation in 1980. For decades, Icelanders spoke of World War II as “the blessed war”: occupying forces brought about a swift process of modernization. Without any ruined cities or fallen soldiers, Iceland then received the greatest amount of post- war Marshall aid, per capita, followed by the permanent air base in Keflavík. Beyond the country's first rural road system, provided by the Brits, and the first international airport, provided by the US, the air base gave Iceland lever- age to make high demands throughout the Cold War. Threats of closing the fa- cility or exiting NATO secured victory against the Royal British Navy in the so-called Cod Wars, through which Iceland extended its exclusive fishing grounds from four nautical miles to an eventual 200 nautical mile radius. In return, Iceland ardently supported US military ventures through Korea, Viet- nam, Afghanistan—and Iraq. At the end of the Cold War, the future of the Keflavík base became uncertain. To gain the Bush adminis- tration's favour and keep the base, Ice- land signed up to the 2003 “coalition of the willing.” In July of 2004, Prime Minister Davíð Oddsson visited the White House to further deter US au- thorities from leaving. In a subsequent joint press conference, Davíð claimed that the “future of Iraq and the world is much better” due to the US inva- sion, adding: “There is hope now, there was no hope before.” Then, along with journalists, Davíð sang happy birthday to the president. Regardless, in 2006 the base shut down. Davíð Oddsson may have been more cunningly realist than delu- Paint An Open Gate On This Wall! In a single day at the end of August, ten thousand Iceland- ers, three percent of the country's minuscule population, signed up to the Facebook event “Dear Eygló Harðar – Syria Calling.” Addressed to Welfare Minister Eygló Harðardót- tir, the online event was created to show—and demand— Iceland's support to Syrian refugees. Signatories offered hosting, language lessons, legal aid etc. Words by ............................................ Haukur Már Helgason Illustration by .......................................... Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir Continues on p. 12 “While the country's centre-right govern- ment gratefully accepted the campaign's value for nation-branding, looking good does not necessitate doing good. The number of refugees to receive protec- tion in Iceland this year remains between fifty and one hundred persons.”
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