Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.11.2015, Blaðsíða 12

tation. The method may not have been
new—but the consequences were. Ar-
dent journalists, led by DV's Jón Bjarki
Magnússon and Jóhann Páll Jóhanns-
son, uncovered the leak, as well as
the Minister's subsequent series of
lies and deceit. After a full year of
stubborn investigative reporting, the
Minister, Hanna Birna Kristjánsdót-
tir, was forced to resign. Never before
have xenophobic governmental prac-
tices had such severe consequences for
a politician's career.
While the country's exclusionary
politics are thus being exposed and
opposed, the underlying xenophobic
attitudes become more explicit. Af-
ter stalling an application for fifteen
years, in autumn 2013 Reykjavík city
authorities finally allocated a plot
of land to Iceland's Muslim Society
for what would be the country's first
mosque. A few weeks later, a bleeding,
severed pig's head was left on the site,
along with a blood-soaked copy of the
Quran.
Any alleged investigation of the
matter was inconclusive. “I see no dif-
ference between this and any other
act of protest,” declared police officer
Benedikt Lund. Case closed.
Iceland's Got Talent
Iceland's tourist industry is booming.
Since 2008, tourism has grown from a
marginal sector of the economy to the
country's largest industry: the turn-
over of one million tourists per year
has now surpassed the value of the
nation’s fish exports. The mercurial
nature of the field, essentially a popu-
larity contest, means appearances are
economically vital. Promote Iceland,
the bureau responsible for co-ordinat-
ed nation-branding since 2010,
recently updated its marketing
guidelines for the whole sector,
defining Iceland's target group
as “the enlightened tourist.” Ac-
cording to the guidelines, the
enlightened tourist has “educa-
tion and income above average,”
wants to “stand out from the
herd, travel independently” and
is “interested in being acquainted
with the culture, ideals and life-
style of others.”
And Iceland itself? We should
make the impression, they say,
that “we are so very happy to see
you and to make you feel right at
home. You could say welcoming
is our second nature.”
Against one million welcome
tourists, as of mid-September,
the Directorate of Immigration
had processed 167 asylum appli-
cations this year. And rejected
113. Habitually, rejected appli-
cants are fetched by the police
in the middle of the night, with only a
few hours notice before the departure
of their deportation flights. According
to rumours, this method is supposed to
thwart suicides, common among those
with a longer notice. As Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn wrote in 1974, night ar-
rests have other important advantag-
es: “Everyone living in the apartment
is thrown into a state of terror by the
first knock at the door. The arrested
person is torn from the warmth of his
bed. He is in a daze, half-asleep, help-
less, and his judgment is befogged. In
a night arrest the State Security men
have a superiority in numbers, there
are many of them, armed, against one
person who hasn't even finished but-
toning his trousers.” No less impor-
tantly, “neither the people in neigh-
bouring apartment houses nor those
on the city streets can see how many
have been taken away. Arrests which
frighten the closest neighbours are no
event at all to those farther away. It's
as if they had not taken place.”
The Committee's
Committee
Following September's Facebook
event, calls for solidarity with
Syrian refugees soared: twenty-
five municipalities in Iceland de-
clared their will to host refugees.
All opposition parties proposed a
parliamentary resolution to im-
mediately offer asylum to 500
people. A thousand new volun-
teers signed up with The Icelan-
dic Red Cross overnight, which
in turn encouraged authorities to
receive at least hundreds of refu-
gees. On September 20, the min-
isterial committee, announced by
the Prime Minister three weeks
before, responded to the pres-
sure, held a press conference and
declared its plan: to establish and
fund a specialists' committee. Ac-
cording to Prime Minister Sig-
mundur Davíð, next year's budget
will see €7 million allocated to the
committee's projects. As to whether
any of the money will be used to signifi-
cantly increase the number of refugees
to be received, the ministers chose not
to comment.
Current evidence indicates that this
means no, and that Iceland's population
density will safely remain three per-
sons per square kilometre. In late Octo-
ber, Welfare Minister Eygló announced
that her Ministry had received the
profiles of thirteen Syrian families cur-
rently residing in camps, including, she
noted, “an electrician, a plumber, an
engineer and a driver.” The specialists'
committee, appointed by the ministeri-
al committee, currently evaluates these
people's applications, swiping left and
right to choose which ones among them
will be granted asylum. According to
the Minister, the lucky ones might ar-
rive before the end of the year.
Wael Aliyadah and Feryal Aldahash,
a couple from Syria, arrived in Iceland
last July, along with their kindergarten-
aged daughters. In mid-October, the Di-
rectorate of Immigration ruled against
substantially examining their applica-
tion, meaning that the family shall be
deported to Greece, their first country
of arrival within the Schengen area.
The family's lawyer appealed the
decision. Extensive media coverage, an
online petition and protest gatherings
in their support do not ascertain a re-
versal of the decision, but have already
delayed the deportation.
So far, contrary to the public soli-
darity on display this autumn, this de-
layed deportation is Icelandic authori-
ties' only material contribution to the
Syrian refugee crisis.
Originally researched for Internazio-
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- The NorTherN LighTs Bus
- The BeauTifuL souTh CoasT
- The VoLCaNiC PeNiNsuLa-reykjaNes
- goLdeN CirCLe & The seCreT LagooN

-
ExpEriEncE thE bEautiful icElandic wondErs
12
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2015
Haukur Hilmarsson is an activist. He writes here on behalf
of grassroots organization No Borders – Iceland, which you
may find on Facebook.
Continued from p. 8
“In a twisted variety of
egalitarianism, Iceland
discriminates against
all ethnic minority
groups equally.”
“By leasing vessels
and crew to FRON-
TEX for operations
in the Mediterra-
nean, Icelanders
have since 2010
turned refugees
into revenue, gain-
ing around €4 mil-
lion in annual net
profits.”