Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.06.2016, Page 10

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2016
10
Thh.is info@thh.is +354 699 4256
Traustholtshólmi is a place of
stunning beauty, untouched by
modern development. It is an
island within an island. Experience
ecotourism on a sustainable and
restricted island in the wide and
historic Þjórsá river. Get close to
Iceland’s unspoiled nature and
participate in island life.
Visit a sustainable private island
Come lie in the tall grasses and experience the true sense of
seclusion and peacefulness that Traustholtshólmi has to o…er.
The past couple
weeks have been a
pretty stressful time
for some of Iceland’s
Muslims, as the Islamic Cultural Cen-
ter of Iceland (ICCI) was evicted from
their community centre due to a legal
dispute over their rental contract. The
eviction meant that ICCI’s members
had no certain place to gather for so-
cial events and pray—especially bad
timing, as the eviction happened just
days before Ramadan began. Fortu-
nately, the Free Church of Iceland has
offered their church as a temporary
shelter for prayer through Ramadan.
Where they’ll go after Ramadan ends
is still uncertain.
In far better news, one of Reykjavík’s
legendary venues, Nasa, will re-open
this summer. The news came to us
completely by surprise, as the last
we’d heard the building housing Nasa
was in danger of becoming a hotel,
although later the main house for the
venue was protected from develop-
ment. No official date has been set
for Nasa’s grand re-opening, but we’ll
keep you updated.
It’s not often that Iceland makes inter-
national headlines, but when we do, we
usually hope it’s for good and/or accu-
rate reasons. This month, we got both,
as newly released research published
by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science gave the re-
sults on an Icelandic experiment with
carbon recycling that were very prom-
ising. After injecting CO2 into basalt
rocks, researchers found the mineral
not only absorbed some 95% of the CO2
it was given, it also did so far, far fast-
er than was originally estimated. Will
Iceland become the world’s air filter?
We can only hope.
NEWS IN
BRIEF
Readers who’ve been following our
daily news output might have noticed
a disturbing increase in stories about
worker exploitation in Iceland. These
cases range from relatively minor (like
not having an employee bathroom)
to some very serious offenses, such
as grossly underpaying workers (if
they’re even paid at all), human traf-
ficking, and slavery. These offenses
span many industries, but have been
most prominent in the tourism indus-
try and construction, which is in itself
closely related to tourism.
Employers will be quick to argue
that the vast majority of tourism-
related businesses operate fairly and
legally. This is true, but it’s also beside
the point. We’re not talking about a
case of a few bad actors ruining it for
everybody else. Research released last
month from Gallup shows that there
are some 400 slaves in Iceland, com-
prising a higher proportion of the pop-
ulation than any Nordic country, and
most western European countries.
Not just “a few bad apples”
To be sure, there is plenty of potential
for exploitation in the tourism indus-
try. The industry is growing far faster
than authorities can keep up with, and
a lot of tourism industry businesses
operate in a kind of legal grey area.
In the course of investigations The
Grapevine is currently doing on this
subject, we’ve already discovered that
worker exploitation in Iceland isn’t a
matter of a few isolated cases. It is an
endemic problem. Many, if not most,
cases of worker abuse in tourism in-
dustry businesses were able to flour-
ish right under our noses, hiding in
plain sight and ignored by the very
people who could have helped. In most
cases, these workers didn’t even know
their rights were being violated in the
first place.
Knowledge is power
Ultimately, neither labour unions, the
police, nor tourism industry manage-
ment can really keep tabs of every-
thing going on within the industry.
The most powerful weapon we have
against worker exploitation is infor-
mation: both the continued reporting
on bosses who step out of bounds, and
the flow of important information on
labour rights into the hands of the
workers themselves.
There is no simple, easy answer to
this problem, but ignoring it or pre-
tending it’s not become rife in the in-
dustry is simply not an option.
Tourism, Slavery, And
Worker Exploitation
Words PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo ART
BICNICK
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