Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2016, Blaðsíða 20

We regularly see articles published in
the international press about Iceland,
touting it as some kind of ultra-fem-
inist, anti-banker paradise of clean
living and social welfare. While we
admittedly have it really good, there’s
still a great deal that could stand to
be improved. What needs changing?
What would a Utopian Iceland look
like, and how can we get there?
To try and answer these ques-
tions, we invited four Icelanders over
to our offices for a conversation on
the subject. These four Icelanders are
musician and journalist Unnsteinn
Manúel Stefánsson (U); poet and
strategist Bergur Ebbi Benediktsson
(B); artist and library director Sara
Stef. Hildardóttir (SS); and entrepre-
neur and filmmaker Vala Halldórs-
dóttir (V). Jumping in from time to
time is our acting editor, Sveinbjörn
Pálsson (SP). What follows is our at-
tempt at a greater understanding of
what Future Iceland could be.
Paul: Now that elections are com-
ing up in just a few weeks, what do
you think are the big issues the next
government is going to have to tackle
right after the elections?
V: First of all, I think they should fo-
cus on young people. We see continu-
ous evidence that millennials have it a
lot worse than older generations; more
and more millennials are going to uni-
versity, but they’re not getting higher
salaries. They will also need to focus
on the housing issue when it comes to
young people. I don’t have a solution to
that, but there are a lot of smart people
trying to get into the government, so
they must find a solution for it.
U: I think it basically comes down to
two things. Capitalism is the system
we have chosen, and we just have to
see how we will work with it. A lot of
problems follow capitalism in poli-
tics, as the biggest problems we have
in this country revolve around mon-
ey. The most pressing issues not just
here but in elections all over the world
concern money and how we handle it.
That’s why I agree housing is a huge
issue. This society encourages you to
buy property. Another big issue is any-
thing regarding cyber technology—pri-
vacy, how we use technology, security,
copyright law. In many ways, technology
has been evolving a lot faster than we’ve
been able to deal with.
LOOKING
BEYOND THE
ELECTIONS
CHARTING
THE COURSE
TO UTOPIA
"Maybe someone will
read this quote and
think it’s a stupid
idea, and that’s
fine, but we need to
talk about. Say why
it’s stupid"
"I also think we’re
not just experiencing
an economic rift, but
a moral one"
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ReykjavíkFrakkastígur 16
ORGANIC
BAKERY
Words
PAUL FONTAINE
Photos
ART BICNICK
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GPV.IS/UTOPIA
The Politics Issue 20The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2016