Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2016, Side 22

V: I agree that technology is evolving
fast, but it’s like the government isn’t
evolving with it. You could be talking
to a doctor over Skype, or chatting with
someone at the student loan office over
Slack. That’s maybe not something the
next government should be focusing
on, but maybe more something we’d
talk about when talking about the Uto-
pian Iceland.
SS: I agree. I think a lot of our prob-
lems stem from the way we distribute
wealth. I think we’re actually seeing
the first steps of the death of capital-
ism, and that’s what the younger gen-
eration is going to have to deal with.
What this country needs is to get a
grip on how we distribute the wealth.
We also need to re-structure our
health system and education system.
Everything else follows after that. If
you don’t have your health, and peo-
ple can’t educate themselves equally
across the country and all age groups,
then you have nothing. We also haven’t
been doing enough for the elderly, and
this is a problem we’re all going to
have to face. We have a very serious
situation before us.
B: I think a reform of the constitution
is due. Maybe it’s not the most press-
ing issue, but we can’t run from it. I
think it was unfair how all the work
that was done [on the constitution]
after the financial collapse was not
put to use. I think the most pressing
part of the constitution that needs
reform concerns the distribution of
power. You can see this in the wake
of the Wintris affair [the scandal that
unseated former Prime Minister Sig-
mundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson]. We
needed a scholar to explain to people
and he ended up becoming President. I
think we’re playing with democracy as
we go along, which is alright; it should
be in a constant state of development,
but a lot of the proposed changes to
the constitution would have prevented
Wintris and made it a much clearer
issue. We’re not so far from a dicta-
torship sometimes. What we have
right now is not democratic. We have
a Prime Minister who’s the deputy of
a disgraced former Prime Minister. I
think it’s no coincidence that the par-
ties that gain the most from the cur-
rent distribution of the vote are the
most against reforming it.
But I also think we’re not just ex-
periencing an economic rift, but a
moral one. Like what’s going on with
the fisheries; there are ideas being
floated about putting a tax increase on
the fishing giants, or maybe every Ice-
lander gets a portion of the profits. But
this involves looking into how we feel
about who owns the wealth of these
fisheries. It’s a moral issue, because
people feel it’s unfair as it is. I think
it’s more than just capitalism versus
socialism. For example, I support the
idea of tax reform, but for me it’s not
confined to lowering taxes; I think the
tax system also needs to be simplified.
V: The creative industries are getting
so much more impactful every year.
The McKinsey report of 2012 pointed
out that we will need to double our
exports over the next 20 years just to
maintain our growth. Right now, our
exports are based basically on four
things: fish, tourism, heavy industry
and the creative industries. Fishing
and heavy industry are probably just
going to be stable. Tourism will prob-
ably continue to grow for a while, but
we can’t put all of our eggs in one bas-
ket. So I think the creative industry is
key here.
B: Absolutely. And I feel a lot of young
people want to be able to work inde-
pendently, and go from gig to gig. And
they should be able to, because I think
it would stimulate the economy. I don’t
think taxes need to be cut, but they
can certainly be simplified a whole lot.
And where education goes, I would say:
less Danish, more coding.
SP: There needs to be a push for hon-
esty. For the past four years we’ve been
living in a concurrent mental state of
abundance and austerity. The finan-
cial crisis is over, so we can cut the
taxes on the fisheries, but we still have
austerity when it comes to hospitals
and schools. I saw a recent interview
with our Prime Minister where he said
that we didn't need this income as our
fiscal health had become better, but at
the same time they were still making
painful cuts to education and health.
What’s frustrating is that what’s miss-
ing in the electorate is a strong, angry
demand for clarity.
SS: What has to happen after these
elections is the first steps towards
changing our way of thinking, and
the market system that needed to rise
from the ashes of the crash needs to
embrace a new way of thinking. Fish-
ing and heavy industry represent the
old ways, and the creative industry
will be the future, which underlines
the importance of education.
Paul: So this brings us to the big ques-
tion: what does your Utopian Iceland
look like? How do we get there?
V: I don’t understand why, in 2016,
we still have a gender wage gap. In a
Utopian Iceland, this would be fixed.
I’ve been in touch with a lot of people
abroad, especially Americans, who
are fascinated with gender issues in
Iceland. They look to Iceland, but we
still haven’t solved this problem. It’s
in a better place than elsewhere, but
we still haven’t fixed it. We did legis-
late that there should be gender ratios
in boards in Iceland, and I think that’s
working. So maybe something huge
like that would work.
SS: I think we need to be a lot more
spiritual. A lot of our problems stem
from shame. The materialism that’s
breaking this society down needs to
be off the table. I think a lot of these
issues—gender, racism, the beauty
myth, religion—they all stem from
this flawed system that’s about to
enter its death throes. It’s not just
religious shame; there’s also a lot of
gender-based shame, shame amongst
minorities because this society has a
“default type” of a human being—the
financially stable man. Everyone who
isn’t one has problems. Someone once
said that to change society, you need
to start by changing ways of thinking,
and by that you change the culture of
the society, and the final
stage is where you’re able
to change society itself.
That probably takes a
few generations, I would
think.
B: I think most of these
are truly universal issues.
But to approach this from
an Icelandic perspective: I
think it’s interesting that
Iceland lies on this over-
lap between American and
European culture. I think
that’s the global appeal
of our culture. I think we
should embrace it more.
We need to appreciate how
we’ve been influenced by
foreign cultures. I mean,
taking in foreign cultures is our thing.
We’re hybrids. We have this romantic
notion of being a secluded island, but
I think we’re slowly starting to under-
stand that we’ve always been global,
and that that’s our strength. I think
we need a total reform of immigration
in keeping with that. Every Icelander
needs to have literacy in more than
one culture. We’re not that far from
being the open nation that we should
be; we just need that extra nudge.
U: I think another way to look at the
question is, “What can the govern-
ment do to create a utopian society?
And what could it do right away?” If
you look at Iceland from abroad, it’s
a perfect country in many ways, and
I’m very grateful to live in Iceland.
But then there are deep issues that we
won’t show to other nations. But in
terms of what the government can do
right now, I sometimes look at Parlia-
ment and think that an ethics expert
and an engineer should just get to-
gether and redesign it. Parliament is
currently designed for 19th century
guys on horses getting drunk. It’s not
designed for women, or people with
children. Regarding the gender ques-
tion, I think in pop culture, you don’t
always have the best role models for
young men. But it’s young men who
need to speak up about gender issues
more. As it is, we’re more interested in
playing Counterstrike and latest pizza
offer at Domino’s. If we can’t change
men’s self-image, then we can’t move
forward as a society. People commit-
ting acts of terror and violence, these
are all young guys my age.
Paul: Now we get to an issue close to
a lot of our readers’ hearts: tourism.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2016
22
"We need to appreciate how
we’ve been influenced by
foreign cultures. I mean,
taking in foreign cultures
is our thing. We’re hybrids"