Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Side 18

Starts with a shot of the Icelandic
national spirit “Brennivín“
Puffin
Smoked puffin with blueberries,
croutons, goats cheese, beetroot
Minke whale
Date purée, wakame, teriaky
“Torched“ Arctic charr
Cucumber, truffle ponzu vinaigrette
and yuzu mayo
Icelandic roll – 4 pcs
Gravlax roll with Brennivín (Icelandic
traditional Snaps) and dill. Avokado, mango,
cucumber, dill mayo, rye bread crumble
Market fresh Ling
Miso and yuzu marinated spotted ling
with zucchini, chorizo, apples
and Beurre Monté sauce
Rack of icelandic lamb
Onion purée, slow cooked leeks,
chimichurri, baked carrot
And to end on a high note ...
Icelandic Skyr
Skyr infused with birch,
berries, white chocolate
crumble, and sorrel granite
7.990 kr.

Sushi Samba
Þingholtsstræti 5 • 101 Reykjavík
Tel 568 6600 • sushisamba.is
Laugavegur
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Our kitchen is open
17.00–23.00 sun.–thu.
17.00–24.00 fri.–sat.
Amazing
7 course menu
A unique
Icelandic
Feast
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2016
18
Now What?
An American's Guide To Dealing
With Trump's America

By PAUL FONTAINE Photo by FIZKES/ISTOCK
The world woke up recently to the
news that Donald J. Trump is the
new President-elect of the United
States, that both houses of Con-
gress remain held by Republican
majorities, and that the vacant
seat on the Supreme Court will
be filled by a person nominated
by Trump and approved by the
Republican-majority Senate. It is
pretty much a perfect shitstorm
of bigotry, misogyny and authori-
tarianism and, if you’re an Ameri-
can who’s less than happy with
this result, you might be tempted
to move away from the country,
or renounce your citizenship if
you’re already overseas. If that
describes you, and Iceland is your
target home, there’s some things
you should consider.
Immigrating:
Immigrating to Iceland is not very
cut and dry. Our immigration
laws have a three tier system that
divides “regular” immigrants into
three categories: Scandinavians,
Europeans, and everyone else. As
an American, you are in the Every-
one Else bin. This means you can’t
just fly on over here and look for a
job and a place to live: you need to
have a job and a registered address
waiting for you before you arrive.
To do this, naturally, you need
contacts in Iceland. By law, an Ice-
landic employer can’t hire you un-
less they can prove they could find
no local to do the job you’re look-
ing for. Fortunately, the tourism
industry is booming, and there
are more job openings than there
are Icelanders willing to do these
jobs, so that’s one possible way in.
I do not recommend trying to
move here by applying for asylum.
Whatever your arguments may be
for why an American could con-
tend they are fleeing persecution
in their home country, Iceland is
not a country that errs on the side
of welcoming when it comes to
asylum seekers. Your application
will be rejected, and you will be
deported.
Renouncing your citizenship:
This one is tricky. If you live
abroad and want to renounce your
US citizenship over these elec-
tions, there is a process for doing
so, but it comes with a lot of snags.
The first one is the price: $2,350,
to be exact. This is prohibitively
expensive for a great many Ameri-
cans living abroad. The second
one is, unless you have another
nationality, renouncing your citi-
zenship will render you stateless,
leaving you vulnerable to being
treated the exact same way other
stateless people are treated. Even
if you do have another nationality,
it might end up making little prac-
tical difference to you to renounce
your US citizenship unless mili-
tary conscription is reinstated,
and you could achieve the same ef-
fect by simply never returning to
the US. If that’s not an option for
you, or if you have no other nation-
ality, renouncing your citizenship
could cause more problems than it
solves.
Stay/go home and fight:
This is an argument you will hear
a lot from your non-American
friends: you will be more helpful
to the cause of turning America
around if you organise and fight
in your home country. There is a
lot to this argument. If you’re an
ally of people of colour, of Mus-
lims, of the queer community, and
of marginalised people in general,
then you should have in mind that
these folks are going to need allies
more than ever now. You would do
well to take this time to organise
your communities, your workplaces
and your schools, and to take part in
collective, direct action.
However, for many Americans
abroad, moving back home is not
going to be an option. You might
have already started a family over-
seas, or be otherwise fully invest-
ed in your new home. This doesn’t
mean you can’t be an ally for the
people who will be facing persecu-
tion in Trump’s America; there is
still plenty you can do, whether in
the form of financial assistance,
distribution of information, or
other types of support. And this
brings us to the final point.
Fight fascism in your own
backyard:
Say you’re an American who’s es-
sentially stuck overseas. You’re
doing what you can to support
allies back home, but what about
what’s happening where you are?
Are there forces of xenophobia,
intolerance and bigotry who are
in power or on their way there?
Chances are, there are—the far
right is on the rise across vast
swathes of the earth. If you oppose
Trump and everything that he
stands for, it would be politically
and morally consistent for you to
oppose local politicians who share
his ideology.
We would make a huge mistake
to think that Trump is a purely
American phenomenon, and that
his brand of hatred is something
unique to the United States. You
can and should fight the ideas he
espouses, wherever they appear,
and that’s something you can do
in your adopted home. You might
not have been able to stop Trump,
but you can sure as hell stop his
ideas from gaining ground where
you live. Whether for the patriotic
motivation of demonstrating that
Americans are really a freedom-
loving people, or just because it’s
the right thing to do, fighting
fascism at home—wherever that
home may be—is your duty.
Our work has just begun.
SHARE:
gpv.is/now17
OPINION