Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.09.2016, Síða 8

The villain of the issue this issue is
Icelandic volcano reporting, especially
when it comes to the international press.
Any time there is anything remotely re-
sembling seismic activity around one of
our volcanoes, you can count on the non-
Icelandic press to start churning out lu-
rid headlines about how said volcanoes
are set to pop any second now, and that
when they do they will destroy us all.
This kind of reporting is frustrating to
the scientists who actually study and
monitor volcanoes. Granted, a lot of sci-
ence reporting is hyperbolic and over-
simplified, but overstating the immi-
nence of an eruption doesn’t do anyone
any favours in the long run. It creates
a kind of “cry wolf” effect, and under-
mines volcano reporting as a whole. It’s
not too much to ask that reporters ob-
serve a degree of nuance when reporting
on unpredictable geological phenom-
enon, but the clickbait just keeps rolling
on, and it’s for that reason that Icelandic
volcano reporting is this issue’s villain.
The hero of the issue this issue is the
Icelandic volcano. Iceland is riddled with
volcanoes, and they come in a variety of
shapes, sizes and types. Some of them
bellow giant plumes of ash into the sky,
some of them sputter and roar with pho-
togenic magma, but all of them serve
as a reminder of who’s really in charge
here. It’s difficult to forget just how pre-
carious human existence really is when
you’re looking at melted rock from not-
so-far beneath the Earth’s crust rush-
ing forth, and when you consider that
in some cases there are mere minutes
between knowing an eruption will hap-
pen and it actually happening. Better
still, volcanoes continue to defy human
attempts to know exactly when they’ll
erupt, leaving timeframes of anywhere
between years and decades between
blasts. Volcanoes humble us, reminding
us that we are but mere insects clinging
precariously to the face of the Earth, and
it’s for that reason that volcanoes are
this issue’s hero.
The Icelandic
Volcano
Icelandic Volcano
Reporting
Axel Sigurðsson
Who Cares
About The
Kurds?
You cannot read the news about what’s
happening in Syria right now with-
out also reading about the Kurds. For
many in the west, the Kurds don’t often
pop up on the radar—you might have
last heard about them when former
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein launched
chemical weapons against them in the
80s. Today, Kurdish fighters—in par-
ticular, the People’s Protection Units
(YPG) and the Women’s Protection
Units (YPJ)—have made significant in-
cursions against Daesh, also known as the
Islamic State, in Syria. At the same time,
their efforts have been hampered by Tur-
key. Turkish President Erdoğan has been
a very vocal opponent of the Kurds, and
his military incursions and human rights
abuses against Kurds in both Turkey and
Syria are well documented.
Which brings us to Iceland. Like
Turkey, Iceland is a member of NATO.
Last month, Iceland’s Foreign Affairs
Committee, called together by Left-
Green MP Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir,
came together to discuss Turkey’s hu-
man rights abuses against academics,
journalists, and the Kurds. Minister
of Foreign Affairs Lilja D. Alfreðsdót-
tir was reportedly in attendance, say-
ing that she finds these developments
“troubling,” adding that “from here for-
ward, we will place stronger emphasis
on human rights violations committed
against Kurds and other minorities in
Turkey.” She would later express similar
sentiments in Parliament.
But what does this mean in any
practical sense? In the course of our
investigations, we found that it doesn’t
mean much. Most members of Parlia-
ment have shown zero interest in the
subject, despite Kurds in Iceland urging
them to take action, and the Icelandic
government has been all but silent when
it comes to their partners in NATO.
All about politics
Salah Karim is a Kurd who has been
living in Iceland for twenty years.
Last week, he hosted a symposium
on Kurdistan at Fundur Fólksins (A
Meeting of the People), an open semi-
nar hosted by the University of Iceland
where the general public can listen to
and exchange ideas with each other,
and with Icelandic political leaders.
Salah held a lengthy discussion
about the recent history of the Kurds,
one of the largest stateless ethnic
groups on the planet. As their home-
land overlaps Iran, Iraq, Syria and Tur-
key—nations which have been decid-
edly hostile towards the Kurds—they
have often sought help from the rest of
the world in their struggle. Salah is no
exception. He told us that he sent a let-
ter to all 63 members of Iceland’s Parlia-
ment on the matter, urging them to do
something. A grand total of four have
responded. That was two years ago.
Two Left-Green MPs and one Social
Democrat MP responded to Salah’s
letter. One of them, Salah told us, re-
sponded positively but apologetically,
telling him, “I understand this is se-
rious, but unfortunately the Foreign
Minister is in the Progressive Party.”
As with many countries in the world,
Iceland’s Parliament is divided be-
tween opposition parties and ruling
parties; proposals from the former are
almost never considered by the latter.
But even Salah’s appeals to ruling
coalition members fell on deaf ears.
He told us that one of the people who
got back to him was Jóhannes Þór
Skúlason, assistant to former Prime
Minister and Progressive Party chair-
person Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugs-
son. Jóhannes, Salah told us, told him
that he would be contacted soon on the
matter. He has yet to receive any word.
The elephant in the room
One MP who did respond swiftly was
Steinunn; Salah told us she got back to
him within “a couple weeks” of the let-
ter being sent. As she led the initiative
in the Foreign Affairs Committee on the
matter, we asked her how exactly Iceland
will be showing support for the Kurds.
“Unfortunately, there has been no
formal step taken on behalf of the Ice-
landic government,” she told us. “The
Foreign Minister has let a public state-
ment to the Turks calling upon them
to respect human rights suffice.” She
added that she and other opposition
members have put forward a proposal
encouraging the Icelandic government
to demand that Turkey respect democ-
racy, freedom of the press, and the rights
of minorities, including the Kurds.
“One of the things I discovered in
my work as an MP is that not many
politicians have a great interest in for-
eign affairs, especially foreign affairs
that don’t directly pertain to Iceland,”
Steinunn said. “I suppose the situation
is the same in other countries.”
Because NATO, That’s Why
There’s more to the lack of interest in
the Kurdish situation than just plain
apathy, though. Steinunn believes Ice-
land, like other countries, has been re-
luctant at best to condemn Turkey for
one simple reason.
“The elephant in the room is NATO;
in particular, Iceland and Turkey’s
membership in NATO,” she said.
“NATO has expressed full support for
Turkey in their campaign against the
Kurds. The reason for this is that the
West sees Turkey as an important mili-
tary ally, and are willing to sacrifice the
Kurds. The silence of the international
community makes it easier for the Turk-
ish government to persecute the Kurds.”
Iceland has, however, stood up to
major powers before, especially in
defense of smaller, often oppressed,
peoples. For example, they recognised
Palestine as a state in 2011, a step
that the majority of Western nations
haven’t even taken. When Iceland will
apply this policy to the Kurds, unfor-
tunately, still remains unknown.
“Not many politicians
have a great interest
in foreign affairs,
especially foreign
affairs that don’t
directly pertain to
Iceland”
ANALYSIS
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14 — 2016
8
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
ART BICNICK
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