Reykjavík Grapevine


Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.10.2017, Blaðsíða 10

Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.10.2017, Blaðsíða 10
Iceland has almost always had a right wing government. The one exception was in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when a coalition of Social Democrats and Left-Greens ran the country from 2009 to 2013. After this brief step to the left, Iceland took a swing back to the right, re- electing that classic duo, the Independ- ence Party and the Progressive Party. But Iceland looks set to re-elect an- other leftist government at the end of this month. This is due in part to yet another scandal hitting the right barely over a year after the last one, but is also largely due to a phenomenon unheard of in Iceland: the splintering of right wing parties. This fracture can be attributed to growing populism, chaos that en- sued from the scandal, and pure ego. Iceland’s monolithic right wing is, for the first time in history, breaking apart. From Panama Papers To Paedophiles The Panama Papers scandal of April 2016 unseated not just the Progressive Party; it utterly humiliated then-Prime Minis- ter Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. In the months that have followed since, Sig- mundur has refused to shoulder any of the blame for the scandal, and has nei- ther forgotten nor forgiven those who distanced themselves from him when it became public. This will be important to consider later. Last September, as read- ers will remember, another crisis erupted in the gov- ernment, when it came to light that Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson—and pretty much the rest of the Independence Party—had covered up the fact that Bjarni’s father signed a rec- ommendation that a con- victed paedophile get his civil standing reinstated. In both cases, scan- dal torpedoed a ruling coalition party, prompt- ing early elections. Both major right wing parties are now stained by cor- ruption and secrecy. This might be sur- vivable, if conservative voters didn’t have any other choices. But they do. Divided, and possibly conquered Since the Panama Papers, new right wing parties have begun to crop up, and seem to be doing so at an accelerating rate. The Icelandic National Front heralded the first major division, comprised mostly of right wing populists who do not believe the es- tablishment conservatives hate foreign- ers enough. Then along came the Reform Party, comprised in part of former Inde- pendence Party players, who won seven seats in last year’s elections. They were followed by the People’s Party, which took up populist positions on the rights of Ice- land’s elderly and disabled, with a healthy dollop of suspicion for asylum seekers. Soon thereafter came the Freedom Party, which is mostly about building up the po- lice force and increasing border security. Of these three, the People’s Party is the most viable, polling high enough at the time of this writing to win several seats in parliament. However, they may have a run for their money, as Sigmun- dur Davíð has announced that he will run again—under the banner of his very own party. Some Progressives are even joining him. We may like to poke fun at Sigmundur Davíð, but make no mistake: he has some diehard fans, and they will gladly vote for any party he is leading over voting for the Progressives. At the same time, the Progressives have a solid base of support in the countryside. So this party’s support will likely split into two. So how’s the left doing? While this chaos breaks out on the right, the parties on the left are actually do- ing pretty well for themselves. The Left- Greens are seeing a huge upswing of sup- port, and the greatest share of Icelanders want Left-Green chair Katrín Jakobsdóttir as the next Prime Minister. The Pirates have seen a small dip in support, but the Social Democrats are gaining ground. All told, if elections were held today, a coalition government comprised of the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats and the Pirates (who, while refusing to publicly align themselves with left or right, have a de- cidedly leftist platform) would be the most likely configuration. While still having a slim ma- jority, this coalition possibility is helped not only by the Independ- ence Party seeing its support tank, but also by the fact that the right would need a coalition of four or more parties to have a majority by virtue of the conserva- tive vote spreading across several parties. Throw a Progressive Party clone in the mix and the right divides even further. Elections are still a few weeks away, and of course anything can happen in Icelandic politics in that amount of time. But the fracturing of the right may spell the end of the chokehold conservatives have had on Iceland for decades now, and the left may actually become the new monolith. Strange days indeed. ANALYSIS Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Hörður Sveinsson Share this gpv.is/ppl17 Probably the most famous student protest ever in Iceland took place in 1850. A group of students at the Latin School (now Menntaskólin í Reykjavík, or MR, still located in a big building downtown) were to be forced into a sobriety society by the dean and Homeric Poem trans- lator Sveinbjörn Egilsson. Finding their basic human rights under threat, the students gathered out- side his window and proclaimed “Sveinbjörn Pereat,” which is Latin for “Down with…” The students proceeded to do this underneath every window in town. The dean wanted them pun- ished and when he got no help from local authorities, he sailed all the way to Copenhagen for re- dress. It was eventually decided that no students would graduate that year, and many had to retake the curriculum. But sobriety re- mained unenforced. In times of crisis, the students would gather at the Beneventum cliffs in Öskjuhlíðin. The next meet- ing there took place in 1895, when they decided to protest the abol- ishment of the King’s Prayer day, which was a day off of school. The last recorded student meet- ing was in 1928, when they were to be punished for loud singing at night. Student protests have con- tinued intermittently ever since, but largely without the aid of Latin. Valur Gunnarsson 10 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 18 — 2017 BLAST FROM THE PAST “This fracture can be attrib- uted to growing populism, chaos that ensued from the scandal, and pure ego. Ice- land’s monolithic right wing is, for the first time in history, breaking apart.” A Fractured Right Arm Iceland’s Conservatives Are Breaking Up Student Protests In The 1800s The lusciously named Sveinbjörn Egilsson First You can't shake the Simmi Lækjargata 8, tel: 5460006
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