Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.12.2017, Page 60

L IF E , T R AV EL & EN T ER TA INMEN T IN ICEL A ND
Issue 21 × 2017
Dec 8 – Jan 4
www.grapevine.is

LAST WORDS
Maybe This
Time Will Be
Different
Words: Valur Gunnarsson
When is history a reliable predictor of fu-
ture events? The last time a left wing party
formed a government with the Conservatives,
it was subsequently mercilessly punished at
the polls. The same thing happened the time
before—and the time before that. Now that
the Left-Greens have united with the Inde-
pendence Party, it’s most likely that the same
thing will happen again. The bet is more about
how long it will last. I give it a year.
But in other ways, this is a game changer.
Almost a decade after the economic collapse,
there has been a realignment of sorts. No one
looks to the free market as a solution to all ills
anymore. Instead, most parties at least pay lip
service to the notion of strengthening infra-
structure, the health system, education and so
on. So, what then is the difference between left
and right?
Probably not that much, which makes
this—the first government in 70 years to be
made up of parties from opposing ends of the
spectrum—possible. Will that mean there will
be no heated debates any more, and nothing to
choose between?
Hardly. One thing that connects all three
parties of the newly formed government,
left, right and centre, is opposition to the EU.
Meanwhile, there is an informal opposition
alliance of the Reform Party, the Social Demo-
crats and the Pirates, which favour putting EU
membership to a referendum. These parties,
unlike the current government, mostly also
want to open up the Icelandic market to for-
eign farm products to lower prices, get rid of
the króna and even rehash the quota system of
the fisheries.
The old left and right division may soon
become a relic of the 20th Century. After all,
do class politics really have much truck when
the poorest, as well as the richest, tend to vote
right while educated elites vote left?
Instead, the new division seems to be be-
tween nationalism and internationalism. It is
this that unites the government and provides
a credible alternative in the opposition. The
same thing is happening all over, but some-
times things happen in Iceland first. It’s ca-
nary time again.
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