Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Page 16

Worst
Political
Ideas Of
The Year
The worst decision, without a
doubt, was the formation of this
previous coalition in the first
place. Not even Bright Future chair
Óttarr Proppé sounded entirely
convinced that it was a good idea.
The running theory around the of-
fice is that all his justifications for
putting Bjarni Benediktsson in the
Prime Minister’s seat were really
attempts to convince himself.
Silencing tactics were popular
in 2017, and they backfired spec-
tacularly. There was a time in Ice-
land when the media was fairly
subservient to the sitting govern-
ment; access to powerful people
was more important than bringing
the truth to the general public. As
more independent media outlets
came to the forefront of public at-
tention, information began to take
precedence, and so the same polit-
ical tactics that may have worked
10 years ago fell flat this year.
Probably the worst political
decision made in 2017 was Bright
Future opting to leave the rul-
ing coalition, bringing about the
collapse of the government. This
decision, however necessary it
might have been for the country,
proved downright suicidal for the
party itself. Conservatives who
might have supported Bright Fu-
ture hated them for pulling the rug
out from under the Independence
Party, and leftists who might have
supported Bright Future hated
them for giving Bjarni the power
to call for snap elections with al-
most no time to prepare a decent
campaign. Almost no one, apart
from maybe some of Bright Fu-
ture’s most devoted voters, gave
the party any credit for bringing an
end to our national nightmare. In
the end, their support dropped like
a stone in a vacuum, and they lost
all their seats in parliament when
elections were held last October.
Best
Political
Ideas Of
The Year
The top spot in this category is,
again, Bright Future opting to
leave the ruling coalition. How
can it simultaneously be the worst
and best decision of the year? Well,
it may have been disastrous for
the party itself, but let’s not for-
get what happened in the wake of
this. First of all, the Independence
Party not only lost their leadership
position; they actually took quite
a hit in the elections themselves.
Two new parties, the People’s
Party and the Centre Party, man-
aged to make their way into par-
liament, further diversifying the
ideological landscape. It also gave
us Prime Minister Katrín Jakobs-
dóttir, who has so far proven to be
a wildly popular leader, and seems
to be a Prime Minister most people
actually trust. For better or worse,
most Icelanders polled seem to be
happy with our new ruling coali-
tion, for a change.
It’s not often that a person feels
a sense of relief when a former
politician announces their return
to politics, but much relief was felt
when Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson
announced he would run again
for MP for the Pirate Party. This
decision almost makes up for Bir-
gitta Jónsdóttir’s departure. Like
Birgitta, Helgi is also a determined
idealist. But more than ideals, Hel-
gi has offered practical solutions
that could make those ideals a re-
ality.
In terms of sheer comedy value,
nothing was more amusing this
election cycle than Sigmundur
Davíð founding the Centre Party.
Get forced out of office and lose
your party leadership position
when your shady financial deal-
ings are brought to light? Most
people would simply retire, and
then write lengthy memoirs filled
with passive-aggressive missives
against their former colleagues.
Not our Simmi! In the same spirit
that a child kicked off the foot-
ball team would take his ball and
go home, Simmi founded a party
with virtually no platform beyond
pure self-serving, with a logo that
reminded most people of Robot
Unicorn Attack, and attracted all
the worst members of the Pro-
gressive Party. The Centre Party
is pretty much the best thing that
could have happened to the Pro-
gressives.
Five Fads
That
Swept
Iceland
In 2017
When a new fad hits a country of
330,000 people, especially when
about half of those people live in a
single metropolitan area, you can
expect it to catch on quickly and
fade almost at the same rate. This
year was no exception.
Costco Fever: Everyone had
something to be happy about when
Costco’s impending arrival was an-
nounced. Consumers were ready
for low prices, and the company
has a reputation of treating its
workers well. The only people who
weren’t so excited were Iceland’s
retail giants, who have enjoyed a
virtual monopoly in this country
for many years now. While Costco
enjoyed an initial spurt of fair re-
pute—it was even selling bottles
of water for less than what the
recycling centre pays you for plas-
tic bottles—it wasn’t long before
prices reached levels comparable
to just about any other retail outlet
in Iceland. Ah well.
H&M Fever: It’s hard to tell what
helped this retail outlet more—the
anticipation, or the criticism that
their products are mostly made in
sweatshops. Whichever it was, it
wasn’t long before the bloom was
off this rose. It’s still here, but you
won’t have a hard time making
your way through the crowd.
Sous Vide: What do footbaths,
Soda Stream dispensers and sous
vide cookers all have in common?
They all fit perfectly in the back
of your closet, gathering dust.
Sous vide distinguishes itself as
being particularly useless: all the
pleasure of waiting for hours for
something to finish cooking, with
the added pleasure of having to
vacuum pack the food first. Bon
appetit!
Fidget Spinners: Granted, this
craze is not specific to Iceland,
but it was heavily marketed here.
In particular, it was plugged with
the possibly insulting caveat that
the autistic and those with ADHD
would really have fun playing with
these gadgets that amount to basi-
cally a glorified paperweight. You
can now find fidget spinners being
sold out of giant boxes at any given
corner store for 400 ISK a pop.
Snapchat Cleaners: This is the
most inexplicable craze of 2017,
bar none. Perhaps it was the weird
combination of a social media
platform best known for sending
nudes to strangers and watching
someone scrub a bathtub, but the
Snapchat Cleaners became minor
celebrities in their own right. One
of them, Sólrún Diego, even pub-
lished a book that outsold more
established Icelandic authors, and
no one was more surprised than
she was.
Five Ice-
landers
Who
Defined
2017
Katrín Jakobsdóttir. Our new
Prime Minister, as she’s been cov-
ered by media both at home and
abroad, has been giving us some
serious 2009 vibes, reminding us
of then-Prime Minister Jóhanna
Sigurðardóttir—and not solely
because they’re both women. They
both rose to power after a crisis,
when people’s faith in govern-
ment was sorely shaken, bringing
with them the promise of brighter
days. Katrín certainly has her work
cut out for her, but her becoming
Prime Minister is arguably the
best thing to emerge from last au-
tumn’s political bombshelling.
Bjarni Benediktsson. We have re-
ceived unconfirmed reports that
the former Prime Minister is actu-
ally made entirely of Teflon. Un-
surprising if true—he’s been at the
centre of every political scandal
this past year, including the one
that brought down the previous
government, but has miraculously
managed to come out of it un-
scathed. Perhaps it’s because he’s
a master of deflection, somehow
able to make other people look re-
sponsible for the mistakes he him-
self made, or because he can main-
tain his cool no matter what you
throw at him. Bjarni represents
everything the Independence Par-
ty (itself an Icelandic icon) stands
for: total self-interest, unapologet-
ic greed, and unflappability.
16 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2018
2017: The
Year In News
Words: Paul Fontaine Top Photo: Hörður Sveinsson Other Photos: Various