Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.04.2018, Page 4

What Are Iceland-
ers Talking About?
A round-up of fresh debates, hot topics and
crazy madness from the past month.
Words: Alice Demurtas Photo: Art Bicnick
With the #MeToo revolution
sweeping the nation, you’d think
we had finally pinned down some
fundamentals. Yet, it doesn’t
look like everybody has gotten
the memo. Football player Elmar
Bjarnason and his astonishingly
naive tweets on gender equality
in Iceland prove that. “The patri-
archy is a conspiracy theory—isn’t
our PM a woman?” he wrote. “Stop
with the BS, just work harder and
better than your male counter-
parts.” Elmar also went on to
criticise gender quotas, claiming
that an individual should get a job
because of their skills not because
of their gender. Thank God we
have someone like Elmar to show
us the light. Now that we know
it's all in our head we can just go
back to the kitchen and just work
harder. Chop chop.
What memo?
When it comes to cringy situa-
tions, however, nobody tops the
Icelandic government. After the
air attack on Syria carried out
by United States, France and
Britain, Iceland’s Prime Minister
ambiguously claimed on national
TV that Iceland had not specifi-
cally expressed any support for
the mission. Only one day later,
however an assistant to the Minis-
ter of Foreign Affairs revealed that
the Icelandic government had
actually supported the bombings.
Awkward.
The news sparked a harsh contro-
versy in Iceland, not only because
of the despicable actions of Icelan-
dic authorities, but also because it
seems that, in the grip of the Inde-
pendence Party, the PM and the
Left Greens have turned against
their own ethos, supporting an
organisation they’ve long been
opposed to.
Who wants to have a diesel car, anyone ?
Then again, it's hard to decide
on what side of the road to stand
on. Among the topics Icelanders
are lately divided over, there is
a possible ban on diesel cars. A
recent survey found that about
39% of people living in Reykjavík
are in favour of a ban on diesel
cars for the year 2030. In compari-
son, only 44% of inhabitants would
be opposed to such measures. The
ban on diesel cars could poten-
tially become part of Iceland’s plan
to employ renewable energy for
about 40% of local transports. But
will it ever be implemented, in a
country that loves cars so much
that it should have a 4x4 stamped
on its own flag?
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2018First
The Prime Minister, yesterday
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