Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.06.2018, Page 4

What Are Iceland-
ers Talking About?
Hot topics and crazy madness from
these past few days
Words: Alice Demurtas Photo: Magnús Andersen
It seems like the only thing
that has been on everyone's
minds these past few weeks is
the municipal elections. The
outcomes were various: authori-
ties registered a worrisome, low
turnout all over the country, as
well as a definite split between
political orientations based on
urban planning. The Independ-
ence Party is now the strongest in
Reykjavík with eight representa-
tives, but these elections were an
even greater victory for smaller,
younger parties like the Pirates,
whose members of city council
have doubled since 2014, as well as
the Reform Party and the Centre
Party, which had no representa-
tives in the last election. It's still
unclear who will manage to form a
majority, but the expectations are
high and the stakes even higher.
The future city council, in fact,
will have to tackle important
issues related to local infrastruc-
tures and the lack of affordable
housing in the city. Find out more
about Reykjavík elections on page
12.
As far as opinions go, Iceland-
ers certainly have plenty. A recent
online petition to withdraw from
the next Eurovision contest that
will be held in Israel in 2019
attracted international atten-
tion. It was signed by more than
25,000 people all over the coun-
try to protest against "Israel’s
violence against their neigh-
bours,” following the latest events
in Jerusalem. People from all over
the world have either applauded
the effort or harshly criticised it
as anti-semitic. The national TV
programme manager Skarp héðinn
Guðmunds son, however, played it
cool: “at this stage, everything is
taken into account,” he said. “We’ll
notify the public in autumn like
we always do.”
Another controversial issue
involved Icelandic research
centre deCODE Genetics and
their decision to contact women
who are likely to be affected by a
genetic mutation to inform them
they might be at risk of develop-
ing breast cancer. In the end,
a special committee deemed it
disrespectful towards people
who prefer not knowing. Instead,
a website called arfgerd.is was
opened: here, women who wish to
know about their genes and likeli-
hood of developing cancer will be
able to do so.
One thing is sure: Reykjavík's
present and future do look bright,
at least when it comes to weather.
The sun will in fact finally grace
us with its presence this week. It
almost seems impossible, consid-
ering the relentless rains of May,
but believe it: two days of beauti-
ful sunshine are expected today
and tomorrow around the capital
area. It's the East and the North,
however, that will benefit the most
from this late summer. Tempera-
tures are in fact expected to spike
up to a scorching 18-20 degrees
from Akureyri to Egilsstaðir and
will remain rather high until the
end of the week.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2018First
Kári Stefánsson, founder of deCODE and mad professor
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