Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.11.2018, Page 20

20 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 19— 2018
years ago, few Icelanders had much
understanding of what asylum seek-
ers are put through. As has so often
been the case, Haukur was ahead of his
time in that respect, too, especially in
regards to one case in particular: that
of Paul Ramses Oduor, who fled Kenya
in 2008 with his wife Rosemary due to
political persecution he was facing in
his home country. In Iceland, they had
a child together, but Icelandic authori-
ties decided that we would be deported
to Italy, separating him from his wife
and child. The case touched Haukur
deeply, and prompted him to take
direct action.
“It was not until 2008 that we
became aware that there were refugees
in Iceland,” Eva says. “We never really
thought that there were asylum seek-
ers who were being kept like animals
for months or even years. We became
aware of this when Paul Ramses' lawyer
talked about his case on TV. Haukur
called me in the middle of the night,
saying there was a refugee being taken
away from his family to be deported,
and we needed to do something about
it. And I said, ‘Yes, of course, let's talk
about it in the morning' but he said,
'No, we must do something now.’”
That ‘something’ was Haukur,
along with friend Jason Thomas Slade,
running out onto the tarmac to stop
the plane that was to take Paul to Italy.
The action became a top news story,
and prompted other activists to join
the effort to bring Paul back home.
Months later, Paul returned for good.
His family are now Icelandic citizens,
and Paul has credited Haukur and
Jason with saving his life.
For Eva’s part, she felt a mother’s
pride. “I was, of course, worried that
he'd get hurt or arrested,” she says. “But
I agreed with him that this was very
important and something needed to be
done. I was proud of him, even if I was
worried, but most of all I understood
why direct action was necessary. I
agreed with him even if I haven't done
a lot of these things myself. I think
direct action is very important. Some-
thing being illegal doesn't necessarily
mean that it's wrong.”
HOISTING THE BÓNUS FLAG
When, in the wake of Iceland’s finan-
cial collapse in 2008, anti-govern-
ment protests began to take off,
Haukur was a part of that, too. While
he participated in many ways, there is
one moment in November of that year
that most Icelanders remember him
for: climbing onto the roof of Parlia-
ment and hoisting the flag of Bónus,
a supermarket giant owned at the
time by an Icelandic billionaire. The
image of Haukur on the roof of Parlia-
ment standing next to the Bónus flag
became emblematic of how many
Icelanders regarded the government
as hopelessly corrupted by business
interests. It took Eva completely by
surprise.
“I actually didn't see him raise the
flag,” she says. “Haukur never told me
what he was up to unless I was a part
of it. He was very secretive about his
actions, and always said he wouldn't
tell anyone who didn't need to know
about his actions in advance. In this
case, I was just at work and had no idea
he was going to do this.”
At the time, Eva was working at
her downtown shop, Nornabúðin.
“Suddenly he came running in to the
store, and went into the back area.
He said: ‘I’m going to take a shower.
Let me know if the police come here.’
Then he waited there for half an
hour. He knew that the police could
come into the shop, but they couldn't
come into my private space without a
search warrant. So he wanted to buy a
little time to talk to us before he was
arrested, which he expected would
happen.”
But the police didn't arrest him
then. They waited six days, until the
night before the next demonstration,
to arrest him—an event which in itself
sparked protests at the police station
holding him. Even so, Haukur never
saw this act of protest as remarkably
significant.
“Haukur just thought it was funny
and symbolic,” Eva says. “He felt that
demonstrations like these were impor-
tant, just because it's so easy to show
people what one person can do. If one
person can change the appearance of a
building, then what could a thousand
people do? What could ten thousand
people do? He never thought of that
action as one of the most significant
of all the things he had done over the
years. He was far more concerned with
the work he did with refugees than this
Bónus flag demonstration.”
THE DISAPPEARANCE
Haukur remained politically active even
after the anti-government protests
came and went, getting involved with
everything from union organising to
continued advocacy for refugees and
asylum seekers with the founding of
No Borders Iceland, but he was largely
out of the public eye. That is, until
last March, when it was reported that
Haukur had not only gone to Syria to
join forces with the International Free-
dom Battalion, but had also been killed
in Afrin, under heavy fire from Turkish
forces.
This news blindsided Eva
completely—she hadn’t heard from
him in weeks, but knew that he hasd-
gone to Syria.
‘The last time I talked to him was on
Skype, in midsummer 2017, while he
was in Greece,” she recalls. “After that,
we only had email contact for a while.
I did not know what he was up to. I
was on summer holiday, and I wasn't
surprised at first that we weren't talk-
ing every day. But then weeks passed.
I was surprised that I wasn't hearing
from him and he wasn't replying to
my emails.” She began to worry, and
started asking his friends if they heard
from him. “When we hadn't heard from
him for six weeks, we found out that he
had actually gone to Syria, in July 2017.
He didn't tell me about it, because he
didn't want us to worry and he thought
if he told me in advance that I would
stop him.”
Already beside herself with worry,
the news of his death would reach her
not from Icelandic authorities, but
through social media.
“I only learned he was missing
in action through social media, last
March,” she says. “I hadn't heard from
him in weeks at that time and had
started to get very worried because I
knew that Afrin had been attacked.
We thought that he was on his way
back already—when a journalist
called Haukur's father about the news,
his first reaction was to correct the
reporter that Haukur was in Greece.
We thought he was on his way home.
I had several messages in my inbox
on Facebook, from people asking what
happened. I started trying to find out
what they were talking about, but then
a friend called telling me that there was
some serious news. While he was tell-
ing me this news, I saw the post from
the International Freedom Battalion
(IFB), and my first reaction was denial,
but only for a few seconds. Then we
realised this must be true: these were
his pictures, his date of birth."
BRINGING HIM HOME,
OR TRYING ANY WAY
As a parent, Eva naturally wanted to
bring his remains back to Iceland.
That task would end up being a lot
more complicated than initially antici-
pated—so complicated, in fact, that
Haukur has yet to be repatriated.
“The first thing I did, of course, was
to try to find out what had happened.
“I really hope Haukur won't be remembered for
only [fighting in Syria] because there are so
many other things that he had done before.”
Photo by Benjamin Julian
Photo by Lárus Páll Birgisson
Photo by Eva Hauks