Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.05.2019, Blaðsíða 13

same laws.
For some, this is the strongest
argument in favour of joining the
EU. For others, the populist right
in Iceland amongst them, this is
the strongest argument in favour
of leaving the EEA altogether.
Nowhere is this anti-EU sentiment
more apparent than in the discus-
sion surrounding the Third Energy
Package (TEP).
At its core, the TEP is intended
to open the EU’s gas and electric-
ity markets, to
prevent vert i-
cal integration
(i .e. when the
s u p p l y c h a i n
for a company
is owned by the
company itself),
and prevent other
m o n o p o l i s i n g
behaviour. As an
E E A m e m b e r,
Iceland is osten-
sibly affected but
it is difficult to
see what impact
the TEP would
have on Iceland’s
energy market in
practice. Iceland is
famously energy
self-sufficient,
generating its
own electricity and hot water from
hydro- and geothermal power. It
neither imports nor exports power,
and the cost and logistics of doing so
are prohibitive. Not that these facts
have gotten in the way of Iceland’s
populist right.
The Centre Party have been vocal
opponents of the TEP. Disgraced
former prime minister and current
chair of the Centre Party Sigmun-
dur Davíð Gunnlaugsson has spared
no hyperbole, calling it “exceed-
ingly dangerous,” and equating
the package to Iceland ceding its
energy sovereignty to the EU. His
party has orchestrated filibusters
on the matter that have lasted
well into the early morning hours,
which have inspired criticism from
Reform Party chair Þorgerður
Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, who called
this “Bannonism,” a nod to former
Trump advisor Stephen Bannon.
This concept she
defined as “speaking
misinformation long
enough to awaken
fear in the general
public.”
EU: the fish
hoover
This particular rheto-
ric is reminiscent of
when discussions
about joining the EU
first began to gather
steam in the early
21st century. At that
time, the populist
right aired a now-
infamous television
ad, depicting fleets of
foreign fishing boats
sailing into Icelandic
waters and stealing all of our fish.
Was that ever a possibility?
Doubtful. During accession talks,
held when the pro-EU Social Demo-
crats were in power, fishing and
agriculture were reserved for the
final phase of negotiations, and the
EU seemed very eager to let Iceland
maintain fishing and agricultural
sovereignty if it meant we would
join the bloc.
That would never come to
pass—new elections in 2013 put
the right-wing back in power, and
shortly thereafter, the government
withdrew Iceland from accession
negotiations. This was done with
considerable ease, in large part due
to two factors: the willingness of
the populist right to use misinfor-
mation and scare tactics, and the
unwillingness of everyone else to
speak up just as loudly about the
actual facts.
The truth shall cost you
the election
As is increasingly the case world-
wide, the United States’s populist
right is wholly unconcerned with
the facts. In an infamous interview
with CNN, right-wing pundit Newt
Gingrich dismissed FBI statis-
tics showing that violent crime
is declining in the US, telling the
reporter, “As a politician, I’ll go with
how people feel; I’ll let you go with
the theoreticians.”
Iceland’s populist right has taken
this to heart. They were very loud
and vocal during EU accession
talks, and continue at the same
volume today with TEP debate.
Those actually concerned with
the facts regarding EU accession
were remarkably absent from the
discussion, believing—incorrectly,
in hindsight—that the facts would
speak for themselves and that any
reasonable person would be able to
tell that the populists were spread-
ing lies.
When it comes to abortion, the
TEP, and a host of other issues,
those who care about having an
informed discussion—whatever
their particular stance on the
issues—should learn from these
past mistakes, speak up to amplify
the proven facts and figures, and
drown out the more dishonest
voices in the discussion.
As Iceland’s populist right takes
its cues from American right-wing-
ers, Icelanders would do well to take
the US as an object lesson on what
happens when you think “the facts
should speak for themselves.”
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“Icelanders
would do well
to take the US
as an object
lesson on
what happens
when you
think ‘the
facts should
speak for
themselves.’”
13 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2019
Feelings don't care about your facts