Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.09.2019, Blaðsíða 4

What Are Icelanders
Talking About?
The sound and the fury
Words: Andie Fontaine Photo: Hjálmar Theodórsson
Iceland is not a Nazi-
friendly country. This
became very apparent when a dozen
members of the Nordic Resistance
Movement gathered in down-
town Reykjavík earlier this month
to hand out flyers about “cultural
Marxism” (a made-up concept
popularised by Norwegian far-
right terrorist Anders Breivik) and
call people “race traitors”. While
some Icelanders commented on
social media that the best response
would be to laugh at them or ignore
them (interestingly, almost every-
one suggesting this were people
who’d never have to worry about
being targeted by Nazis), some 200
Icelanders gathered for an anti-
fascist rally at the same spot just
days later, braving the rain and cold
to voice their opposition to intol-
erance. 200 versus 12 is a pretty
encouraging ratio, to be sure.
Speaking of acts against intoler-
ance, the arrival of US Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence to Iceland was a
showcase of expressions of diver-
sity. Icelanders were both frus-
trated and confused by the extreme
security measures Mike felt neces-
sary to have, blocking off whole
city blocks to traffic around Höfði,
the historic 1986 meeting place
of Reagan and Gorbachev, replete
with snipers on nearby roofs
and helicopters circling the area.
Bear in mind that Angela Merkel,
one of the most powerful politi-
cians in Europe, openly walked
the streets of downtown Reykjavík
just weeks prior, with a minimal
entourage. The company Advania,
located just next to Höfði, raised
six Pride flags as a visible show of
support for diversity, something
Mike has proven allergic to, and
two people were arrested for burn-
ing the American flag. While some
Icelanders commenting on the visit
engaged in some Pelosi Clap-levels
of projection (“Did you see the side-
eye our Prime Minister gave him?”),
other messages were clearer, such
as President Guðni Th. Jóhannes-
son wearing a rainbow bracelet for
his meeting with Pence, and talk-
ing about the importance of toler-
ance and diversity. Some Icelandic
conservatives were “concerned”
about hurting the feelings of dear
tender Mike, but it seemed most
agreed that a few Pride flags was a
fair exchange for effectively putting
the city under US military occupa-
tion for seven hours.
The nation breathed a collec-
tive sigh of relief when Parliament
passed the Third Energy Pack-
age into law, which was signed into
execution by the President. At long
last, the issue that has prompted
some of the longest filibusters
in Icelandic history, ramped up
the populist social media propa-
ganda machine and just generally
exhausted everybody was finally
laid to rest. And now that Iceland
has officially adopted this EU regu-
lation, we reckon it’s only a matter
of time before Brussels constructs
an enormous extension cord, drags
it across the North Sea, plugs it
into our power grid and saps us
completely dry of every last elec-
tron we produce. Don’t say you
weren’t warned!
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16— 2019First
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NEWS
Six little flags caused all this ruckus
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