Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.12.2019, Side 4

What Are Icelanders
Talkin! About?
The headlines explodin! the
comments sections
Words: Andie Fontaine Photos: Andie Fontaine & Art Bicnick
The single most impor-
tant story of the past
month has been the Fishrot
Files, or as they call it in Iceland,
the Samherji case. 30,000 docu-
ments provided by Wikileaks—
and subsequently reported on by
RÚV, Stundin, The Namibian and
Al Jazeera—showed that Iceland’s
largest fishing company, Samherji,
bribed Namibian officials in order
to secure massive fishing quotas.
Making matters more shady,
Samherji then funneled much of
the proceeds from their haul into
a shell company registered in the
Marshall Islands, a tax haven. Since
this story broke, the differences
between how Namibian and Icelan-
dic officials have responded have
been striking. And by that we mean
that while Namibian authorities
have been slapping handcuffs on
suspects, Icelandic authorities have
been busy downplaying, deflecting,
or outright blaming Namibia for
the whole mess. Read all about it
on page 10.
In happier news, two Icelandic
women are amongst those nomi-
nated for the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Specifically, Anna "orvaldsdóttir
has been nominated for Best Engi-
neered Album in the classical genre
for her album ‘Aequa,’ while Hildur
Gu#nadóttir has been nominated
for Best Score Soundtrack for
Visual Media for her composition
of the 'Chernobyl' score. It bears
mentioning that she has already
secured an Emmy win for the score
for episode two of the series, “Please
Remain Calm.” It’s a historic first
for Iceland, and even if they don’t
nab a win (though they really ought
to), it’s still a remarkable achieve-
ment for our tiny island nation.
Once again, the beautiful but
foreboding South Iceland beach of
Reynisfjara has been making head-
lines. First, a tourist was injured
when knocked over by one of Reyn-
isfjara’s notorious sneaker waves.
Then Minister of Tourism "órdís
Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir announced
that she would be working on a
new response plan for Reynisf-
jara, establishing better monitor-
ing of weather conditions there
and giving police greater authority
to close it down when conditions
are potentially dangerous. Lastly,
Reykjavík District Court found
in favour of a tourist who sued a
tour company for taking her and
others to Reynisfjara during bad
weather, where she was subse-
quently injured by high winds. If
you do visit Reynisfjara, stay on the
main beach and as far from the surf
as possible.

Lastly, Chinese airline Juneyao
Airlines announced they will begin
direct flights between Reykjavík
and Shanghai by the end of March
2020. A round-trip economy ticket
will be an astonishingly low 68,000
ISK (about $500), while business
class will be a much higher 204,000
ISK, or around $1,500.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 21— 2019First
NEWS
A protest. Presumably people are upset that not more Icelanders got Grammy noms.
Published by Fröken
ehf.
Hafnarstræti 15,
101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@
grapevine.is
Member of the
Icelandic
Travel Industry
Association
www.saf.is
Printed by
Landsprent ehf. in
25,000 copies.
PUBLISHER
Hilmar Steinn
Grétarsson
hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601
publisher@
grapevine.is
EDITOR$IN$CHIEF
Valur Grettisson
valur@grapevine.is
ART DIRECTOR
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
sveinbjorn@
grapevine.is
NEWS EDITOR
Andie Fontaine
andie@grapevine.is
PHOTO EDITOR
Art Bicnick
art@grapevine.is
WEB EDITOR
Andie Fontaine
andie@grapevine.is
LISTINGS DIRECTOR
Hannah Jane Cohen
listings@listings.is
COPY EDITOR
Catharine Fulton

ILLUSTRATIONS
Elín Elísabet

INTERNS
Ines Pereira
ines@grapevine.is
Lea Müller
lea@grapevine.is
Sam O'Donnell
samuel@grapevine.is

CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
a rawlings
Alexander Jean de
Fontenay
Aliya Uteuova
Björn Haldórsson
Nicola Lamburov
Muhammed Emin
Kizilkaya
Phil Uwe Widiger
Ragnar Egilsson
Rex Beckett
Shruthi Basappa
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Art Bicnick
Anna Manning
Matthew Eisman
Wikileaks
Kirsten Brehmer
Hör$ur Sveinsson
Timothée Lambrecq
Rut Sigur$ardóttir
SALES DIRECTORS
A$alsteinn
Jörundsson
adalsteinn@
grapevine.is
Helgi %ór Har$arson
helgi@grapevine.is
CONTACT US:
—» Editorial
+354 540 3600
editor@grapevine.is
—» Advertising
354 540 3605
ads@grapevine.is
—» Distribution
& Subscriptions
+354 540 3604
distribution@
grapevine.is
—» Press releases
listings@grapevine.is
—» General Inquiries
grapevine@grapevine.is
FOUNDERS
Hilmar Steinn
Grétarsson,
Hör$ur
Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti
Sigur$arson,
Oddur Óskar
Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is
published 21 times a year
by Fröken ltd. Monthly
from December through
February, and fortnightly
from March til October.
Nothing in this magazine
may be reproduced in
whole or in part without
the written permission
of the publishers. The
Reykjavík Grapevine
is distributed around
Reykjavík, Akureyri,
Egilssta$ir, Sey$isfjör$ur,
Borgarnes, Keflavík,
Ísafjör$ur and at key
locations along road
#1, and all major tourist
attractions and tourist
information centres in
the country. You may not
like it, but at least it's not
sponsored (no articles in
the Reykjavík Grapevine
are pay-for articles. The
opinions expressed are
the writers’ own, not the
advertisers’).
The Reykjavík Grapevine comprehensive Reynis%ara plan includes a guard
that ushers tourists away from the shoreline with a giant water cannon
THE HOME
OF ICELANDIC
SEAFOOD
AND LAMB
APOTEK Kitchen+Bar is a casual-smart
restaurant located in one of Reykjavíks
most historical buildings.
We specialize in fresh seafood
and local ingredients
prepared with a modern twist.
APOTEK KITCHEN+BAR Austurstræti 16 101 Reykjavík apotek.is