Reykjavík Grapevine - feb. 2022, Blaðsíða 10

10 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02— 2022
who's really supporting survivors and
who isn't.
“I see, of course, that things are
happening, but we still need changes
amongst these powerful people who
are in government. These are people
who could make real changes. You're
seeing MPs saying things like 'Wow, go
you, you're doing so well, we support
you' but this person maybe represents
a party that's in the government.”
For one example, she refers again
to her interview with Vítalía, who
had named famed media personality
Logi Bergmann amongst the men who
crossed a line with her, and who later
took to Facebook to deny the allega-
tions against him.
“At the same time, we see for
example Katrín Atladóttir, who is the
Independence Party representative in
Reykjavík City Council, 'supports the
fight' but still standing by a Facebook
post from an alleged abuser,” she says.
“Meanwhile, Reykjavík City has a direct
line to allocating resources in the fight
against sexual violence. So yeah, it's a
bit annoying to see people cheerlead-
ing 'good for you' but she's someone
who could actually make changes and
yet obviously supports an accused
abuser.
“This is worrying. So what does it
mean to be cheerleading? They could
actually do something, but they shift
the responsibility onto us. I had to sit
with Vítalía in an hour-long interview
where she describes these disgusting
events in painful detail before anything
was said. She had already talked about
this before but no one listened. I have
yet to see any changes that would be
good for survivors.”
Stop voting
for these
people!
The cynical opportunism of politicians
has used up all its charm, in Edda’s
mind. The time for talk and hashtags
is over; the time for action is long over-
due.
“We also see political parties using
#MeToo and all that in their campaigns
to get themselves voted into govern-
ment, and promise to pay down psychi-
atric services and speed up processing
of sexual assault cases in the judicial
system, and such,” she points out. “But
when they're voted into government,
suddenly there's no money to pay
down psychiatric services, nothing is
done. This is just performative. We're
seeing judges who are in these parties
that have power, writing columns in
newspapers that say 'we don't always
need to believe survivors'. These are
people who are still in government,
and that's cause for worry.”
She adds: “It's performative to see a
party that has [making these changes]
as part of its platform, yet they have
shown that they have no regard for
minority groups. So why should this
be on their platforms now?”
These parties are so entrenched in
society that Edda is not especially opti-
mistic that things will change any time
soon, as that would require a large
section of the population to actually
vote them out.
“People need to stop voting for parties
that are focusing on all kinds of things
other than the people in this coun-
try,” she says. “We've never seen them
putting any reforms into how sexual
assault cases are handled. That has
never happened, we haven't seen it,
and that's why I don't have any hope
that this will ever change. We need to
see loads of parties talking about this
daily; not just the week before election
day.”
A mat#er
of life and
death
At our interview’s close, Edda offers
some thoughts for men reading this;
what they could take away, and how
they can help make the changes much
needed in Icelandic society.
“It matters a lot to listen to people
who are talking,” she says. “It's sad to
say, but this could be your mother, your
cousin, your sister, or whoever. This
is a matter of life and death for some
people, to be listened to.”
For survivors, she emphasised that
no one is under any obligation to go
public with some of the most trau-
matic events of their lives. As always,
since well before Eigin Konur was
launched, Edda Falak wants them to
know that she stands with them.
“I want them to know that they are
believed,” she says. “There's a whole
bunch of people out there who stand
together. It's not like it was. I so look
up to people who are still with us today
despite everything that's happened to
them. It's so admirable, and it's not a
given. I think it's also important to
emphasise that no one is obligated to
change their experience into some kind
of 'empowering story' to help others.
Sometimes it's really just a matter of
living, eating, sleeping, surviving. Not
everyone needs to go public. It can be
really difficult. But it's important to
me that they know that they, too, are
believed.”