Reykjavík Grapevine - jún. 2023, Blaðsíða 4

The Reykjavík Grapevine 6 / 23 4
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V O L C A N O
C O L L E C T I O N
The Reykjavík
Grapevine
PUBLISHED BY
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PUBLISHER
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson
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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Catharine Fulton
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PHOTO & MEDIA
EDITOR
Art Bicnick
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DESIGN & LAYOUT
Arnar Hjartarson
Sóley Ylja A. Bartsch
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Iryna Zubenko
Jóhannes Bjarkason
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Catherine Magnúsdóttir
Charlie Winters
Davíð Roach Gunnarsson
Elías Þórsson
Francesca Stoppani
Katla Gunnlaugsdóttir
Lea Dorschel
Sævar Andri Sigurðarson
Shruthi Basappa
Sóley Þöll Bjarnadóttir
Valur Gunnarsson
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Art Bicnick
Einar Jarl Björgvinsson
Patrik Ontkovic
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The Reykjavík Grapevine is
published every month by
Fröken Ltd.
Nothing in this magazine
may be reproduced in
whole or in part with out
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the publishers.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
is distributed in and
around Reykjavík and
at key loca tions along
Iceland's route 1.
It is also available at all
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WORDS Catharine Fulton
IMAGE Art Bicnick
Reykjavík residents actively
avoided the downtown core May 17
and 18 as roving gangs of men with
submachine guns occupied the
streets. They were reinforced by
a posse of masked men positioned
atop the Harpa Conference Centre
brandishing sniper rifles. Surely this
is the worst timeline.
But not for the people holding the
guns. Icelandic police have been
champing at the bit to get their
trigger fingers on cold hard metal,
so the arrival of 47 world leaders in
Reykjavík for the Council of Europe
Summit was like Christmas came
early for our men and women in blue
– er, black and neon yellow.
As for the event, it was just the
fourth summit held in the Council
of Europe’s 73-year history. It was
convened in response to a report
prepared in October by the Council’s
High-Level Reflection Group that
outlined 30 recommendations for
the Council to meet the challenges
presented by the war in Ukraine. The
summit is being tagged as “an his-
toric opportunity for the Council of
Europe to refocus its mission, in the
light of new threats to demo cracy
and human rights, and to support
Ukraine.”
WALK? YOU’RE KIDDING
If it wasn’t the armed officers
re pelling people from the city
centre over the course of the two
day gather ing, it was the concrete
barriers and metal fencing. You
can’t make a car-loving nation park
several blocks from their destination
of choice. That’s madness. It would
appear, based on the number of
abandoned electric scooters around
the perimeter of the no-go zone that
you can make scooter riders hoof it.
PROTESTERS IN THE RAIN
One could assume from the lock-
down efforts that authorities were
expecting large scale protests
against the gathered heads of state.
Instead, a modest group met on
Arnar hóll (the designated protest
zone of the Summit) Wednesday to
voice their opposition to Iceland’s
reprehensible whaling practices,
and roughly a dozen people con-
vened in the rain Thursday morning
to protest legislation to change the
retirement age in France.
SERIOUSLY, JUST STOP
Speaking of whaling, a long-awaited
report on the 2022 whaling season
was released by the Icelandic Food
and Veterinary Authority (MAST) in
early May and it found, in part, that
whaling is not in line with animal
welfare legislation in Iceland. We
know. Shocking. Animal welfare
observers and cameras were placed
on the ships of Hvalur hf – the only
company in Iceland hunting whales
– during the 2022 whaling season to
take stock of the activities.
A total of 148 whales were killed in
the 2022 season, with 58 of those
deaths filmed and analysed. Though
Hvalur has long maintained that the
whales die immediately after being
shot in the head with an explosive
harpoon, the report stated that 36
whales needed to be shot more than
once, with five shot three times and
four shot five times. One whale was
chased for five hours with a harpoon
in its back (it eventually got away)
and some whales took up to two
hours to die.
“This alarming report under-
scores the need for a discussion
in Iceland about the values we want
to be known for,” Minister of Food,
Agri culture and Fisheries Svandís
Svavars dóttir said. “I believe that
industries incapable of guaran-
teeing animal welfare should be
considered part of our past rather
than our future. This report, along
with the expert council on animal
welfare’s findings, will serve as
essential background material for
making decisions about the future
of whaling post 2023.”
What The News!? Reykjavík Streets
Overrun By Men With
Machine Guns
The Council of Europe made Iceland secure to the max