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Iceland's Poles

I saw an interesting segment on Ísland í dag about Iceland's Polish community, who comprise more than 1% of the population and are Iceland's largest minority. Although the segment bore the unfortunate title "The Polish Invasion", it did touch on many important points. One of them was the fact that although most Poles coming to Iceland are well-educated, most of them work in entry-level positions. This was attributed (and rightly so) to the ever-increasing cost of Icelandic language classes and their lack of availability in the countryside. I would add that a more immediate cause is Iceland's policy towards people who've been educated abroad.

I've heard numerous testimonials from foreigners living in Iceland who have a degree - sometimes several, at a Bachelor's, Master's or even doctorate level - who are still told by employers that their educations are not good enough. They are told that they must attend a few years of Icelandic university. In some cases, they have to take two years of secondary school before they can even think of attending university.

Imagine the absurdity: Iceland is experiencing a labour shortage, the health care industry is in crisis, yet we are keeping educated and qualified people out of the market. How does this help anyone?

The New Icelanders' Party proposes that, instead of keeping educated and qualified people from contributing to society, that they be made to take an equivalency exam for the position in their chosen field. In this way, Icelandic employers can know that they are receiving qualified staff without having to put them through the unnecessary task of several years' of learning what they already know - at a cost to us all.

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Finally, I'd like to remind those of you who don't already know that the Festival of Polish Culture begins tomorrow at 16:00 at Café Cultura with an exhibition of the works of Ireneusz Jankou. The festival will continue until 1 October, featuring music, dance, art and more. For more information, visit www.polska.is. Hope to see you there!

Lithuanian Mafia?

In the 5 September issue of Morgunblaðið there appeared an article over a growing concern that a Lithuanian mafia has established itself in Iceland, and is importing drugs. But when you actually read what the key players in this story are saying - and then look at the reality of Iceland's drug problem - many troubling questions arise.

Jóhann R. Benediktsson, the sheriff of Keflavík International Airport, got in touch with Minister of Justice Björn Bjarnason on this matter. Here is what Bjarnason had to say:

We see now that many Lithuanians have been arrested [on drug charges] in recent months, which confirms that customs officers and police have not been protecting the borders.

Of course, both Bjarnason and Benediktsson will be the first to tell you that many more Icelanders than Lithuanians have been arrested for trying to smuggle in drugs - in fact, the 6 September issue of Blaðið ran an article on drug arrests at Keflavík airport that shows that of the 32 drug arrests made between January and August of this year, more than half of them are Icelanders. In addition, the three largest smuggling busts made this year were of Icelanders. Among the other nationalities caught trying to bring drugs into Iceland through the airport, Danes and French topped the list. The number of Lithuanians arrested on drug charges in Iceland? Five total. These figures are taken from Keflavík Customs Office records; records that Benediktson should be aware of. Yet neither he nor Bjarnason have suggested that an Icelandic, Danish or French drug mafia is growing in this country.

This is what is known as "profiling" - the criminalization of a race or ethnic group, singling them out specifically as being more worthy of suspicion of committing a crime than other races or ethnic groups. Not only is the practice insulting to the 614 Lithuanians living, working, and paying their taxes in Iceland, it is also ineffective in fighting the influx of drugs. Unfortunately, it seems this blanket labelling is already starting to take root in people's minds.

In the same Morgunblaðið article, Þórarinn Tyrfingsson, the head doctor at the drug treatment centre Vogur, also believes that there's a Lithuanian mafia in this country, based on the fact that methamphetamine use in Iceland has increased. This leap of logic - that methamphetamines = Lithuanians - is flat-out discriminatory and contradictory to reality.

So what exactly are the police preparing to do? In the article, Bjarnason says that capital area police are being combined into a single unit, and that after the new year the sheriff at Keflavík airport will be the cheif of police for the Suðurnes peninsula. This will probably mean that people coming to Iceland with a Lithuanian passport can expect to be searched, simply because of their country of origin. They might as well find themselves under police surveillance. All a part of the costly and ineffective practice that profiling is.

I don't know how much time Bjarnason has actually spent reading about Iceland's drug underground, but one man I spoke to for the Grapevine, Skuggabörn author Reynir Traustason - a person who's spent a great deal of time within Iceland's drug world - suggests a much different approach to fighting the import of drugs:

All the harbours, all around the country, are wide open. The drugs are not usually brought over in the hold of the ship. People sending drugs over to Iceland from countries like Germany or England will have divers attach the drugs to the bottom of the ship. And then these ships come to Iceland, to some little villages in the north and the west. And checking all the ships would take a lot of police and a lot of money, and a dog almost never goes on board a ship.
Look, I was a captain on a trawler. I know how these things work. You come back with the alcohol that you bought abroad, and two guys come on board asking if you’ve got any alcohol. You leave two or three bottles under the bed for them to find, and you say, “Here, just take this,” and everybody knows what’s going on - the customs officials are going to have a good time at home. They take a little look around, say, “OK everything is fine here,” and leave. Meanwhile, we’ve got 20 cases of alcohol in the toilet. (Source)

What would be needed, then, are more staff at these harbours, inspecting more ships more often, who all answer to a single authority and are "kept honest" by surprise visits from national law enforcement authorities. While the sheriff of Keflavík airport and the Minister of Justice are scapegoating Lithuanians as the source of Iceland's drug problem, and calling for an increase of security and manpower at the one point of entry least likely to be taken by a drug mule, these tiny little harbours all over the country go virtually unchecked and unprotected.

Of course, to step up protecting Iceland's harbours would take actual work. It's much easier to blame an ethnic minority for the source of our country's woes, instead of confronting reality and doing what it takes to get the job done.

Doing Wrong, Doing Right

Hello again. I'm back from vacation and am currently preparing to get something fun together for the city. Updates on that coming soon. In the meantime, some catching up:

First off, yet another example of the need for reform in Iceland's immigration law has come to light. Six foreign women, all of whom were victims of domestic violence, now face deportation - and one, to my knowledge, has already been deported. Their crime? Leaving their husbands, and being from a country of origin that's outside the European Economic Area (EEA). You see, according to Article 5a of the Icelandic Nationality Act, a foreigner who marries an Icelander must stay married for at least three years in order to retain the rights that are earned through said marriage (in the case of legal co-habitation, it's five years). For those outside the EEA, these rights include the right to stay in Iceland. Divorce within three years - or split the co-habitation within five - and you'll have to leave the country and start from scratch.

This article is designed to prevent foreigners from marrying Icelanders for the purpose of getting on the fast-track to citizenship. In reality, it ensures that in the case of an abusive marriage, a foreign woman can be held in a state of subjugation and submission; the threat of deportation over her head for years, the law keeping in her in place like a whip.

The damage done is two-fold: not only does a foreigner whose only crime is leaving a bad situation and being born in the wrong country have to pack and leave, but if domestic violence was a part of the picture, her abuser will never see his day in court. How can he, when the victim isn't even in the country? The abuser remains free to subject another woman to abuse, whether she's a foreigner or an Icelander.

All laws, including immigration laws, are supposed to be designed to serve the needs of the society in which they are made. This law does not serve the women of Iceland, no matter what country they were born in, and as such should be revoked immediately.

I would imagine the counter-argument would be that repealling this law would encourage foreigners to marry Icelanders in "sham marriages" and then get immediately divorced. This would be my rebuttal: relax. Even with Iceland's wonderful standard of living, our 1.4% unemployment rate and jobs galore, and our opening the country to the newest EU countries last 1 May, we have yet to see this mythic "flood"of people trying to get into Iceland. Where all these people allegedly trying to storm into our country; the human deluge that such laws are trying to "protect" us from?

The fact is, it doesn't exist. Rather than approach Iceland's immigration situation on its own terms, most of its lawmakers have chosen instead to copy/paste restrictive (and unsuccessful) immigration laws from Denmark. Would we adopt the economic policies of a country going through a major recession? Of course not. Is it too much to ask that our MPs draft laws based on the needs of our own country, rather than lift them from some place else?

The New Icelanders' Party will continue to urge that this law be reformed immediately. For the women of this country, both foreign and Icelandic, and for the country as a whole. It's time to draft immigration law based on what's good for Iceland.

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And now, for a little good news.

If you're a foreigner looking for work, one great place to start is where I'm currently employed: Svæðisskrifstofa Málefna Fatlaðra á Reykjanesi (the Reykjanes Regional Office for Disabled People's Issues). Apart from the rewarding experience of working with the physically and mentally disabled in group homes, they also offer free Icelandic courses as a part of your working schedule (as opposed to in your free time). There are numerous positions open. Visit their website or call 525-0900 for more information.

Finally, praise must be given to Toshiki Toma for the articles he's been writing for the Reykjavík Grapevine lately. It's a pleasure to see this insightful writing expand its readership.

UPDATE: Hope Knutson informed me that "it seems that neither of the 2 women who were in danger of being deported will be. The Immigration chief (Hildur) and the lawyer from A-hús (Margrét) met and went over these cases and it seems the immigration authorities had not had full information about the situation (i.e. the fact that these women were victims of violence from their former husbands). After they got that information, they were able to process the applications under a clause granting permits based on humanitarian reasons. Also the Vinstri Grænn party has redoubled their efforts to change the immigration law in this regard. They have proposed an amendment about this issue more than once."

I'm happy to hear this, and sincerely hope that this matter serves as a starting point for serious reformation of Iceland's immigration laws, including Article 5a. No woman in an abusive situation should have to wonder if she should take the gamble on applying for a humanitarian permit and risk deportation - this law should just be repealled altogether. The Leftist-Greens deserve praise for taking up this issue. Here's hoping the other parties hear the voice of reason as well.

Dorrit Moussaieff Comments on Immigration

Yesterday, Dorrit Moussaieff - wife of Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson - became an Icelandic citizen. I'm very happy for her, and for her enthusiastic attitude regarding Iceland. As she says in today's Fréttablaðið:

"Where else in the world do people have it so good [than in Iceland]? You have the food, the air, the water, and the people are wonderful. I think Icelanders don't know how good they have it."

Fine words of praise. However, two comments drew my attention.

Moussaieff told reporters that, "It should not be easy to become an Icelandic citizen. It's very necessary that we choose carefully who gets to become an Icelander."

This comment surprised me - Moussaieff can rest assured that it isn't easy to become an Icelandic citizen. A person who immigrates to Iceland from a non-EU country must wait seven years to even be eligible, cannot leave the country for more than six months, and cannot accept most social benefits (such as unemployment) for the last two years, not to mention the 150 hours of Icelandic language classes that must be attended just to qualify for permanent resident status. Then, and only then, can a non-EU citizen who hasn't married an Icelander apply for citizenship. Becoming an Icelander is anything but easy.

I'd also be curious to know by what standard Moussaieff feels we must "carefully choose" who gets citizenship. Currently, any sort of criminal record pretty much excludes one from becoming a citizen and, as stated before, one cannot have drawn social support for the past two years - they must be capable of taking care of themselves. What further standards need to be imposed? Cultural? Religious? Political? We can only guess.

Another comment that sprung up in the interview was, "We have to make sure that people who come here give something back and don't live off of people who were here first."

People who come to this country have to work. They aren't "living off of" anybody. More often than not, they do the work that no one else can do or is willing to do. They work in construction, they clean offices and schools, the work in fish factories, in homes for the handicapped and the elderly, not to mention the myriad of other jobs that are held by both Icelanders and immigrants alike. They pay their taxes here and raise their families here. Some even start businesses of their own. If this isn't "giving something back", I don't know what is.

Again, I'm happy that Moussaieff has become a citizen and that she appreciates this country. But some of her comments clearly prove that there's still a long way to go in the struggle to clear up certain misconceptions that some people have about new Icelanders.

Integration, Not Assimilation

Last Friday's interview with me in Birta has triggered a very positive response of people offering their help and support, and wishing me luck. For this I'm very grateful. But I'm also grateful for the question one friend of mine asked regarding the headline of the interview, "Aðlögun, jafnrétti og samstaða" - a translation of FNÍ's slogan, "Integration, Equality and Unity".

To many, "aðlögun" can mean either "assimilation" or "integration". My friend wanted to know which of the two I meant. As is reflected in our slogan, I meant integration, but I feel it's important to distinguish the difference between assimilation and integration, and why we support the latter but not the former.

Assimilation, to me, means to completely surrender your identity in order to "be one with" the group. You let go of everything that makes you who you are, and adopt a whole new identity; one barely distinguishable from anyone else in the country. Integration, on the other hand, means that you are fully a member of society - with the same rights and privileges as anyone else - without having to surrender your identity.

Assimilation is morally reprehensible. You cannot ask people to give up the most fundamental parts of what makes them who they are - their culture, their religion, even their name - nor does it make for a more harmonious society. On the contrary: any country that has attempted assimilation has sparked great social unrest. In the end, attempting an assimilation program achieves the opposite of what it intends.

Integration, by contrast, is simply asking that all members of society are provided equal rights and protection under the law, and that new arrivals are thoroughly educated as to what these rights and privileges are. This is why FNÍ has stressed that immigrants be informed of not only their labour rights, but also that Icelandic language classes include teaching the basic principles of Icelandic society and government. In this way, new arrivals can gain a better understanding of the country they live in, the way it works, what they're entitled to and that we live in a democracy.

Such knowledge benefits both immigrants and Icelanders alike.

In other news, praise must be given to Davíð Þór Jónsson, for the column he wrote in last Sunday's Fréttablaðið entitled "Gyðingahatur", wherein he not only praises Jewish people for the contributions they've made to the world, but also stresses the important distinction that needs to be made between Jewish people and the policies of the Israeli government - a distinction not too often made in Iceland. Thank you, Mr. Jónsson!

Our Platform

The first meeting of the New Icelanders' Party exceeded my expectations in terms of the ideas presented. It's great to hear unabashed advice from intelligent people. After compiling these ideas democratically, we've arrived at a central platform:

Integration, Equality and Unity

The New Icelanders' Party refers not only to those people who've newly arrived in Iceland, but also to those Icelanders who have new ideas, new visions for the country, and want to create a new society. This society rests upon our three fundamental issues: integration, equality and unity.

Integration - because we want to see Iceland as a model country for the rest of Europe, if not the world, by actively working to integrate immigrants into Icelandic society. This will help prevent the sort of marginalization and "ghettoization" we see in some European countries who chose to ignore the people they once welcomed. It will make the newcomer feel more welcome, which is good for them, and also quicken their transition into Icelandic society, which is good for Icelanders and new arrivals alike.

Equality - because all of us are entitled to the same rights. In this sense, we refer not only to immigrants, but also to the nation's elderly, the disabled, the single parents: we are all one nation, and the New Icelanders' Party will work hard to ensure that everyone is given equal protection and equal entitlement under the law.

Unity - because a society divided cannot stand. We are not a "single issue" party - we welcome the input of everyone in shaping our goals and objects. Iceland has a tremendous potential for direct democracy, and we want to make that a reality.