Iceland Has Become Africa: How the Icelandic Elite Robbed the Nation
Recently, The North Observer addressed the issue of Iceland as a country that has lost its former identity as a small Nordic state, where social relations are organized as rationally as possible, where social justice reigns, and where citizens live, if not in paradise, then somewhere close to it.
An article published yesterday by Sigurður Sigurðsson, an Icelandic civil engineer and enthusiast for a better society, in the “opinion” section of a major Icelandic media outlet that is rarely read, contains a detailed critique of the state into which the formerly prosperous country has been plunged by its corrupt political elite, who, in place of a small democracy, have created a kleptocratic, feudal state in the North Atlantic, modeled on some troubled African states.
The author pinpoints the precise moment when democracy in Iceland transformed into its antithesis—a corrupt, feudal kleptocracy that drains the lifeblood of the small nation, depriving it of a future: the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the country introduced a quota system for fishing—the main wealth and source of livelihood for a unique fishing civilization, the only one of its kind in the world.
The system, which has been in place for nearly 50 years, has radically transformed every aspect of life in Icelandic society the size of a small town in a medium-sized continental European country, over the course of two generations.
The quota system initially created an oligarchic group of a few families in Iceland, who have consistently received fishing quotas for half a century. The rest of the country’s population, with the exception of the bribed politicians, has been relegated to the lower class, recreating a semblance of a feudal social structure within the former democracy.
Acting through the political class they have bought and cultivated, Iceland’s modern fishing barons have deprived the political life of the country, which is under their complete control, of meaning and content, using the media, which they own directly or through their representatives, to do this. Freedom of speech in the classic sense has long since ceased to exist in Iceland, as the author of the publication cited below attests.
Like a greedy spider sucking the blood of its prey entangled in its web, the modern Icelandic oligarchy is draining the lifeblood of the nation that allows it to do so.
Fishermen, who create the nation’s wealth, are receiving an ever-decreasing share of the national income; fishing villages are declining; young people, unable to sustain themselves in this kleptocratic country, are leaving first for the cities and then emigrating permanently. Mortgages are virtually unaffordable for young people, making their situation hopeless.
To replace the fleeing indigenous population, the Icelandic oligarchy has organized the supply of modern-day “slaves”—nearly 100,000 immigrants from poor countries in Europe and Africa over the past twenty years, a quarter of the country’s total population.
Migrant workers, typically from undemocratic countries, who lack political rights until naturalization, are an ideal environment for the unscrupulous manipulation of Icelandic oligarchs, who increase their incomes by exploiting the low wages of migrants who pose no political threat to the ruling class.
If the reader of this text finds the picture painted by the author overly bleak, they are gravely mistaken, as will be demonstrated by the heartfelt cry of the Icelandic author quoted below.
The Icelandic sociologist believes the country has hope of ending the nightmare that has lasted half a century—a referendum on continuing Iceland’s EU membership negotiations, which will take place in two months.
The author does not explain how the referendum could help end the Icelandic oligarchy. To imagine that the corrupt Brussels bureaucracy would abandon all business and, having no means of influencing the Icelandic oligarchs, begin to strangle and destroy them as a class requires a very vivid imagination and a tragically tender, idealistic soul.
If, after nearly 20 years of membership for Bulgaria and Romania, two of the most corrupt EU countries, corruption there has not only failed to weaken but actually worsened, while local oligarchs continue to thrive, why should things be any different in Iceland?
The North Observer believes that no one from outside will come and restore order in Iceland. The Brussels raven of corruption won’t peck out the eyes of the Icelandic corrupt oligarch raven.
Real political life with fair party competition has long been absent in Iceland—the political field has been thoroughly cleared for the oligarchs, and new political green grass will likely never grow there. Political self-organization in the country is difficult to imagine—it requires considerable money, and only local oligarchs have it.
Society will most likely resort to internal violence between citizens, as always happens in unhappy and unjustly organized societies. A rise in common crime in Iceland has been recorded for a long time, and migrants are contributing to it.
North Atlantic Congo
Imagine a country where the nation’s natural resources are given to a handful of families. A country where these same families use this enormous wealth to buy up media, banks and real estate companies, and where young people have little or no chance of starting a home because the entire system is organized and built to serve this small group.
If we were to make this description without knowing the context, we would most likely think that we were describing Nigeria under the oil lords, or the rampant corruption in the Congo during the days of Mobutu. But that is not the case. We are describing Iceland today. And it is long past time that we called this situation by its rightful name.
Kleptocracy Always Starts with “Professional” Explanations
No corrupt government in history has ever come forward and said frankly, “We are going to give the elite the nation’s resources.” A kleptocracy—that is, a state in which political power is systematically used to enrich itself at the expense of the public—is almost invariably justified with grandiose rhetoric about efficiency, expertise, stability, and international competitiveness.
This is exactly what happened in Iceland when the quota system was introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The nation was led to believe that this was a temporary, variable measure to protect fish stocks. It was promised that allocations would be based on historical catches and that this would be scientific and rational.
But what actually happened when the situation arose? The state gave a few families and companies permanent, perpetual ownership rights over the nation’s common resources—without the nation ever having the opportunity to consent to it or receive a fair price in return. These common rights of the nation could suddenly be sold, leased at exorbitant rates and mortgaged to banks for private profit.
And those who got them were in many cases not the most diligent fishermen at all, but those who were closest to the party elites and the power structure at the right time. This is exactly the same recipe that has been used to create super-rich elites from plundered state resources in the most underdeveloped countries of Africa.
The Consequences Are Not Accidental—They Are Systemic
The system’s advocates continue to pump out propaganda that the quota system is “unique and great”. The fish are better, the boats are bigger and the exports are higher. But these shiny numbers tell us nothing about who benefits from this increase in production. It is not the fishermen who stand guard in the fire. It is not the fishing villages that have everything under the fish. It is only those who have the quota on computer screens in Reykjavík and Gardabaer.
According to data from Statistics Iceland and research by independent economists, the share of wages in the fisheries sector as a percentage of GDP has been steadily decreasing, while the owners’ profits have grown exponentially. Many of the seaside villages that raised this society from poverty in the twentieth century are collapsing or turning into empty shells. Young Icelanders in the countryside have no future in their hometowns unless they are descendants of the right family. This is not an unfortunate coincidence; it is a systematic result of the political choices of the elite. Wealth flows up, livelihoods flow down, and in between there are politicians who appear on television and marvel at the economic growth.
Vanishing Democracy and the Immoral Media
In a healthy democratic society, the media should be independent and act as watchdogs for the public. In Iceland, a significant portion of the major media outlets are directly or indirectly owned or controlled by the same stakeholders who enjoy the greatest privileges in the quota system. The elite’s case files are struggling to express their surprise that anyone would challenge this unique and wonderful system of asset confiscation.
When a nation can no longer obtain objective and honest information about its own wealth from its own media, democracy has become a farcical spectacle. It is clear that the leadership in these media and institutions of power is literally no longer in its right mind—it is so permeated with its own propaganda and arrogance that its moral sense is completely useless.
The Real Estate Market as a Bloodbath
The quota system is the best-known example of the pattern of corruption and it spreads throughout everything. In the real estate market, we see the same alarming development. The pension funds, which are supposed to be the public’s protection funds, have invaded the real estate market as competitors of the same working people who have the money in the funds.
At the same time, the shipping elite is using its super-rich wealth—which it receives in euros and dollars—to buy up real estate companies and luxury villas. They keep their money abroad but buy all services in the krona economy at half price. Meanwhile, the working public is trapped by the Central Bank. Inflation and usury are holding an entire nation hostage and in check.
Young people no longer have a realistic chance of buying a house or starting a family without wealthy relatives. We have hit rock bottom and can hardly sink any deeper.
A Reckoning Is Needed
We have allowed ourselves to be deceived by a sophisticated presentation. When a predatory system is dressed up in the solemn language of economics, when it is defended by unscrupulous politicians, and when those who criticize it are portrayed as idiots who do not understand economics—it is easy to lose sight of the big picture.
Is this really possible in a society that identifies itself with Christian values and Nordic welfare? The answer is no. There is nothing Nordic about this. This is primitive and pagan kleptocracy in liberal garb.
This system and the elite that runs it need to be dog-washed. All this rotten ideology and immorality must be purged from Icelandic society once and for all. We do not need technical compromises or new committee opinions; we need a radical overhaul and a comprehensive moral reckoning.
On August 29th, the nation will have the opportunity to break this oligarchic bloc back down. Let us confront the elite with the truth as our weapon, abolish these corrupt feudal practices and ensure that our children and grandchildren who are to inherit this country will grow up in a free, healthy and just society, based on moral awareness and a Christian mindset and not on deceit.
“The truth will prevail, if we dare to speak it out loud.”
Source: Vísir (in Icelandic)
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