Policy change at Samfylking

'Samfylking' is an opposition party that is considered pro-European, defender of minority rights, humanitarian and multicultural. Now it looks like there will be a change of direction with the new chairman, Kristrún Frostadóttir. At a recent party meeting, immigration issues were discussed. It was strongly hinted that changes in focus are ahead in the party, which are related to the restriction of immigrants and refugees. A discussion that has only been found in far right parties and other extreme small parties.

Certainly, there are unsolved problems associated with the large number of foreigners in the country. The reason for the increase is primarily the enormous growth in tourism, which calls for a large workforce that is not available domestically and must be obtained abroad. Also, the low wage policy has led to a lack of domestic labor to work in services for hospitals, retirement homes and municipalities, and this labor also has to be sourced from abroad. the same applies to factories and fish processing. This calls for a high demand for housing, and construction contractors do not have access to enough domestic labor to build a large number of apartment blocks in a short time, so they also have to source labor from abroad.

The problem is that under these conditions and the housing shortage, housing prices have risen to usurious prices, and the same applies to rental prices. Icelandic is hardly spoken anymore in many workplaces and not at all in tourism and the restaurant sector. English is most commonly spoken. The problem spreads to the schools, where English and Polish are spoken more than Icelandic.

The number of refugees, especially from Ukraine and Venezuela, but also from other war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Palestine have created pressure on the housing market, where the state is obliged to provide housing for refugees.

Domestic refugees from disaster areas have added to the pressure and created tension in the housing market.

As the discussion is now, it seems that the only solution that people see is to put restrictions on refugees and immigrants and to deport people for crimes or any kind of violation of the law.

The Icelandic fish farming scandal

Another scandal has arisen with the new far-right administration that recently took office without elections. It is actually the same people who were in the outgoing right-wing government that was dissolved after Prime Minister Katrín Jakopsdóttir decided to seek the office of President of Iceland.

The case concerns the rights of large Norwegian companies in aquaculture in the Icelandic fjords with processing rights for 16 years. Until now, there has been no official control over the activities of these companies, and the companies have had to control themselves. This has led to the fact that an incredible number of farmed salmon have escaped from pens and entered nearby and distant salmon fishing rivers, destroying the wild populations that have lived there and been used for sport fishing.

Now the far-right administration is going to accept serious comments about monitoring with new laws, but instead give the Norwegian companies an unlimited operating license forever. The fjords will be their property which can be mortgaged or sold like any other property right. This has caused bad blood in the opposition, which claims that Norwegians are being given national ownership.

The PM abandons the sinking ship on the sea of ​​inflation.

The Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakopsdóttir, has asked for a solution for herself and the government, and plans to take over the presidency as the current president, Guðni Jóhannesson, plans to step down.  Katrín will compete with 70 other candidates in the elections that will take place on June 1.  It is expected that she will receive a majority of support - The surplus of government's  agreed that the right-winger Bjarni Benediktsson will take over as the next prime minister.  The government's main issues are reducing the rights of foreigners, maintaining stable inflation and preparing for the construction of more power plants.  Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir will again take over the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs as she is well versed in foreign affairs.

Rat holes in Icelandic tourism

Iceland is in the 19th place for the most corruption in the world.

 Recently, another scandal surfaced when the police arrested an Icelandic/Vietnamese restaurant king and sealed his chain of businesses, which include Wok on and Pho Vietnam resturants. 

 The restaurant king is accused of human trafficking and even slavery. 

 The government and the police have known for years that everything was not according to the rules at the restaurant chain, but now they have decided to clean up the company. 

 It is also thought-provoking that this police operation is being carried out right now when anti-foreigners are burying themselves in the political debate and legislation has been tightened in view of the presence of foreigners in the country.

 The catering and tourism world in Iceland is known for being liberal with regulations and employee contracts, as it is largely run on foreign labor, so it would not be surprising that this issue stretched far and wide.

The Prime Minister's party is disappearing

Opinion polls show that the Left Green party is unpopular and would not make it to parliament if the elections were held now. This is the Prime Minister's party that has supported the right-wing conservative party in one scandal after another. For example, the Prime Minister has supported the new Foreign Secretary of the Conservative Party in rejecting payments to UNRWA for aid to Gaza residents. Also, the Prime Minister has not complained even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dragged its feet in rescuing people from Gaza who have the right of residence in Iceland. 

 It is not surprising, however, that the other racist parties add a small growing following from the last election. The two main racist parties currently in opposition are the People's Party and the Central Party. It is likely that these parties will be willing to cooperate with the Conservative Party after the next parliamentary elections next year.

 Xenophobia is growing strongly within these three groups. The second largest party is the pro-European Samfylking party, which was originally founded as the Democracy party but has often oscillated between right-wing and left-wing policies. The new chairman seems to plan to drive the party further to the right in the next election.

The SOLARIS Saves people from extinction

 More than a hundred persons from Palestine, who have received a residence permit in Iceland, have been waiting for months for the help of the Icelandic government to escape the ethnic cleansing of the Israeli government. 

 The government has been inactive for months. People who live in this country and are desperately waiting for their families have repeatedly requested a conversation with the government. Its wishes have been almost exclusively rejected or not answered. 

 The SOLARIS Icelandic humanitarian organization has now managed to save the lives of 12 Palestinian people from Gaza on their own with public funding. Mostly women and children are in this group.

https://www.solaris.help/palestina

The minister closes the door - Icelandic politics III

 Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, Member of Parliament for the South and Minister of Justice and Minister of Security, has approved changes to laws that limit the rights of foreigners in Iceland and increase the powers of the police to interfere with fellow citizens.

The minister is a member of the Independence Party, which is far to the right in Icelandic politics.

The new immigration law will prevent asylum seekers and refugees from having access to the country while their cases are being examined. It will also be prohibited to provide legal aid to these people. Closed sorting camps will be set up at the border (International Airport) those foreigners who do not qualify under the new law will be sent to closed departure camps until they can finance their own departure. There will be no possibility of communion with Icelandic society.

The new police law gives the police authority to investigate and intervene without reason or suspicion. In this way, the police can investigate foreigners with a residence permit without informing the person concerned. Police can also initiate extensive searches and background checks on protesters, opposition parties and political dissidents without their knowledge.

The coalition parties Left Green  and the Progressive Party have approved these methods.

The People's Party, which has bred xenophobia, has welcomed this new law.

Samfylkinging party, which is a pro-European party, has changed its policy and now supports this law.

The pirate party, on the other hand, is opposed to this and considers the law offensive to human dignity.

The mask falls. Icelandic politics II

 Racism and xenophobia have become a growing problem in Icelandic society. The lid has fallen off the wormhole and some political parties have dropped their masks.

 The animosity is focused mainly on refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers after the main ruling party, the Independence Party, spoke out reference with restrictions on arrivals and deportation camps for foreigners.

 The Central Party and the People's Party (extreme parties) have long shown their hostility towards foreigners, but now that the Independence Party has adopted this policy, racism has increased, as can be seen in the comment columns of the mainstream media as well as social media.

 Recently, Samfylking (the largest opposition party) also started to speak against foreigners, a party that until now has followed the European Union on issues and attitudes that appear there.

 The other government parties are the Left Greens, with roots in the communist party, but they show a neutral policy, except perhaps especially in animal protection and environmental issues. The progressive party, which is a popular realist party with roots in agriculture, is not particularly expressive.

 The Independence Party has its roots in the business and financial sectors and has followed a right-wing policy as it happens every time in the neighboring countries, especially the United Kingdom and the United States.

 In the opposition, the Pirates are the second most powerful party despite their young age. They are primarily a humanitarian party that also fights against corruption that has long occurred in Icelandic society, such as that which led to the economic and banking collapse of 2008.

 It is clear that the rights of foreigners will be narrowed in the coming years with changes in laws and regulations that limit presence and residence and employment opportunities in the country.

 A new president will be elected this summer. The president is an apolitically elected and largely unproblematic office, but it is somewhat personal and open to what extent a president chooses to use influence and authority or issues.

 The outgoing president chose ineffectiveness and apathy in his office, which allows the ruling parties to adjust their sails according to the wind.

Continued bad luck

 There are still problems with central heating in Reykjanes county after lava from the last volcanic eruption destroyed the heating pipe that serves the entire county, including the KEF terminal. An attempt was made to connect an alternate route that ran underground under the lava, but it was also found to be unusable. It will take many days to build a new pipeline. According to many, the energy company was very poorly prepared for natural disasters in the region despite the warnings of scientists since 2021. It has also suffered from power shortages and has repeatedly been cut off. It is the same energy company that is responsible for electricity in the county.

The weather is cold and frosty so the county's residents are struggling to keep their houses warm. Electricity is not reliable enough to be used for large-scale power generation, and other heating equipment is non-existent or very limited.

The government has been trying to react as events happen, but mainly preventive measures have been taken to protect large companies in the area.

An eruption happens again

 

There was a tragedy in Reykjanes, which is the next county to the east of us.  

Early this morning another eruption began, powerful at first on a long fissure and the lava flowed at great speed.  Visitors to the Blue Lagoon had to evacuate quickly when sirens were activated.  Everyone got away, but just a few hours later, the lava flowed over the road.  Soon after, the glowing lava tore apart a heating pipe that served the entire county, home to thirty thousand people.  

Their houses began to cool and it was bitterly cold outside.  All heaters sold out in stores within hours.  Workers on trucks, bulldozers and backhoes worked hard to build ramparts as they raced against the lava that came rushing at them.  They managed to protect the power plant for the time being and important power lines.  

Grindavík town has been abandoned since November, but now it is believed that more towns may be in danger if the volcanic activity continues in the area for a long time.

The prison is no longer decent.

 The country's largest prison in Eyrarbakki is uninviting — say administrators, inmates and public inspectors. A large number of prisoners end up in prison repeatedly, and many of them complain about the lack of rehabilitation. About half of prisoners are incarcerated for drug offenses, but prison terms do not always produce the intended results.

This was revealed in Kveikur, an award-winning investigative news program airing on RUV, Iceland's public broadcaster.

Icelandic politics- article

Iceland's government is made up of three established parties. The Independence Party (Right wing group) is the largest and is a right-wing interest group for business and large corporations. The progressive party, (Middle group) which has long been an interest group for agriculture and small fishing companies. Left Green party (Left wing group) which is a variant of the old Communist party and is a sort of neutral party, but has emphasized environmental issues.

The leader of the Right wing party is Bjarni Benediktsson, who was brought up in the party for the longest part of the collaboration, was the Minister of Finance, but recently moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a scandal and a blunder in the sale of a state-owned bank.

The leader of the Progressive Party is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, who is the Minister of the Interior and comes from the agricultural sector and is a former veterinarian. The party has distanced itself from political disputes, but the disaster in Grindavíkur town rests on its shoulders.

The leader of the Left Greens is Katrín Jakopsdóttir, who comes from a well-established family of parliamentarians, literary critic and writer. She is the Prime Minister of Iceland. She does not express her personal opinion, or the opinion of her party, but supports the Right wing party in all issues.

The government held its ground in the last election and is now halfway through its second term. Her main subjects have been the COVID issues, which she managed to work through successfully. Inflation that has been very poorly managed, Natural disasters that the administration has not been very successful in solving and Immigration and refugees. There are so many difficult collective bargaining agreements ahead.

The main disagreements with the people are whaling and refugees. In general, the nation does not support whaling, but it is carried out under the auspices of the Independence Party and has come into conflict with environmental considerations in the Left Green Party. During the war in Ukraine, the government agreed to accept the refugees who sought Iceland. The same will does not apply to the Palestinian people who are refugees from Gaza.

In foreign affairs, the Icelandic government has not taken a very hard stance against the Russians in the war with Ukraine, but has more or less followed the other Nordic countries in their stance. In response to Israel's attacks on Gaza, the Icelandic government has been soft in its stance and rather neutral, except for a few members of parliament on the far right who have expressed support for Israel's actions in Gaza.

The only opposition party that has criticized the government's lack of action and lack of will in humanitarian matters is the Pirate Party, which is the third largest party according to opinion polls.

The largest opposition party is Samfylking, (a coalition of left-wing democrats) whose main goal is for Iceland to join the European Union.

Tragedy in Grindavík town.

 A few days ago, a man fell into a crevasse. He was working to putty in surface cracks with another worker. The other man had to shrink away, then the incredible thing happened that the ground opened up and the man fell down. Rescuers descended into the crevasse 20 meters deep and searched for two days with drones, but did not find the man. There was a strong underground river down there that had probably taken the man away. The night after the rescuers stopped searching, there was a rumbling in the air and great earthquakes began and new cracks opened up everywhere. Shortly after, an eruption began. Rescuers had built ramparts to stop the lava and protect the town. Then the strange thing happened that a new eruption opened inside the ramparts and the glowing lava floated into the town and the houses began to burn. All residents have left the town for the second time since last December. 

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