The ghost town

The town of Grindavík was the victim of an earthquake and volcanic eruption. The lava stopped at the town border, but took down one house.

There are no more children in the town and the playgrounds and sports fields are empty

An empty school building is only a monument to a bygone era of a flourishing locality.

Only the wind plays with the swings like an invisible ghost.

Many houses have cracked floors. Below is an abyss 15 meters into the ground.

Buildings have split in two

In the distance you can see the crater and the lava that was heading for the town.

The settlement has been abandoned, but the residents are unhappy with the government's late response at the beginning of the disaster.

The community is now very scattered throughout the country.
 

Icelandic labor market like the 'Wild West'

Nineteen staff agencies are operating in Iceland, of which twelve are Icelandic and seven are foreign. It was stated in the interview program Kveikur on RUV that their employees working in Iceland receive bad treatment, poor or no wages and indecent facilities. One worker describes his situation as that of a homeless dog. 

 - There has certainly been a rich gold rush in the country in recent years. Is it mainly in tourism and construction industry. Many new companies have sprung up from the ashes, taking in cheap labor from the staff rentals, but in no way keeping up with the beautiful promises of good wages and facilities. Unfortunately, many people fall into this slavery trap. Occupational health and safety laws therefore seem not been exist in cases where there is no control over the relevant companies.

Right man in the right place?

Independence Party deputy Mr. Nielson has been appointed director of the Human Rights Office. He comes from the far right wing of the party and was previously an assistant to the former Minister of Justice. Mr Nielson has been criticized for various inappropriate comments. - repeatedly accused of spreading misogynist ideas. He has also been accused of harassing victims of sexual violence. Mr Nielson faced accusations of misogyny and authoritarianism after voting against a bill on women's autonomy over abortion. Mr Nielson has described himself as an anti-feminist.

Brutal violence is growing.

A father who killed his 10-year-old daughter referred the body to the police. The police found the body in the lava and subsequently arrested the father, who is Icelandic. This is the second girl child to be killed in a short time. Not long ago, an Icelandic teenager killed a teenage girl with a knife in the street and injured several others. A total of seven have been killed this year. The vast majority of the murders were committed by Icelanders. The general carrying of weapons by young people causes fear in society.

Deportation number 1001

Iceland has deported 1000 asylum seekers this year.  When it came to the deportation of Palestinian family number 1001-1003, the government intervened in the matter at the last minute.  - Deportation was to be carried out to Spain, as the family had stopped there on their way to Iceland, with reference to the Dublin regulation.  The police were brought in to carry out the eviction.  - The police operation began with the mother and their chronically ill child being taken from the hospital in the middle of the night and without the child being discharged.  Next, the father was arrested home, also in the middle of the night, and it was not a polite knock, but the door was broken open and the father was handcuffed.   Then they were taken to the airport to be thrown out of the country. The Minister of Social Affairs heard about the case and asked the Minister of Justice to postpone the action she took.  As a result, there was disagreement in the government about the continuation of the proceedings.  In opposition racist party in Iceland condemned the postponement, but the other racist party has not commented publicly.  It is uncertain what the outcome will be, but it is clear that it is almost 'illegal' to be non-white in Iceland today. 

Another eruption near Grindavík

Another eruption started in Reykjanes last weekend and is still active. Smoke from the eruption now covers the south and the mountains cannot be seen from the towns on the coast.

This is the ninth time that a volcano has erupted in the area.

https://perlan.is/articles/reykjanes-peninsula-volcano-overview

A couple murdered in their home.

An elderly couple was murdered in their home in East Iceland. The killer stole their car and drove to Reykjavík, where the police caught him. The killer is now in custody. The reasons for the murder are not known, but the perpetrator is said to be mentally unstable.

Knife attack at a cultural festival

A knife attack has been carried out on two young people who were present at a cultural festival in the capital Reykjavík. 

 The victims of the attack were a teenage boy of foreign origin and a teenage girl who is critically injured. The attacker, who is a 16-year-old boy, was arrested shortly after and is in custody. The motive for the attack is not known.

A serious accident in an ice cave in the Icelandic National Park

A serious accident occurred in an ice cave in Vatnajökull National Park. 

 23 people were in the cave when a five fathom high ice wall collapsed on the people. One person died and another was seriously injured, but others managed to escape the slide. 

 At first it was believed that two others from the group had fallen under the ice wall and rescue teams worked for 24 hours to break the ice from the cave and three helicopters worked to bring rescuers and equipment to the place.

 No more people were found under the ice, as it turned out that the registration of the number of people on the expedition was not correct with the American tourism company Ice Pick Journey, because two people who had bought a trip did not attend the expedition.

- Ice cave exploration is especially dangerous during the summer when the glacier is soft and moving, 

In the national park there are many ice caves, most of them natural but difficult to access. Therefore, some ice caves are man-made tourist traps. Rules for ice-cave tours and safety requirements are extremely poor in Iceland. 

Photo: https://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is

The newly elected president accused of corruption

The newly elected president of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, who will take office on August 1, has been accused of corruption after she bought a brand new Volvo EX 30 electric car on special loyalty terms from the car agency. In addition, the future president posed for the company's advertising photo. It has also spread that the CEO of the company is on the president's guest list at the inauguration. 

 Many people feel that this case reeks of corruption, which in itself is not uncommon in the upper echelons of Icelandic society.

The media covering the case also make it clear that it is a case of corruption.

However, there are no rules of conduct for the presidency, and the president can therefore act according to his own discretion and conviction.

MORE CORRUPTION IN ICELANDIC POLITICS

New laws have entered into force in agriculture: 

1. Meat production plants will be allowed to merge without restrictions.

 

2. Product centers will be allowed to carry with them any kind of consultation regarding division of labor, pricing or other aspects of the operation. 

 

3. The provisions on the supervision of the Competition Authority and, depending on the circumstances, the prohibition of unauthorized agreements or decisions by manufacturers, which were in the original bill, are repealed in the law.

 - It didn't take long until a large company bought the competitor and thereby became the market leader. 

-Among the members of parliament who made the law is a part owner in one of these companies.

The blue-carbon scandal

Piles of wood shavings left on Grundartanga by the environmental princes of the Running Tide company be burned to power a metal alloy factory. The wood piles plus 300 tons of limestone powder in sacks and a number of equipment were advertised for sale after Running Tide suddenly stopped all operations in Iceland and the United States. The company washed 20,000 tonnes of wood pulp into the sea last year, claiming to sequester carbon. This was done with the government's permission and the company intended to profit significantly from carbon mess by selling intended carbon sequestration.

Journalists at Heimildin investigated this carbon fraud. https://heimildin.is/grein/22167/

Tourism is on the brink.

The number of tourists has decreased considerably since last year, and the largest airlines have resorted to a number of layoffs. The reason for the decrease in the number of tourists is considered to be the price level, where companies in the tourism industry have priced themselves out of the market, frequent volcanic eruptions in the vicinity of the international airport and road closures. Last but not least, poor transport, useless roads and a number of serious accidents involving tourists.

The police went berserk against the protesters

On Friday, May 31, the protest was called by the association Iceland - Palestine to protest inaction in the affairs of Palestine.  The protest was held at the meeting place of the government.  Among the demands of the protesters is that the Icelandic state imposes trade restrictions on Israel and ends political relations with the country.   

About 150 people participated in the protest, which was peaceful.  The police soon arrived at the scene and began to disperse the protesters with harsh tactics.  Some protesters were dragged away on their feet, while others were sprayed with caustic acid in their faces and eyes, and some had to go to the hospital.   

Justice Minister Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir defended the actions of the police and said in the parliament today that the protests were no longer considered peaceful.  

-It has long been known that the Icelandic police support methods that can be compared to fascism.  Not so long ago, some Icelandic police officers decided to wear fascist symbols inside their clothes.

Halla Tómasdóttir 7th president of Iceland

Halla Tómasdóttir won the presidential election on Saturday with over 32% support.  It was expected in advance that former PM Katrín Jakopsdóttir would win the election, as opinion polls indicated that.  She had the support of the right wing of the government.  Voters seem to have voted tactically when they got to the polling station, because other 10 candidates didn't get involved in the fight between these two women.  

Mrs. Tómasdóttir has worked as a business economist, teacher and lecturer internationally.   She founded the company Audur Capital in 2007 and hosted the Þjóðfundin in 2009, where a random sample of the Icelandic people gathered in Laugardalshöll to discuss the basic values ​​and the future vision that would concern the path of reconstruction following the banking collapse.  Organized organized the international equality conference Inspirally WE2015 (Women Empowerment).  Chosen as Europe's female entrepreneur by Cartier, McKinsey and INSEAD. 

Another humanitarian scandal

Four women who were victims of labor trafficking turned themselves in to the Icelandic authorities. The four women were immediately arrested and handcuffed and placed in solitary confinement. Their phones were taken from them and no one was allowed to have a conversation with them. 

 A few days later they were put on a plane and first flown to Germany and refueled and then they were flown to an unnamed African country where they were left at the airport. 

 This procedure received criticism in the Althing, but the Minister of Justice Gudrun Hafsteinsdóttir says that the case does not concern her.

The current three-party government is mainly right-wing and increasingly opposed to the presence of foreigners in the country.

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.