If you’re curious about how Icelandic politics are going:
The parliament ombudsman has come to the conclusion that freedom of enterprise always take precedence over animal welfare laws and that attempting to enforce those laws against a company is actually illegal.
This means that banning whaling is essentially impossible in Iceland
So the fisheries minister who attempted to enforce animal welfare law is likely to lose her job
Also might mean that the gov might collapse entirely
The Independence Party, historically Iceland’s biggest political party that’s almost always in power, is taking a sharp turn to the right with openly advocating for concentration camps for refugees, banning legitimate protests, and increasing the police budget
Their coalition partners in government are the Progress Party (framsókn) which seems to be broadly in favour and the Left-Greens who are absolutely opposed but seem to love being in power more than they love having principles.
I did warn people back when the fisheries minister attempted to ban whaling that she was going against Iceland’s oligarchs and they always win. It now looks like animal welfare laws as a whole will be taken out as collateral damage as a result.
This means, for example, that we’re unlikely to ever stop the practice here in Iceland of Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin production where horses are kept pregnant under horrific conditions to harvest hormones from their blood.
The Independence Party has always had strong nationalistic roots (it’s in the name). It took a massive libertarian swerve in the late 80s, but now the nationalist wings seem to be winning out over the libertarians
The Progress Party was founded by Jónas frá Hriflu who was an authoritarian nationalist who railed against “degenerate art”—a genuinely awful person.
So, I’d say that there is cause to be concerned about Icelandic politics at the moment.
The only comforting thought I have is that these policies—on refugees and whaling—are extremely unpopular and the multiparty system we have in place makes broad political shifts in elections much easier.
So, I got to hope that Icelandic voters will respond sensibly.
@tsadiq@baldur@sarajw Make that the west, not just Europe: NZ now has a racist conspiracy-theorist right-wing government. Who are really keen on knocking pieces off the board.
Our indigenous people are organizing to push back hard!
And because reality is all too fond of ridiculous plot twists, the minister of fisheries and food, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, is on leave because she's been diagnosed with cancer, leading the opposition to drop their vote of no confidence and saving the government from collapse
@baldur I’d hope so too. But the question then becomes what the current floor is for those horrible parties and how much habit and “never though the leopard would eat my face” impacts on results. (Tory floor here apparently sits somewhere between 20 and 25%. Although under FPTP, that could mean anything from high single figures per cent to a third of the seats!)
@baldur Sweet jezuz, you harvest from the horses. This is an abomination. That the actual f? I am shocked. 😢
Equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a hormone secreted by the placenta of pregnant mares. It is used in the intensive farming of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs to synchronise ovulation and boost the success of artificial insemination.
@MilaFlicka Yeah. It's grotesque. It's thankfully extremely unpopular among the Icelandic public but as I pointed out in the thread, the Icelandic political system is pretty thoroughly lined up against the very concept of animal welfare.
@baldur@MilaFlicka I did not know this. I was under the impression that the Icelandic people loved and nourished their horses.
Last year we lost our old mare born and raised in Iceland. She was the most wonderful horse. Now, we might think twice before importing another one from Iceland. Not that Denmark treats all animals (like pigs) all that well.
@t4rzsan@MilaFlicka Icelandic people, yes. Icelandic farmers, no. IIRC, dedicated horse breeders here in Iceland don't do this, but it's practiced by a number of farmers.
It's like the situation with whaling. Most Icelanders are against it, but the system is geared towards protecting the minority that wants to practice it.
@baldur I seem to recall that during the 2008 recession, Iceland was one of the few countries to seek accountability from reckless banks. What has changed in the past fifteen years?
@baldur Sad but not surprising to see your Tories morphing into our Tories. (Although I’ve also felt that while Icelanders like to think themselves en masse progressive and politically aligned with Scandis, they do so very often elect pretty damn conservative governments*…) As for the left greens…. yeah.
And under a form of PR too, which makes it even more surprising to me.
@craiggrannell Icelandic politics are a very strange mix, but outright corruption has a bigger role to play than many expect. The big right-wing/conservative parties are also the ones who are much more explicit about rewarding supporters with priority time at the trough and cushy jobs.
Icelanders are also very tribal. My dad almost always votes for the Independence Party even though he loathes their policies. They’re his “team”. It’s bonkers.
Outright nationalism and racism is also a big issue
Muting this thread because the notifications are making Mastodon unusable and it's attracting disingenuous question from guys unsuccessfully trying to be funny.
Does that imply that if I start a company in Iceland, say "Dexter Corp - slaughtering bad people day and night", its chance to make profit would have preference?
People have human rights enshrined in the constitution that override regular laws.
The issue has to do with businesses that predate the animal welfare laws that were updated a few years ago.
The words of the ombudsman don't have the power of law, they are just the preliminary conclusion of a complaint investigation but in this case it's being used as pretence by politicians.
@baldur hi Baldir, thanks for all the information. I am just surprised that a "parliament onbudsman" (is that even an elected position?) can take this kind of decision on behalf of the Icelandic electorate.
@Bwasscher The ombudsman doesn't make any sort of decision. They investigate complaints made by parliament members of government misbehaviour.
They give their opinion as to whether ministers or other government officials have misbehaved or broken the law. This is supposed to be the beginning of a proper investigative process but in this case other politicians are acting as if it's an authoritative legal opinion and run with it.
@baldur Rookie mistake. If you want to ban something, you can't ban it outright. You have to tack bureaucracy on it, to the point where it becomes unfeasible. If you have to fill out tons of documents and wait for approval for each killed whale in order to sell it, less people are inclined to do it. At some point, people will be like "might as well ban it" and that's when you introduce banning legislation 🤷♂️
@WhyNotZoidberg Not unless they want to be nuked into glass. Labour union participation in Iceland is over 98% of the working population and they are one of the more popular public institutions in the country.
Finance and privacy regulation, OTOH, are extremely likely targets.
@paw They should, and they might even come to a different conclusion from the ombudsman, but that process could take years so is essentially meaningless in terms of political discourse today.
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