Monday, September 18, 2006
Greenland and Iceland.
Well, I like Greenland but I have somewhat mixed feelings about Iceland.
Halldor Laxness, the Nobel laureate, wrote a novel entitled "The Atomic Station" (Atómstöðin) which criticised various aspects of US behaviour towards Iceland. The period covered was roughly 1945-6. Since then Iceland seems to have come much closer to being a Blairish poodle of the USA and to have lost, or mislayed, some of its true comitment to itself which it must have had in those years. This is a pity - and it shows. One is reminded of the feeling of many Jews towards Berlin during the era of checkpoint Charlie. I think it was Bernard Levin of the "London Times" who reckoned that subsequent to Adolf Hitler, Berlin seemed to have lost its soul and whilst my own view is that, in retrospect, during that period Berlin, East and West (and I did know both), had a "real soul", just as CAMRA people talk of "real ale" - a soul which Berlin, now almost a new branch of McDonalds, sadly lacks today. One could nonetheless understand Levin. In Iceland, just as in the UK Labor has become 'new Labor', we somehow have an Iceland which has become a 'new (pre-unification) West Berlin'. Just a lot of newish buildings and people complaining, in Iceland's case, of stuff like valleys being flooded to produce electricity for US-style bauxite plants, fat civil servants and all the impedimenta of a dodgy over-rich democracy unhappy with itself. As for the adventure of earlier days, nowadays any fat drunken tourist slob can take a skidoo ride over a glacier, to pay more money to Iceland's dodgy Enron-style economy. I worry about Iceland's approach as it puts the lives of tourists and guides at risk. [ e.g. "no one in the USAP has been killed as a result of a snowmobile (skidoo) crevasse fall, but there have been numerous close calls." And that is during seriously controlled arctic trials, not with really dumb tourists to Iceland. And whilst guides in Iceland have to say these rides are quite safe, I saw a smallish accident in the brief time I was there and there are many fatalities and accidents leading to total paralysis, whatever excuses are made. This is not a proper sport and it is done for profit by vile capitalist scum. Also, the effect of global warming is likely to make the frequency of falls into crevasses become increasingly likely as Icelanders have to enthusiastically pursue cash for its own sake.]
Greenland was still pretty good and is trying to keep some control over things. It is the first country to have left the EU, at a time when Turkey is likely to be allowed to join though Turkey clearly is nowhere near mature enough to do so, with for example its persecution of women, something deplored in Greenland and Iceland. I think one woman in Turkey was recently threatened with jail for criticising Ataturk, a brillant but rather dodgy Turkish politician, who actually would probably be turning in his grave if he saw what Muslim fundamentalists were doing to a country which he had fought hard to make secular.
I'm not so happy about the huskies being chained up but they certainly look happy enough and they welcome visitors. Greenland is a great place which should have a splendid future. In Kulusuk (300 people) they have a splendid supermarket providing all essentials and an impressive post office, better than some I've seen in small US towns. There is a nice school, community centre and a Lutheran church. There are also floating icebergs, which is the main splendour of the place.
Halldor Laxness, the Nobel laureate, wrote a novel entitled "The Atomic Station" (Atómstöðin) which criticised various aspects of US behaviour towards Iceland. The period covered was roughly 1945-6. Since then Iceland seems to have come much closer to being a Blairish poodle of the USA and to have lost, or mislayed, some of its true comitment to itself which it must have had in those years. This is a pity - and it shows. One is reminded of the feeling of many Jews towards Berlin during the era of checkpoint Charlie. I think it was Bernard Levin of the "London Times" who reckoned that subsequent to Adolf Hitler, Berlin seemed to have lost its soul and whilst my own view is that, in retrospect, during that period Berlin, East and West (and I did know both), had a "real soul", just as CAMRA people talk of "real ale" - a soul which Berlin, now almost a new branch of McDonalds, sadly lacks today. One could nonetheless understand Levin. In Iceland, just as in the UK Labor has become 'new Labor', we somehow have an Iceland which has become a 'new (pre-unification) West Berlin'. Just a lot of newish buildings and people complaining, in Iceland's case, of stuff like valleys being flooded to produce electricity for US-style bauxite plants, fat civil servants and all the impedimenta of a dodgy over-rich democracy unhappy with itself. As for the adventure of earlier days, nowadays any fat drunken tourist slob can take a skidoo ride over a glacier, to pay more money to Iceland's dodgy Enron-style economy. I worry about Iceland's approach as it puts the lives of tourists and guides at risk. [ e.g. "no one in the USAP has been killed as a result of a snowmobile (skidoo) crevasse fall, but there have been numerous close calls." And that is during seriously controlled arctic trials, not with really dumb tourists to Iceland. And whilst guides in Iceland have to say these rides are quite safe, I saw a smallish accident in the brief time I was there and there are many fatalities and accidents leading to total paralysis, whatever excuses are made. This is not a proper sport and it is done for profit by vile capitalist scum. Also, the effect of global warming is likely to make the frequency of falls into crevasses become increasingly likely as Icelanders have to enthusiastically pursue cash for its own sake.]
Greenland was still pretty good and is trying to keep some control over things. It is the first country to have left the EU, at a time when Turkey is likely to be allowed to join though Turkey clearly is nowhere near mature enough to do so, with for example its persecution of women, something deplored in Greenland and Iceland. I think one woman in Turkey was recently threatened with jail for criticising Ataturk, a brillant but rather dodgy Turkish politician, who actually would probably be turning in his grave if he saw what Muslim fundamentalists were doing to a country which he had fought hard to make secular.
I'm not so happy about the huskies being chained up but they certainly look happy enough and they welcome visitors. Greenland is a great place which should have a splendid future. In Kulusuk (300 people) they have a splendid supermarket providing all essentials and an impressive post office, better than some I've seen in small US towns. There is a nice school, community centre and a Lutheran church. There are also floating icebergs, which is the main splendour of the place.
# posted by uv : 7:37 AM
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
