In truth, you didn't need to be a prophet to know Katrin Jakobsdóttir would become Prime Minister. She was popular, articulate, pragmatic and simply the right person to manage ambiguity in a time of enormous confusion in Iceland. When I met her, I was in Iceland with Living Not Beige Films making a film called Atlantis, Iceland. The film focused on Iceland's punk music, politics and the environment. We shot the film over 19 days in early winter, recording & interviewing a number of bands and politicians. (If all that sounds a bit bizarre, you might as well also know that it was also my first film.) To me, Iceland is an environmental beacon. It is easily one of the most amazing places on the planet and if we didn’t have enough reason to save our environment, surely Iceland would convince even the most hardened climate sceptic.It transpired that while we were preparing for Atlantis, Iceland in mid-2016, the Icelandic government collapsed as a result of the Panama Papers scandal. An election was called just as we arrived in Iceland and we approached every political party and all of their leaders for an interview for the film. Interestingly, only left-of-centre parties and politicians replied. We were able to book in interviews with Birgitta Jónsdóttir, then leader of the Pirate Party (who were widely expected to achieve the largest vote - Iceland has always had minority, coalition governments) and Katrín Jakobsdóttir, leader of the Left-Green Movement. Although the Pirate Party was widely regarded as being the likely major winner in the election, Katrín was by far the preferred PM. We interviewed Katrin and Birgitta the week after the election when the results were too close to call and no-one really knew what was happening. It actually took several months before Katrin was named Prime Minister. We were pretty sure that Katrín would be elected and be a successful PM. (Interviews with both people are in the film Atlantis, Iceland and you can see Katrin's environmental focus in this specially compiled video from the film's outtakes.)Katrin was a friendly and unassuming person. She was relaxed, generous with her time and genuinely interested in what we were doing, including how things were in Australia. She knew a little bit about our politics (e.g. Julia Gillard and the Greens). We discussed refugees for instance and rather than being critical of Australia’s approach she offered how she thought Iceland could do better. She was already a well known environmentalist and actively campaigning on an environmental platform.Once in power, the reality of making a real difference however isn't so simple. Her party entered into a coalition with a Centre-Right party who control the “hard” portfolios (Treasury, Finance, Defence, Trade). As such, I believe Katrin will make a difference in the social and environmental side of the country, but the economy will still be determined by the Centre-Right party and the so-called “Octopus” (14 families/conglomerates who are widely believed to control much of the Icelandic economy). Environmentally, the thing about Katrin and her party that I particularly respect is her view that it’s better to make some improvements than holding out for a perfect solution. "The perfect is the enemy of the good." The move to appoint the Minister of the Environment from outside party ranks, with outstanding environmental credentials was inspired. (The person appointed was Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, environmental activist and CEO of Landvernd, the largest nature conservation and environmental NGO in Iceland.)The publicity about Iceland's whaling, including the killing of a protected Blue Whale, seems to contradict its environmental credentials, including why the Prime Minister didn't openly condemn the actions. Of course seeming contradictions generally have a back story. A lot of the tourist information about Iceland highlights that Icelandic people eat whales. In reality, very few actually eat whale anymore. For example, I didn’t see it on any menus in Reykjavik restaurants. However, Iceland is two countries. Reykjavik and the rest. Most of the rest of Iceland is very rural: farmers and fisherman. The rural people are very traditional and very religious. The third biggest political party is a rural party. It’s in the rural areas that people still eat whale. Unlike traditional Inuits however (e.g. in Greenland), they have no need to eat whale, as there’s plenty other “fish in the sea”. I can't speak for Katrin and can only guess at her silence, but my view is that it should be stopped at a commercial (and so-called scientific) level but I’m sympathetic to indigenous people hunting whales for food.Iceland has a unique and ethereal beauty that was captured so brilliantly in Atlantis, Iceland by Rick Davies, co-founder of Living Not Beige and our incredible cinematographer. And it is that beauty that focused our resolve to share more of this part of the world in support of climate action. En-route to the 2017 world première of Atlantis, Iceland in Reykjavík, the concept of our next film was born when I challenged Rick Davies to come up with an idea that we could film in the Arctic with an obvious focus on climate change.And that is how Ursula, our next film about the environment, came to be. Ursula was shot in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, is currently at film festival release and has just made the top ten finalists in Fleurieu Film Festival 2019. See our interview with Katrín Jakobsdóttir on Climate Change. (And a side note on both Katrin and Atlantis, Iceland and why music and politics isn't such a strange combination in Iceland. The Iceland people have a special relationship with music and pretty much all of them play some kind of instrument or sing. Katrin herself released a single, Listen Baby with the band Bang Gang in 1996. One of the other original members of Bang Gang, Henrik Björnsson, was also in Atlantis, Iceland, with his band Singapore Sling.)You can link to and watch Atlantis, Iceland on the Living, Not Beige Films website. Scroll to the bottom of the home page, copy the password shown, click the link and enter the password to view free of charge.
It's very heartening to see more people like this assuming positions of influence. Tuesday, 15 January 2019