Polish immigration causes Icelander xenophobia?

A 14 year old boy has set up an anti-Polish web site in Reykjavik. The newspaper Rzeczpospolita says that xenophobia is on the rise in Iceland due to an influx of Poles in the last few years. But have Poles unleashed a chilly tsunami of Icelandic racism? Have Icelanders blown their collective geyser? The beatroot investigates.

In three days the embryonic Icelandic race warrior gained 700 teenage members on his forum, calling for Poles to ‘get out’. And much worse.

It got so bad, says the newspaper, that the police were brought in to investigate.

“A xenophobic mood is on the rise in Iceland. The number of immigrants is skyrocketing, which makes native inhabitants uneasy and confused,” says Einar Skulason, of the Intercultural Centre in Reykjavik.

Uneasy, confused, racist Icelanders on the march! Eek!

In January 2008, claims wikpedia, Iceland had a population of just 313.736. Not really very many Icelanders, are there? But 12,000 Poles have migrated in - which, as a proportion of not a lot, is quite a lot. And maybe Iceland is rather large for a population so small, but most Icelanders live in the capital (it’s probably warmer to stay close) so Poles are perhaps fighting for a small space, for a small amount of jobs, and for a small amount of light hours.

Or maybe not.

An Icelandic source has contacted me – rootlets spread everywhere – saying that the Rzeczpospolita story is out of date. The anti-Polish ‘association’ that the kid founded is no more, after feeling the full force of Icelandic censorship. Icelanders, you see, are sensitive, Scandinavian types, who would not be so crude to rise, en mass, to xenophobic temptation.

The source says that there is no more negative feeling against Poles than there is in ‘any other country.’ I believe him.

And a well-known Icelandic pop star, popular with the kids, has organized a concert to ‘fight against racism and xenophobia’. Good.

The singer has - oddly in my opinion - ‘[...] challenged the prime minister of Iceland, who is half-Norwegian, to sing a song in support of anti-racism’[!].

That’s a brilliant way to protest. Ask the prime minister to sing!

I know a journalist who once asked Polish prime minister Donald Tusk to say something in English about his Kashub roots. He refused. But he did, endearingly, sing him a song in Kashubian! Which was nice.

But other postulates could be made by a new political movement demanding elected leaders belt out a tune. Bush should be made to sing ‘Yellow Rose of Texas’ while dressed up as Dolly Parton. Putin could sing 'These Boots are Made for Walking....'

And ex-PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski could be asked to repeat his barn storming performance of the Polish national anthem, where he demonstrates that he has clearly no future in the music business.

The fact that there are anti-racist movements appearing in Iceland does tend to suggest that there are racist sentiments there. Which is sad. Icelanders are one of the most inoffensive people in the world. I can’t imagine Bjork in jackboots. On the other hand...