Catching up with a few people of foreign origin throwing their hat into the political ring
Immigration has been a hot-button issue over the past several months, with interim Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson declaring border security among his top priorities when he stepped into the role over the summer. But what’s missing from the conversation are the voices of actual immigrants. The demographics of parliament simply do not reflect the demographics of Icelandic society, where 20% of residents are of foreign origin.
Rather than talking about immigrants, we turned to people of foreign origin running for parliament to learn more about their motivations and what issues are most pressing for Icelandic society.
Tomasz Pawel Chrapek
#8 Reykjavík Constituency South for the Social Democratic Alliance
Why are you running for parliament with the Social Democrats?
It’s not the first time I’m running for parliament — I was pretty far down the list during the last elections. I’ve been involved with the Social democrats since probably 2007 when I was involved with a group of foreigners that were helping to shape the narrative around immigrant issues within the Social Democrats. Then in 2014 I got into the city council as a deputy councillor.
So I’ve been involved with the Social Democrats and the social democratic movement as a whole. I believe that this is the way forward.
What are your thoughts on representation in Alþingi?
I’m sending a message just by being there on the list and that was part of my motivation from the beginning. I’m pretty aware of what I’m doing — even my name stands out. It’s pretty obvious to spot a foreigner on the lists — that’s a message in itself and it’s encouraging others to do the same and follow in my footsteps in a way.
Obviously I feel like there is a lack of representation and especially from the Polish community. We are the biggest minority yet we are being underrepresented in many cases. I guess the more I think about it, the older I get, the more I feel my opinions matter and the things that I really want to change in this country matter.
Inequality is a real threat to our happiness. The research shows that the only thing stopping first world nations from being happy is the inequality index. It’s an existential crisis, because it affects the whole society. Inequality can lead to all kinds of nasty outcomes and it’s also intertwined with all the environmental issues that are developing and social changes that are happening. So it’s a multitude of issues that needs to be tackled.
Lenya Rún Taha Karim
#1 Reykjavík Constituency North & South for the Pirate Party
Why are you running for parliament with the Pirate Party?
During the last election, I made up my mind that I wanted to participate in politics in Iceland A big part of the reason that I started in politics was because I realised that 20% of the Icelandic population consists of immigrants, but they don’t have a single person that represents them in parliament. I wanted to be that person, as well as offering my knowledge and my point of view as a young person of foreign origin in Iceland.
So, I tested out the waters and I was successful in the primaries for a first timer. 2021 I ended up in third place in the Reykjavik North constituency and I saw how Icelandic people as well as immigrants received me really well. I would say that they welcomed me and they welcomed my perspective. They welcomed the fact that someone wanted to speak for them and be their representative in Alþingi.
What issues are you most interested in tackling should you be elected?
I think the biggest issues on most voters’ minds right now are the state of the economy and the housing market. There’s not a lot of supply on the housing market. Of course, we have been calling for action on that issue.
I’ve seen that some other parties are trying to make immigrant issues a really big policy issue in these elections, which is just a tactic to shift the blame when things get bad in the economy, or things get bad in the society. People are scared. It’s always expected that the people that have been ruling are going to try to find a scapegoat, to blame, let’s say, inflation, on a group of people that can’t defend themselves.
So I think that it’s really important that I stand my ground as a person of foreign origin and shift the attention to the things that really matter — and that is the economy, how to lower the inflation without it affecting the middle class and working people.
Derek Terell Allen
#7 Reykjavík Constituency North & South for the Pirate Party
Why are you running for parliament with the Pirate Party?
I’m running for Parliament because I think that there needs to be fresh and new approaches, fresh eyes to see the issues, fresh ears to hear the people. I think that I would be an asset for the Pirates.
I feel like [the Pirates] is the only party that respects democracy. This is the party that is most about empowering the people and that really speaks to me.
The Pirate Party has been very outspoken about issues of asylum seekers and refugees, and standing up for their rights, the rights to fair treatment and humane conditions. But additionally, just outside of asylum seekers and refugees, just for other types of immigrants, the Pirate Party is big on Icelandic courses being offered during work time and things like that. So I think this is where the Pirate Party comes in, as the strongest spokesperson for immigrants within parliament.
Aside from immigrant issues, what issues would you like to progress if you were elected to parliament?
I’ve been active in equality issues, equal rights and whatnot. So queer issues are big for me — and the Pirates have been really big on securing more non-binary rights and recognising non-binary people. So I would love to keep that ball rolling.
Additionally, I’m interested in getting into housing issues specifically, since I’m a renter. We are in the process of developing our housing policy, but one thing I would personally be interested in seeing would be de-incentivising buying properties in order to use as short term rentals. Another big one for me is transportation issues, because I don’t have a car, so it can be quite difficult to get between places, and especially if I have to go outside the capital area, for some reason that’s very difficult. So it would be great to strengthen public transportation, so that it would be easier to get around within the city and within the capital region, but also between parts of the country as well.
Kinan Kadoni
#6 Reykjavík Constituency South for the Left-Green Movement
Why are you running for parliament with the Left-Green Movement?
I am an immigrant here and that is a hot topic in Icelandic politics and everywhere in Europe — you see there’s lots of talking about immigrants, but rarely talking to immigrants. I would like to take action and try to do something instead of just being a topic that people aretalking about. I really want to try, but of course it will be challenging. This is complicated, since it is the most complicated topic in all Europe, not only in Iceland.
As for why I’m running for the Left-Greens, I moved to Iceland in 2017, but in 2015 I was invited by the Left-Greens to visit Iceland and join a conference in Selfoss. They invited me as a Syrian to speak about Syria and the refugee crisis. At that time, I was living in Belgium but volunteering with refugees in Greece. It was really a huge thing to get such an invitation from a political party. That gave me the feeling that this is a party that really could fight for change.
What platform issues are you most interested in addressing?
As an immigrant, I find it so hard when people are speaking about us as a problem. So I am motivated to be involved in this topic, to try to do something about that. That’s my goal, because it’s really heavy when you’re an immigrant or a refugee, and you watch the TV and the conversation is all about problems with immigration. There are two options in this case, just close your ear and mind your own business, or to try to do something about it — I think that’s what I’m passionate about. I want to try to do something. I know it will be challenging, it will be difficult, but at least I could say I tried something.
René Biasone
#6 Reykjavík Constituency North for the Left-Green Movement
Why are you running for parliament with the Left-Green Movement?
I was elected as a parliamentary deputy in 2021. So I’ve been active in the Left-Green Movement for some time and in Icelandic society for much longer. When I moved here, there was the issue of pouring more energy into aluminium smelters. I was active, along with many Icelanders, in protesting this issue and met others in the party then. I found it to be the most natural party to join. So I joined just after the economic collapse.
What issues are you most passionate about?
The situation of foreign citizens in Iceland is always close to my heart — immigrants, their integration and equality in Icelandic society. I’m a specialist in environmental issues and I work for the Environment Agency of Iceland, so environmental protection is also important to me.
Thirdly, is energy resources in Iceland. The country could be one of the richest in the world per person, if we would manage the energy resources properly and we didn’t divert 80% of electricity to very polluting heavy industry. That’s an obsolete policy that we should find a way to change.
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