From Iceland — Mayor Responds to Criticism

Mayor Responds to Criticism

Published November 5, 2010

Reykjavík mayor Jón Gnarr responds to criticism that he bullies other members of city council, by saying his critics are bullies themselves.
Recently, author Auður Jónsdóttir has written that she regrets supporting the Best Party, saying that watching a recent trailer of the documentary Gnarr gives her the chills. In one part of the trailer, he is seen walking out of a city council meeting, laughing, while Leftist-Green councilperson Sóley Tómasdóttir is speaking. He says that the doesn’t remember what Sóley’s name is.
Auður likened this to the popular kid in school who bullies all the other kids, saying in part with Vísir, “It’s a dangerous situation when the Best Party can use laughter as a means to silence others. This is a comedy force that everyone adores, and now that he’s in politics, everyone should be able to express their opinions.”
For her part, Sóley has recently written on her Facebook that she is “becoming pretty tired of not being able to have a substantial discussion about city matters because the mayor is bored.” That the mayor dislikes meetings and is bored with political discussion is no secret, and is also used as a comedy device in another trailer.
Gnarr responded to this criticism in an interview with the newspaper Fréttatíminn. There he says in part, “We are responding to this but these people are using the same methods against us that they did before the crash. These are well-trained technocrats who accuse us of bullying, but those people have a black belt in bullying.”
By this we can assume Gnarr is talking about the conservatives, and not responding to either Auður or Sóley, both of whom are leftists.

Support The Reykjavík Grapevine!
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!

Next:
Previous:



Show Me More!