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The Nordic Resistance Movement in Iceland – 2019 annual report

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RESISTANCE MOVEMENT. The Icelandic branch of the Nordic Resistance Movement presents a report of its activities in 2019.

The year’s activism in Iceland began in January with a banner drop from a crane. We affixed a large banner high up on a large construction crane that overlooks Miklabraut, a major road in Reykjavik. It was quite windy but the banner stayed there for a few days afterwards. It featured the Resistance Movement’s Tyr rune logo and the address of our Icelandic website, nordurvigi.is.

In the same month, Rikharður, the leader of the Iceland branch, went to Sweden to attend the organisation’s Activist Days event. He gave a short speech, met comrades and took part in a banner action on a bridge with an LED banner. He was also interviewed on Nordfront Radio.

In March, asylum seekers protested with supporters of open borders in Reykjavik. It ended with the asylum seekers making a tent camp on Austurvöllur, a public square in front of the parliament building. There was some fighting when the police tried to remove them. The Icelandic National Front and the Freedom Party decided to protest against the asylum seekers’ actions by standing silently outside parliament. Some of us stood with them. The supporters of the asylum seekers responded with noise and hooliganism.

In May the dispute about the EU’s third energy package heated up, and we showed solidarity against the legislation by spreading posters and putting up banners on bridges. Some of us attended outdoor meetings protesting against the package. We conducted regular activism and distributed a lot of material in the capital area. Arnar Styr Björnsson also did a good interview with Nordic Frontier about his Twitter posts and the storm they created in the Icelandic media.

September began well when we had comrades from all the Nordic countries visit us, led by Simon Lindberg, the leader of the Movement. We called this visit Iceland Viking 2019. We showed our comrades the main sights, took them to natural thermal baths and slept in cabins we rented. We executed two large operations with everyone and distributed flyers in a few neighbourhoods in the capital area. A well-organized schedule filled each day with physical training, lectures and speeches.

One day we all went to Reykjavík’s downtown area and distributed leaflets to the public. This went well apart from one man who was not happy about our presence and threw a few words at us that were met with a resolute response. After about 30 minutes, the lying press jumped out of the gutter and started taking photos and interviewing a few of us. Afterwards, a considerable number of articles were produced by the lying media. We then went on to the town of Akranes and held a similar activity. It went well and we got some good responses. An amusing moment occurred when a pharmacy worker tried to spray us with a hose, but unfortunately for him it was too weak, so he suddenly pretended to be cleaning the pavement with a hose with no pressure.

These were historic events as it was the first time the Movement conducted this kind of activism amidst the public in Iceland. The last days of the trip were used to look around the country more and spend good time together. The Swedish activist podcast Mer än ord interviewed Ríkharður during the visit. Norwegian members also made a really good video about the visit.

Nordic Resistance Movement activism in Reykjavik, Iceland

The last months of the year were used to distribute stickers and leaflets at universities. When the scandal around the Samherji fishing company surfaced, we put posters up in the downtown area to show that we were unhappy with the quota fishing system. There was some resistance to us by Antifa, who published the name, address and social number of one our members around the university areas. But of course the reds will not stop us. We will only become more convinced that we are right and they are wrong, and we will become more determined and harden our efforts because of it!

We continued our activism until Christmas, and in December we went to Selfoss and distributed leaflets to the public. This was our first public activism without help from the other Nordic countries. It went very well, and we received a positive response. It will definitely not be the last time Icelanders will see us on the streets.

2019 was the most eventful year we have had until now. We grew a lot in the year in both experience and new members. Naturally we think that the September visit stands out. We have noticed how many people are badly informed about us and how the lying press influences them. We will therefore fight even harder against their lies and inform people about the truth. 2020 will also be a powerful year. We expect a new website with a better interface, and we are going to increase our output of articles. We will also keep getting our message out to the public.