In the 1990s, Icelandic hospitality extended to a modest but visible group of refugees from the Yugoslav Wars. Most of these newcomers belonged to cultures largely compatible with Icelandic society. Poles, Slovaks, and Lithuanians were prominent in an unprecedented wave of new arrivals to the isolated and homogeneous island. One of them said: "We have reached a point where we allow the infection to lead to the amputation of the entire leg." In areas like Breiðholt and the area near Keflavik International Airport, formerly filled with American military installations, these rates have risen noticeably. The Economic Scene The economic scene is characterized by the typical European mix of: government support, temporary work, and illicit activities, as the appeal of gang activities grows for young immigrant youth. A recent report by the state broadcaster RUV explains how foreign workers have flooded the taxi-driving profession. One Icelander working in this sector said: "I am angry at myself and everyone, because we let things get to this point." Issues of population replacement and decline in Iceland have taken on an urgent character in a country with a smaller population than the American city of Wichita (population 395,699). On one night in the capital region, journalists interviewed taxi drivers from Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Morocco, and the Philippines. Instead, Icelandic policy began to align closely with continental European policy. During the crisis of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel that year, wealthy Icelanders announced their homes were open to Syrians and other asylum seekers from the Middle East. Wealthy neighborhoods in Reykjavik remained largely Icelandic and full of pro-refugee sentiment, while poorer and harsher neighborhoods like Breiðholt began to resemble no-go zones in other European capitals. By 2023, foreigners made up 15-20% of students in Icelandic schools. One Icelander working in this sector said: "The market is completely saturated, and they are still issuing licenses.. There are no restrictions, and the competition is extremely tough, which means that it increases the likelihood of people starting to cheat and evade taxes." Instead, Iceland began to resemble Ireland, also an island, where greedy capitalism had consumed a society that was previously agrarian. As one added: "We have to keep in mind that the share of immigrants in Iceland has grown very fast in just a few years, which of course makes people think." Basketball coach Brynjar Karl Sigurðsson coined the term "Malmö Babies" for a working-class neighborhood in the capital Reykjavik, which quickly gained a large number of immigrant residents. The current Catholic Bishop of Reykjavik is of Slovak origin, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico attended the opening of a Catholic church in a remote area of eastern Iceland in 2017. Homes Open to Asylum Seekers Compared to Ireland, the financial crisis Iceland suffered from 2008-2011 was, by some measures, the largest banking collapse in human history. Again, the pattern was similar to Ireland's. Catholicism has gained a popularity not seen since the beheading of Bishop Jón Arason in 1550. This is precisely the scenario in Iceland, a remote island in the north Atlantic, where the number of immigrants has reached "crisis" levels. This is the same pattern that has spread across Europe, where crimes make some neighborhoods unknown, some of these crimes spread on the internet, little of it reaches the Icelandic media, and almost none of it attracts international attention. "Youth" criminal activities baffle teachers, parents, and law enforcement after criminal gangs from immigrant neighborhoods in continental Europe arrived, while the Icelandic police warn that extremism poses a new serious threat, as at least one immigrant linked to an extremist organization was deported this year. A Controversial Case The summer saw a particularly controversial case when Iceland's Supreme Court ruled that an immigrant working at a primary school had repeatedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student over several months. A lower court had earlier rejected the most serious rape charges, citing "cultural misunderstanding," while the former prime minister's secretary, during the "Global Refugee Forum 2019," highlighted the perpetrator as a success story of integration. Rapid Social Change This summer, Social Democratic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said: "It's natural that emotions run high when it comes to such rapid social change." "There's nothing you can do when it goes too far." It was a time for the Icelandic society to take stock, but immigration had not yet emerged as a pressing political issue. By 2015, immigrants made up 8.9% of the population (still less than 30,000 people), and Icelanders had to study their national future. In response, some of the dwindling number of Icelandic taxi drivers began putting the national flag on their windshields. The Standard Model Icelanders increasingly complain that their "sovereign" land is turning into an English-speaking economic zone or colony. "The country will be sold," so goes the recurring snippet in Halldór Laxness's Cold War novel, for which he won the Nobel Prize. A teacher in Reykjavik sparked a national debate by claiming that 90% of his students were of foreign origin and that none of them, even among the few who spoke Icelandic, could understand the sentence "The heart pumps blood." By 2023, foreigners made up 15-20% of students in Icelandic schools. In 1994, Iceland joined the European Economic Area, and in 2004, a large group of post-communist Central and Eastern European countries joined the European Union. Eighty years on, that feeling still lingers noticeably. Iceland did not follow the standard Western European model, where West Germany by 1973 had taken in a total of 2.6 million foreign workers, and French writer Jean Raspail issued a stern warning for European civilization.
