More and more people support socialists

All kinds of people have expressed support for the Socialist Party (Sósíalistaflokkurinn) on Facebook and the Internet in the last 24 hours. Here are some examples:

Oddný Eir Ævarsdóttir, writer:

„The Socialist Party is a rather refreshing fact today. And not just the name! The policy seems well-considered and developed from active grassroots dialogue. And these amazing people on the list. New voices, a different view of power. I think this is a truly honest hope for a real left.

I disagree that left and right are outdated measures of politics. It's a fallacy, a result of the long-term influence of market fundamentalism on all thought. A socialist challenge should awaken us from apathy, denial, and codependency. Most parties are drawn into the middle ground. We need more dynamism in politics today: Decisive poles. And activity towards the left.

Many failed socialist experiments have been made, and many very failed anti-socialist experiments have been made in the world and in Iceland. We could certainly try to redefine the socialist ideal and put to the test letting power truly be activated by the force of compassion.

Imagine if we got to see empathy transform the systems so they would be active with justice! And work. Wouldn't that be more than a little refreshing for all of us?“

Eiríkur Jónsson, former chairman of the Teachers' Union:

„Now I've made up my mind. I'm voting for the Socialist Party. What about you? Join in.“

Gunnar Sigurðsson, director and former chairman of open citizens' meetings:

„Good people and others who don't consider themselves particularly good people. I have made the informed decision to cast my vote in the upcoming municipal elections in Reykjavík for the Socialist Party of Iceland (Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands). I would very much like to see the people running there get to the table to work on their issues. I'm fed up with these professional politicians who plant friends and relatives in committees and institutions regardless of whether those people have any business in such positions or not. I want working people, women and men, at the table, and I want decisions about, for example, social housing to be made in cooperation with those who need that service, not by some overpaid friends of those who monopolize this system. Parties, women and men who offer themselves for service, especially those who have made this their life's work, need to start seeing themselves as service representatives of those who live in the cities and towns of the country, not as representatives of their parties merely to get as many as they can into positions, committees, and other jobs in the cities and towns of this country. So I urge everyone to lend their voices to those who want a more humane city and institutions by voting for the Socialist Party of Iceland.“

Sigurjón Magnús Egilsson, journalist:

Things were not easy for us brothers. Mom still did everything she could, and sometimes undoubtedly more than that. Why it was like this, I'll leave unsaid, but it was sometimes quite hard.

During a time of hardship, we moved from Hafnarfjörður to Reykjavík. Dad, who was a car mechanic, got a job at Steindór's workshop, which was a large taxi station. The job came with a rented apartment at Seljavegur 33. Steindór owned that house, and his employees rented from him. They were thus bound to the employer, in a form of indentured servitude. We brothers liked it on Seljavegur. But Mom didn't. The worries were hers, after all.

In our immediate vicinity, for example, were Selbrekkurnar and Selbúðirnar. In our neighborhood, it was no big deal if people were poor. There were many poor people living on that side of Framnesveg.

Then Mom and Dad's marriage ended. Since Mom was no longer married to Steindór's employee, she had to move out. Uncertainty followed. She was alone with us four boys.

After searching for a rental apartment, Mom rented a three-room apartment on Tjarnarstíg in Seltjarnarnes. It was a nice environment. One shadow fell upon it. The owner of the house was Reverend Árelíus Níelsson, a priest at Langholtskirkja.

Well, at the end of every month, I took the bus to Álfheimar, where a magnificent parsonage stood. Árelíus lived there. It didn't matter what the weather was like. Árelíus never invited me into the hallway while he wrote the receipt. He made me stand outside, whatever the conditions. He never greeted me. He only handed me the receipt, silently.

The house on Tjarnarstíg was heated with oil. The heating system was off, constantly breaking down. In winter as well as other seasons. Árelíus was reluctant to have the heating system repaired, and it was often cold, freezing cold, at our place. The windows were often frosted over from the inside, and we had to live with this. The priest could not be persuaded to have it repaired. But he got the rent paid.

I remember that on my way home from school, I thought first and foremost about whether the house was heated or not. The disappointment of seeing the frosted windows was often great and painful. More could be said, but there's no need. Reverend Árelíus was a bad landlord.

Things didn't really improve for Mom until she got an apartment in workers' housing in Breiðholt. With that, doubt and anxiety were behind her, as were the conditions or malice of the landlords.

Today, other people are in these or similar circumstances. Some of these people are running for the Socialist Party. They want to try to improve the situation of those people who know nothing but doubt and anxiety. For decades, I have not taken a stance on political parties. Now I do; people who experience something similar to what I did are my people. I am going to vote for the Socialist Party in the elections in two weeks.“