“Why do ‘we’ have to pay the debts of a failed private bank?” is a question posed by many Icelanders in connection with the discussion on Icesave. Guðmundur Hálfdánarson, Professor of History, has studied this debate through the lens of the discourse and views on history prevalent among Icelanders. “The definition of the concept ‘we’ is key here; because the designation of an ‘us’ creates a group people consider themselves part of and on whose behalf they speak. The ‘us’ here refers to the Icelandic nation,” says Hálfdánarson.
Hálfdánarson wonders why this particular debate has received so much attention; both in Althing and in the media, the large monetary sums in question notwithstanding. “On the one hand the debate focuses on how lines are to be drawn between the innocent victims of the crash; and the others who are culpable in it; here the line is being drawn between an ‘us’ as the innocent victims; and ‘the others’ who are our antagonists. On the other hand the Icesave debate perfectly fits the traditional Icelandic view of history, and thus examples from the past have been flaunted in abundance to explain the behaviour of Icelandic politicians and foreigners’ opinions on ‘us’.
