The history of whaling around Iceland is long. The country has one remaining whaling company, Hvalur, and Iceland suspended whale hunt on June 20 this year after a government-commissioned report concluded the hunt does not comply with the country’s Animal Welfare Act. But Iceland’s government lifted the summer suspension on whaling, allowing hunting to resume under a series of tight new regulations from the 1st of September.
Valgerður ÁrnadóttIr (Vala), a deputy MP for the Pirate Party, the chairperson of the Icelandic Vegan Society and a spokesperson of Hvalavinir – Stop whaling in Iceland, reflects among other things, on why she went vegan, what does Hvalavinir do and how we all can contribute to stop every kind of whaling.
Vala, how do you define yourself?
I’m an environmentalist and animal rights activist, and politician (Deputy MP for Pirate Party).
When and why did you go vegan?
I first became vegetarian at the age of twelve after a traumatic experience camping next to a slaughterhouse where they were slaughtering pigs. I became vegan by participating in Veganuary in 2016 and have since been the main organiser of Veganuary in Iceland. I have always loved animals, I grew up with animals and my journey to veganism is solely because of animal rights, the fact that a plant based diet is better for the environment and for my health is a plus but not my reason to choose it.
Hvalavinir – Stop whaling in Iceland, an environmental conservation movement, demands that murdering and torturing of the whales must be stopped and banned by Iceland’d government once and for all. What does Hvalavinir do?
Hvalavinir is a movement that started as “an umbrella” for 5 different organisations that all were fighting to stop whaling. When the horrible footage of the whale hunting 2022 was published in May 2023, I as the chairman of the Icelandic Vegan Society reached out to other organisations and asked them to join forces under the name “Hvalavinir” which translates to “Whale-friends”. [Hvalavinir = Icelandic Vegan Society, Icelandic Animal Welfare Association, Iceland Nature Conservation Association, The Young Environmentalists and Icelandic Environment Association.] I had started the Facebook page “Stop whaling in Iceland” back in 2018 when I started organising protests against whaling and I had quite a bit of followers so I offered that page to Hvalavinir and together with other activists we started our campaign. Filmmakers Anahita Babaei and Micah Garen had been in Iceland for quite a while making their documentary on whaling and together we started organising protests and events. Our first protest was May 16th and after that we’ve organised several events and protests with renowned artists from Iceland and around the world. Björk and Hera Hilmarsdottir were active in organising, other actors, musicians and artists soon joined and all of a sudden everyone wanted to give their voice to the cause, both Icelandic and foreign. We got almost 600 000 signatures on our petition against whaling this summer and famous people like Jason Momoa, Asa Butterfield, Ronnie Wood and Leonardo DiCaprio urged the Icelandic government to ban whaling. That escalated into other actors and film directors pledging to boycott Iceland if we don’t stop whaling. The film industry is an important business for the Icelandic economy and draws tourists to the country, so for Iceland, losing big film projects would be tragic and affect the livelihood of thousands of people but stopping whaling would only have a minimal effect on a few people since it is a seasonal gig. The last action against whaling was a nonviolent action where activists Anahita Babaei and Elissa Bijou occupied the masts of whaling vessels 8 and 9 for 33 hours. (See: https://www.icelandreview.com/news/no-whaling-today-activists-remained-perched-atop-ships/, https://www.icelandreview.com/news/true-north-demands-injunction-against-whaling-company/.)
Activism can be draining. Can you share some of your personal mental health tips?
I have had a burnout and learnt the hard way to control my energy and take care of my mental and physical health. I need to prioritise projects, sleep 8 hours per night, do yoga and exercise and take time off regularly. No one should work 7 days a week and even when you feel like the world will end if you don’t continue you have to turn off and relax. I do that by taking walks/hiking in nature with my dog, going swimming or going to the countryside. I am fortunate that I have a cottage to escape to whenever I feel overwhelmed or exhausted. I still have days where I’ve worked myself to utter exhaustion and need to lie in bed for a day with the phone off to recover. These days I allow myself to do that without beating myself up with guilt, and I’ve learned to set boundaries with other people. Everyone close to me or who works with me respects it when I say I need peace for a day or more and I urge them to do the same when I see they’re in need of it. Another magical advice is to not read comments in the media about you, activists get trashed in the comments sector by small-minded people hiding behind computer screens and those comments are in no way helpful to read and should be avoided. I’ve had such bad threats that I have a friend who is a lawyer read comments in case I’m being threatened with violence or death and need to report it to the police.
In an article published by Icelandic local news outlet Morgunblaðið last year, Iceland’s Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries said that there is now little justification for authorizing whaling. However, in spite of Iceland knowing this murdering having a negative effect on Iceland’s reputation, murdering fin whales, classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, got the green light this September. Why the green light, why does Iceland support whaling, why not stopping murdering whales once and for good?
There is only one man still hunting and killing whales in Iceland, his name is Kristjan Loftsson and he is one of the wealthiest people in Iceland and very powerful within the Independence Party, the largest conservative right wing party in Iceland. The Independence Party is in a coalition government with the Left-Green Movement and the Progressive Party. Even though Svandis Svavarsdottir, the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries is in the Left-Green Movement and against whaling she caved in to the bullies in the Independence Party that threatened to break up the coalition would she not allow Kristjan Loftsson to hunt again after a two month pause she ordered because of animal welfare issues. The hunting licence for whaling runs out this year and my guess is that she plans to pass a bill in parliament to ban whaling this year. Hvalavinir however think it is unacceptable to sacrifice up to 209 whales because of a technicality, not a single whale should be allowed to be killed after authorities ruled that they break animal welfare laws last June. (See: https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2018/07/23/the-last-whaler-why-is-whaling-in-iceland-still-a-thing/ and https://www.dw.com/en/icelands-whale-hunt-put-on-pause-as-season-begins/a-65982447/.)
Iceland’s Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries received a report that concludes that there cannot be more humane whale killing methods. How come is murdering whales by using explosive harpoons with electrocution considered “killing them humanely”?
The Icelandic society is not looking to kill whales more humanely, the majority of the population is against whaling and doesn’t want them to be killed at all. The focus on “more humane killing methods” is a theatrical political play so that the government can ban it on technicalities instead of banning it because it is ethically and environmentally wrong to hunt and kill whales. Ethics and environment means nothing to the right wing parties and in this case the fact that Kristjan Loftsson has lost 3 billion Icelandic krona in the past 10 years on whaling means nothing either, which goes to show how corrupt and conservative these parties are.
What needs to happen to improve the rights of whales, incl. treating whales exactly how people want them to be treated?
We need to ban whaling and pledge to protect and preserve whales and all ocean life. We should put efforts into cleaning the oceans, quit overfishing, reduce fossil fuel usage, ban toxic chemicals and reduce underwater noise pollution that disorient sea mammals and get them killed.
Every year, Japan, Norway and Iceland kill around 1500 whales. How people from countries not connected with murdering whales could contribute to stopping every kind of whaling?
People can contribute by signing petitions, raising awareness and pledging to boycott countries that whale. Pressure your authorities to discuss the whaling with the Icelandic authorities. (See: https://www.change.org/p/ban-whaling-in-iceland/.)
Many human persons do not know how to communicate with non-human persons in general, and with different species of non-human persons. What does it take to communicate to non-human persons?
As we progress further from nature and more into cities we disconnect both with nature and animals. We buy our food at grocery stores and have no connection whatsoever to where it comes from. We can connect again by growing plants and spending time with animals, maybe adopting animals from shelters or helping injured wild animals we come across. We have to start valuing non-human persons for who they are and not for who they are in comparison with human persons. We should stop speciesism and value all living beings equally, for all living beings have a purpose and are important for our ecosystem. Without them we will go extinct, without us they would thrive. We should keep that in mind and act accordingly.
What non-human persons can teach us?
Already as a child I felt more at ease with animals than human beings, I was one years old at a daycare where there was a labrador, I felt so overwhelmed by the other kids and the nanny that I sought comfort in the dog and would cry at nap time until the nanny allowed me to cuddle up with the dog. Fortunately my parents accepted this and allowed me to take my naps with the dog. Animals have been my best friends, they´ve been the most loyal and warm friends and I have learned that they have an intuition beyond us. They have comforted me when I am sad and tried to heal me when I am sick. I was once very sick after surgery and in bed for three weeks, my cat would not leave my side and would try to lie on my wound and purr, she had never before lied on top of me and I am sure she knew where my wound was and that she was trying to heal me. The purr of cats has been proven to have a healing and calming effect. Another time I was heartbroken and wouldn’t eat for days. My cat got so worried that she started hunting mice and bringing them home, something that she’d never done before and quit doing again when I felt better. I have learnt so much from them, especially how to live in the present, how to relax and how to listen to my intuition. I feel sorry for people who have never had a non-human friend, they miss out on so many experiences and meaningful connections.
Get inspired!
Website: https://www.hvalavinir.is
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stopwhalingiceland/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hvalavinir
D the Vegan Feminist 