Bjork to save Iceland's resources
2010-08-04 21:28
Helsinki - Bjork, Iceland's megastar and most famous citizen, is on a new mission: to save her Nordic state's natural resources from vulturish investors she says are ready to feed off Iceland's wounded economy.
The 44-year-old singer, songwriter and actress has launched her campaign with the same passion that infuses her art, be it the quirky music that straddles avant-garde and pop or the soulful acting that won her Best Actress in Cannes in 2000 for Dancer in the Dark.
Her first target?
Canada's Magma Energy, which has taken steps to acquire HS Orka, a power company using one of the island's most valuable natural resources: geothermal energy.
Iceland's abundant geothermal and hydropower sources have drawn foreign investment, notably in the aluminum sector, a key export.
'Easy profit'
But if the Orka sale goes through, Bjork has told the Icelandic press she fears it could pave the way for international firms to acquire Iceland's water rights and other resources simply "to make an easy profit".
The Canadian group is "checking out if they could buy out all Iceland's energy sources," the artist charged in an interview with AFP in Helsinki this week, saying the company has "already shown interest in buying up at least five other energy companies in Iceland."
The firm denies the claim.
"We are aiming at only one stake in one power company," the head of Magma's Icelandic division, Asgeir Margeirsson, told AFP on Tuesday, insisting "the current debate is full of misleading and incorrect information".
Opponents accuse Magma of exploiting the aftermath of Iceland's near-economic collapse in late 2008 when its major banks went belly-up, leaving the state and its citizens vulnerable and facing mountains of debt.
Magma "has a reputation of working with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and buying up the energy sources of countries on the verge of bankruptcy," Bjork charged.
Again, Magma denies the claim.
"The comment about Magma working closely with the International Monetary Fund is false. Magma has received no funding from the IMF," head of the company's corporate communications in Canada, Alison Thompson, told AFP in an email on Tuesday.
Challenged
The firm's chief executive Ross Beaty has now challenged Bjork to "put her money where her mouth is" and buy shares in Orka to secure its future.
"You totally miss my point," the singer shot back.
"I feel this company should not be privatised, it should be given back to the people," she said in comments on the website of the Reykjavik Grapevine, an English language magazine.
Bjork is angry, fearing the deal could only make Iceland more vulnerable.
"The down-payment should be larger and 130 years (of usage rights) is ridiculous," Bjork told AFP.
And "we already have aluminium smelters. We don't need more," the singer said in reference to Magma's plan to use Orka, which sells much of its energy to a large aluminium smelter, to provide power to yet a new one.
"We need green options (like) greenhouses, but the government doesn't give discounts for energy access to greenhouses (as) it does to these foreign giants."
"Economists agree that there should be diversity," she said, noting if the price of aluminium were to fall, Icelanders would again suffer.
