Booker Rising did two articles on Iceland recently and then Molotov asked if I could comment on Icelandic immigration policy. Keep in mind that as a libertarian I would like to have all barriers on immigration and emigration everywhere dropped. Freedom is the answer in this as most other matters. Reality, however, often lets the ideal down.
I would like to write some more about the matter in the future. Recently there was a big discussion in Iceland about immigration as the immigration act was amended to make it more difficult to enter the country. The libertarian society to which I belong was at the forefront in the fight against the changes, but sadly we lost. That post has to wait, however, as my employer has first dibs on my time at the moment.
Sadly it's true that there was an unofficial "no black servicemen" policy until the mid-sixties. Iceland has no military and relies on the US for protection. The racist policy was never put in writing, but it seems that the demand was made verbally around the time of the signing of the defence treaty in 1951. President Kennedy was instrumental in changing that.
Icelanders are mainly white, although recent genetical studies seem so indicate that we are more celtic than Norse in origin. The Vikings took more Irish slaves with them on the trip than was previously thought.
This homogenized nature of the population has made Iceland somewhat of a promised land for Nazis and skinheads the world over. This is not something that I, or most Icelanders are happy with. God knows there are few people I would less want as neighbors than the Klan.
This is changing however, and changing fast. Numbers of immigrants - almost all of them legal as it is rather difficult to get illegally in here - are rising with every year. The largest numbers come from Denmark and Poland, but South-East-Asia is well represented with immgrants from Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia becoming more numerous.
Immigration policy is rather strict, and was made more so with the passing of a new immigration law last spring.
There are no quotas on immigration, but you have to have a work permit before you get a residents permit. The work permit is held by the employer, not the immigrant, and that puts the immigrant in a very precarious position.
I imagine that the largest number of Blacks in Iceland are US servicemen. I don't know of any special immigration treaties between the US and Iceland, but since the Icelandic constitution does not allow any discrimination based on race or color Black Americans would get the same treatment from the immigration authorities as whites. (The small size of the country has kept transparency high and corruption low).
The small size of the population also means that changes in nationwide attitude are faster than in larger populations. Although racism was probably much more prevalent a couple of decades ago - and there still is racism in Iceland - there is much less of it now. The same goes for other prejudices, for example as regards homosexuality.
On the whole I would think Iceland is a fine country to live in - for Black Americans as well as others. I would think that most people would regard Black Americans as Yanks first and Blacks second (or third, fourth or whatever). Also the more people of different colors and creeds we have here the faster the country is bound to lose its remaining prejudices.
Also I would welcome with open arms any good fiscal conservatives/libertarians of the American School. So get on over here!
