This morning we, the Aluminium Industry, hung a banner on Hallgrímskirkja (the biggest church in Iceland) to finally express cleary what we have been trying to tell you all of the time. We decided that the methods of greenwashing and manipulation are no longer needed, since we obviously managed to convince you already about the glory of heavy industry.
We wanted the Icelandic Nation to fully understand, that we don’t care about anything else than our own advantages and of course our profit. We don’t care about the impacts of our actions, on people here in Iceland or elsewhere in the world. Many lives, human and non-human, have been effected by our work all over the globe:
- Whole tribes of indigenous people have lost their lives and/or livelihoods through a cultural genocides caused by our projects; bauxite mining, alumina refining, aluminium production, and transportation between continents. (1) (2)
- Earth-damage and pollution are constantly increasing as we keep trying to fulfill our never satisfying greed.
- Due to our major role in warfare and the military industry many people could feel the impact of aluminium on their own bodies… (3)
- We do not take responsibility for any of these things. (4)
Using the country and the naiveté of some people who live here for our own good, is almost too easy. Anyway, we are thankful how well the cooperation worked and without a doubt we plan to go on in the future.
If there are still people in this country who don’t agree with our methods then we have only this to say: FUCK YOU! We are here to stay, so you better get used to it!
Profit, destruction and death!
Your sincerely, Aluminium.
(1) Samarendra Das and Felix Padel, Agya, What Do You Mean by Development?, https://www.savingiceland.org/?p=1029&language=en – see also by the same authors, Double Death – Aluminium’s Links with Genocide, https://www.savingiceland.org/?p=602&language=en
(2) Survival International’s webpage about the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa, India, http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/dongria
(3) Alcoa Defense, http://www.alcoa.com/defense/en/home.asp
(4) In an article by Erna Indriðadóttir, Alcoa’s P.R. Manager, she states that Alcoa only produces aluminium but has nothing to say about the future of it. The article was a response to articles that were written were Alcoa was said to be an arms producer. By only taking a look at the website of Alcoa Defense, one can see that Alcoa is a proud cooperator with the American army and several heavy-duty weapon producers. This is not the first and not the last time when Alcoa’s directors or workers here in Iceland try to hide the real facts about the company. Erna’s article can be found here: http://www.alcoa.com/iceland/ic/news/whats_new/2008/2008_06_bjork.asp
(5) An Agency of Industry and Energy and the National Power Company (1995), bæklingurinn Lowest Energy Prices!! In Europe For New Contracts
(6) News article on Mbl.is, http://ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item291814/