Græntfjaller left searches for its own ‘unity’ candidate
Nyagũthiĩ Wanjirsdóttir, star volleyball player for Olympic Thessia and Græntfjall’s national volleyball team, has a poster on the wall of the Net Wolves’ base camp in Quebec & Shingoryeo. In bright colors, it spells out in gaudy block lettering: “Jedinstvo!” The word means unity, but it refers here to the Mytanar political party headed by Ana Mecava-Catic. The young, charismatic Mytanar premier has held together a fractious nation behind her slogan, introduced a nationalized healthcare system, and revitalized the fortunes of the political left in the country. And she has won a fan – if not a voter – in Wanjirsdóttir. “No, I can’t vote!” laughs the Græntfjaller volleytball player, whose public criticism of the culture of racism in Græntfjaller sports has made her a headline not just for her exciting spikes and shots. “But I’m a big fan of what she’s doing. I wish there were someone like her in Græntfjall.”
But, Wanjirsdóttir feels, there is not, at least at present. While the Left-slate is currently in a state of flux after the man who has led them for the better part of two decades, Zóphonías Juliusson, shuffles off into retirement, soon a new leader will be elected. Wanjirsdóttir, a Left-slate voter if not a party member, says she is worried there is no one among the candidates who can take on new Prime Minister Kaija Michaelsdóttir. Michaelsdóttir and Mecava-Catic have been compared – both young women, charismatic and personally popular, taking on the highest office in their respective countries – but represent very different political traditions, Michaelsdóttir an old-fashioned liberal with a penchant for free trade, whose first act as Prime Minister was to announce sweeping civil service reforms in the interests of “trimming down the bloated state bureaucracy”, Mecava-Catic a left-wing dynamo representing the new face of anticapitalism.
The closest thing to a Græntfjaller Mecava-Catic might be Nusaiba Jihaadsdóttir el-Siddiqui. The firebrand former welfare minister made a name for herself as a trenchant critic of police brutality and of racial inequalities, though it wasn’t enough to propel her to the Háttmark mayoralty. She would be a first female leader for the Left-slate and a first woman of color and first Muslim to head any major Græntfjaller political party. Wanjirsdóttir says she is a “big fan” but admits she also has reservations. “She’s very passionate and very brace,” says Wanjirsdóttir, who publicly endorsed el-Siddiqui in the mayoral race and appeared at campaign events. “But my first priority, I have to admit, is someone who can win, and I’m not sure Græntfjall is ready to accept her.”
Perhaps surprisingly, then, it’s not a woman of color whom the critic of Græntfjaller racism is most enthusiastic about, but a white man: Ingiberg Leifsson, the radical economic theorist currently polling just 8% among party members – though that number increases to nearly 20% among young people. “I think what Mecava-Catic and Jedinstvo have shown is there is a different way of doing politics and a different route forward for the left,” says Wanjirsdóttir, “So why not think outside the box when it comes to a candidate?” According to her, Leifsson is the only potential Left-slate serious about taking on corporate greed and engaging with the issues facing young workers and students. “UBI, MMT, the abolition of landlordism: these are the issues we should be talking about. Sometimes the party seems stuck talking about stevedores’ unions and civil service pay grades, that are barely relevant to the young, working poor.”
Such political thoughts will be far from Wanjirsdóttir’s mind when she takes the court against Natanians and Nosts in Græntfjall’s tournament opener, but she plans on following the Left-slate leadership election closely from her hotel room. And, perhaps, clearing space for a new poster – one with a Græntfjaller slogan?
Also in the paper:
- NEWS: Transport union votes to strike over proposed cuts
- BUSINESS: Bankers welcome “long overdue” liberalization plan
- EDITORIAL: Michaelsdóttir takes a welcome axe to government waste
- CULTURE: How to tell if your teen is texting about WCC reform
- SPORT: Snow Wolves arrive home to warm reception despite dismal campaign
