Björk Joins 3 Day Geothermal Karaoke Marathon Protest

Often popular, always creative and unique, musician Björk has taken part in a three day karaoke marathon protest in her native Iceland. The event was to protest against a Canadian company’s growing majority stake in Iceland’s HS Orka geothermal power plant.

The protest, named ‘Declare Independence’, centers around attempting to maintain Iceland’s control over its own natural resources, and in this case, geothermal resources. Since the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008, Iceland has seen a influx of foreign investment.

According to its website, Canada’s Magma Energy is North America’s second largest primary geothermal power producer. It already owns 45% of the HS Orka’s stock and wants to increase its stake to 98.5%. There would leave only a tiny fraction of the company ownership in Iceland.

The protest succeeded in collecting 46,000 signatures in a petition, topping the 35,000 required for a referendum to be held.

Here’s a tv news report about the geothermal company protest, with some footage of Björk performing in the karaoke marathon. Here’s a flickr image of Björk & Ómar Ragnarsson performing a duet during the marathon event.

Campaign leader Oddny Eir Aevarsdottir said,

“It’s nice to wake up and see that more than 46,000 have signed the petition.”

Yes, I’d say so! The pulling power of a famous Icelander can sometimes do wonders for a activist campaign. However, it remains to be seen whether the desired result will be achieved.

Via CleanTechies
Image CC licensed by Foxtounge