When locals blew up a dam …

When I went to work at the research station at Lake Mývatn in North Iceland in 1988, I was told how in 1970 the local people there had blown up a dam that would have had dire results on the ecology of the area. No one (or rather everyone) took responsibility for the action. Yesterday I saw a remarkable documentary called Hvellur (which literally translates as “Bang”) about the action. For anyone in Iceland reading this, I am sure it will appear on TV in the not-too-distant future. For others, here are a few interesting snippets:

• They used dynamite that the company building the dam had left behind here and there in the area, so no expenditure was needed to buy that.
• One person said he’d read a book the previous winter by Alistair Maclean which had included blowing up a dam with dynamite. They used that information.
• The action happened long before the days of mobile phones, and in fact at that time one had to go through a switchboard in order to phone someone and this made it easy for phones to be tapped, say the locals. So the practical aspects leading up to the actual event were organised by word of mouth (well, whispering) at a funeral wake of a popular woman in the area.
• One person (who has since died) finally admitted in the film that he and two others, who he named, were the ones who had detonated the explosive. Prior to this, everyone knew who had done it but there was a feeling of joint responsibility, so that around 60 people were eventually fined for the action although no-one paid the fine and non-payment was not followed up.
• No one regretted taking part in the action.

A few years after the action took place, the first nature conservation institute was established in Iceland.

It would be good if the film could be translated. Lake Mývatn gets lots of tourists, and I’m sure some of them would be interested. And of course the film is also inspiring for environmentalists.

Update: The film has now been translated and is actually called “The Laxá  farmers” and is available in DVD from bookshops. This page also has a clip of it.