The ''Frjáls þjóð'' (') was a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

published in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

from 1952 to 1967. Its policy was to protest against increasing American influence in Icelandic daily life. It was opposed to Icelandic membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and to American bases on Icelandic soil in peacetime. It protested that American soldiers could wander around Iceland without being monitored, and also protested that American base television programs were visible to the Icelandic general public. It also criticised the United People's Socialist Party (''Sameiningarflokkur alþýðu, sósíalistaflokkurinn'') for being to loyal to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The newspaper also fought against what it saw as corruption in Icelandic society and possible Icelandic membership of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. In 1967, the newspaper supported

Hannibal Valdimarsson Hannibal Gísli Valdimarsson (13 January 1903 – 1 September 1991) was an Icelandic politician. Parliament He was a member of parliament from 1946 to 1959 for the Social Democratic Party and People's Alliance and then from 1963 to 1974 for th ...

, the chairman of the electoral alliance People's Alliance, in his campaign for a seat in Parliament as an independent. The editors and owners of ''Frjáls þjóð'' supported the

National Preservation Party National Preservation Party () was a political party in Iceland. History The party was founded on 15 March 1953 by members of the Progressive Party, Social Democratic Party and Socialist Party.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Eur ...

which was founded in March 1953. Amongst the editors of this newspaper was one,

Bergur Sigurbjörnsson Bergur Sigurbjörnsson (20 May 1917 – 28 July 2005) was an Icelandic magazine editor and politician. He studied business in the University of Iceland, and later went on to study economics in Stockholm University. He founded the weekly magaz ...

, who was Member of Parliament for the National Preservation Party 1953–1956, editor from the beginning in 1952 to 1954 and also in 1967. Two later editors/owners who became members of parliament were

Ragnar Arnalds Ragnar Arnalds (8 July 1938 – 15 September 2022) was an Icelandic former MP and twice cabinet minister. He studied literature and philosophy in Sweden from 1959 to 1961 and graduated with a law degree from the University of Iceland in 1968 ...

in 1960 and

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson (born 21 February 1939) is an Icelandic politician and diplomat. He was Minister of Finance from 1987 to 1988 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1995. He is known in the Baltics as, at his initiative, Icela ...

1964–1967.

References

1952 establishments in Iceland 1967 disestablishments in Iceland Defunct newspapers published in Iceland Defunct weekly newspapers Mass media in Reykjavík Icelandic-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1952 Publications disestablished in 1967 Weekly newspapers published in Iceland {{Iceland-newspaper-stub