The ''Frjáls þjóð'' (') was a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

published in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

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 ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. 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 organisation 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 the ...

, the chairman of the electoral alliance

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * 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 ...

which was founded in March 1953. Amongst the editors of this newspaper was one, Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, 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 Member of Parliament, 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 I ...

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