The cautlonary politlcal tale of lutand', la,t McDonald',

burger that slmpty won't roto even after 10 years

(lhe Washington Post)

By Rick Noack

(2 de novembro de 2019 09:00:32 BRT)

One of Northem Europa's arguably most dlstinctive exports is ·slow TV": real-tlme recordings of traln Joumeys, feny crossings cr the mlgratlon of relndeer, which regularfy draw record audiences.

Arnong perhaps the most successful - and leasl exclting _ examples of lhal genre is the 'live stream of a McOonalds cheeseburger With fries . AI lts peak, It drew 2 milllon viewers a month. lhe only element on lhe saeen thal moves, however,ls lhe time display.

The burgerlooks the sarna way. hour afterhour.

As ofthls week, it has Iooked IIkethatfor 10 years.

Purchased hours before the corporatlon pulled out of the country in 2009, in the wake of lcaland's devastating financiai crisls, the lasl survtving McOonald's burger has become much more than a burger. To some, It stands for the greed and excessive capitalism that "created an economic collapse that was so bad lhat even McDonald's had to close down,· sald HjOrtur Smârason, 43, who purchased the fateful burger in 2009. To others, the eerily fresh look of the 10-year-old meal has served as a wamlng against the excesstve consumption of fast food.

McDonald's has attempted lo debunk the myth that its burgers do not decompose, argulng there Is a sclentlflc explanation for lcaland's never-rottlng burger.

Wlthout sufficient molsture - ellher In the food itself ar the environment - bacteria and mold may not grow and therefore, decomposition Is unlikely,· a company statement read. (McOonald's did not respond to a request for comment.)

The company may have debunked the mylhs surrounding the burger's fresh look, but 10 years on, the political symbolism of lhe corporatlon's withdrawal trom lceland and the last remnant of Its pasl there appear more relevantthan ever.

Clouds over Iceland's economy

After a painful recovery, lceland's economy onca again was thrown Into turmoil this year when lhe nation's budget WOWairfine went bankrupt. Ovemight, a crucial factor in lceland's recovery - the tourism Industry, which now accounts for about 10 percent of lceland's gross domestic product - faced a sudden drop In visltor5. About a third ofthem had traveled to lceland with WOW Alr. At the same time, the China-U.S. trade war began to weigh more heavily on the country.

Ten years after a devastatlng crisis, some lcelanders had deja vu, throwing them back to the days when the natlon of around 300,000 witnessed ali of its major private banks default.

But in the months since, lceland's economy has surprisingly rebounded ; tourism bookings have remained largely steady, as other air1ines have 1IIIed WOW Alr's gap.

"The economy is doing much better than expected,· said Erna BjOrg Sverrisdóttir, chlef economisl of Iceland'sArion Bank, who credited larger central bank reserves and low debt, among other factors.

The long-sought arrival of a fast-food giant

lceland was in a very different position in 1993, when McOonald's opened its first restaurant in the country. Ralher than focusing on resilience and government lntervention - as has been the case since 2008 - lceland was then laying the groundwof1( for what would cause lhe system's collapse two decades on.

It embraced frae market ideais like few olher countries. Theeoonomy boomed.

As free market capltalism produced stunning growth around the world, lhe sight of wortd leaders openlng McDonald's restaurants became somewhat of a symbol forthe victory of capitalism Qver socialism, Just years after lhe fali of the Berlin Wall.

In Britain, then-Prime Minlster Margaret Thatcher became known as an outspoken tan ofthe corporation.

Meanwhile, in lcaland. images from that time show the country's prime mlnister, Davio Oddsson, biting into a burger on lhe day lhe companycelebrated its first lceland opening.

"It was a very cheerful moment,· said anthropologlst Kristln Loftsd6ttir, who has studied the history of lhe company In lcaland. lhe reasans for the country's enthusiasm were deeply rooted, shesaid.

"Iceland had for a Iong time been very anxlous about Its role withln the community of nations,· Loftsdóttirsaid. With a population the stze of a small U.S. clty, lceland was afraid there wouldn't be a place for II on the table of mature nations In the post-Soviel world. The arrival of McDonald's, she said, appeared to Indlcate a new chapter: lceland was modemlzing and had becoma -partofa global c:ommunity,- Loftsd6ttir sald.

That success story started to unravel as lhe financiai crisis began In 2007. Wilhln months, lceland was on lhe brink of economlc disaster. Bul It took two subsequent collapses - the breakdown of the country's banklng syslem, and lhe pulloul of McDonald's- for lcelanders to realize just how deep they had sunk Into crisis.

Operating in lceland had become too costly for McDonald's in lhe aftermath of lhe crisis: The currency coIlapsed, and inflatlon skyrockeled. McDonald's was tar from the only company to abandon lhe embattJed country, but to some, il felt IIke being thrown out of the Intemallonal community Ihey had WOI1I:ed 50 hard to be part of, loftsdóttir said.

For her book ·Crisis and Coloniality ai Europe's Margins: Creating Exotic Iceland,· loftsd6ttir interviewed a number of Individuais who wltnessed lhe 2008 crisis. To many of them, the closure of lhe restaurants was not so much a story aboul a company laying off its employees, but ralher of lhe collectlve fallure of a natlon.

"We cannol even operale a McDonald's,· loftsdóttir recalled one exasperated 50urce summarizing a widely shared sentiment ai lhe time.

A burgerforgotten on a garage shelf

On Oct. 31, 2009, marketing consultant Hjortur Smárason was among lhe lasl customers ai lhe Mcoonald's In lcaland's capital, ReykJavik. He walted In Une In front of the restaurant with olher lcelanders who wanled to purchase Ihelr last Mcoonald's mea!.

But Smárason had nol come to eal. He had read about online rumors of never-roning McDonald's burgers and wanted to putthe myth lo the tesl. He abought a cheeseburgerwilh fries, drove home and left lhe boxon a shelf in his garage.

Three years went by, in which Smárason fargot about the souvenlr of a bygone era. He had other problems to worry aboul.

The financiai crisis had hil him hard. "I losl ali my savings", he recalled. -My dients were golng bankrupt. I was trying to hang on to my house.·

Three years on, as he was preparing to move to Copenhagen, he came across lhe McOonald's meal In his garage.

"I was worried about whal I would find,· Smarason said.

When he opened lhe box, he was shocked - bul not for the reason he expected. Contrary to lhe rotten remnants he was prepared for, he found what appeared to be a fully Intact meal.

Smarason sensed he was holding a historical artifact. He reached out to lceland's National Museum, where the meal was put on prominent display soon after.

lceland's national broadcasting servlce plcked up lhe story, whlch socn circulated around lhe world.

In the years since, some vlsitors appear to have mistaken itfora fresh maal. Some frias are missing.

The remnants are naw on display In a small hotel In southem lceland, where they continue to attract tourists, Smarason said.

He still visits lhe burger regularty. The last time he saw It, he sald, it looked" as fresh as always.

Onty lhe paper It Is wrapped In has started to Iook a little yellow.

A pergunta deve ser respondida baseada no texto "The cautlonary poUtlcaJ tale of Iceland'. last McOonald's burger that slmply won't rot, ave" aftar 10 years".

Baseado na leitura do lexto, quais foram os dois colapsos subsequentes que fizeram com que os Islandeses percebessem que haviam mergulhado profundamente na crise?

O Programa Nacional de Imunizações tem avançado ano a ano para proporcionar melhor qualidade de vida à população com a prevenção de doenças. A vacina para mulheres grávidas é essencial para prevenir doenças para si e para o bebê. Marque a alternativa com as vacinas indicadas para a gestante. conforme o Calendário Nacional de Vacinação:

Na construção do projeto político- pedagógico, deve- se considerar que ele:

I· é um documento que deve ser produzido na escola;

II· envolve parte da comunidade escolar em sua elaboração;

III· estipula os objetivos da instituição e os meios para seu alcance;

IV· deve observar tanto a realidade da escola quanto da comunidade escolar.

Assinale a alternativa correta:

Conhecida popularmente pelos nomes de ipê-roxo. pau-d'arcoroxo, açoita-cavalo, camarao, embirata. folha-larga, ipê-ovo-demacaco, dentre outros sinônimos, é uma espécie de alto valor no mercado e de grande procura na construçAo civil, tanto para peças pesadas. como para móveis de fino acabamento. Também é muito apreciada pela alta durabilidade da madeira na construção rural, principalmente, no emprego como mourões e postes. Estudos preliminares apontam que após 18 meses em condições severas de exposição às intempéries climáticas 8, parcialmente enterrada no solo, a espécie manteve as mesmas caracteristicas físicas da madeira, demonstrando excelente resistência a Insetos, fungos e umidade. Qual alternativa está relacionada a este conceito?