ABSTRACT
Charity was re-positioned as serving a nation-in-crisis, quite unlike the earlier focus on the usual clients of charity, such as elderly and disabled people. Charities, especially in the greater Reykjavik area the main urban centre in the country-were confronted by significant numbers of migrant labourers. The term 'Crisis', as remarked by Marxist critic Raymond Williams in his classic Keywords, 'has of course been extended to any difficulty as well as any turning point'. The Icelandic Red Cross has long been concerned and quite vocal about the issues facing immigrants in Iceland. The anthropologist Henrik Vigh notes that the term 'crisis' is often perceived quite differently depending upon one's situation. Charitable organizations supportive of immigrants, such as the Icelandic Red Cross, continued to be vocal in their support of assisting immigrants and advocated for a vision of a multicultural Iceland. The charitable arm of the Lutheran Church argued that this practice was a violation of the Icelandic Constitution itself.
