Iceland's On-going Revolution (and why it's not in the news!)

[FourScore]

This is a fascinating read. I HIGHLY recommend it!

Mon Aug 01, 2011 at 08:47 AM PDT
Iceland's On-going Revolution
by Deena StrykerFollow

SNIP

...In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt. The IMF immediately froze its loan. But the revolution (though not televised in the United States), would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis. Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.

But Icelanders didn't stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money. (The one in use had been written when Iceland gained its independence from Denmark, in 1918, the only difference with the Danish constitution being that the word ‘president’ replaced the word ‘king’.)

To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet. The constituent’s meetings are streamed on-line, and citizens can send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The constitution that eventually emerges from this participatory democratic process will be submitted to parliament for approval after the next elections.

Some readers will remember that Iceland’s ninth century agrarian collapse was featured in Jared Diamond’s book by the same name. Today, that country is recovering from its financial collapse in ways just the opposite of those generally considered unavoidable, as confirmed yesterday by the new head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde to Fareed Zakaria. The people of Greece have been told that the privatization of their public sector is the only solution. And those of Italy, Spain and Portugal are facing the same threat.

They should look to Iceland. Refusing to bow to foreign interests, that small country stated loud and clear that the people are sovereign...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/01/1001662/-Icelands-On-going-Revolution?via=siderec

[brooklynite]

1. Maybe its not in the news because....it's Iceland.

And the average, non-political voter doesn't care about Iceland except for stories about volcanoes and polar bears. If your implication is that this is being hushed up because the "MSM" doesn't want the idea of a non-partisan, populist Constitutional writing effort getting into the heads of the public, let me see some evidence. From what I can see the Tea-Partiers and RW would "love" to have a Constitution Convention (get rid of 14th, 16 and 17th amendments; add Balanced Budget, Gay Marriage and Abortion amendments, etc.).

[FourScore]

2. Did you read the whole article?

I can only post 4 paragraphs.

I am suggesting that the MSM won't air it because the financiers who brought on the collapse in Iceland are being held accountable, and that the citizens are not allowing themselves to be beholden to the IMF.

[Unvanguard]

Duplicate. n/t

[Unvanguard]

3. Iceland has its own currency, which makes it fundamentally different from Greece. n/t

[zeemike]

4. I think those are ideas that must be contained.

I the rest of the world got those ideas the too big to fail banisters would be looking to hide somewhere in south America.
But they are sure that the rest of the world will not catch on...and they can use it against us.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. However, things aren't completely sorted out yet:

Mr Skulason quotes central bank figures showing that 25,000 households are in arrears on their debts - that is nearly a quarter of all households in Iceland. Last March the minister of finance put the figure at more like 40% of households, he tells me.

Mortgages and other loans are a huge part of the assets of the new banks that Iceland formed out of the wreckage of the old.

Mr Skulason believes that when the Icelandic people realise that they can never pay off their debts they will - like Gunnar - just walk away from them. Then the real reckoning will come.

"Don't believe that Iceland has escaped its problems," he says. "This country and its banks are still bankrupt."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/mobile/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9550667.stm

There are, byt the way, many minor errors in the Kos piece - too many to sort out. But the tenor of it is reasonably correct.

[hootinholler]

6. Are they accepting immigrants?

I'm seriously considering fleeing this country.

-Hoot

[roxiejules]

7. The belief that citizens have to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly

is one we need to shatter, too

Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. Elections were brought forward to April 2009, resulting in a left-wing coalition which condemned the neoliberal economic system, but immediately gave in to its demands that Iceland pay off a total of three and a half million Euros. This required each Icelandic citizen to pay 100 Euros a month (or about $130) for fifteen years, at 5.5% interest, to pay off a debt incurred by private parties vis a vis other private parties. It was the straw that broke the reindeer’s back.

What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.