|
|
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, February - March 2009
Revolt in Iceland
Barack Obama was taking over the Presidency in the U.S. on Jan. 20, when thousands of demonstrators surrounded Iceland's Althingi House as it tried to open a new session. Founded in 930, the Althingi is the world's oldest continuous and still surviving legislative body. Protesters threw eggs and the now emblematic old shoes at the parliament. Protesters had also occupied the cabinet office and Landsbanki, the country's second largest bank.
The object of the wrath of this normally very reserved population was the conservative government of Prime Minister Geir Haarde, whose car was pelted with eggs and besieged by protesters banging on windows, as he left the parliament on Jan. 21. The protesters were demanding accountability for Iceland's economic collapse--demanding that Haarde's government step down. The conservatives deregulated Iceland's banks, which then became global players in the speculative boom building up huge paper wealth.
In October Iceland's three largest banks went bankrupt and then so did the country as a whole when the state nationalized the banks in order to keep credit flowing. Now Iceland owes six times the country's national output to the world banking system. The government had to apply to the IMF, which normally is used by underdeveloped countries, for an emergency $2 billion loan. Other sources lent another $8 billion. The currency, the krona, has tanked to half its value, as unemployment and inflation have skyrocketed.
FIRST OPENLY GAY WORLD LEADER
Haarde's government wasn't scheduled to face elections until 2011, but then announced they would be held in May. By the end of January, however, the Haarde government failed and a new interim prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, was appointed. Sigurdardottir will be the world's first openly Gay leader. She also comes from a working background, having been a flight attendant in the 1960s and '70s, a union organizer, and, as social affairs minister, a persistent fighter for minorities, women and the poor.
Iceland is a country of about 300,000 people, which had one of the highest standards of living. Enforcing their will and toppling their government, workers gave Iceland's capitalists a taste of direct democracy. Their direct action was probably more in the spirit of the original Althingi. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of workers deepening their practice of direct democracy as the way to totally overcome capitalist relations. Demonstrations over similar issues have already spread throughout Europe. In France, for example, a general strike against bank bailouts occured on Jan. 29.
--R. K.
|
