The Icelandic Revolution
A reality or a myth?
Published on August 31, 2012
I found this text on a website. I no longer remember which one. It doesn't matter. For quite some time now, my readers have been asking me to put online a presentation of the economic, monetary and financial problems our planet is facing. I could do it. But I can't be on all fronts. The nuclear issue, well handled, is already quite a lot.
Of course, I am perfectly aware of the submission of our governments to the power of banks. Who doesn't remember the complicity of two successive presidents, Pompidou and Giscard d'Estaing, this accordion player. How can one be so foolish as to have a "d'Estaing" as the last name of a proletarian? With his initials intertwined on the shaded portage of his property.
They are amazing, all these people, who give furious kicks to climb to the top. Isn't it said that Pompidou arranged to urinate at the same time as de Gaulle? All that to end up "by the way of everyone", as King David said to his son Solomon, sensing his end was near. There is something pitiful and grotesque in all these men's lives.
This did not prevent Giscard from actively contributing to the drafting of the European constitution. This brings us back to the movie "The Matrix", when "Agent Smith" talks to a crew member of the rebel ship, who has decided to abandon the fight and return to a virtual, but comfortable life. A man that Smith calls "Mr. Reagan".
Back to Iceland. In France, many thinkers suggest similar things, a "peaceful revolution". This reminds me of what was heard in May 68. For a country like France, things would not be so simple. Iceland has a different landscape. Its population: 300,000 inhabitants. That of the city of Nice. Of which 118,000 in the city of Reykjavik alone, and 60% of the island's population in its immediate surroundings.
Its economy is also much simpler than ours. Living on an Eldorado of geothermal, wind and hydro energy, it could not fear a future energy crisis. It could instead export electricity to European countries, thanks to a 1,400 km underwater high-voltage line connecting it to northern England.
Already, during my visit in the 1970s, I had seen bananas growing in greenhouses heated by steam. One thing strikes you when you look at the city of Reykjavik: you see no chimneys on the roofs. The open-air pool is warm, summer and winter. The city lives on a steam geyser.
There is also the fish. There, the fishing banks are rich. I have walked these lands of fire and ice, in the 1970s, one year after the eruption of Helgafell, on the island of Vastmannaeyjar. Below, the village of Heimaey, which had part of its villas buried under the ash emitted by the volcano in 1973. At that time, the islanders had the second highest income per capita, after the Kuwaitis. They were furiously walking the 4 km of their only road, in their Ford Mustangs.
The volcano Helgafell, which awoke in 1973, when everyone thought it was extinct.
In the foreground, the only settlement on the island, the port of Heimaey.
Not all Icelanders have these incomes. But it is not a poor country. It took the entire dishonesty of their "banksters" to bring a country to bankruptcy. It seems, see below, that the Icelanders have decided to take their future in their own hands. Not being in Europe, they have been able to strongly devalue their currency, which has reactivated their exports and reduced their imports. Classic scheme. But then, why would they want to join Europe and the Eurozone? To be clarified.
Mystery.
No news from Iceland: why?
( April 22, 2012 )
If someone believes that there is no censorship today, let them tell us why everything is known about what is happening in Egypt, Syria or Libya, and why the newspapers have absolutely said nothing about what is happening in Iceland?
In Iceland,
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the people forced a whole government to resign,
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the main banks have been nationalized and it was decided not to pay the debt incurred by these banks with British and Dutch banks, debt generated by their bad financial policy;
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a popular assembly has just been created to rewrite the Constitution.
And all of this, peacefully.
A whole revolution against the power that led to this crisis.
That's why nothing has been published for two years.
What would happen if European citizens took their example?
Briefly, here is the story of the facts:
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2008: The main bank of the country is nationalized. The currency collapses, the stock exchange suspends its activity. The country is bankrupt.
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2009: Public protests against the Parliament lead to early elections. They cause the resignation of the Prime Minister and, in block, of the entire government.
The country's disastrous economic situation persists. By means of a law, it is proposed to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to repay the debt by paying 3.5 billion euros, an amount that will be paid monthly by all Icelandic families over the next 15 years at an interest rate of 5%.
- 2010: The people again take to the streets and demand that the law be submitted to a referendum.
In January 2010, the President refuses to ratify this law and announces that there will be a popular consultation.
In March, the referendum takes place and the NO to paying the debt wins 93% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the government has started an investigation to legally settle the responsibilities for the crisis.
Several bankers and senior executives are detained.
Interpol launches an investigation and all the involved bankers leave the country.
In this context of crisis, an assembly is elected to draft a new Constitution that takes the lessons learned from the crisis and replaces the current one, which is a copy of the Danish constitution.
To do this, the people themselves are directly involved.
25 citizens without political affiliation are elected among the 522 who applied for candidacy. To do this, one must be an adult and receive the support of 30 people.
- The constitutional assembly begins its work in February 2011 in order to present, based on the opinions collected in the various assemblies that took place throughout the country, a draft of the Great Charter.
It must be approved by the current parliament as well as by the one that will be formed after the next legislative elections.
Here is, briefly, the story of the Icelandic Revolution:
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Resignation of an entire government
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Nationalization of the bank
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Referendum so that the people can express their opinion on fundamental economic decisions - Imprisonment of the crisis responsible
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Rewriting the constitution by the citizens
Have we heard about this in European media? Have we heard about it in political radio debates? Have we seen images of these events on TV?
Of course not!
Note: This text differs significantly from what is found on Iceland in Wikipedia.
I am not able to separate the wheat from the chaff.