Most people in Iceland are looking forward to the early elections at the end of April. Some are looking forward to kicking the current ‘imposters’ out and putting the business-savvy Independence Party back where it belongs to get on with rebuilding the economy.
Others are looking forward to dealing the Independence Party a killer blow by reducing its massive presence in parliament so much that it might finally start to lose its decades-old stranglehold on Icelandic politics.
Boiling the viewpoints down to their basest elements, it’s basically a question of whether we need to build a new Iceland, or rebuild the old one (albeit using lessons learned to ensure the current mess can’t happen exactly the same again).
Would Iceland’s economy have crashed like this if the world hadn’t fallen into a once-in-a-hundred-years downturn at the same time? Despite the system’s obvious frailties, many Independence Party voters argue that it would not have. They feel bruised and unfairly victimised.
Those who intend to vote for the other parties, especially the Left Greens, argue that that’s not the point at all. Crash or no crash, the Icelandic system was unsustainably built on debt and greed. The New Iceland needs to be built on solid, tangible prosperity for everyone.
There is a third group, though. And its voice is getting louder.
They are the group believing that parliament should be made up of elected individuals, not just party members. It is not currently possible to elect independent candidates to the Althingi parliament. There are calls to change this in time for April, though.
This Saturday there will be a procession from Hlemmur bus station to Austurvollur (Parliament Square) called “March from ‘Party-ocracy’ to Democracy” (roughly translated).
The march will leave at 14.00 and arrive outside parliament in time for the regular Saturday protest organised by Hordur Torfason at 15.00. Torfason and his supporters are sticking to their promise not to end their weekly protests until all three of their demands are met. As David Oddsson still heads the Central Bank of Iceland, they have one objective remaining.
Marchers are encouraged to bring pots, pans, horns, children, and any number of other noisy things.
The group has also organised an open meeting on the subject of independent candidacy and Iceland’s election laws on Thursday evening. The man behind the country’s existing election law will be the main speaker at the meeting, and all political party leaders have also been invited to attend. The meeting is at 20.00 at Idno.
If David Oddsson does leave the central bank let it be to lead the Independence Party again.
Am i talking nonsense?
NO!!
This is what the majority of us in Iceland who want a real future WANT.
I SPEAK AS A MAJORITY
NOT A MINORITY.
you just wait and see.
Send Davíð to Norway for mental treatment. He obviously isn´t getting adequate care here at home due to these times of kreppa.
So you get a load of independents with different views. Then they disagree and divide into groups that agree with eachother, then you get parties again. And ISK, how can any individual speak as a majority – you can only speak for yourself…
Icelands banking system nearly crashed in 2006, so it didn’t need a once in a 100 year event to crash, simply the normal 10/20 year crash. The dot-com crash of 2003 would have done it, for instance.
Without the banks expansion abroad, the economic system would not have been so cruelly exposed. Probably the home economy would not have ballooned to the same extent and personal debt would not be as high.
In that event in these times, at least one of the Banks probably would have been in the (relatively healthy) position of dire straights and the others on a (very healthy) shaky footing.
Not much different to the current situation in quite a few countries elsewhere.
At least the awareness is growing that this economic model can not be repaired and set into motion again. The core ideology of the Independence party is bankrupt.
It´s understandable that those who benefitted personally (and, in many case, significantly) from the economic growth in Iceland over the last 5 years might relate this good fortune to Oddsson and so want him to carry on. The fact, however, is that he (probably quite ignorantly) got the country into the kind of mess that you´d expect to happen if a child ran a brewery. If I had the chance to vote into power a man who bankruped my country and pretty much ruined its international reputation, I´d expect people to question either my intelligence or my personal greed.
So what does it matter who gets elected. The total population of the country is equal to one small town in other countries. Do we really think that there are enough eduacated citizens in Iceland that have the ability to grasp and deal with the complexities of international finance. I hope so…but let’s be realistic. The old octupus will be replaced by a new octupus. The next financial power grab is just beginning.