Saving Iceland

Today the Icelandic government collapsed. Geir H. Haarde, Iceland’s former prime minister announced early today after a row of government meetings. Yesterday, Björgvin G. Sigurðsson, the minister of commerce, announced that he would finally take on his responsibility for the financial collapse, resign and fire the directors of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FMA).

Since the collapse of the Icelandic economy in October 2008, the current Icelandic government formed by Samfylkingin (Social Democrat Alliance) and Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn (neoliberal conservatives), has been under heavy pressure. Every Saturday for 16 weeks people have gathered by the parliament and demanded that the government will resign, the boards of the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Central Bank will be fired, that elections will take place as soon as possible and that the corruption in  the power base and financial sector be curtailed.Apart from the Saturday protests, other more radical actions have taken place during this period; people have repeatedly tried to stop government meetings from taking place, stormed into the parliament and financial institutions and organized noise demonstrations by other official buildings. The climax of the protests took place last Tuesday, 20 January, when the parliament met for its first session after a long Christmas holiday. Thousands of people gathered around the parliament to take part in a noise demonstration that lasted for 14 hours. Since then, people have gathered daily in the center of Reykjavík, lit bonfires and protested against the government.

A whole lot of new grassroots groups and organizations have risen with new ideas and demands; anything from reformist ideas about changes inside the system to radical changes – even the foundation of a new republic and rewriting of the constitution. Mounting numbers of articles have been written, public meetings taken place and new political websites established. Icelandic society is undergoing a sort of a renaissance of ideas for direct democracy.

Right now it is unclear what will happen here in Iceland, but most likely Samfylkingin and Vinstri Grænir (VG – the left greens) will form a government with the support of Framsóknarflokkurinn (The right wing ‘progressive’ party).

We will bring more news and updates later.