After several weeks of protests, the Iceland government finally resigned. It appears that the new Prime Minister will be Johanna Sigurdardottir, who is both a woman and gay. It appears that Siurdardottir will be the first gay Prime Minister in the world. It is important for us to recognize the activism of the citizens of Iceland . They got on the streets and they made enough noise to not only be heard, but to disrupt the government processes. They not only had pots and pans, they had drummers, loudspeakers, and speeches. With the exception of one evening when the crowd’s energy became aggressive against the police, the protests were nonviolent. In fact, the day after the protests turned ugly, a peaceful demonstration was held where free hugs were offered to everyone, including the police.
Now, this may sound like a strange question, but do these people look like terrorists? Well, apparently, back when the whole financial crisis began in Iceland , and the Icelandic banking system collapsed and was nationalized, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown used antiterrorist legislation to freeze the assets of Icelandic banks and companies operating in Great Britain .
Apparently, the British Treasury was concerned that British creditors would not be compensated by the Icelandic government, as they appeared to be giving preference to domestic creditors. As you might guess, this action made matters worse. In fact, it led to a run on the banks in Iceland and the suspension of their currency.
At the beginning of January, the Iceland government made the decision to sue the British Government, through the European Court of Human Rights, for using “wrongful and unjustified” anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the assets of the collapsed bank. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this action.
This may sound very distant and unimportant to people here in the USA , but I am covering this story because, hey, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re moving in the same direction. Not only that, we have tons and tons of antiterrorist legislation just ripe for using against We The People.
Below is a wonderful video showing support for the “terrorists” of Iceland ; it was produced in Norway . It calls for Scandinavia to support Iceland and even suggests Gordon Brown has declared a new Axis of Evil, which would include Denmark , Norway , Sweden , and Greenland , amongst others. It’s funny and gets the point across. Remember, this is one planet and we are all connected. We need to be supportive of our brothers and sisters in Iceland and other countries that are fighting to be free from fascism.
To stay updated on the Iceland situation visit this blogger, who is currently reporting demonstrations in front of a hotel where NATO is holding a seminar:
http://iceland-dori.blogspot.com/
Today's situation in Iceland:
http://iceland-dori.blogspot.com/
New goverment is about to be formed,but one of the parties that was going to support in parliement,is not happy.
They have seen the goverment agreement,between the two parties , the Sicial democratic alliance and the Left Green Movement,and the party ,( framsoknarflokkurinn ) the old farmers party ( dont know their name in engish, is coming in with demands ,for changes in the agreemnet.
And the goverment that was before - has gone,quit,so ,technically,Iceland has no goverment this weekend.
Posted by: Puma for Life | January 30, 2009 at 08:24 PM