PUMA For Life

Latvia is the new Iceland: Government collapse saves cows

Another one bites the dust, meaning another small country follows Iceland into economic turmoil and the resignation of their government. Aljazeera reports that Prime Minister Ivan Godmanis resigned on Friday; President Valdis Zatlers called for meetings to form a new government.

Latvia is a tiny Baltic state that has been a European success story until recently.  After achieving the fastest economic growth in the EU in 2006, it was badly hit by the global recession starting in 2008.  In December of 2009, it had to take out a 9.43 billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Part of the deal with the loan was cutting public spending and imposing austerity measures on the very unhappy citizens. So, while Iceland was holding protests outside of the Parliament building with pots and pans and rock bands, in Latvia we saw a different type of protest. 

We had little old ladies with umbrellas:

Then we had something a wee bit, uh, unusual. Foreign Policy reports that Latvian farmers, protesting falling incomes, forced the resignation of the Agriculture Secretary by delivering a coffin of cow heads to the ministry. Yep, I bet this bloody-well got his attention!  

PIcture of cow heads here

Now that the government has fallen, I hope there will be fewer sacrificial cows in Latvia.  Otherwise, we might have to take up a collection to send all Latvian cows to India, where they are considered sacred.

Meanwhile, back in Iceland, blogger Dori Sig reports that protests continue. 

The Central Bank CEO, David Oddson, refuses to resign.  Apparently the CEO’s have transferred huge sums of money to banks in the Caymen Islands and other Caribbean tax havens.   Another bank sold some of the large, luxury automobiles that it owned to “friends” at a 70% discount.

 Below is a video of the most recent Iceland protest.  Mmmm, I see a lot of Puma orange in that crowd. Go Pumas!! We’ve gone international.

 

Clanging Pots and Pans Bring Down Iceland’s Government: Do These People Look Like Terrorists?

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/