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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:28 am Post Subject: Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not By Deena St
Thought I may have posted this earlier. Well worth a read (don't forget the comments)...
Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not By Deena Stryker
An Italian radio program's story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember that at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland literally went bankrupt. The reasons were mentioned only in passing, and since then, this little-known member of the European Union fell back into oblivion.
As one European country after another fails or risks failing, imperiling the Euro, with repercussions for the entire world, the last thing the powers that be want is for Iceland to become an example. Here's why:
Five years of a pure neo-liberal regime had made Iceland, (population 320 thousand, no army), one of the richest countries in the world. In 2003 all the country’s banks were privatized, and in an effort to attract foreign investors, they offered on-line banking whose minimal costs allowed them to offer relatively high rates of return. The accounts, called IceSave, attracted many English and Dutch small investors. But as investments grew, so did the banks’ foreign debt. In 2003 Iceland’s debt was equal to 200 times its GNP, but in 2007, it was 900 percent. The 2008 world financial crisis was the coup de grace. The three main Icelandic banks, Landbanki, Kapthing and Glitnir, went belly up and were nationalized, while the Kroner lost 85% of its value with respect to the Euro. At the end of the year Iceland declared bankruptcy.
Contrary to what could be expected, the crisis resulted in Icelanders recovering their sovereign rights, through a process of direct participatory democracy that eventually led to a new Constitution. But only after much pain.
Geir Haarde, the Prime Minister of a Social Democratic coalition government, negotiated a two million one hundred thousand dollar loan, to which the Nordic countries added another two and a half million. But the foreign financial community pressured Iceland to impose drastic measures. The FMI and the European Union wanted to take over its debt, claiming this was the only way for the country to pay back Holland and Great Britain, who had promised to reimburse their citizens.
Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. Elections were brought forward to April 2009, resulting in a left-wing coalition which condemned the neoliberal economic system, but immediately gave in to its demands that Iceland pay off a total of three and a half million Euros. This required each Icelandic citizen to pay 100 Euros a month (or about $130) for fifteen years, at 5.5% interest, to pay off a debt incurred by private parties vis a vis other private parties. It was the straw that broke the reindeer’s back.
What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.
Of course the international community only increased the pressure on Iceland. Great Britain and Holland threatened dire reprisals that would isolate the country. As Icelanders went to vote, foreign bankers threatened to block any aid from the IMF. The British government threatened to freeze Icelander savings and checking accounts. As Grimsson said: “We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North. But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.” (How many times have I written that when Cubans see the dire state of their neighbor, Haiti, they count themselves lucky.)
In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt. The IMF immediately froze its loan. But the revolution (though not televised in the United States), would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis. Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.
But Icelanders didn't stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money. (The one in use had been written when Iceland gained its independence from Denmark, in 1918, the only difference with the Danish constitution being that the word ‘president’ replaced the word ‘king’.)
To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet. The constituent’s meetings are streamed on-line, and citizens can send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The constitution that eventually emerges from this participatory democratic process will be submitted to parliament for approval after the next elections.
Some readers will remember that Iceland’s ninth century agrarian collapse was featured in Jared Diamond’s book by the same name. Today, that country is recovering from its financial collapse in ways just the opposite of those generally considered unavoidable, as confirmed yesterday by the new head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde to Fareed Zakaria. The people of Greece have been told that the privatization of their public sector is the only solution. And those of Italy, Spain and Portugal are facing the same threat.
They should look to Iceland. Refusing to bow to foreign interests, that small country stated loud and clear that the people are sovereign.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:06 pm Post Subject:
Truth -
Elected representatives defending the interests of the financial sector at the expense of the public, have become a real threat to social stability in Iceland.
The financial elite has transferred its exposures and liabilities to the public balance sheet just as they have in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and elsewhere The primary victims of the financial crisis have been democracy and the rule of law.
What a pity the average TV-watching schlump will never elevate their minds enough above infotainment-induced zombie-mode to really see, let alone understand, what is going on. However, methinks consciousness probably is still growing despite the best efforts of those who would thwart it...
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:32 pm Post Subject:
Great addition to this thread steve, thanks! 8)
The Destructionist wrote:
...Unfortunately, there is not enough money in the world to recover these enormous debts, but once a government signs onto a portion, all the property in that country - whether it be public or private - becomes a means of recompense or repayment.
This is what I've been saying to people for ages but most just don't get it. Will see if I can find an article I read a few years ago on this subject as it's a goodun. Might post here later if I can find it.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1852
Location: The Wild West
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:49 pm Post Subject:
Found it! Check this out -
From the January 2008 Idaho Observer:
Nature Conservancy or nature conspiracy?
While the Democrat Clintons were in the White House, the erosion of private property rights through the congressional passage and executive enforcement of federal acts was one of our most front-burning issues. Since the Republican Bush took up residency in the White House, our attention has been diverted, to say the least. While we have been preoccupied with 9/11, diminishing civil liberties, perpetual war, anticipation of new attacks, pandemic diseases and economic collapse, the land grabbing by GOs in cahoots with NGOs has been ongoing. You are about to understand why government is recklessly racking up public debt and how the bankers have managed to gain control of about one-third of the world’s land mass and a disproportionate amount of its resource wealth.
By Anne Wilder Chamberlain
In his new documentary End Game, Alex Jones claims that environmental groups are working in cahoots with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bilderbergers to buy up wilderness areas for the sake of forcing the people into urban areas where it will be difficult for them to raise their own food, drink clean water and where they can be easily poisoned by aerial spraying for "West Nile virus," the "light brown apple moth," chemical toxins for weather control or some other unspecified reason. In the documentary, the logos of certain environmental groups popped up, including those of the World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club - and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
Finding this hard to accept and believing it possibly to be a "conspiracy theory," I put it in the back of my mind. Over Thanksgiving, I was handed a Nature Conservancy magazine in which I found a story about how TNC is planning on "Conserving the World’s Largest Intact Forest...In Canada, an alliance of Industry, First Nations and conservation groups is working to set aside half of the largest intact [oil, gas and resource-rich] forest in the world."
The forest to which TNC refers includes most of Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Manitoba, Ontario and about half of Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan, covering 1.4 billion acres.
TNC forest management practices
In the same edition of Nature Conservancy (Summer 2007) , is an article entitled "The War on Weeds," where Scott McMillon explains how TNC contractors are spraying the thistles growing in Hell’s Canyon, Idaho, with herbicides. They fly over the canyon with helicopters and then land and spray the weeds. It’s apparently not important how the weedkiller affects the rest of the environment TNC is "conserving."
In 1995, Mobil Oil gave TNC a 21,300-acre piece of low-producing land because it was "one of the last known breeding grounds for the endangered Attwater prairie chicken."
Instead of saving the bird, TNC went to work restoring oil and gas production on Mobil’s field, sinking new wells and grazing "Conservation Beef." TNC has earned $5.5 million from the field and so far hasn’t spent any of it "saving" the prairie chicken.
In New Hampshire TNC continues to log its million acres of acquired timberland.
The birth of "nature’s landlord"
Range Magazine, in the article, "Nature’s Landlord" (Spring 2003) covered this issue well: The founders of TNC discovered in the ‘50s that really big money from charitable organizations like "Sun Oil," the Rockefeller Foundation, General Motors, the Ford Foundation, Hewlett Packard, Pew Charitable Trust (sugar and banking industries) rarely, if ever, goes to poor people. Rather it finances secondary groups that produce seemingly altruistic results without altering the imbalance of power between the wealthy and the poor. TNC provided a perfectly useful purpose, not only "saving" stretches of nature, but then transferring the land to the government for "public" purposes.
Soon the TNC governing board consisted of bankers, investors and foundation heads themselves. Less than half a century later, TNC would be the most powerful environmental organization in history, capable of manipulating governments, including that of the United States. Key members have held posts in the Clinton administration’s Council for Sustainable Development and Council on Environmental quality. Trustee members have included former Attorney General Janet Reno, General Norman Shwartzkopf (Ret.) and Gerald Levin, head of Time Warner, Inc.
TNC has held $750-a-plate dinners to entice the cream of national media. Endowed with assets of nearly $3 billion and an annual income of over $780 million, TNC controls 90 million acres worldwide, 12 million of those in the U.S. They are exempt from paying taxes but receive over $6 million in tax dollars from the U.S. government annually.
In 50 years of "protecting the last great places," the organization cannot legitimately claim to have saved anything that was facing certain extinction.
At what price?
As TNC "saves" land with your money, communities perish.
Virginia. Along Virginia’s eastern shore lie 18 barrier islands that used to provide seafood and sea vegetable industry livelihoods for 45,000 people. The beaches were unspoiled and only reachable by boat. In the 1970s, the "Smith Island Development" corporation threatened to build a bridge connecting the mainland and the 18 islands. TNC stepped in to "save" them from the threatened development.
The first place "rescued" was the seafood processing plant on the big island, putting many people out of work when it was shut down. To replace it, expensive homes "compatible" with nature (as defined by the Virginia Coast Reserve and duck hunting clubs) began to appear.
The Virginia Coast Reserve was created by TNC, as was Offshore Islands, Inc., a supposedly independent company that bought parcels of land from the increasingly impoverished locals and sold it to TNC.
TNC then "fixed" the self-created economic disaster on the islands by infusing $2.25 million into the eastern offshore economy for "compatible" businesses in tourism. This also failed as $millions were lost in bad investments. The locals got poorer and TNC ended up owning 14 of the 18 islands, which now serve as opulent showplaces for the rich; they are unaffordable and, therefore, off limits to most people in the region.
Nevada. The U.S. Congress voted in 1997 to support Nevada Senator Harry Reid’s bill to protect 25,000 acres of the Carson River sink, a wetlands and duck-hunting ground, at the expense of the water rights of local farmers. TNC sent in a smooth young operator, whose doctorate was in political science - not conservation or biology - who convinced the failing farmers to sell their land. TNC was not interested in the land, just the water, which was funneled down to Las Vegas to support the building of Bugsy Siegal’s next hotel. Pale, lifeless fields are all that is left of once beautiful farms.
Washington/Oregon. In 1986, President Reagan signed the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Act into law. The act administratively dissolved 85 miles of the Oregon/Washington border between Troutdale and Biggs Junction and created the Scenic Gorge Commission to oversee all land use issues in the 292,500 affected acres.
As the federally-managed Scenic Gorge was taking shape in the early 90s, the spotted owl controversy was also raging. Property values plummeted because the land could not be used; owners were going broke and the field of potential buyers was limited to groups such as TNC and the Trust for Public Lands (TPL). Desperate to sell, property owners, hamstrung by the Gorge Commission, sold out to TNC/TPL for pennies on the pre-gorge act land value dollar. County records show in dozens of cases that, within 10 minutes of "buying" properties from desperate families, TNC/TPL "sold" them to the U.S. Forest Service for a 10 percent to 30 percent profit.
Since the 90s, government has been building roads, restaurants, camping and interpretive areas, museums and other structures in the Scenic Gorge area with unregulated abandon to attract revenue-generating tourists. In contrast, private pursuits such as living, farming, ranching, logging and mining in the area have been regulated into near extinction.
Private property owners, what few remain in the region, must ask permission from the Gorge Commission before painting their house, putting a light on their garage, planting a garden or pasturing livestock.
Tropical paradises. TNC’s spin-off corporation, Conservation International, has acquired tropical forests under exclusive agreements with Starbucks’ international operations. Private real estate, including farms, are available from "Nature’s Landlord," at the right price. TNC has apparently determined that the best way to preserve nature is to price it so common people can’t afford any of it.
Unless we as a people are willing to accept the continued loss of not only private property and individual rights, but of large portions of our national culture and customs as well, the Nature Conservancy must be brought to heel. Right now, it is a well-fed and generally admired beast leading us in a wild run that is as destructive in its seemingly friendly character as it is in its seldom-seen attacks. This is no errant clumsy puppy we can finally calm. It is a runaway predator that will turn on us in defense of its territory. The Nature Conservancy is the wolf we raised ourselves, the grizzly we fed from the table. The monster we made with indifference. If it is left to go on growing, it will be the master and we the obedient slaves. ~Tim Findley, Nature’s Landlord
"The Network"
With the help of the National Park Service, TNC developed "The Network," a sophisticated biodiversity data system that would manage continually updated inventories of biological information using all current available data collecting systems. It grew to include environmental impact assessments and endangered species management. It is used by federal, state and local natural resource agencies, corporations and, of course, environmental organizations. It was originally financed by the Mellon, Hewlett and MacArthur foundations and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Network data centers use aerial photography and current GPS tracking systems to gather information to be coordinated with traditional methods of collecting, storing and retrieving information on specific tracts of real estate. The intent is to identify "critical areas" in need of "protection" in setting land acquisition priorities. TNC targets specific locations of plants, animals and ecological communities. TNC states, "How rare? How threatened? We answer those questions ...so we can decide which pieces of land to buy."
In one 1995 example called the "Davis Mountains Ranch Conservation Project," TNC selected a parcel in Texas and recorded specific information on this parcel, including:
Tract files - Location, ownership, legal access, rights, history, value and biological importance.
Transaction files - Sales leases, licenses, mortgages, agreements and easements.
Tax files - Tax assessments, payments and exemptions filed.
TNC mined all this information without the knowledge or consent of the owners of these properties, and posted that information to The Network.
The landowners were outraged - especially those with property targeted for acquisition and who had dealt with the National Natural Landmarks (NNL) program, established in 1962 and administered by the National Park Service (NPS). In the 1970s, NPS was using NNL as an environmental espionage and land-targeting program. Before the 1989 moratorium on its NNL activities, the NPS, coordinating with TNC files, evaluated thousands of sites - any privately owned - and successfully identified 587 "outstanding examples" of the nation’s natural landscape.
Texans fought TNC. When the corrupt activities of the Texas National Heritage Program came to light in 1995, Texans appealed to then Governor George Bush, who signed HB 2012 into law requiring the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. (TPWD) to maintain the confidentiality of information collected on private land. A second bill, HB 2133, limited the use of biodiversity information on private land to "the purposes of scientific investigations and research" and then only if authorized in writing by the landowner. Today TPWD may not enter into the "Network" any data collected during a landowner-authorized investigation and may not compile the data in such a way as to identify the individual parcels.
TNC Chairman Steve McConnick told The Sacramento Bee he wouldn’t waste more effort on mailings, trolling for $25 members but would instead fish in the deep water with personal appeals to the real high rollers in American business. "It’s just a greater return," he said.
Murder?
The stakes are so high in this land acquisition campaign that murder is an option. On October 2, 1992, Malibu, California millionaire Donald Scott was shot to death inside his own home during a raid by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and agents from five federal law enforcement agencies. The Scotts were awakened by the sound of the police breaking down their door. Scott’s wife, Frances, ran downstairs to find her house swarming with men with guns aimed at her. She screamed "don’t shoot me, don’t kill me."
Donald Scott, recovering from recent cataract surgery, got his gun and ran to the defense of his wife. When he emerged at the top of the stairs, holding his gun over his head, the officers told him to lower the gun. As he did, they shot him to death. The warrant was for evidence of the cultivation of marijuana, but no illegal activity was discovered at the Scott ranch.
The incident report of former Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury concluded that the police lied to obtain the search warrant, that there had never been any marijuana cultivation on the property and that the raid was motivated by an NPS desire that the Scotts forfeit their multi-million dollar ranch home. The ranch was adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). Despite the DA’s dramatic conclusions, no officer was ever indicted, or even lightly disciplined for the lies or the killing (See the full story at www.fear.org).
(Note: Though the Scott’s house burned in 2002, Frances has refused to sell and has lived on the property - in a tent - for six years).
The do-gooder myth
To think TNC is a dedicated group of idealistic scientists rescuing imperiled habitats and endangered species who are funded by the quarters of schoolchildren and donations from well-intended members of the middle class is a myth conveyed by the national media through the impassioned pleas of celebrities. TNC is a multi-billion dollar organization that only sends requests for donations to the public in order to lead them to believe it is working in the public interest. In fact, TNC is not really an environmental organization at all, but a land acquisition scheme, dedicated to its own enrichment of wealth and power. Its 39-member board includes four scientists and some of the wealthiest and environmentally exploitive, GMO-promoting and chemical-contaminating corporations in the United States: ConAgra, Cisco, Cargill, General Mills, Georgia Pacific, Goldman Sacks, General Motors, Discovery Communications, American Electric Power and the Orvis Company. Harvard, Stanford, Rockefeller and Columbia universities are also aligned with TNC. Together they represent the most powerful real estate cartel the world has ever seen. TNC expands its holdings at the rate of one per day - like military conquests.
In the hopper
2008 could be the colossal "Year of the Land and Water Grab." A mass of federal bills and other initiatives dealing with environment are awaiting the 110th Congress.
HR 3998. The National Park Service is in position to acquire extensive new lands this year. Final passage of HR 3998, with an unrevealed total acreage, would cost over $5 billion, not including the $2 billion Rim of the Valley (near Santa Monica, CA) portion of that bill (HR 1835) which would include 500,000 acres of national forest land and 170,000 parcels of private property, including farms and ranches. A recent vote sent the bill to the House Committee on Natural Resources for debate.
By converting almost a half million acres of mountain range in the Los Angeles area from U.S. Forest Service management to National Park Service management, the so-called "Rim of the Valley Corridor" would encompass heavily populated urban areas surrounding five valleys. Land use and reduced property values would result from aggressive regulation, road closures and restricted access.
Encompassed in this same Omnibus Parks bill are thousands of acres along the Mississippi for a proposed River Trail Park extending from Minnesota through Texas, along with 10 other "National Legacy" sites.
HR 1975. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (HR 1975), would add over 25 million acres in five northwestern states to current designated wilderness. The largest commitment would be nearly 10 million acres in Idaho, 8 ¼ million in Montana, and over 3 ¼ million in Wyoming. This bill, currently with 117 co-sponsors predominantly from eastern and other heavily populated states, contains misinformation that the timber industry has been heavily subsidized by government and timber revenues are now being replaced by a sustainable tourist and recreation economy. Both claims are untrue.
The above constitutes only a segment of the current legislative activities facilitating the continent-wide "Wildlands Project." Planned behind closed doors by government agencies and "environmentalist" organizations decades ago, the Wildlands Project seeks to link parks, forests and other government-controlled lands throughout the U.S. and Canada, then control or eliminate human access and activity in many areas.
In 2006, Canada closed down a 4.4 million-acre, 250-mile stretch of coastline from Vancouver to Alaska.
An additional 25 million acres of new park wilderness was recently announced, as part of the Arctic Boreal, a Biosphere Reserve occupying approximately 53% of Canada. Could this be the same Boreal Reserve being sought by the Nature Conservancy?
Mining, drilling and most lumbering have been curtailed in government-restricted lands throughout both Canada and the U.S. All of these bills are extremely significant as they would impact the economic and social well being of every citizen. They address the management, virtually the ownership, of all land and the natural resources of our country. For bill information, refer to: http//thomas.loc.gov, or check out TNC’s latest acquisitions by going to http://www.nature.org.
Preparing to collect collateralized debt
In 1982, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development was created to set the stage for unlimited enactments to take over ecology and pollution laws throughout the world; to create a "Mother Earth Comes First" mentality among the people and to prepare for a World Conservation Bank (WCB). The WCB was proposed during the Fourth World Wilderness Congress in 1987. This congress was attended by 2,000 people from 64 countries, including conservationists, ecologists, UN bureaucrats and world banking heavyweights David Rockefeller and Edmond de Rothchild.
The bank came to life in 1991 as the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The GEF is funded by members to finance projects in keeping with the goals of the conventions. Then U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker stated the goals of projects financed by a "conservation bank" in 1987: "No longer will the World Bank carry (their) debt unsecured. The only assets we have to collateralize are federal lands and national parks [including Heritage sites]."
In essence, through the GEF, countries are placed in debt and their wilderness lands are held as collateral.
There are 851 such properties in 141 countries, comprising over one third of the earth’s land mass.
The difference between premise and property
In addition, any property labeled as a "premise" by the National Animal ID System (NAIS) is defined as a "place or conveyance" by the International Criminal Court Act of 2002, the law referred to as binding to us by Secretary of Agriculture, Bruce Knight, on June 8, 2007.
A "premise" has no protection under the Constitution of the United States.
The world bankers are in the process of accumulating the wealth of the world, defined in scripture as land, cattle, silver and gold. They already have the silver and gold. The United States’ current debt is $9.2 trillion. Foolish government spending and wartime military expenditures are facilitating the transition of land and cattle into the bankers’ hands.
We can no longer be oblivious to the impending possibility of losing our way of life to powerful forces determined to gain control of our land, water and natural resources. If private property ownership is extinguished, we lose.
The full text of "Nature’s Landlord" may be viewed online at http://www.rangemagazine.com or purchased for $3 each from Range magazine, PO Box 639, Carson City, NV 89702; 775-884-2200. Other sources for this article: "Our Land, Collateral for the National Debt," by Derry Brownfield, American Family Voice, Jan., 2008 and; "Federal Legislation in Place for Initiating Control" by Clarice F. Ryan
Joined: 15 May 2007
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Location: north-east victoria
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:52 pm Post Subject:
Yeah, apparently they have woken up one day, in Queensland, to find that their government has become a corporation, and everything they own is owed to, and owned by, offshore creditors. We are going to see some teams of lawyers working hard for many years, to sort out the mess these mad mongrels have made.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1852
Location: The Wild West
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 6:20 pm Post Subject:
Good one steve, that's worth reproducing here :wink: No date on it but looks like maybe it was posted in the last 24hrs looking at the comments & the fact it was high on the list of new articles when I just checked the homepage? Definitely recommend people spread this article far & wide just to show the unaware how things like this get purposely left out of the mainstream news programs they watch religiously on TV!
Mainstream Media IGNORES Iceland Revolution
ICELAND - No news from Iceland?… why? How come we hear everything that happens in Egypt but no news about what’s happening in Iceland?
In Iceland, the people have made the government resign, the primary banks have been nationalized, it was decided to not pay the debt that these created with Great Britain and Holland due to their bad financial politics and a public assembly has been created to rewrite the constitution.
And all of this in a peaceful way. A whole revolution against the powers that have created the current global crisis. This is why there hasn’t been any publicity during the last two years: What would happen if the rest of the EU citizens took this as an example? What would happen if the US citizens took this as an example?
This is a summary of the facts:
2008. The main bank of the country is nationalized.
The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market stops. The country is in bankruptcy
2009. The citizens protest in front of parliament and manage to get new elections that make the resignation of the prime minister and his whole government.
The country is in bad economic situation.
A law proposes paying back the debt to Great Britain and Holland through the payment of 3,500 million euros, which will be paid by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with a 5.5% interest.
2010. The people go out in the streets and demand a referendum. In January 2010 the president denies the approval and announces a popular meeting.
In March the referendum and the denial of payment is voted in by 93%. Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis, and many high level executives and bankers are arrested. The Interpol dictates an order that make all the implicated parties leave the country.
In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this, and which will substitute the current one (a copy of the Danish Constitution).
25 citizens are chosen, with no political affiliation, out of the 522 candidates. For candidacy all that was needed was to be an adult and have the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly starts in February of 2011 to present the ‘carta magna’ from the recommendations given by the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It must be approved by the current Parliament and by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.
So in summary of the Icelandic revolution:
-resignation of the whole government
-nationalization of the bank.
-referendum so that the people can decide over the economic decisions.
-incarcerating the responsible parties
-rewriting of the constitution by its people
Have we been informed of this through the media? Has any political program in radio or TV commented on this? No! The Icelandic people have been able to show that there is a way to beat the system and has given a democracy lesson to the world!
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Location: north-east victoria
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 2:44 pm Post Subject:
Iceland has set an example
Switzerland and New Zealand are the two obvious candidates, being small enough and where people still have enough spine, and the living memory of a more dignified life, to follow Icelands example, in their own ways.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
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Location: The Wild West
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 2:16 pm Post Subject:
steve clougher wrote:
...New Zealand... being small enough and where people still have enough spine, and the living memory of a more dignified life, to follow Icelands example, in their own ways.
Next time you pop over to NZ go out amongst the people & observe, talk to & try to get a feeling of where the average person's at. Then despite the very obvious decline in monetary income against cost of living for most folks these days try to tell them there's actually something more important than their mobile phones & devices and trying to constantly "better themselves" through buying better "things". Or at the other end trying to continually "save the environment" against the next big green threat from the constant wave of evil corporations - kind of like trying to put out flames individually while all around are arsonists pouring petrol on everything (take out not even the arsonists but the actual need for petrol itself to exist maybe? :roll: ). Unfortunately this country generally is in a very different league of awareness to Iceland for many different reasons that would take too long to list here - essentially it comes down to some very successful programming of the inhabitants here (and the ones now "being allowed" to come here to ensure continuation of the well engineered society). This programming you can be sure started even before the first "convicts" were exported here during "colonisation"!
Being a small country that apparently "achieves" in a world of big fish is completely different to having a spine when it comes to understanding that your "system" was put in place "for you" to keep you under control let alone challenging & changing it to something "you" want/need. And how many people would even conceive that they don't really need a "system" as they think they understand it to live under? That they alone have the individual responsibility & power required to achieve everything they need without negatively affecting other individuals (and their environment, doh!) around them? In fact even enhancing the experience of others around them as a result of their choices - wow, what a(n) (unselfish) goal that would truly be!
Not saying it can't be achieved - just saying it would take some work and some major personal deprogramming of a large percentage of the population. As long as the majority are successfully programmed to believe that anyone who thinks outside the box like this is the "nutter" (and not them for not realising they don't actually have complete individual control of their own minds), I simply don't see it happening here any time soon steve. What I do see happening IF people don't really "wake up" (and I don't like using that term normally) is a manipulation of their anger towards the system to achieve further gains for a controlling few. Much already points towards this having been planned as part of the overall business structure, even just as a contingency if not the main plan, so it has to be understood if it is to be avoided. Again, probability of most grasping this idea? As in many examples of the past most would probably see a (violent) "people's revolution" as their way out and not the adding of more weight to their ball & chain that it would in fact be. The revolution has to take place in the mind first...
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 2:35 pm Post Subject:
Put another way...
Authority is the sick parent that tries to maintain control of its children for as long as it lives. As it gets older its sickness gets worse and its methods are reflective of its worsening condition. At all cost the child is constantly reminded both mentally & physically that it will do what it's told or it will be punished to keep it in its place. Against all odds the child must grow up, mature, take individual responsibility and eventually ensure that the parent receives the treatment it needs to end all the sickness. If the child never achieves full maturity of the mind as well as the body, the situation may never be resolved and the sickness will only get worse as further generations are borne through incest, inheriting the compounding family illness and making it harder to overcome or even ending in extinction (for ALL involved).
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 976
Location: north-east victoria
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:47 pm Post Subject:
I did pop over about a month ago, and on the one hand, I can see you have valid points all over the place. I've lived around Tauranga off and on, over the years, and that is one of the worst areas for degradation of the community by the means which you have listed. There were 90 dairy farms in the district, now there is one. The development of horticulture by Auckland investors as tax sinks, was followed by an influx of northern hemisphere people who typically build a twelve-room mansion on six acres, and leave after a few years. However, even there, the incidence of good conversation, common courtesy, small random acts of kindness, the ability to empathise, is exponentially higher than here. I'm friends with a Kiwi who has lived in Iceland all her adult life. They have their blind spots there, too. One is, they are neglecting to advertise their recent achievement. For their own survival, they ought to be spreading the word !
As well, when you get off the plane in NZ, it feels alive. I'm coming home to die !! If I spin my wheels as you are presaging, so be it. It won't be any worse than here. For damn sure.
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1852
Location: The Wild West
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:35 pm Post Subject:
Agreed :wink: Tauranga's an interesting place these days. Seen heaps of massive changes there over the last few decades and there's quite a mix of extremes there in the people, lifestyles, pace, etc. Used to be a reasonably priced place to buy & live but these days house prices in & around the main centre & at the Mount are as bad as Auckland! But yeah, I meet good people wherever I go so it's not all bad, don't get me wrong. It's just that there's still a very strong "go along to get along" thing going on in NZ even though more people are just starting to see the peripheries of something they know is not quite right. Old habits die hard as they say, "She'll be right mate!" 8-[
