Consider if you will a small country mired in conflict, with the barbarians (the International Monetary Fund) storming the gate. Tempers are high, the old guard leadership model fails, leaving its citizenry to forge for themselves buffeted by the winds of international pressures. Join us as we explore the lives of that citizenry who now find themselves living in a New World Order of their own design.
Oh, did you think this was about Greece?
Remember another small country, an oddity, an anomaly that was easier to look away from than to try and figure out? Yes, that one. Iceland.
There are two HUGE stories here. How Iceland gave the IMF a sound bitch slap, went after the bankers and took control for themselves. The other story is why this story is not being reported. Both are equal parts disturbing and impressive. As Deena Stryker wrote recently in an article entitled, Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not:
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.
Read. Think. Get inspired. As Jack Layton the leader of the National Democratic Party of Canada wrote before his death this past summer:
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.
And we’ll change the world.
