Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.04.2013, Blaðsíða 18

18The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2013
Bjarni Benediktsson
Anti
Pro-Króna
www.xd.is
Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn (xD)
(“The Independence Party” (IP))
Who they say they are in one sentence:
The Independence Party (IP) believes in the freedom of the
individual and equal opportunity for all in the pursuit of
liberty and progress in society.
2. The IP has a long history of which its members are very
proud. The party was founded on May 25, 1929 through the
merger of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. It
is the largest political movement in Iceland. The party was
a strong force in the fight for independence, which Iceland
gained in 1944, and a strong force in transforming the
country from being one of the poorest in Europe to one of
most prosperous. The Party has been a member of 22 of the
31 governments that have governed since the Party was cre-
ated, and led 15 of those governments. Therefore, the IP has
played an important role in the progressive history of this
country in the last 84 years. It has supported international
trade and both Icelandic and Western values.
12. The collapse was first and foremost an international
banking collapse. Hundreds of banks all over the world
collapsed from 2008 and into 2010. The unique situation of
Iceland was the fact that all of our banks were overexposed
and fragile. We must ensure that private risk will never again
be covered by public funds.
15. The Constitution is a living document and there are parts
that can be improved, but the IP does not support a revolu-
tion of the constitution.
17. Gender equality is not a big problem in Iceland, relative
to most countries in the world. Iceland is in fact one of the
best countries in the world to be a woman, according to
international surveys.
19. Religion plays no role in governance. The Independence
Party emphasizes the importance of freedom of religion.
Party Chair:
EU:
Currency:
Website:
For a bourgeois government, I guess it has
done many things alright, especially things that
hardly cost the elite a penny. However, it is still a
bourgeois government and has defended basic
interests of the bourgeoisie without any con-
sideration to the greater interest of society. The
mixture of Blairite social democracy and oppor-
tunistic pseudo-left-green coalition has not only
practiced capitalistic economics, it has done so
under a leftist veil. Its submission to the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund speaks volumes thereof,
as does the bailing-out of financial institutions,
the cuts in health and welfare, the application to
join the EU and the continued policy of heavy
industry. I admit, they’ve held the conservatives
at bay—but what for? To run capitalism better
themselves? We would make it our first priority
to end negotiations with the EU, tell “advisors”
from the IMF to beat it and to start socializing
the financial institutions.
The People’s Front of Iceland
This government has managed to get us on
track again after the crash. That is admirable.
Bright Future
The current left-wing government is no doubt
what voters ordered in 2009, and it would only
have benefited from bringing on board the MPs
of the Citizens’ Movement. This government
started off well enough with a monumental task
before it, but things have turned sour in the lat-
ter half of its term. The government’s empha-
sis on ensuring that crude measures after the
economic crash would not fall hardest on the
poor, the sick and families is admirable, but it
has failed miserably in securing the new consti-
tution, reshuffling the fishing quota system and
enforcing measures to lower household debts.
Dögun will do better in these fields, stressing
that all solutions be based on interests of com-
mon people, rather than those of banks and
wealthy individuals.
Dawn
Well, we admire the fact that anyone is actually
considering voting for these people again ac-
cording to the opinion polls. What do we dislike?
Their total and complete incompetence tackling
the economy. What will we do better? We will
raise the economy, we will actually do what we
say we will do. There will be no discount on our
policies to put out the financial fires burning in
people’s homes.
The current coalition government formed by
the Social Democratic Alliance and Left Green
Movement have passed measures encouraging
the unemployed to go to school. The next step
is to motivate the creation of new private sec-
tor jobs. The Progressive Party intends to take
the much-needed next step to encourage that as
well as removing the laws about indexation.
The Progressive Party
There is basically nothing to admire, although
the government gloats over some imagined suc-
cess. We, in short, intend to do very much better
on all fronts.
The Right Green People’s Party
We are not very happy with the work done by
the current coalition government. We dislike
that they worked with the IMF to more or less re-
establish the same order of things that brought
us the big crash in the first place. We would do
better if we come to power by creating a new
money system in the service of all. And we
would, given general support of the people, stop
the slavery of interest that robs us of our time
and the quality of life that we could potentially
have if we no longer had to pay those gigantic
donations to the rich. Also, we would slow eco-
nomic growth to the extent that we could live on
one Earth, not needing five earths, and that we
can deliver the Earth to our future generations
in at least the same condition as we received it.
The Humanist Party
I admire the government’s ability to keep the
country’s worst political offenders out of office
for four years in a row as well as, in part, its gen-
eral handling of the economic recovery after the
crash, in close cooperation with the IMF.
The Household’s Party
I dislike the government’s lack of ambition and
expediency. Two examples will suffice. The
temporary foreign currency controls that the
government declared in 2008 have recently
been declared permanent, meaning that they
will, with unchanged policies, be in force in-
definitely. Further, the government, having just
survived a vote of no confidence in parliament,
still has proved unable to pass the constitutional
bill after spending twenty months debating the
bill that it gave the Constitutional Council four
months to draft, a bill that the council passed
unanimously with 25 votes against zero, no ab-
stentions. Incompetence and corruption impede
the parliament. Presumably, this is why the par-
liament adopted in September 2010 a unani-
mous resolution promising yet again a new
constitution and denouncing Iceland’s political
culture (no joke!).
The Iceland Democratic Party
The current government has prevailed in the Ic-
esave dispute and attempts to grow and diver-
sify the economy after the crash. The govern-
ment attempted to keep many in their homes
with loan extensions and dismissal of predatory
loans. They've done well all things considered,
but have often demonstrated strange priorities.
The Pirate Party
Under the leadership of the SDA, we have man-
aged to put a stop to the mounting deficit in the
State Treasury so that it is now run with a sur-
plus. At the same time, we have been able to dis-
tribute the heavy burdens resulting from a dras-
tic reduction in national income to spare those
who are least well off as much as possible. The
SDA course out of the recession is one of value
creation and development. We are proud of our
achievements, but we also recognise that there
is still much work to be done.
The Social Democratic Alliance
There is nothing to admire about the current
coalition government. The last four years have
been years of lost opportunities and unneces-
sary conflict. The IP’s goal is to bring stability
and get the wheels of industry moving again.
The welfare of the people is based on a sound
and stable economy.
The Independence Party
Our greatest achievement has been to regain
Iceland’s economic sovereignty without sac-
rificing our welfare system and our natural re-
sources. Even though we have succeeded in this
it wasn’t easy and the people of Iceland have
shown great resilience over the past few years.
The Left Green Movement
What do you admire about the current coalition government and what it accom-
plished in the last four years? What do you dislike? What will you do better?
Þorvaldur Gylfason
Pro-finishing the negotiations
Let the people decide
www.xlvaktin.is
Who they say they are in one sentence:
We, the people of Iceland, want to create a just society where
everyone has a seat at the same table.
10. The IDP does not take a position, religious or otherwise,
on the króna, or on EU membership for that matter. The IDP
wants to finish the on-going accession negotiations with the
EU and then put the agreement to a binding national referen-
dum as required by the new constitution if and when it comes
into force. Walking away from the negotiations mid-stream,
as advocated by the Independence Party, is inadvisable, and
would be unfair because it would violate the government’s
promise to hold a referendum on the agreement with the EU.
In the referendum, the people will decide whether to stick to
the króna, dependent as it is on strict currency controls that
are incompatible with Iceland’s obligations as a member of
the European Economic Area (EES) except as a temporary
emergency measure, or adopt the euro instead as part of
Iceland’s joining the EU. Both options entail significant costs
and risks. The people will decide. If the promised referendum
is held, as it must be, IDP members will be seen and heard
on both sides of the debate. A third currency option appears
far-fetched, but, should such a proposal be put on the table, it
would have to be voted on in a referendum according to the
new constitution. Direct democracy through more frequent
use of national referenda relieves political parties of the need
to take a stand on such issues, freeing them to concentrate on
other matters.
15. The IDP was formed primarily to promote the new con-
stitution and to rise against those Independent Party forces
that have declared that, if they fail to do so in the current
parliament, they will try to thwart the popular will in next
parliament by voting down the constitutional bill that 67% of
the electorate said they want in the national referendum held
in 2012. The constitutional bill is better than the provisional
constitution from 1944 which harks back to 1849, and offers
many important provisions intended to move Iceland forward,
including provisions securing one person, one vote; public
ownership of natural resources; freedom of information, in-
cluding protection of whistle-blowers; environmental protec-
tion; appointment of competent persons to public office; and
direct democracy, to name but a few. The constitutional bill is,
in essence, the long written version of the IDP platform.
Party Chair:
EU:
Currency:
Website:
Lýðræðisvaktin (xL)
(“The Iceland Democratic Party” (IDP))
None
No stance
Any
www.piratar.is
Píratapartýið (xÞ)
(“The Pirate Party”)
Who they say they are in one sentence:
The Pirate Party is the political movement of the Internet. We
are where the Internet and society comes together. We bring
about new methods of solving problems, methods designed
to solve problems in a fast paced and changing world. Our
primary concerns are freedom of speech, civil rights, direct
democracy and open access to data.
2. The Pirate Party is an international movement originat-
ing in Sweden in 2006. Currently it has over 250 elected
representatives in Europe, including the European
Parliament members Amelia Andersdotter and Christian
Engström. There are active parties in roughly 60 countries.
The movement was created to deal with issues affecting
the Internet, such as censorship, surveillance, and copy-
right reform, but because the Internet is affecting every-
one’s lives, the Pirate Party has since expanded to cover
more general issues as well.
10. The Pirate Party is against monopolies, even on the pro-
duction and circulation of currencies. The state can choose
which currencies it accepts taxes in—legal tender—but
should not limit which currencies are in circulation. There is
a lot of research that suggests that we can strengthen the
króna by allowing it to exist in an ecosystem of specialised
alternative currencies. Joining the Euro is not a magical solu-
tion: it can solve certain problems and should be considered,
but it has its own problems too.
13. Bringing back affordable housing for Icelanders may be
best way to serve households. Part of the solution may lie
with a return to the "union housing blocks" (félagsíbúðir) that
existed before privatisation of the loan markets.
Iceland being a cold place, everyone should have a roof
over their head and not have to worry about lacking one.
Everybody needs to have good options for having a home to
live.
15. The Icelandic Pirate Party would like to see the new con-
stitution adopted. It comes directly from the people and is a
shining example of direct democracy in action. The draft as
it stands today is ready for adoption and should be passed.
Party Chair:
EU:
Currency:
Website:
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