Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.09.2016, Page 12

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2016
12
After a few minutes watching the
speech of US political activist and
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Les-
sig at the Nordic House earlier this
month, I felt disappointed again. It is
really surprising for me. I come from
a country, Catalonia and Spain, where
there are protests every day against
this aberrant global economic system
called capitalism. It is disappointing
to hear once again that Icelanders are
supposed to lead a global democratic
revolution, which will show the rest
of the world the way, as if everyone
was was lost, waiting for Icelanders to
guide us, contrary to all evidence.
In the final part of Lessig’s speech,
members of all the opposition parties
present, and the audience in turn, felt flat-
tered with these sugary compliments:
If the next chapter of the story would
be that the opposition parties here agree
to make this change fundamental [pass-
ing the constitutional draft of 2011], then
that too would be an extraordinary sur-
prising next step in the story about how
democracy in Iceland had worked.
I think you need a constitution, but I
don’t really argue for this because of what
you need. I think we citizens of the world
need an example of democracy working.
And the reason we need you to do this
is—and I’m sure it would make your
democracy to work better—that it would
make the possibility of democracy around
the world seem hopeful again.
And we can take this story all around
the world and say “we can learn and fol-
low the lead that happens here.”
I’m sure these kind of messages
cheer up many Icelandic activists who
are working hard to convince the popu-
lation of this island to support the new
constitution and finally replace the
old one of 1944 (inspired by a Danish
constitution written at the end of 19th
century). But let’s be realistic. We,
the citizens of the world, don’t need
any example of democracy; we know
exactly what democracy is. What we
need is to fight against this economic
system that interferes with our pub-
lic institutions and social rights. We
need to fight in our countries and to
join international social and political
movements; not to follow the lead of a
country that, even if it passes the new
constitution written in the summer
of 2011, will still be an outstanding
example of fierce capitalism.
By listening to the words of Lessig,
I get the impression that he (and by
extension, we) need Iceland as a part of
his (our) marketing strategy to spread
around the globe this beautiful mod-
ern saga about how great democracy
is in Iceland. Taking into account the
absolute ignorance of world citizens
about Icelandic society, culture and
history, nobody will suspect anything
suspicious about this fancy and lovely
story that tells how common people
in Iceland wrote a new constitution,
crowdsourced over the internet, and
changed the world. Trust me, we al-
ready have thousands of deluded Ice-
landophiles within social movements
in the south of Europe and all around
the planet; we don’t need more.
A globally known political activist
comes to Iceland with a message close
to “I don’t really care what your new
constitution says or if it will provide a
real chance to reform the current eco-
nomic system. What I want is that you
pass this law, and then I will make sure
that this story is told all around the
world by pointing out that you are ex-
traordinary people and that we should
all follow you.” My main concern is that
local activists agree and feel comfort-
able with this idea.
I don’t want to be the one that ruins
the party, but I think as independent
journalists we have the important role
in society of bothering everyone, with
no exceptions. So, here are some facts
that can really bother those who be-
Keep Calm,
Icelanders:

You Are
Not Leading
A Global
Revolution
OPINION
Words
ÈRIC LLUENT
Photo
ART BICNICK
Share:
GPV.IS/DK14
“We, the citizens
of the world, don’t
need any example
of democracy; we
know exactly what
democracy is.”