A Huge Presence in a Tiny Corner of the Far North

Something very interesting has been happening in the world, and yet, you hardly ever hear anything about it. There could be a number of factors that contribute to this, and there may some degree of legitimacy and a nodding of the head when one thinks about why we have not heard about it. But given the current world political and economic malaise, it seems a safe bet to me that we could sure use this example as a possible alternative to fix our own problems, or at least to understand them a bit better, at the very least.

The news that I am referring to has happened in Iceland, and of course, Iceland is a small and isolated country. This is a country that is isolated, far away from everything and everyone else, right? It has a population smaller than that of Wichita, Kansas. We rarely hear about Iceland anyway, right? Funny, but we did hear about it when the economy there collapsed. That much I do remember, and the tone of the story was much like the reprimanding tone that is often taken by major news media towards Greece presently, which is to say an accusatory tone. So, if it seemed important enough at the time for the news to be mentioned about the irresponsibility of some of the Icelandic financial institutions and the burden that they placed on the Icelandic people, it stands to reason that the response by the people themselves should warrant some press, right? But, apparently not. Still, it seems that we can at least disqualify the small size of Iceland as the reason that we did not hear about the events that have transpired there. So there must be another reason.

Which leads to mention of another possibility, one that seems (at least to the author of this piece) far more cynical and calculated. This is not to suggest that there is no small measure of arrogance involved in making assumptions that what happens in small nation like Iceland could not possibly have any impact for the American people, and thus is not deemed worthy enough to so much as be mentioned in American media outlets. But what makes this story potentially more explosive is that it very well may have been specifically left out of the news precisely because it would attract attention, and could have some consequences upon larger nations – and that certainly includes the United States.

The people themselves responded. They protested before the parliament and eventually threw out the government, including the prime minister and his whole government.  It was agreed in 2008 that they would have to pay their debts, largely based on the bad decisions of Iceland's financial institutions. But the terms of the deal were harsh, and would last a decade and a half, at an interest rate of over 5%.

So, the people demanded a referendum, and got one. Overwhelmingly, Icelanders voted against this payment, forcing creditors to renegotiate, and give a new repayment deal at a lower interest rate of 3%. In the meantime, those in positions of responsibility during the financial crisis were held accountable, and were pursued legally. Many were imprisoned. The banksters that regularly get away with anything and everything in other Western countries and much of the rest of the world, and who seem to have the rule of the roost, for once were held accountable for their actions in tiny Iceland, of all places. This was done by regular people who were fed up, took to the streets, and demanded a change. A new constitution was drafted, which includes provisions that directly drew from the lessons learned from the unfortunate financial episode that the country had to endure. With the help of Interpol in locating and arresting those responsible parties who fled Iceland, the government is still seeking to bring these guilty parties to justice.

All of this, all of these sweeping changes, were done completely peacefully. Not a shot was fired.

The fact that you never hear about a country like Iceland bothers me, personally, and especially when it is news like this that comes out of it. Perhaps it is because I myself am a dual citizen, and my father took a very different approach to "world news" as it was portrayed in this country than many others did. When he would make his arguments, they would in fact make a lot of sense. But that is a topic for another time.

Specifically about Iceland, however, there are things that make this one of the most fascinating and, frankly, one of the most exotic places in the world. I have long held a fascination about Iceland, because it just seemed remarkable that a tiny island nation in the middle of the northern Atlantic would be 90% uninhabitable. The landscape itself is incredible, and a sight to behold, filled with volcanoes and strange, almost alien landscapes. It was never overrun by trees, but those forests that did once populate the land were largely cut down by the people there, and in recent years, there has been an emphasis on replanting trees. Many people suggest that it is not properly named, that Iceland is green and Greenland is ice, and that maybe the names should have been switched somewhere along the way. Although Iceland is geographically located just outside of the Arctic Circle, it is warmed considerably by the Gulf Stream and, thus, has fairly moderate temperatures. The days during winter can be very short, and much like the other Scandinavian countries, the days can be very long during the summer. It rarely gets brutally cold during the winter (although this could be changing with the increasingly punishingly cold winters that all of Europe has been experiencing lately in recent years), and the summers are not exactly what we would call hot, often not getting warmer than what much of the Northeastern United States or Northwestern Europe might experience in early to mid-spring. It is not known as a place that people flock to in order to get suntans and lay on the beach, in other words.

Iceland has a pretty rich history stretching back a long time, as well. There are sagas here that are a rich source of mythology and literature, ad have been praised by no less of an authority on the subject than Joseph Campbell! Iceland is home to the oldest remaining parliament in the world, the Althing, which was founded in 930 – although it should be noted that it was reestablished in 1845 after having been abolished in 1799. Still, it can boast a claim, with some legitimacy, to being the oldest existent parliamentary democracy in the world. The people of Iceland get their water directly from the source, and the water is so clean, that there is no filtering process. Also, they get their hot water directly from their sources of hot springs. It is the only country in the world that can boast such things. Also, it should be noted that, although perhaps tiny, Iceland boasts one of the highest, and wealthiest, standards of living in the world.

As small of a nation as it indeed is, it nevertheless leads the superpower United States, a country that has 1,000 times more people than tiny Iceland, in some significant alternative energy research and technologies, and that, if anything, is nearly criminal. It certainly illustrates the arrogance of indifference that many Americans seem to feel they can afford about the impact that their lifestyle of unchecked consumption of consumer goods and resources have had on the planet. How can a country with a population smaller than Wichita, Kansas, be leading the world's leading superpower in anything, let alone something so significant and responsible? As an American, that level of arrogance among my countrymen shames me.

So, Iceland is indeed a fascinating place in general, but the recent events in particular that shook up the nation could serve as a lesson for others around the world. Instead, it has remained in the shadows, largely ignored, and this seems to me to be to the impoverishment of us all.

Below are some links for further information and illumination on this truly fascinating subject:

http://ipatriot.co.uk/iceland-overthrows-government-banks-media-suppresses-news/

http://americanpatriottoday.net/2012/05/the-revolution-governments-world-wide-dont-want-you-to-know-about/