by Alex Peitrowski
Contributor
December 12, 2012
from
ActivistPost Website
|
Alex Pietrowski is an artist and writer concerned with preserving good
health and the basic freedom to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. He is a staff
writer for WakingTimes.com,
and an
avid student of Yoga and life. |
The tiny Nordic European island country of
Iceland is presently experiencing one of the greatest economic comebacks of
all time.
After the privatization of the banking sector
completed in 2000, the economy was thrown into a tailspin when over a
five-year period, private bankers borrowed 120 billion dollars (10 times the
size of Iceland’s economy).
A huge economic bubble was created, causing
house prices to double, and making a small percentage of Iceland’s
population rich enough to buy up overseas investments, mansions, yachts, and
private jets, while leaving an absolutely unpayable debt for all Icelanders.
Iceland was facing national bankruptcy.
In response to the failed
banking system, in October 2008, Iceland’s revolution against this
financial tyranny began, rather casually in the street, in front of the
Icelandic general assembly.
In the duration of five months, the main bank of Iceland was nationalized,
government officials were forced to resign, the old government was
liquidated, and a new government was put in its place. By March 2010,
Iceland’s people voted to deny payment of the 3,500 million Euro debt
created by the bankers, and about 200 high-level executives and bankers
responsible for the economic crisis in the country were either arrested or
were facing criminal charges.
In February 2011, a new constitutional assembly settled in to rewrite the
tiny nation’s constitution, which aimed to avoid entrapment by debt-based
currency foreign loans.
In 2012, Iceland’s economy is expected to
outgrow the Euro and the average for the developed world, as estimated by
the Paris-based Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
This video clip from the film
Inside Job gives some background on what caused the financial crisis in
Iceland:
So how does a revolution like this take root and activate a citizenry to
effectively respond to grand scale economic theft by bankers and
politicians?
Hörður Torfason, a lifelong activist from Iceland, is credited with
organizing the Icelandic ‘Kitchenware Revolution’, beginning with a simple
vigil in front of parliament aimed at educating passersby and ridiculing the
blatant crimes of the elite who worked there.
When the
foreign financial community (the IMF and the European Union) pressured
Iceland’s Parliament to pass laws dictating repayment of debts privately
incurred by bankers, the revolution was formally ignited and nearly turned
violent when some Icelanders began throwing rocks at the capitol, attempting
to pressure the government for redress.
Torfason and his supporters knew that a non-violent approach would be more
effective, and formed a “human wall” of clearly marked orange-vested
citizens between angry rock-throwers and the police line.
Torfason believed
that in order for a movement to be effective, one must use reason and
information, as well as peaceful demonstrations, to send a strong message to
politicians that the people refuse to pay the bankers’ debts.
The end result of the peaceful resistance to economic tyranny is a model for
all Western nations who are currently being gutted by a totally corrupt
banking system.
This story is much different than what has happened in the US since the
banking crisis began in 2008. Large “bailouts” were granted to the bankers,
and none of the responsible parties have faced criminal prosecution. And it
appears that we are still at the mercy of the currency cartel and the dollar
faces total destruction.
In Iceland, the prime minister was indicted, over 200 criminal charges were
filed against the bankers, and all of the former CEOs of the 3 biggest banks
were arrested.
The new government supported citizens by passing a banking
remittance that forgave debt exceeding 110% of home values.
As a result,
“banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic
product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population.”
(source:
Bloomberg.com)
Yes, the country continued to struggle economically after the 2008
revolution.
But already today Iceland is thriving, with 2.9% growth in the
economy in 2011, and 2.4% estimated by the OECD for 2012 and 2013.
The lesson to be learned from Iceland’s
crisis is that if other countries think it’s necessary to write down
debts, they should look at how successful the 110 percent agreement was
here. It’s the broadest agreement that’s been undertaken. – Thorolfur
Matthiasson, an economics professor at the University of Iceland in
Reykjavik
(source:
Bloomberg.com)
This is about our life and the future of the
children, of the generations, of the young people.
Hörður Torfason
(source: below video)
Can America hold out for a banking miracle like
Iceland’s and somehow muster the fortitude to demand an end to economic
corruption? Perhaps Hörður Torfason is available to help get America
mobilized.
Resources
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