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Iceland To Vote On Constitution Reform

Posted by Phil Ferguson on October 19th, 2012 – Comments Off – Posted in Uncategorized
October 20th the citizens of Iceland have a unique opportunity to help reform its constitution. Iceland since its independence from Denmark has kept pretty much intact the constitution of 1940′s Denmark.

In 2008 with the world wide economic crisis, Iceland faced a unique and harsh reality. Being a tiny nation of 330,000 people, Iceland was forced to nationalize banks, and seek help from the International monetary fund, which was at the time, very unusual from a 1st world European nation.
Since this collapse, Icelandic citizens have been angry, and mobilized to force out the corrupt government that was long responsible for fueling the fire. However the biggest step was the formation of a citizen committee voted on to form a new constitution. This is unique in the modern era, and now Iceland will vote on the first 5 proposals put forth by the citizen committee. To the frustration of the wealthy, and entitled, here is the points being asked of the citizens of Iceland today:
1. Do you wish the Constitution Council’s proposals to form the basis of a new draft Constitution?

2. In the new Constitution, do you want natural resources that are not privately owned to be declared national property?

3. Would you like to see provisions in the new Constitution on an established (national) church in Iceland?

4. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution authorizing the election of particular individuals to the Althingi more than is the case at present?

5. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution giving equal weight to votes cast in all parts of the country?

6. Would you like to see a provision in the new Constitution stating that a certain proportion of the electorate is able to demand that issues are put to a referendum?

Iceland will vote in this historic moment to make drastic changes to how the nation goes forward into the future.
As the Icelandic Grapevine  put it:

The new constitution states that a certain number of the population can call for a referendum on a certain issue. The opposition calls the referendum on Saturday “undemocratic.” The new constitution states that all our national resources shall be commonly owned by the Icelandic people.  And this is the main issue. Some privileged people might lose their privilege. For example, the present quota system in the fishing industry is totally feudal, with 20 sea barons “owning” the un-fished cod in the sea. They do so because “they always have” and because “they bought it from each other.” (Yes, some people have become rich by selling other people the right to fish “their” fish in the sea.) Of course, the sea barons fight the hardest against a new constitution, pouring their money into propaganda newspapers, websites and TV programs. Their lawyers and politicians now try their best to confuse people with law-speak for lunatics: “What exactly does “commonly owned” mean?” The new constitution also states that in parliamentary elections all votes shall carry the same weight.

Iceland will have its 1st step in changing its constitution by only citizen input. The oldest parliamentary democracy in the world is about to challenge many of our ideals, that the citizens of a nation can take back power and determine the future  for its people.

Thor Jonsson.
Icelandic Humanist Group.
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