If you live round here it’s where your dreams are made,
There’s no beach, no bucket and spade
- Morning Glory

What does it take to maintain ablog which is read by a few more people than your mother? A bit of time to write, inspiration and a whole lot of enthusiasm for your subject.

And I am totally lacking any of the above.

In October 2008 I thought that finally something was going to change. An enormous veil had been lifted off a society so plagued with flaws and corruption that large numbers of its citizens had convinced themselves that everyone else had got it wrong.

The culprits fought to stay in power. Of course they believed that only they could adjust what had gone wrong on their watch. And their interests at stake were so great that they had to be chased out with pots and pans. They should have been grateful that this was not Southeast Asia or Latin America. They might not have been able to use the back doors.

And suddenly there was a breath of fresh air. Journalists actually wrote critical stories and bloggers started telling the truth. The fear of expressing ones opinion in Iceland had been temporarily lifted. Facebook was teeming with groups calling for a “New Iceland”, thousand joined the call for a better society. They wanted a new constitution, better policies, more transparancy, better justice and a more equal society.

And typically for Icelanders they thought it would happen overnight.

At first we heard a lot about our “abundand resources” and “strong pillars”. Even more typically for Icelanders the quest for quick fixes manifested itself in politicians repeatedly talking about possible oil resources in the Dragon Area. We heard about justice and retribution. That the people most responsible for the situation the country was in would have to pay with jail time and cold hard Caribbean-stored cash. A new government was elected on an almighty swing to the left after decades of sheepish adherance to the right. The PM was gay and there was even a new party in town which promised it would do things differently. An application was made for membership to the EU, better late than never. The new government promised reform in the fishing industry and a famous fortress around Icelandic households.

And then…what the hell happened?

Funnily enough we don’t hear that much about oil anymore. Living in Iceland today is like being stuck in a bad dream. When it was time to clean house the maid went to sleep and the urchins took over. Everything is in limbo! It is like that time after 6am on a Sunday morning when the nightclub has closed, everyone is worse for wear but they thought it would be a good idea to have an afterparty. And that is when the bad things happen. People pass out, things get damaged, stolen and raped. And nobody knows when the zombie-state is over because no one is really in control. It is hard to make cohesive plans in this environment because even the loons start to make sense for many participants in this drunken state.

There are still too many relics left over in the coalition parties to think differently than before. The fortress promised to the households was delivered to the banks. The resources we were going to use to turn things around were distributed to the bullies. The banksters and the politicians got theirs first. The former have equities which outstrip their liabilities, the latter help their own with employment through the state. The public has neither. It has been plunged into debt and unemployment has been at a record high. The US seems to be waking up to the fact that its middle class is shrinking. Iceland is getting there. The government seems to have decided to demoralize its population between 30-50 by throwing the chief burdens there. Higher taxes, less service, no real debt reforms.

Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson meanwhile still drives a Range Rover and lives in a mansion.

Demagogues, racists and extremists are having a field day under these conditions. Ogmundur Jonasson’s faction within the Left Greens seems to have decided to … well what is it that those people want? Accusing the EU of having Nazi-like intentions and likening Icelanders to the native Americans who were brutally murdered and chased out of their lands is not only insulting to history but also potentially destructive for the future. The government needs Ogmundur and his folk to help it steer the state into a save haven. Instead they are ripping down the sails and not replacing them with anything but spite, hate and rageful rants. This meanwhile delays the call for reform within the two most rotten political parties north of the Alps. The Independence Party and Centre Party which ruled Iceland with a corrupt fist for decades have allowed the madmen to take over. The two billionaire who lead those parties have been happy for Ogmundur to do their biddings. As things don’t get done, the necessary reforms in the fishing industry have been delayed and might be put on ice for a long time yet. As the government maintains a hands off policy towards the banks, old friends serve each other valuables from their collapsed ruins. The scavengers are having a field day and the Independence Party and Centre Party old guard probably can not believe its own luck.

And meanwhile they have not been required to provide the nation with any answers, visions of the future or policies to strenghten Icelandic society. Even if many of them do not know it themselves, the citizens of Iceland need a plan for the future and they need answers to questions like what is the currency going to be in the next ten, thirty, fifty years? What sort of interest rates can we expect? What would Iceland’s position be if the IMF had not stepped in? How will it be if the IMF is kicked out? What is Iceland’s place in the world going to be for the next ten, thirty, fifty years? Is it EU membership or something else? What exactly is that something else going to be? If there is no EU membership what will happen to the Iceland’s EEA status? What will happen to our exports/imports if we are out of the EEA? How is Iceland going to participate on the international stage in the next few decades?

The Independence Party, the Centre Party, The Left Greens and the Movement have all failed their nation in providing realistic and meaningful answers to these questions. The Social Democrats have proposed EU membership as means to provide Icelanders with a road map to the future. The others have only provided diversions, road-blocks and general jibberish.

In this we have a thriving atmoshpere for scaremongers such as the new Right Green party, misleading entities such as the Isafold coalition of young people against EU membership, Young Farmers Association, Heimssyn and Raudur Vettvangur. The media is paralyzed by special interest ownership and proximity to people and issues. When blogger AK-72 revealed the astonishing similarities between Glitnir bank’s operations before the economic crash and Magma Energy’s operations this week, the mainstream media played ignorant. One of the most prolific bloggers, Lara Hanna Einarsdottir quit this week in a plea to be able to make a living out of her research and material. For a twenty-something journalist or TV reporter on a paltry salary and short on resources it is easier to call Ogmundur or Sigmundur David for an ranting soundbite than to get to the bottom of complicated issues. The rabble rousers are taking over. The only mainstream media trying its darndest is DV, still smarting from being a trashy yellow press a few years ago and the editor’s frightened stance towards Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson at one point after the crash. Morgunbladid is propaganda trash, Frettabladid suffers its owners. Trust is low in Iceland.

Even the church finds it hard to navigate the narrow path. The state church asked to cut its budget by 9% refused on the grounds that it is a “seperate entity” which must not unilaterally accept cuts proposed by the state. It will offer a 5% cut in Iceland’s worst recession in memory. It then refuses to hand over numbers on sexual harassement cases. Icelandic priests who get their salary from the state, who through relentless lobbying have come to receive almost double the pay of policemen, nurses, teachers and firemen have no shame. One really should propose that the State Church should be privatized into the hands of some proper Independence Party members and then it will be bankrupt and gone in five years max.

A clean up is needed on so many levels but the after-party is still going on. At this point, Iceland is at its most vulnerable.

So while Bjarni Armannson, Bjorgolfur Thor, Hannes Smarason, Larus Welding, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Sigurdur Einarsson, Lydur and Agust Gudmundsson, Karl Wernerson et al drive their shiny black Range Rovers into Euroland, Jon and Gunna are facing a record number of foreclosure sales and a welfare system coming to a halt.

Where is the inspiration and enthusiasm in that?

Related posts:

1. For Iceland To Get Back On Its Feet Important Reform Is Needed Within Independence Party
2. InDefence Honored By Young Independence Party Members
3. Independence Party Tragedy
4. The More Things Change, They Don’t…A Revolt Is Needed
5. An Independence Party Split?