2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests

The 2009-2011 Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic financial crisis protests, also referred to as the Kitchenware Revolution or Icelandic Revolution occurred in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis. There had been sporadic protests since October 2008 against the Icelandic government's handling of the financial crisis. The protests intensified on 20 January 2009 with thousands of people showing up to protest at the parliament (Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...

) in Reykjavik

Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

.

Protesters were calling for the resignation of government officials, and for new elections to be held. The protests stopped for the most part with the resignation of the old right-wing government. A new left-wing government was formed after elections in late April 2009 and it began a supporting policy to the protestors, and a process that included the judicial prosecution before the Landsdómur

Landsdómur

The Landsdómur is a special court in Iceland which was established in 1905 with the mandate to handle cases where members of the Cabinet are suspected of criminal behavior....

of the former Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Iceland

The Prime Minister of Iceland is Iceland's head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the President and exercises executive authority along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary support....

Geir Haarde

Geir Hilmar Haarde was Prime Minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009 and Chairman of the Icelandic Independence Party from 2005 to 2009. Geir initially led a coalition between his party and the Progressive Party...

.

Also, there were held several referenda

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

to ask the citizens about paying or not the Icesave debt of their banks and, finally, a complex and unique process in which 30 common people of no political party were to be elected to form a Icelandic Constitutional Assembly

Icelandic Constitutional Assembly

An Icelandic Constitutional Assembly for the purpose of reviewing the Constitution of the Republic was summoned by an act of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, on June 16, 2010 as a conseccuence of the Kitchenware Revolution. In an election on November 27, 2010, 25 delegates were elected...

that would write a new Constitution of Iceland

Constitution of Iceland

The Constitution of Iceland is the supreme law of Iceland. It is composed of 80 articles in seven sections, and within it the leadership arrangement of the country is determined and the human rights of its citizens are preserved. The current constitution was first instituted on June 17, 1944; since...

. After some legal problems, a Constitutional Council that included those people presented a Contitution Draft to the Iceland Parliament on July 29, 2011.

2008-2009: Protests and Government change

Concerned with the state of the Icelandic economy, Hördur Torfason staged a one man protest in October 2008. Torfason stood "out on Austurvöllur with an open microphone and invited people to speak". The following Saturday a more organised demonstration occurred, and participants established the Raddir fólksins. The group decided to stage a rally every Saturday until the government stepped down. Torfason led the protest from a stage near the front.

On 20 January 2009, the protests intensified into riots. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people clashed with riot police, who used pepper spray

Pepper spray

Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...

and batons

Baton (law enforcement)

A truncheon or baton is essentially a club of less than arm's length made of wood, plastic, or metal...

, around the building of the parliament (Althing), with at least 20 people being arrested and 20 more needing medical attention for exposure to pepper spray. Demonstrators banged pots and honked horns to disrupt the year's first meeting of Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

Geir Haarde

and the Althing. Some broke windows of the parliament house, threw skyr

Skyr

Skyr is an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt. Technically it is a very soft cheese. It is very popular in Icelandic cuisine. Skyr was originally discovered by accident. A group of farmers in Iceland in the early settlement days poured skim milk over barrels of meat to...

and snowballs at the building, and threw smoke bombs into its backyard. The use of pots and pans saw the local press refer to the event as the "Kitchenware Revolution".

On 21 January 2009, the protests continued in Reykjavík, where the Prime Minister's car was pelted with snowballs, eggs, and cans by demonstrators demanding his resignation. Government buildings were surrounded by a crowd of at least 3,000 people, pelting them with paint and eggs, and the crowd then moved towards the Althing where one demonstrator climbed the walls and put up a sign that read "Treason due to recklessness is still treason." No arrests were reported.

On 22 January 2009, police used tear gas to disperse people on Austurvöllur
Austurvöllur
Austurvöllur is a public square in Reykjavik, Iceland. The square is a popular gathering place for the citizens of Reykjavik, and especially so during good weather due to the prevalence of cafés on Vallarstræti and Pósthússtræti...

(the square in front of the Althing), the first such use since the 1949 anti-NATO protest

1949 anti-NATO riot in Iceland

The Icelandic NATO riot of March 30, 1949 is arguably the most famous riot in Icelandic history. It was prompted by the decision of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, to join the newly formed NATO, thereby involving Iceland directly in the Cold War, opposing the Soviet Union and re-militarizing...

. Around 2,000 protesters had surrounded the building since the day before and they hurled fireworks, shoes, toilet paper, rocks, and paving stones at the building and its police guard. Reykjavik police chief Stefán Eiríksson said that they tried to disperse a "hard core" of a "few hundred" with pepper spray before using the tear gas. Eiríksson also commented that the protests were expected to continue, and that this represented a new situation for Iceland.

Despite the announcement on 23 January 2009 of early Parliamentary elections (to be held on 25 April 2009) and the announcement of Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Iceland

Geir Haarde

that he was withdrawing from politics due to esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

and would not be a candidate in those elections, protesters continued to fill the streets, calling for a new political scene and for immediate elections; Haarde (Independence Party

Independence Party (Iceland)

The Independence Party is a centre-right political party in Iceland. Liberal conservative and Eurosceptic, it is the second-largest party in the Althing, with sixteen seats. The chairman of the party is Bjarni Benediktsson and vice chairman is Ólöf Nordal....

) announced on 26 January 2009 that he would hand in his resignation as PM shortly, after talks with the Social Democratic Alliance on keeping the government intact had failed earlier the same day.

The Social Democratic Alliance formed a new government on minority coalition with the Left-Green Movement

Left-Green Movement

The Left-Green Movement is a left-wing political party in Iceland.It was founded in 1999 by a few members of Alþingi who did not approve of the planned merger of the left parties in Iceland that resulted in the founding of the Social Democratic Alliance...

, with the support of the Progressive Party

Progressive Party (Iceland)

The Progressive Party is an agrarian, liberal and centrist party in Iceland. The party is a member of the Liberal International. Current chairman of the party is Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. He was elected on January 18, 2009. His predecessor was Valgerður Sverrisdóttir, who only served as...

and the Liberal Party, which was sworn in on 1 February. Former Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir , , is the Prime Minister of Iceland. Many years a politician, she was previously Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1987–1994 and 2007–2009. She has been a member of the Althing for Reykjavík constituencies since 1978, winning re-election on eight...

became Prime Minister. The three parties also agree to convene a constitutional assembly to discuss changes to the Constitution

Constitution of Iceland

. There was no agreement on the question of an early referendum on prospective EU and euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

membership.
The parliamentary election

Icelandic parliamentary election, 2009

A parliamentary election was held in Iceland on 25 April 2009 following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis...

was finally held in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

on 25 April 2009 following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement

Left-Green Movement

, which formed the outgoing coalition

Coalition

A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...

government under Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Iceland

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir

, both made gains and an overall majority of seats in the Althing

Althing

The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...

(Iceland's parliament). The Progressive Party

Progressive Party (Iceland)

also made gains, and the new Citizens' Movement

Citizens' Movement (Iceland)

The Citizens' Movement is a political party in Iceland, founded by a number of grassroots movements in the lead up to the 2009 election during the Global Recession, which hit Iceland particularly hard....

, formed after the January 2009 protests, gained four seats. The big loser was the Independence Party

Independence Party (Iceland)

, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009: it lost a third of its support and nine seats in the Althing.

2009-2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing

Taking its cue from nation-wide protests and lobbying efforts by civil organisations, the new governing parties decided that Iceland's citizens should be involved in creating a new constitution and started to debate a bill on November 4, 2009 about that purpose. Parallel to the protests and parliament deliverance, citizens started to unite in grassroots-based think-tanks. A National Forum was organised on November 14, 2009 (Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...

: Þjóðfundur 2009), in the form of an assembly of Iceland

Iceland

ic citizens at the Laugardalshöll

Laugardalshöll

Laugardalshöll is an indoor sporting arena located in Reykjavík, Iceland. The capacity of the arena is 5,500 people.It hosts various sporting events, such as team handball....

in Reykjavík

Reykjavík

, by a group of grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

citizen movements such as Anthil. The Forum would settle the ground for the 2011 Contitutional Assembly

Icelandic Constitutional Assembly

and was streamed by the Internet to the public.

1.500 people were invited to participate in the assembly; of these, 1.200 were chosen at random from the national registry, while 300 were representatives of companies, institutions and other groups. Participants represented a cross section of Icelandic society, ranging in age from 18 to 88 and spanning all six constituencies of Iceland

Constituencies of Iceland

Iceland is divided into 6 constituencies for the purpose of selecting representatives to the Alþingi .-History:The current division was established by a 1999 constitution amendment and was an attempt to balance the weight of different districts of the country whereby voters in the rural districts...

, with 73, 77, 89, 365 and 621 people attending from the Northwest

Norðvesturkjördæmi

NorðvesturkjördæmiNorthwestCountry:Main town: AkranesArea:? km²Population:30,493 Electors:21,924 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:9Composition:27 municipalities 11 counties 3 regionsWebsite:?...

, Northeast

Norðausturkjördæmi

NorðausturkjördæmiNortheastCountry:Main town: AkureyriArea:? km²Population:39,621 Electors:28,362 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:10Composition:21 municipalities 5 counties 2 regionsWebsite:?...

, South

Suðurkjördæmi

SuðurkjördæmiSouthCountry:Main town: KeflavíkArea:? km²Population:47,810 Electors:32,505 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:10Composition:20 municipalities 5 counties 3 regionsWebsite:?...

, Southwest

Suðvesturkjördæmi

SuðvesturkjördæmiSouthwestCountry:Main town: KópavogurArea:? km²Population:82,045 Electors:58,203 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:12Composition:7 municipalities 1 county 1 regionWebsite:?...

and Reykjavík

Reykjavík

(combined), respectively; 47% of the attendants were women, while 53% were men.

On 16th June, 2010 the Constitutional Act was finally accepted by parliament and a new Forum was summoned. The Constitutional Act prescribed that the participants of the Forum had to be randomly sampled from the National Population Register, “with due regard to a reasonable distribution of participants across the country and an equal division between genders, to the extent possible”. The National Forum 2010 was initiated by the government on 6th November, 2010 and had 950 random participants, organized in subcommisions, which would present a 700 page document that would be the basis for constitutional changes, which would debate a future Constitutional Assembly. The Forum 2010 came in to being due to the efforts of both governing parties and the Anthill group. A seven-headed Constitutional Committee, appointed by the parliament, was charged with the supervision of the forum and the presentation of its results, while the organization and facilitation of the National Forum 2010 was done by the Anthill group that had organized the first Forum 2009.

2010-2011: Constitutional Assembly and Council

The process continued in the election of 25 people

Icelandic Constitutional Assembly election, 2010

An election was held for an constitutional assembly in Iceland on 27 November 2010. The Supreme Court of Iceland invalidated the results of the election on 25 January 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted, while there was no evidence that the flaws in the...

of no political sign on October 26, 2010. The Supreme Court of Iceland

Supreme Court of Iceland

The Supreme Court of Iceland holds the highest judicial power in Iceland. It is the oldest court of law in Iceland and the higher of the two court branches, while the District Courts of Iceland are the lower. Nine judges sit in the court and hold command over the President of Iceland in accordance...

later invalidated the results of the election on January 25, 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted., but the Parliament decided that it was the way, and not the elects, that had been questioned, and also that those 25 elects would be a part of a Contitutional Council and thus the Constitutional change went on. In 29th July, 2011 the draft was presented to the Parliament.

Banking debt referenda

There were several referenda to decide about the Icesave Icelandic bank debts. The first Icesave referendum (Icelandic

Icelandic language

: Þjóðaratkvæðagreiðsla um Icesave), was held on 6 March 2010. The referendum was resoundingly defeated, with 93% voting against and less than 2% in favor.

After the referendum, new negotiations commenced. On 16 February 2011 the Icelandic parliament agreed to a repayment deal to pay back the full amount starting in 2016, finalising before 2046, with a fixed interest rate of 3%. The Icelandic president once again refused to sign the new deal on 20 February, calling for a new referendum. Thus, an second referendum

Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, 2011

A referendum on the loan guarantees repayment by Iceland to the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands for their loan guarantees to the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund of Iceland over the failure of the Icesave bank was held in Iceland on 9 April 2011...

would be held on April 9, 2011 also resulting in "no" victory with a lesser percentage. After the referendum failed to pass, the British and Dutch governments said that they would take the case to the European courts

EFTA Court

The Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association States is a supranational judicial body responsible for the three EFTA members who are also members of the European Economic Area : Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.As members of the EEA, the three countries have access to the internal...

PM trial

The Althing (Iceland's parliament) voted 33–30 to indict the former Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Iceland

Geir Haarde

, but not the other ministers, on charges of negligence in office at a session on 28 September 2010 He will stand trial before the Landsdómur
Landsdómur
The Landsdómur is a special court in Iceland which was established in 1905 with the mandate to handle cases where members of the Cabinet are suspected of criminal behavior....

, a special court to hear cases alleging misconduct in government office: it will be the first time the Landsdómur has convened since it was established in the 1905 Constitution

Constitution of Iceland

Aftermath and influence

Commentary

Roger Boyes

Roger Boyes is a British journalist and author. He is the Berlin correspondent for British newspaper The Times, covering Germany and northern Europe...

, of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

argued the protests are part of a "new age of rebellion and riot" in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, in the background of similar protests caused by the financial crisis in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

and Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

and the civil unrest in Greece

2008 civil unrest in Greece

The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos , a 15-year-old student, was killed by two policemen in Exarcheia district of central Athens...

, triggered by the police killing a teenager, but with deeper roots related to the financial crisis.

London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

professor Robert Wade said that Iceland's government would fall within the coming days and Fredrik Erixon

Fredrik Erixon

Fredrik Erixon is a Swedish economist and writer.Erixon was educated at the University of Oxford, London School of Economics and Uppsala University.He is married with two children.-External links:* *...

of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy compared the current situation with the French Revolution of 1789.

Eirikur Bergmann, of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, writes that "While Barack Obama was being sworn in to office on Capitol Hill yesterday, the people of Iceland were starting the first revolution in the history of the republic. The word "revolution" might sound a bit of an overstatement, but given the calm temperament that usually prevails in Icelandic politics, the unfolding events represent, at the very least, a revolution in political activism." Valur Gunnarsson, also of The Guardian, writes that "Iceland's government was last night scrambling to avoid becoming the first administration to be ousted by the global financial crisis." He also writes that "The protesters have begun referring to their daily attempt to oust the government as a 'saucepan revolution', because of the noise-inducing pots and pans brought along to the protests."

2008-2009: Protests and Government change

2009-2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing

2010-2011: Constitutional Assembly and Council

Banking debt referenda

PM trial

Aftermath and influence

Commentary

See also