(Click here for previous articles in series).  

 

The Icelandic Bar sits right across the square from the Althingi (Iceland's parliament building) in downtown Reykjavik. Busy but relaxed, it doesn't look much different from other nearby restaurants. But its menu of traditional Icelandic food is unusual and offers many delicious dishes. Smoked lamb, fish jerky, Arctic char, fish and potato stew, Icelandic cheeses, creamy shellfish soup with scallops, shrimp and langoustine, dulse (seaweed), and potent (9.4%) Olvisholt beer that is described as being "lava smoked". When we were there, we even tried fermented shark, which, following an ancient Icelandic recipe, is made by burying a shark's head in the ground for a few months and then serving it up. Definitely, an acquired taste.

 

But the food is not the only unusual thing at the restaurant. On the wall, a couple of dented copper pots and pans hang right next to a giant photograph of the Althingi across the square (see photo above). In the picture, a line of police officers stand in formation in front of the Althingi doors dressed in riot gear. The building itself is spattered with what appears to be paint or eggs.

 

Welcome to the Pots & Pans rebellion. The photo was taken at the height of the protest which lasted from October of 2008 until the Spring of 2009. The Pots & Pans rebellion was fueled by public anger against the Icelandic government and the banks which, through their recklessness and greed, had brought financial catastrophe upon the country. 

 

In the course of our trip to Iceland, we interviewed a number of individuals who were involved in the Pots & Pans rebellion in one way or another, including Hordur Torfason, a key leader of the protest. Hordur is a well-known folk singer, song writer, actor and gay activist in Iceland. Early in his career, Hordur came to the conclusion that "the role of the artist is to speak out, to fight the misuse of power" and "to help people in need."

 

Like other Icelanders, he was taken by surprise by the sudden financial and economic crisis that hit the country. The government responded by capitulating to the directives of the International Monetary Fund which, in exchange for loans, required gutting public services in the country and instituting massive privatizations.

 

A protest was called. Hordur attended, and, on a non-partisan basis, stepped forward to become the leader of what became a series of large protests that involved tens of thousands of people and that shook the country to its foundations.

 

The protests had three clear demands: (1) resignation of the government (2) resignation of the head of the Central Bank (3) disbanding of the financial regulatory authority that had overseen the banks. Week after week, the protesters, who included intellectuals, artists, educators, workers, youth and others, gathered outside the Althingi. They were fiercely attacked by the government and the media, but they persisted.

 

The protests reached a crescendo in January of 2009 when Hordur called for participants to bring "pots and pans" to the demonstrations, which people proceeded to bang and clatter in the square outside the Althingi for many days. At one point, demonstrators surrounded the car of the Prime Minister, pelting it with eggs and paint, and demanding he resign. Police used teargas against the crowd to allow him to escape.

 

Facing massive popular opposition, the government coalition fell apart in disarray when the Social Democrats withdrew. In the wake of this, the financial regulatory authority was disbanded. An election was called for later in the Spring. But the protesters did not give up until all their demands were met. They re-grouped outside the Central Bank and resumed their protests. Eventually, the head of the bank was forced to resign. The three demands of the "Pots & Pans" protestors had been achieved, and the government had been forced out of office. It was a clear victory for the people and a defeat for the banking and political elite that had brought about the crisis.

 

But other issues were developing. In the May 2009 election, the Independence Party, which had ruled for 17 years and was closely associated with the banking scandal, lost badly. Although the Social Democrat Alliance had been part of the governing coalition, it still held enough seats to be the party with the most seats in a coalition that was formed with the Left-Greens. However, new forces were also elected, including some, like Margret Tryggvadottir and Lilja Mosesdottir, who had participated in the Pots & Pans rebellion. 

 

Although elected in a massive voter protest against the activities of the banks and an IMF-directed austerity program to slash public services, once in power the new governing coalition continued with the IMF program and other neo-liberal policies, as well as giving into the blackmail and pressure from Britain and the Netherlands to bail out depositors in those countries. Later investigation was to reveal that the Social Democratic Alliance, as a partner in the old government coalition, had been itself heavily subsidized by the banks and some of its officials were deeply compromised in the banking scandal.

 

As in other countries, the political process and government apparatus itself is heavily weighted in favour of finance capital and the moneylenders. Thus policies and programs that are thrown out the front door by voters, have a way of flying back in through the window. And that is what happened in Iceland with the new government.

 

But it did not get away with this unopposed. Member of parliament Margret Tryggvadottir, along with several other members of "The Movement", a newly formed party, criticized the direction of the new government. For her part, MP Lilja Mosesdottir, who was also newly elected, eventually resigned from the Left-Greens over its policies supporting the IMF program and European Union membership, and she took a seat as an independent. Both inside parliament and outside in the streets, the struggle continued.

 

A pressing issue loomed. The new government had promised to reach an agreement with Britain and the Netherlands about bailing out "Icesave" bank depositors in those countries by using funds from the Icelandic treasury. Icelanders were deeply concerned about this. As events turned out, such a bailout meant that Iceland would have to pay, in Canadian dollars, about $6.2 billion, which meant that each family in Iceland would have the equivalent of about $77,000 new debt loaded onto its shoulders. And it was all to bail out foreign depositors in some privately-owned Icelandic banks that had branches abroad and that had gone bankrupt.

 

Novelist Einars Mar Gudmondson described the situation: "We were told that what these [private] banks did abroad was nothing to do with us, but when it all went wrong the responsibility fell back on us. Profits were privatised, but losses were nationalised" (1).

 

It was in the fall of 2009 that the new government formally put forward and adopted an Icesave "deal" that, as it turned out, very few voters supported. Many voters believed, in fact, that it was a capitulation to Britain and the Netherlands and a bailout of private moneylenders. However, despite widespread public opposition, the government refused to put the controversial "deal" to a national referendum.

 

A new crisis was developing and the struggle of the Icelandic people was about to take on new forms.