The World is Watching

 

Three days ago an article came out in the Guardian that lit a fuse under the international media's bum. The news that Iceland is re-writing their constitution is now officially in the eyes of the global community!!  It came about in an non-traditional way. Instead of big media telling the people what's newsworthy, social networking turned the mainstream media onto the importance of Iceland re-writing their constitution.

This is a historic event and ironically not nearly represented in the Icelandic media as much as one might imagine. I was told that this is because one of the major publications in Iceland ( Morgunbladid) has an  editor that is also the former prime minister and central bank governor Davíd Oddsson. There was a joint statement submitted by the journalists association of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland addressing their concern stating " Iceland's media must have the professional ability to cover the collapse of the Icelandic economy and have complete freedom of expression." Oddsson is one of the main individuals under investigation for the Icelandic economic collapse. Iceland's constitutional assembly is the antithesis to the small crew that was running the country before. The new constitutional process focuses on transparency and accessibility to all citizens. That certainly is not in the interest of the small few that ran Iceland's finances into the ground in 2008.  So this directly ties into how much attention the constitutional assembly receives. The media holds so much power and if there is no press given to the Constitution then the constitution actually disappears in the eyes of the public. But my dear friends this is where things take an incredible turn. Knowing that they couldn't rely on  mainstream media to relay the necessary information to the country, the assembly went viral.

This is the first time we are seeing a constitution being drafted on the internet. Yes, there is a lot more to it than just facebook feedback BUT it's also a major component to what goes into this document. And it's changing how democratic discussions occur.

On the constitutional assembly's facebook page there have been hoards of supportive comments from around the world. Here are just a few of the comments people have posted over the past three days; 

"I ordered your flag to fly at my home in the US. "- Chris (USA)

Cheers from Finland!- Susannah

"You are like a lighthouse beaming hope across the world. Congratulations, you got it right!" - Eddie (Egypt)

"be proud of your participative democracy, icelanders!"- Pierre (Makati)

"What a genius and bold move Iceland. I doth my cap. Digital democracy - amazing".- Nick (United Kingdom)

"You guys started something very important there. I'm excited to follow its evolution. I really think societies and governments (its funny to mention them separately, shouldn't be, and it is one of the points you are changing for better) in any country can't keep the same after this. In fact, more than congratulations i should say "thanks"."- Michele (Mexico)

 

It actually breaks my heart a bit to see how many Americans posted on the FB page. This is exactly why I am making this film. We feel so separated from our government but you can hear in these posts that we are ready to participate in democracy we are just looking for the venue. I think like many of the Icelanders I spoke to, Americans (and it sounds like a lot of other nations) feel depleted by political corruption. I grew up in a political household (my father is a politician) and watching my dad try to work within a system that has so many irrefutable flaws, made me feel like we was swimming up stream. But nothing good can come from concentrating on what is NOT working.  I think what we can learn from all of this is that by creating new systems and addressing what IS working we can start to see the kinds of positive change that makes Iceland's situation so remarkable. In this constitutional reform we see innovation, transparency, and the determination to see the needs/wants of a nation heard. I know we as individual nations and a global community can arrive here as well. If it must come from an example, here we have it; an example of democracy and change created away from "the powers that be". With certainty I see that we can use this as an opportunity to transform our own systems.

Here is the last photo I took in Iceland. As you see this is a normal lamp post, traditional in structure and straight forward in its purpose.

                    
Now here is the same structure but altered to be something new and innovative. Its functionality remains the same but it's design helps us see things can be altered and still be effective.

    
I think it's pretty symbolic that this was one of the last things I saw before I left the country.

 If you haven't seen the buzz, here are just a few of the news sources that have caught wind of the Icelandic Constitutional Reform in the past few days.

ABC
The Guardian
USA Today 
Time Magazine
CNN 

More soon...

 

 

What do you do when there is a Volcanic Eruption?

 

What do you do when there is a Volcanic Eruption? 

The talented Toronto musician Ronley Teper came to visit me here in Reykjavik as well as playing two magical shows, she helped me in the various one-man production adventures throughout the city and beyond. As Ronley was about to hop on a plane back to the land of Canada, we learned that there had been a Volcanic Eruption in Grímsvötn in the Vatnajökull Glacier. This is not near the volcano that made international headlines last year (Eyjafjallajökull)

So what do you do when your plans of planes have been put on hold?

ROAD-TRIP

We have two wonderful friends (Anna and Gunnie) here we consider family and they come in at the most unexpected moments to show us nooks and crannies that the tourism books keep secret.

Anna called to say instead of the airport we are going to see beautiful things and drink lots of coffee.

We all piled into the car and experienced what it's like to take a day trip on a lovely lazy Sunday in Iceland (as a volcano is erupting). 

 

We muscled through the fierce cold winds that threatened to push us off cliffs into the deep pretty blue sea.

Bright blue and orange splotches randomly stain the dirt and the air smells like eggs (sulfur).

 We crossed a bridge amongst steaming beds of earth, a warm haze covers you and nothing is visible. Once on the other end you find yourself sopping wet and cold.

 There is one area where the hot water is funneled into the very cold ocean, causing a mass amount of steam and fun sounds.

Have you ever heard of harðfiskur? It's a very popular fish that Iceland exports and is often eaten as a healthy snack. This fish has been imperative in the Icelandic fishing industry, so much so that they made a museum for the little buggers!

 Nearly everyone has someone in their family a generation ago that was involved in the fishing industry. It's much like where I am from (Central New York) with farming, everyone was involved (within my grandparents generation) in the process somehow, it was a major industry for our area.

 I asked Anna if having husbands out to sea so often was a major stress for the wives and she quickly said it was and that even her great grandfather was killed at sea, leaving her grandmother with seven children.

              This wasn't a mans job, the entire process was greatly reliant on every one's hands. 

You can see the fish drying structures like this near many of the shores.

So this is what happens in disaster... we go on. And it will be much like the days before, maybe even

What if I never see this pile of bright green moss again? 

What if you never see this pile of bright green moss... ever?

 Today is day two of the Volcanic Eruption and it's made its way to Reykjavik. The warnings say do not go outside because the airs pollution is 4x the legal limit. I ran to the grocery store near by and my eyes are itchy and my skin feels like I have rolled around in Pink Panther insulation. 
Tonight is one of the darkest nights I have seen here since the trip began. The ash has reached the city and the wind is violently blowing it all over. A mountain that I can always see from my window is absent from our view and three tones of dusty clouds are over the water.
Here is a video of the Eruption happening now.

Eurovision

Last week there was an event that passed North Americans without a peep. This event however was epic to European countries. It is called EUROVISION
Eurovision is an annual song contest open to members of the European Broadcast Union. The event is often viewed in a party setting (much like the superbowl). A number of people in Iceland have said to me "You are going to watch Eurovision, right? You must it's a tradition here." Nearly all follow up that with "but you know we think it's cheesy? It's just fun".

So we went to the new massive music center HARPA and watched Eurovision with over a hundred Icelanders. The costumes were glitzy and the songs were pop but somehow I still felt the need to articulate my opinion on each performance. Why should I care? I don't know... but I did. During the tally I was scoffing and clapping right along with everyone else.  
The contestants for Iceland had a compelling story that made me really hope that they would win. The man who wrote the song died right after submitting it to Eurovision. His friends then got together to perform it. Although there wasn't a big light show, fancy graphics, or women on unicycles it was sweet and I wanted them to feel validated in lue of their friends absence.
Azerbaijan won. It was a jarring surprise seeing that this was the first time I had even heard of this country. It's surrounded by Iran, Georgia, Armenia, and Russia and has a population of 8,781,100, this is what Google told me.

The tradition of Eurovision is that the country that wins, hosts the event the following year. So next year I bet thousands will be following suit and  asking "Dear Mr. Google what/where is Azerbaijan?"

My first constitution

I experienced my very first Constitutional Meeting today~

Maybe you are wondering to yourself "What is it like to go to a constitutional assembly?"

It all starts in an conservative looking building on the outskirts of the city center. I sat there and waited in a room filled with chocolate candies and cookies. I came to  the happy conclusion that it's vital to have treats when taking on such important business. An older man dressed in full professional attire bolted into the room with great focus. He walked past one candy dish and then stopped and ran back snatched a handful of candies and ran into the meeting. 

The room is kept FREEZING. Is this to keep the elects from getting too cozy and dozing off?

Are the windows open to reinforce that this council is representing the people outside these walls?

I had the lucky seat of sitting directly behind the council members. Even though the backs of heads are normally uninteresting, it is interesting to see what people are doing on their computers. Many are on Facebook and the rest are keeping notes on the meeting. 

I was able to see for the first time in person all of these wonderful people I have been in communication with since the election. In my own way it was like seeing celebrities.

The intention of the assembly meetings on Thursdays is to allow each committee to come together and discuss as a group the issues at hand. When I asked a few individuals how everyone is getting along they said "swimmingly, there are no major issues on the table yet to decide on but when there is... that's when the gloves may come off. But it's been an incredible experience because even if we don't always agree we are coming from such different places that it feels like it's genuinely representing the Icelanders across the board.

The entire meeting is open to the public but also broadcasted online. How's that for transparency?!
It's all in Icelandic but it's still interesting to see. Go ahead take a peak CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY MEETING If you would like to know what is happening you can see the Icelandic transcript below and send it through an online translation, I use this one ONLINE TRANSLATOR

Part of what they are trying to accomplish with this re-write is to come to conclusions on issues that the parliament has not been able to reach.
I met a woman whom has been working day and night with a highly skilled team in preparing the elects for the re-write. She has been collecting the necessary materials so that the assembly can brief themselves on the issues, arming their brains with data, studies, and a cohesive history so that a proper analysis can be made. This is a bit like cramming for the exam of a lifetime.

This was also the first time I entertained the idea that there was an entire fleet of people behind the "curtain" when it came to preparing for the constitution.

At the end of the meetings they close out the session in song.

Harpa, pumpkin bread, and the blue everything

This film is not about making a point as much as it is having a conversation. I have been having unique rich discussions with people I have met, internally considering things I have experienced first hand, and the stories I have listen to second hand. This conversation has been going on now for three years. What will be left on the cutting room floor? How many films could be made from all of this information? This is what is spinning in my head more often than not. I can say I feel full here; my head, my heart, and the inspiration tank is topped up and running at its optimum.

What does it look like when the sun never really sets- it's 10 pm and my room and the hallway has  filled with a red and pink light and everything else is blue...blue water, blue clouds, blue mountains. 

 A wonderful friend here told me she still wears a sleeping mask to bed because it's so bright even at midnight.

A good friend (Anna Torfadottir)
that I have made here is a visual artist in Iceland and took us to her studio today. It's an old dairy barn converted into artist studios called Korpúlfsstaðir. In this building there is a gallery where the hay mow used to be. The show currently up was under the theme "Aggressive text", which meant that the piece could be very tranquil but needs to have this aggressive text somewhere within it. Anna (the friend that took us here) showed us one of her works that was this lovely vertical piece with flowers, gentle colors, and if you didn't know Icelandic it would seem like it was something really sweet. They translated it for me and it pretty much was about a women saying to a man, you are a pig and you will not place your dirty hands on me, you can put them on your own privates because that is the only place you have a right to put them. 
I liked this contrast.

We all then went to Anna's house and had a really great American style dinner with pizza and soda. Tonight this feels like home, not just because of its similarity to the back in the states cuisine but there was something more. I realized it when she brought out the pumpkin bread which was just like a spice cake my grandma makes back in New York. Anna said it was made just for us. Sometimes life has a really intense way of kissing you and punching you at the same time, letting you know you are exactly where you are suppose to be at that moment.
     We watched the opening ceremony for Iceland's new massive concert center (HARPA). When we passed it today there were protesters outside. The center has been under a bit of scrutiny. Why you may ask? Harpa was only partially built when the collapse hit in 2008. It seemed to some like a spit in the face to continue with this grandiose structure after the economy had tanked and with cuts to medical facilities, artists funding, and fact that so many lost their entire savings overnight the idea of Harpa continuing seemed to some... patronizing.

I am going to go to some of the awesome free concerts tomorrow and will report back on the experience.
Goodnight pumpkin bread loving friends.

Windy Bright Nights

The wind is strong today. I saw a woman attempting to stroll along the ocean side with her dress flying up and giving the gulls a peep show.

A friend of mine in Iceland said that he only knows one person who is in danger of losing his home. And while talking about it his friend realized that if he took out nearly 100% loans for everything in his home then essentially he was... renting. And that somehow eases the panes of losing control over belongings. I thought that was such a neat realization to come to.

There is an area out near the lighthouse where you can see these wooden triangular structures from really far away. They were used to dry fish. I have seen a lot of useful antiquitous contraptions near the sea side here. This particular area however comes with strong warnings. This is the season the neighborhood birds start laying there eggs and they get mighty defensive of their chosen area. There are few things that are as scary as angry birds, just to name a few:
1) Raccoons
2) Cucumbers
3) Cars
I will not be visiting during this time as to allow these birds enough time to prep their spawn.

I've had the darndest time trying to sleep here. You know that feeling you get when the days get longer and all of a sudden it's 8pm and still really light out? Those are the nights you feel like time is on your side and fun is on the horizon. So imagine it not actually getting any darker than the picture below. That picture is taken at midnight. I had my legs in a tiny hot spring right amongst the rocks looking out at the ocean and it's not a situation I could have planned but I was small in comparison to it's serenity. 

In a place far far away there is coffee

             It's day one and Reykjavik is pumped full of sunshine and clean ocean smells. 
I fumbled my jet lagged self into a cafe just shutting down for the day and I must have looked like a mess because the barrista said "ok, just one more". I then hobbled over to a friends house whom I always get lost trying to find but this one just this one time I found it!
So today you have been dream like.
I am staying near the ocean and at night there is this really thin road that cars race up and down for hours. When I was little we could hear the racetrack from two towns away, that's how silent the country is. This makes me feel safe.

Yesterday was bright and warm and today is rainy and chilly. I'm sure as anyone living in the Northern part of North America knows, we don't count on the weather being anything but unpredictable. So Iceland's weather makes sense to me. Then I came across this on my walk today and thought it was pretty spot on!

I went to pet a fluffy awesome cat today on the sidewalk JUST to see if anything had changed... NOPE!
Cats are still mean as snakes here.
Click for backstory

Next week is when the real "meat and potatoes" begins (i.e. interviews, meetings, gatherings etc.)
And so this week I am going to slowly move into focus and be really greatful I am finally ready... ready to finish this film.

Canadian politics inspired by an Icelandic Comedian

Tonight we went to a screening of the Icelandic documentary Gnarr. The film is the true story of one of Iceland's most popular comedians becoming the mayor of Reykjavik. Screening this film in Toronto couldn't have been timed better. I leave for Iceland tomorrow to document the re-writing of the Icelandic constitution AND tomorrow is a very important election day in Canada.

I have been hearing so much hope in the air about this federal election!  I can only keep all my toes, eyes, fingers, and.... well anything else I can find crossed that you too will experience the surge of excitement that so many of us felt when we got Obama. And that citizens of Reykjavik felt with Gnarr.

The theme of the film Gnarr was that absolutely ANYTHING can happen if you get enough people behind it. One woman in the audience asked during the Q+A "Is this real, did this really happen?"  There was a this really neat laughter that came over the crowd as sort of a comradery that we would love to see that happen in Canada.  One person said "wow, I am moving to Iceland". But I feel we can't  just leave our countries because we are in troubled times, we all live in countries right now where amazing change is possible.
As outlandish as electing a comedian politician sounds it actually was proof that the voters do have a say in the decisions being made. And as said in the film there are some very difficult issues on the horizon but if we can find a way to laugh and find joy while working through them then life won't feel unbearable.
I will make this short, as I have not packed yet. I hope for you tomorrow Canada that you don't feel defeated before you even reach the polls. Please use your voice and the power of your vote to say something about where you want your country to go. There are some scary issues on the table right now socially, economically, and environmentally and Canada you stand as a global example.
Be loud tomorrow!

Saving Ice

I had a very unique experience on April 9th. I was invited to Thorrablot hosted by the Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto. Thorrablot (Þorrablót) is a midwinter feast (Þorrablót's are common events among Icelanders everywhere and can be anything from an informal dinner with friends and family to large organized events with stage performances and an after-dinner dance)

An important vote happened in Iceland this very same night.
Imagine sitting in a room celebrating Icelandic traditions and at that very moment the future of Iceland's economic landscape is being voted on.

This is a major issue that Iceland has been dealing with since the crisis (October 2008) that I have yet to talk/blog about. Mainly this issue is just so complicated and evolving that I didn't want to make interested readers more confused.

 * I am going to give you a rapid run-down of what happened but please know there are volumes of details involved in this that I am leaving out for the sake of being brief. I will provide links at the bottom of this page for those that would like to get deeper.

What were they voting on? What are the possible outcomes of the vote? What was the outcome?
 
The first term to understand when trying to grasp what is happening in Iceland is "ICESAVE". 
 Icesave was an online savings account brand owned and operated by the private Icelandic bank, Landsbanki. It operated in two countries – the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Because of the financial collapse in October 2008 (the "kreppa") there is a huge sum of money owed to these countries and they want it back (or at least the guarantee that it is going to be paid back). The Dutch and British governments paid their citizens losses from the Icesave failure voluntarily. So the debt is not owed to the individual citizens effected by collapse but rather their governments.


This has been an issue on the table since the collapse.


What were they voting on?
On April 9th Iceland had their final opportunity to decide if they would accept the Icesave agreement (that they would accept full responsibility for the money lost to these countries).
It was as black and white as Yes or No. 


What are the possible outcomes of the vote? 
To vote YES means: 
a) Iceland will be paying this back for what could be many generations ($5.6 billion)(12,000 euros per citizen).
b) All Icelanders (in Iceland) will shoulder the burden/blame of a corrupt faulty banking system which benefited a small few.
c) Taking on this financial commitment can mean cut backs to all public sectors (i.e. education, arts, health care).

To vote NO means:
a) Pissing off the United Kingdom and the Netherlands simultaneously.
b) Possibly jeopardising any chances of joining the European Union
c) Iceland will be sued by the UK and Netherlands in the European Free Trade Association Court (this could take several years).

What was the outcome?
177,559 people used their opportunity to vote out of a total of nearly 230,000
 60% voted NO
40%  voted YES

By voting NO, Iceland has made (unintentionally or not) a global statement. Since then, large main stream media has been talking about Iceland non-stop. Politics aside this is an incredibly bold stance for Iceland to take, gaining international attention. 
"The European Union and the International Monetary Fund — their bailouts of Greece and Ireland were designed to make creditors whole — should learn from Iceland’s example. As they negotiate a rescue for Portugal, they should realize that taxpayers cannot bear the entire cost of the banks’ misdeeds."- New York Times


Links to articles directly addressing the recent vote.
Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg
BBC Video (Iceland's Finance Minister talks about results)
The Economist

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

ICELAND REVIEW (Icelandic publication in English)
GRAPEVINE (Icelandic publication in English)
BBC (British publication in English)
Rabble (Canadian publication in English)
The Economist 
Guardian

Kicking our Butts to Iceland

We are going back to Iceland for all of May! As we mentioned in the last post, Iceland has officially decided to keep the constitutional assembly and now call it the "constitutional council". We are going to document the re-writing of the Icelandic constitution. These are very exciting changing times and I cannot wait to share what we find (or what finds us).
I was asked why we haven't gone the route of large scale sponsors this is how we responded:
Part of why we are doing this in such a direct way is to embrace how a community of people can make the unimaginable happen. So far the entire process (3yrs of research and filming) has been supported and strengthened by a network of people who wanted to see a vision come to fruition. Wouldn't it be amazing if we were able to make this film that is about community and the power of alternative thinking through those same methods?