The Constitution is Finished

Today the Constitutional Assembly handed in the much anticipated brand-new constitution!

In October 2008 Iceland's economy went belly up. A small collective of people became very rich as the nation was clothes-lined with an unimaginable debt.
After the collapse (called the "kreppa") imaginative, innovative, pissed off Icelanders got together and discussed what they wanted to see change. One of the main items on that list was to re-write the constitution.

There was never really a purely Icelandic constitution prior to today. Up to this point Iceland's constitution was a borrowed copy from the Danes (they have been independent since the 40's).

Here is a brief rundown of what's happened that's making this day so incredibly important.
Click for Illustrated Diagram
 

So to push democracy to a new level the assembly put the drafts online, opened up the issues for discussion through facebook and twitter, and directly incorporated the public's opinions in the final decisions.

 

This is not all rose colored, the assembly faces challenges ahead. Each elect will go back to their lives as teachers, students, lawyers, farmers, parents, and clergy members. In the months to come the constitution will be reviewed by parliament and there it will be decided if this shall be the nations new "law of the land".

Is the end result the most important focus here? I wonder if we can learn a great deal from the process itself? An entire nation was welcomed to directly participate in the re-writing of their constitution from the comfort of their own homes. Do we have to be so distant from the decisions being made on our behalf? Could we approach our future with tenacity and innovation over anger and exhaustion?
I invite you on this very special day to think of five things you would like to participate in, within your own community, nation, social circle.

My birthday is next week and I enter into 30 with an un-yielding sense of responsibility. I have been gifted with the opportunity to see a constitution drafted, to speak to its authors, and to have followed a three year bread trail through the changes in a nations society following one of histories largest economic downfalls.
                                         Happy Birthday to you Icelandic Constitution.

Blueberry Soup is the documentary following the 3 year long aftermath of the economic crisis in Iceland. The film is in post-production now, as we sew together the dozens of interviews, epic imagery, and exciting moments please stay tuned for updates, photos, and videos.

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...

 

 

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.

New music and the decision for a new Constitution

It has been decided that the constitutional re-write will happen!
If you haven't heard of what's happened in the past three months in Iceland here is  a good way to catch up
(CLICK ME FOR BACKSTORY) 

So now instead of the 25 authors of the new constitution will be referred to as the "council" rather than the "assembly". And that seems to be the only change.

The council will submit their draft to Althingi (The Icelandic Parliament) in June of this year.
The same 25 that were originally elected in November will be writing in the upcoming months, that is if they still want to participate.
Wilma's Wish is in touch with a number of the elected officials and we will be posting updates on this very exciting process as it happens.



That is great news .

If you are searching around for new music, I have even more good news for you...

Sin Fang has released his newest album and you can sample it  HERE.

 Sin Fang is the solo project from the lead singer of Seabear an also very popular Icelandic band. 

The New Constitution

There has been a considerable amount of turmoil in Iceland as of late.
I went to bed with sweet dreams of re-invented democracy and new constitutions in my head and awoke to an entirely new horizon.

Many people I speak to here in Toronto are immediately engaged with what is happening in Iceland. This is particularly true when we talk about the new constitution. I've been trying to think of how to break this down as simply as possible.

 

The Decision 

 

A decision was made post-crisis to re-write the Icelandic Constitution by using a direct personal election. Now it is argued that the constitution is not directly related to the economic collapse. Although many also see it as a beacon of hope and change for Iceland's future. Which if looked in that way, can be directly connected to actions being taken to ensure a crisis like the one in 2008 will not happen again. " The flaws in the government flow from the Constitution upon which it is based"- Bjarni Brynjolfsson.
 (History Note: The current constitution was actually written by Denmark and used even after Iceland gained its independence)
To begin this process an event referred to as the "National Gathering" took place, 1,000 citizens were chosen at random to compile a document that will be used as a reference in writing the new constitution. The assembly drafted an outline to be submitted to the elected authors of the upcoming shiny new constitution, crafting an image of the future of Iceland, according to it's people.

The Candidates 

 Lawyers, students, farmers, journalists, and teachers ran for a position on the constitutional assembly (Members of Parliament are not allowed to run). 526 candidates and only 25 seats open. I was in Iceland during this period of time. We were lucky enough to attend one of the meetings intended to coach those interested through the campaigning process and offer advice to the candidates running on how to properly represent yourself to the public. One of the organizers Thorglis said "It's a tricky thing to teach people how to be politicians overnight".  At this event dozens took the microphone, giving short speeches addressing their  interest in the constitution and a bit on their own personal background. The event was filmed and made available to anyone that wasn't living in Reykjavik and wanted to hear the various  candidates platforms.
             There was a cap put on how much could be spent per campaign, that number still worked out to much more money than the average citizen's budget allowed. Because of this, social networks such as Facebook became paramount in campaigning.

                                    The Election  

  The election was held on November 27, 2010. Each candidate had a number assigned to them, because there were so many in the running, voters needed to have a "rough draft" of the numbers associated with the candidates they wanted to vote for.

                                   The Results

                    The results were impressively fairly balanced between men and women. The line-up of the chosen candidates covers all sorts of backgrounds (i.e. physician, filmmaker, lawyer, student, radio personality, farmer)
                                      Things were about to get started, the process was to begin in February of 2011 and estimated to take between 2-4 months.
The elected 25 would spend this time in Reykjavik with the heavy duty of re-writing their nations constitution.

The Back-Lash

Then 3 lawsuits were handed into the courts. The claimants stated that the electoral process was not up to the standards needed to ensure fairness and voter confidentiality. (It may be worth mentioning that one of the claimants was an individual that ran in the election but did not win)
Why you may ask?

Here are the main issues the plaintiffs had with the election:
1) Due to the ballots being hand-written, a number of ballots were illegible and therefore not counted.
2) The box in which the ballots were placed did not have a lock and the forms were not folded, therefore exposing the voters choices.
3) The order in which each person voted, depended on when they showed up, therefore it was suggested in the law suite that one could trace back a voters ballot.

The Verdict

On January 25th the Supreme Court ruled the November 2010 constitutional election illegal due to its  deficiencies in execution.
Did your heart just sink too?

The Prime Minster Jóhanna Si gurðardóttir said that "The Constitutional Assembly was the nation’s tool to forge a new constitution and we cannot take the assembly away from the nation,”

               A Constitutional Assembly can be a badly needed champion for the people.  "margt smatt gerir eitt stort" ("many small things make one large thing")- Eyglo Svala Arnarsdottir.  "It can eliminate the effect of money from the political process and let political parties fulfill their proper role of advocating ideologies.  It can look beyond the clamour of those who proclaim the benefits of divisive, confrontational party politics and recommend a process that puts public interest above private interest."    Fred Gohlke, Carteret, NJ, USA

               I am considering the recent protest in Egypt, where its people gathered courage from watching Tunisia dramatically change their own political landscape. With smaller nations such as Iceland and Tunisia ushering in proof that we can change our situations and and are never powerless, I see that we stand a real chance at change within our own difficulties. I am not going to see this as a defeat for Iceland but rather a chance to re-claim how much they really want the constitutional reform. I look forward to reporting back to you when the assembly reconvenes.