Icelanders refuse to bow to bankers and governments

Heartening news came over the weekend from the far north. Asked in a national referendum whether Iceland should pay British and Dutch banks £3.4 billion, the islanders voted by 93% to put much needed public services first. Only 2% of the people backed the deal brokered by British and Dutch governments.

Alistair Darling admitted that this means the debt will remain unpaid for “many, many years”.

The BBC reported:

Many Icelanders believe the plan should be rejected because they feel they are being penalised for the mistakes of the banking industry.

"I will vote 'No' simply because I disagree very strongly with us... having to shoulder this burden," Ingimar Gudmundsson, a lorry driver, told AFP news agency.

Icelanders were also incensed that the British Government used anti-terrorist laws to seize the assets of the failed bank IceSave in 2008. We were assured that anti-terrorist legislation was only there to combat bombers and hijackers. But now it is being used against anyone – even Iceland!

Why can’t we have a referendum in the UK on whether we should pay back the £1 trillion we gave to the banks? Could it be because 94% of us would vote to deny the greedy bankers and protect the NHS, schools and social housing budgets? I think so.


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