{"id":36292,"date":"2013-11-11T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=36292"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:21:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:21:13","slug":"exclusive-icelands-alda-movement-seeks-a-roadmap-toward-systemic-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/11\/exclusive-icelands-alda-movement-seeks-a-roadmap-toward-systemic-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Iceland’s ALDA Movement Seeks a Roadmap toward Systemic Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland’s Association of Sustainability and Democracy, or\u00a0ALDA<\/a>, is one of the European island nation’s pioneering direct democracy groups. Featured prominently in the film, “Pots, Pans and Other Solutions<\/a>,” it has formulated proposals which could radically alter the political and economic landscape, defying the neoliberal mantra that “there are no alternatives.”<\/p>\n

Their changes include using randomly selected citizens to become members of Parliament, democratizing the workplace, and establishing citizen assemblies to decide crucial issues — including holding one at least every 20 years to redraft the national constitution. In 2011, the group submitted\u00a012 ideas<\/a>\u00a0into the crowd-sourced constitutional process.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the main reasons for forming ALDA was there was no organization with a roadmap to change our political and economic systems, despite the obvious defects,\u201d says Kristinn M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson, one of the group’s founding members. A sociologist academic by training, M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson predicts that increasing crises such as climate change and economic inequality will demand alternative systems on a global scale.<\/p>\n

Occupy.com interviewed M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson to explore ALDA\u2019s aims and to better understand how the 2008 crash galvanized Icelanders to seek economic and political alternatives.<\/p>\n

A People’s Constitution<\/b><\/p>\n

Iceland gained international attention for its new constitution created by a citizen council, based on consensus. An English translation of the document shows the ways it protects social and economic rights that are\u00a0threatened in other countries<\/a>. Based on proposals taken from the Internet, it has the potential to be the first ever digitally crowd-sourced constitution. Yet it was never ratified.<\/p>\n

The constitution was presented to Icelanders on October 20, 2012, and passed with 73% support. The public turnout, however, was just 48%. \u201cThe procedure itself was experimental and had numerous flaws,\u201d M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson reflects. \u201cWe need to revise the constitution with even greater public participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of now trying to ratify the document, he advocates starting over using a clearer process. During the original attempt, timing and progression decisions were made as the process went along. M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson also points out that \u201cthe process of voting \u2013 of a single transferable vote, for citizens to be appointed to the council \u2013 was also new. This was a very important, single part, and was a first using the transferable vote,” he says, “so it probably reduced the legitimacy needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson says he would promote further measures that enable participatory decision making, democratize the workplace, protect the environment and restructure the financial system. He points out that it was the near total meltdown of Iceland’s economy which served as the catalyst for the constitutional process.<\/p>\n

But it was in the Parliament where the constitution failed. At the time of the referendum, a left wing coalition was in power and yet the government did not ratify it. Since then, a right wing coalition has been elected, leading many outside observers to predict the process has failed.<\/p>\n

The inaction by the left wing-led Parliament, says M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson, reflected politicians’ overall tentative reaction to the crisis. \u201cPolitical parties in positions of power, on both the right and the left in Iceland, as everywhere else, were in agreement that the correct course of action was restoration and not revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changing Leadership<\/b><\/p>\n

Experimentation with democracy runs as a theme through the Icelandic movements, a point which is captured well in “Pots, Pans and Other Solutions.” One of ALDA\u2019s methods that differentiates it from others Icelandic groups is its advocacy of randomly selected politicians.<\/p>\n

ALDA has proposed that one-third of the ministers in Iceland\u2019s Parliament be randomly selected, and the others voted in: half as independents, half from political parties. The association asserts that random selection will provide for more equal rights than in the current representative system. The group writes: \u201cThose chosen randomly generally see themselves representing the general public while those elected from party-lists see themselves as representatives of their political party\u2019s voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson highlights four instances over the past decade in which Iceland’s power structure resulted in crucial decisions being made which contradicted public opinion and public will: 1) attacking Iraq; 2) joining NATO; 3) building the K\u00e1rahnj\u00fakar hydroelectric plant; and 4) privatizing the banks.<\/p>\n

He believes that using a random selection of politicians from society can reduce the chance that Parliament will act against majority will on crucial matters affecting most of the population. \u201cA randomly selected citizens council is more likely to contain a broader section of society. Anyone therefore is equally likely to be selected and this adds legitimacy. There is also evidence that cognitive diversity yields better results, even compared to selecting groups of specialists,” says M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson, who recommends H\u00e9l\u00e9na Landemore’s book “Democratic Reason<\/a>” to learn more.<\/p>\n

Within the international media, some have written off Iceland’s direct democracy experiments as an opportunity lost, citing few examples of real progress. M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson agrees that only small steps have so far been taken. But he interprets the results differently: for him, the crisis has produced a discussion that is necessary before there can be any system change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe general public was unlikely to call for changes they have never heard of in 2008. What we have learned is we need ideas and institutional models, such as for sustainable and democratic economics, and the method to implement participatory democracy,” he says. “For the next crisis, we need a roadmap to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALDA is hardly alone with that aim. A recent article, “Dandelion Against Neoliberalism<\/a>,” argues that the numerous global social justice movements that have emerged since the financial crash are potentially spreading the seeds of radical change that will flourish later.<\/p>\n

When I ask M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson to evaluate the extent that the financial crash and subsequent people\u2019s movements are having in helping to undermine current neoliberal dominance, he responds:<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there is a worldwide movement working on solutions to our problems looking at new economic and political models, but it is so far incoherent. Of course, it was there before the crash, but it has many new elements. It is also far more visible in the public discussions, and with at least some public support. I expect we\u2019ll see even cooperation across this movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggests that the lack of political parties offering a clear agenda for change indicates the movement has a ways to go, although the distance is far nearer than before. \u201cThe financial crisis and other issues, particularly climate change and how prosperity and growth interact, mean the persuasive powers of \u2018there are no alternatives\u2019 are greatly diminished everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 occupy.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kristinn M\u00e1r \u00c1rs\u00e6lsson, a founder of Iceland’s Association of Sustainability and Democracy, advocates measures that enable participatory decision making, democratize the workplace, protect the environment and restructure the financial system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}