Iceland government falls

[Peter Lemkin]

Iceland's Pirate party sets sail for power

Mure Dickie in Reykjavik

©AFPBirgitta Jonsdottir, leader of the Pirate's parliamentary group

Iceland's three Pirate party members of parliament won their first legislative victory last year: the repeal of blasphemy laws that threatened jail for anyone insulting religion on this once-pious island of 330,000 souls.
That now looks like just the start. From a minor offshoot of the international anti-copyright Pirate movement, the Icelandic Pirates have, in less than four years, become by far its most successful standard-bearers.

Polls sh owing voter support for the Pirates at more than 40 per cent, making them easy favourites to lead the nation after elections promised for autumn by a ruling coalition battered by Panama Papers revelations of ministers' ties to offshore finance.
And with proposals including granting citizenship to US spy agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and drug decriminalisation, a Pirate party-led government would be likely to send political tremors far beyond the seismically unstable island.
Even Birgitta Jonsdottir, leader of the Pirate's parliamentary group, says she finds the prospect of national power a little frightening.
In an interview in Iceland's Althingi parliament as pot-bashing protesters rallied outside, Ms Jonsdottir recalled having a dream in 2003 in which she was Iceland's prime minister.
"It was a nightmare . . . It was really scary," she said. "My biggest fear, and it is a big fear of many of the Pirates, is that we don't want to become one with the power."
Yet while Ms Jonsdottir insists she does not want to be premier, she clearly relishes the prospect of being able to turn Pirate policies into parliamentary priorities.
It is an extraordinary achievement for a party that proudly hangs a skull and cross bones flag in its parliamentary office and says its goals have widened far beyond copyright reform to include transformation of the entire political system.
Core Pirate policy principles include belief in citizens "unlimited right" to involvement in political decisions that affect them, and the rejection of "any limits" on their rights to express themselves or share information except where doing so would violate the rights of other individuals.
The Pirates defy convention by having no individual leader, with chairmanship of the party's parliamentary group alternating between MPs annually. Their policymaking institution is a decentralised online platform in which all members can take part in developing proposals.
My biggest fear, and it is a big fear of many of the Pirates, is that we don't want to become one with the power - Birgitta Jonsdottir, Pirate party MP

Even rival opposition parties readily admit to the Pirate party's appeal, particularly at a time when the Panama Papers have reopened the scars from the 2008 financial crisis and deepened the suspicion among many that Iceland's two ruling parties are in thrall to wealthy interests.
"The Pirates really have the hearts and minds of the people at the moment," says Eva Bjarnadottir of the Social Democratic Alliance.
Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left-Green Movement, says she welcomes the Pirate's rise, even though it has largely overshadowed her own party, which won seven seats in the 2013 election to Iceland's 63-seat parliament.
The Pirates' focus on transparency and direct democracy contrasts well with policies of the nationalist rightwing groups that, in other European nations, are gaining from discontent with traditional politics, Ms Jakobsdottir says.
"The pirates are essentially a positive force," she says. "I think it's a good thing that they are the party that is gaining from political dissatisfaction, not a different sort of party."
Yet with little party structure and only meagre funds, some say the Pirates are ill-prepared to run the country.
"It's not like people learn how to run a government in university . . . but that's also partly the reason why people want us, because they want us to rewrite the rules of what it means to be a political party in power," says Asta Helgadottir, a Pirate MP.
"We don't know if this is going to work, but at least we are trying," says Ms Helgadottir, 26.
Many voters, exasperated with what they say is Iceland's endemic cronyism, are clearly willing to consider a punt on the Pirates.
"Most parties are part of this corruption so I guess I would support the new Pirate party," says Omar Hafsteinsson, 62, an electrical contractor. "They don't seem to have ties to money."
"I'll probably vote for them," said unemployed 20-year-old Magnus Jensen, as he took a pause from throwing old slices of Domino's pizza on parliament building windowsills as a symbol of his contempt for the ruling parties.
"The [Pirate] members that I know seem generally like good people who are in politics to make the world better not just to make things better for the elite," Mr Jensen said.