questions about Iceland: the crisis has increased the consent of the radical left In Iceland, the economic crisis that has brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy has also resulted in a shift to the left of the political landscape. The party that collects the radical left, the Left Green Movement is growing fast in the polls. The elections will be held a fine aprile, intanto si è formato un governo provvisorio formato dalla socialdemocrazia e dalla sinistra radicale. Dal forum di Red Pepper, riprendo questa breve nota politica di fine febbraio. Economic Crisis In Iceland and The Left Green Movement The interim govt in Iceland is an allaince of the social democrats, progressive party and the left green movement. TLGM have at present 9 MP's out of 63, but opinion polls consistently put them in the lead in the run up to a general election in May this year. The are polling around 30%, so are unlikely to form a govt on their own, but could well be the largest party in any coalition govt post the election.
With Iceland's economy in ruins, following the ultra neo liberal policies of the previous govt (of which the social democrats were part) and the subsequent crash, this is very encouraging. If TLGM were to win the general election, it could send ripples right across Europe, and be a boast for green left politics. It could point the way out of neo liberalism and towards green socialism.
Some info on the The Left Green Movement
The party was founded on February 6th 1999 after a few months work, aiming to unite socialist and conservationist groups for the elections held on May 8th.
The prelude was a structural reorganisation on the left wing of Icelandic politics. On the one hand there were those who prepared the unification of three existing parties, The Social democrats (Alþýðuflokkur), The People's Alliance (Alþýðubandalagið) and The Women's Party (Samtök um kvennalista) in one social-democratic party. On the other side there were those who fought for the unification of social-, environmental and feminist politics into one party. These were to be found in the above mentioned parties, especially in the Peoples Alliance and the Women's Party and in an open leftwing forum newly founded, Stefna - a forum for left politics.
This movement joined forces with four MP's from The People's Alliance and The Women's Party who had the same views and had for some months formed an independent group within the parliament. In due time a new political party The Left-Green Movement was founded as a choice to the left of The Alliance (Samfylkingin).
The cornerstones of it´s policy are the following:
Conservation of the environment
All natural resources shall be public property and utilized without reducing them and in a careful manner. So-called green economics must be used to estimate the value of untouched nature and green taxes shall be applied to encourage protection of the environment. From our point of view, it is of great importance that Icelanders can produce all the energy they need in the future. We reject further building of power plants for the use of polluting large scale industry and demand conservation of the highland. We emphasize powerful, international co-operation and conventions concerning environmental matters.
Equality and social justice
All individuals shall have equal rights and no discrimination can be tolerated. We demand full equality concerning education, all social service, public information and freedom of speech. It is the duty of the Icelandic state to guarantee the welfare of every citizen, especially the elderly and the disabled.
The Left-Green Movement supports the strenghtening of the rural areas of Iceland by means of good social service, education, prosperous culture and various economy. Privatization in public areas is of great danger in these matters, since it usually leads to a more expensive service in rural areas.
It is a project of high priority to guarantee that wages paid for 40 hours' work a week will be sufficient for a normal cost of living.
Fair and prosperous economy
The Left-Green Movement is willing to strengthen the position of wage earners to influence the development of our society. The party is willing to support the development of Icelandic economy to a state of more diversity and encourage the use of environment-friendly technology. It is necessary to prevent monopoly and centralization of capital, enable the conventional industries of Iceland to develop themselves and make use of Iceland's special status to create jobs of all kinds for all the inhabitants.
Independent foreign policy
The Left-Green Movement fights for an independent, Icelandic foreign policy that maintains the sovereignty of Iceland and supports all means of establishing global peace. The party opposes participation in military organizations such as NATO and WEU. It also rejects participation in the European Union and emphasizes simple, bilateral treaties concerning trade and co-operation.
The Left-Green Movement is willing to strenghten the co-operation of all nations based on mutual respect for different opinons and different culture. The party supports and wants to strenghten the participation in democratical organizations such as the United Nations, the European Council and the Nordic Council. Iceland shall support the goals of the UN and the Declaration of Human Rights by making a contribution to the abolition of poverty and hunger, social injustice, unequal division of wealth, racial discrimination, violation of human rights and militarism.
Dal 22 al 24 Aprile nella città di Siracusa si svolgerà il g8 dell'ambiente, 
