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  1. Link

    | 67 notes
    Crowdsourcing Iceland's constitution - the end of a dream?

    lexytopping:

    One of the things I looked at in Iceland is how, following its financial crash meltdown in 2009, it crowdsourced a constitution which starts (depending on the translation) with the preamble  

    We, the people of Iceland, wish to create a just society where everyone has a seat at the same table.

    This piece Pirate Party leader Birgitta Jónsdóttir wrote for the Guardian sets out how the constitution was formed 

    The foundation for the constitution was created by 1,000 people randomly selected from the national registry. We elected 25 people to put that vision into words. The new constitution is now in the parliament. It will be up to the 99% to call for a national vote on it so that we inside the parliament know exactly what the nation wants and will have to follow suit. If the constitution passes, we will have almost achieved everything we set out to do. Our agenda was written on various open platforms; direct democracy is the high north of our political compass in everything we do.

    But now those that wrote the constitution fear for its future. Constitutional Society in Iceland recently sent me a mailout entitled “SOS Constitution”. 

    Many in Iceland hope Parliament will adopt before the end of its term the new  constitution written by the citizens in the aftermath of the financial crisis. However, “politics as usual” game is stopping this project.

    While the world looks to Iceland as an example of democratic (r)evolution (power to citizens, now, here) things do not look so bright in Reykjavík.

    The crux of the matter is that any change in Iceland’s constitution must be approved by two successive parliaments. As the last day of this parliament before the elections has been and gone with no vote on the constitution, it’s not looking hopeful. 

    However, on her last day in parliament as Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (Iceland’s first openly gay and first female PM) made an amendment. Now any change to the constitution can only be made if 

    • a) two thirds of parliament approve it
    • b) 40% of the total electorate approve it in a referendum.
    What does this mean? Well, passing the constitution is going to be HARD. This has made some say the constitution is “officially dead”. 
    Others are less pessimistic. Accordion-playing politician Guðmundur Steingrímsson, head of new political party Bright Future (Björt framtíð) currently running at third in the polls, told me in an interview at the Althingi that “is has not been destroyed”. He said:
    It’s really important people don’t think the constitution is dead. Yes it is not going to be easy but there is a way now. 
    Icelanders keep telling me that Iceland is not a utopia, and I agree. But I think there is value in the discussion they are having, and I can’t see anything similar happening in our own (much bigger, significantly messier) democracy. 
    Story to follow in the Guardian’s foreign pages. 

    Follow Lexy Topping’s new Tumblr for more detail and behind the scenes of her investigations into Iceland’s experimentation with digital democracy

  5. LIVE Q&A, 1-3pm BST - jobseeking and unemployment in Europe

    | 6 notes

    Great set of questions from reader eutoteu kicking of our live webchat on jobs in Europe.

    As part of our Europa series on jobs and unemployment, a panel of experts will be on hand to offer advice and talk about your experiences in this open discussion:

    Hello! I have a BA in International Relations, an MA in International Law and currently working as a project manager in a small firm.
    My situation and questions are directed first at Mrs. Nannette Ripmeester and second to your other guests: I would like to work mostly in the US or if not, in the UK of Fr.
    The problems that I face are as follows:

    1. Experience: as a young employee I don’t have the 3-5 year experience that is mostly required to be considered for the job. I have done internships, unpaid ones, but I cannot afford to continue down that unpaid path. How can you get experience if either nobody is hiring ooor the ones that do want you, take advantage of the economic situation and are making you work for free as an “intern”. (this is one of the most frustrating situations out of all)

    2. Getting your CV to be read by a international company. As I do not have an IT or Economics diploma, my CV doesn’t seem interesting enough.

    3. Visas or work permits. Employers seem not that eager to hire graduates from other countries.

    Anybody else facing these problems?

    So, my question is how to go about all this? :)

    Thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule and participating :)

    Leave your questions now and join in the webchat with our experts at 1pm BST.

  7. Photo

    | 57 notes
    Photograph: Guardian How Kipper Williams has captured the Eurozone crisis in cartoons: Guardian cartoonist Kipper Williams is having a good eurozone crisis. He aims to capture the ‘tragi-comedy’ of the crisis, with cartoons that are ‘often silly, fanciful but a whisker away from reality’. Tackling yields, credit default swaps and eurobonds in a cartoon isn’t easy, he says, and his aim is to bring the crisis ‘back down to earth’. He has clearly thrived on the twists and turns of the Greek crisis, playing on what he describes as the ‘handy, accessible and familiar’ classical myths and legends. And he has a canny knack of anticipating events, imagining a return to the drachma last June – a fanciful idea at the time but now under serious consideration. Here are some of his best cartoons of the crisis …

    Photograph: Guardian

    How Kipper Williams has captured the Eurozone crisis in cartoons:

    Guardian cartoonist Kipper Williams is having a good eurozone crisis. He aims to capture the ‘tragi-comedy’ of the crisis, with cartoons that are ‘often silly, fanciful but a whisker away from reality’. Tackling yields, credit default swaps and eurobonds in a cartoon isn’t easy, he says, and his aim is to bring the crisis ‘back down to earth’. He has clearly thrived on the twists and turns of the Greek crisis, playing on what he describes as the ‘handy, accessible and familiar’ classical myths and legends. And he has a canny knack of anticipating events, imagining a return to the drachma last June – a fanciful idea at the time but now under serious consideration. Here are some of his best cartoons of the crisis …

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