Organized public protests from the group Voice of the People continued
for the 27th time last Saturday, with a focus on influencing the
government’s financial policies.
The group has emphasised three main points in a press release. These points are:
1. Freeze the assets of the so-called “rampaging vikings”, the colloquial term for Iceland’s nouveau-riche businessmen who made their fortunes overseas. As many of these businessmen kept their incomes off-shore and in foreign currency, they are often blamed for the current economic crisis by many of these protestors.
2. Abolish indexation, that is, to do away with price indexation which adjusts the price of goods for inflation, the reasoning being that incomes are not able to keep up with the rising costs of goods and service in this country.
3. Nationalize the fishing quota. As it stands, tonnages of each kind of fish are owned by private companies. As it is, most of the fishing quota is owned by a few large companies who rent out parcels of their quota to smaller fishing companies. The quota system in its present form has, over the years, led to entire towns having to close as jobs move south.
Protests have been ongoing since the banking system collapsed last autumn.