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Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Women of Iceland

Posted by on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 9:30 AM

Change is in the air everywhere. America gets a black man; Iceland wants women.

Iceland's government was last night scrambling to avoid becoming the first administration to be ousted by the global financial crisis, as ministers huddled to try and hold together a coalition in the face of some of the biggest protests the country has seen for 60 years.

Protesters who have mounted vocal demonstrations in recent weeks against the collapse of the economy squared up to police, spattered parliament with eggs and paint, and at one point surrounded the prime minister's car as he tried to leave his office.

They pelted Geir Haarde's car with eggs and banged on the windows, shouting "resign", in a sign of mounting exasperation at the government's failure to prevent the economy from imploding under a mountain of billions of dollars of debt.

"These men bankrupted Iceland. It's ridiculous that they continue as if nothing happened," the writer Hallgrimur Helgason said. "I want the government to resign and an emergency government to be proclaimed, preferably made up of women. They can't do worse than men."

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
"they can't do any worse" - SWEET!
Posted by cnine on January 22, 2009 at 9:38 AM
2
Even Iceland thinks Ayn Rand was really a man.
Posted by elenchos on January 22, 2009 at 9:47 AM
3
Bjork will fix it?
Posted by Abby on January 22, 2009 at 9:50 AM
4
If you've been paying attention, you'll know that Iceland literally bankrupted back about three or four weeks ago. Yep, the entire fucking country. The banks were seized and everything. Man, would that suck or what.

So yeah, as happy as we are to see "anybody but Bush" on office, these people have to be feeling that in spades.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty on January 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM
5
Iceland is already #4 in the World Economic Forum's gender gap list, which measures the gender gap is the economy, politics, education, and health (higher on the list is better). The United States is #31, right behind Estonia, Namibia, and Costa Rica. Iceland is #4 specifically in political empowerment, and we are #69 in politics, behind Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan. We have been dropping in recent years, too. It's pretty shameful.

http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gc…
Posted by jrrrl on January 22, 2009 at 10:32 AM
6
Condoleeza looks Icelandic! She has bigtime executive experience. Send her to Reykjavik!
Posted by Karlheinz Arschbomber on January 22, 2009 at 10:39 AM
7
Yes we can!
Posted by Iceland is fur womyn on January 22, 2009 at 11:07 AM
8
I'm not sure "They can't do worse than men" is a compliment.
Posted by Vince on January 22, 2009 at 12:23 PM
9
Muh dik white wimminz!
Posted by Charles Muhdik on January 23, 2009 at 10:53 AM

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