We are The People

It was a pleasure to host Icelandic Democracy activist Hordur Torfason and his husband, architect Massimo Santanicchia, in Christchurch a few weeks ago, as part of their New Zealand tour. Hordur is a wonderful speaker and spoke at both Lincoln University and the Aurora Center in Christchurch. He also held a more intimate session with some Arts Scholars at Canterbury University, which allowed for some fruitful discussion. I was very impressed by his calm demeanor and his overall approach to activism. He is no firebrand, as he prefers to articulate a more engaging approach. He does this by questioning people and drawing them into the construction and creation of any particular response or action. As a good journalist might do, he asks “why”, “how”, “what”, “who”….he often provides the “when”. He switches the popular activist discourse of action to discussion; “Does anyone understand what has happened?”; “What can we do about this?”; “Does anyone want to meet the same time and place next week?” and so on.

This approach creates a more open and iterative process of dialogue, where some form of consensus or action points may appear. Multiple and varied demands may be distilled down to have a more refined focus. In the aftermath of the Icelandic banking collapse, Hordur inspired the Cutlery Revolution and a process of introspection, investigation and reformation. With a background as a singer, songwriter, actor, playwright, poet and artist, Hordur uses creative methods to engage with the issue at hand, enabling people to be involved and have some input. The influence of the creative artist is detailed in Louise Amoore’s “Global Resistance Reader“, specifically in Part 4, with contribution from De Goede and Bleiker. They show that by using music, poetry, dance, comedy and other artistic forms, the activist can reframe the traditional discourse offered by the embedded elites and, thus, undermine their implied seriousness and, ultimately, their legitimacy.

He offers some important lessons about the problem of corruption, even in supposedly highly transparent countries, political oversight, and problematic links between politics, money and media. This has deep resonance for New Zealand, which has suffered similar problems for many years, under both political hues. In the end, people do have power and, most importantly, if committed, organised and engaged, can exercise that power at any time. One point that struck me was that the larger the disconnect between citizen and government, the more opportunity there is for both loss of engagement and control. In large countries, this is a real problem. It need not be so in smaller states, where access to representatives is easier and there are smaller degrees of separation between people. Finally, Hordur exhorts us to all be vigilant, as we can have no complaints if we just sit back and allow stuff to happen to us. For me this calls into question an issue I have been thinking about for sometime, namely our transformation from citizens into consumers. This has been a core part of the neo-liberal experiment, which has seen people focused on their interaction with the market, leading to a subsequent loss of connection with the concept of citizenship and a one way relationship with the state. I believe this is where our ultimate problems lie and, for me personally, this is reinforced by the Icelandic experience. The slow collapse of the post-modern debt-based financial system is a symptom of this malaise. The bubbles of change have been fermenting in many countries over the last decade and point to a subtle shift in how people view their relationship to the market and the state. Hordur’s story about Iceland is part of that process and is worth listening to. I’ve selected a talk Hordur gave last year, as it is quite focused and succinct and just 30 minutes of your time. Enjoy.