Put Tibet Back on the Map:

Stand in Solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet!

When is the right time to offer political asylum for Assange in Iceland?

I would like to make a few points clear: I don´t think it is right that Julian Assange is held in custody in the UK because of the allegations in Sweden. I however think it is a to mistake to mix the allegation in Sweden with freedom of information. It is a personal case that has been mixed together with a non personal case, by supporters and adversaries of WikiLeaks alike.

Julian is in just as much danger to be transferred to the USA from the UK as from Sweden. That is why it is totally unacceptable that he is held in custody. That appears to me like an attempt to gag him and should be protested loud and clear. If Julian is charged in the USA I will call for Iceland to grant him political asylum if his own country fails to protect him.

I find it deeply troubling to attack anyone in the personal case pending in Sweden, none of them are guilty until charged. I have heard conspiracy theories spanning the entire scope: from Assange being the victim of CIA to Julian being a CIA agent. It is important to stop the speculations and wait for the facts.

I however call for Julians release on bail early next week - if not, it is obvious that this personal case in Sweden is being used as a political tool against freedom of information.

I fully support what WikiLeaks stands for and I am also fully behind OpenLeaks - may there be many more to come.

My statement from the NATO parliamentary assembly 161110

(The NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen chose to send the NATO Parliamentary Assembly a video message instead of showing up in person. His excuse was he was too busy preparing for a Summit meetings of Heads of State and Government later this month. An insult to the parliamentary process. I decided to address this despite there were no Q&A after the video, I was granted the space to do this. Heads of state are serving the parliaments and the parliaments are serving the people. It is important to always remember this. Rasmussen seems to have forgotten this obvious fact.)

Statement made by Mrs. Birgitta Jonsdottir, member of the Icelandic delegation to the NATO-PA, 16 November 2010 at the Annual Session in Warsaw (after Secretary General of NATO´S video message)

Thank you Mr. President,

I greatly appreciate the Assembly’s stated purpose to provide a forum for the exercise of parliamentary scrutiny of NATO and to create a context for the Alliance to be ruled in a democratic fashion.  At a national level, subjecting military establishments to democratic control is no easy task. But it becomes even more challenging in a multi-national context.

I therefore find it utterly baffling that the Secretary General of NATO has chosen not to appear before this body today. I also understand that he did not meet with the heads of our delegations at the annual February meeting in Brussels.

Secretary Generals of large alliances are indeed busy people, particularly when those alliances are entangled in tragic wars. But what we are talking about here is a wilful effort on the part of the Secretary General to avoid subjecting himself and his institution to the essential and sometimes uncomfortable rigors of democratic accountability.

To put it bluntly, we did not travel to Warsaw to conduct a dialogue with a video image of the Secretary General of NATO. Speaking with a television is, in itself, a rather absurd exercise – but it becomes well nigh impossible when that image is a pre-recorded one. I suspect that I am not the only parliamentarian who sees this matter as an affront to the people we represent.

I would therefore like to urge the leadership of the Assembly to make it very clear to the current Secretary General that our members will not tolerate any deviation of the very fundamental exercise in democratic scrutiny. NATO cannot be allowed to become an unaccountable body.

Iraq War Logs

Iraq War Logs covered by AL JAZEERA made me think of a poem I wrote in the wake of the war. Last place i performed this poem was at a NATO parliamentary assembly side event in the Scottish parliament last year. I will bring the issue of the War Logs to the next NATO parliamentary assembly meeting that will take place in Warsaw 12th of November. The way the war logs have been made available via the WikiLeaks network to the general public, the media, the UN, the politicians and the people within the counties suffering from the war crimes uncovered in the war logs will hopefully wake people up about the: 

Horror of War

Headless bodies

        burned flesh

smell of decay

A wedding band

on a slim delicate finger

Shades of memories

a future that can never be

A lonely head in a lush green field

eyes wide open

In the hollow a reflection of

untold love

Mountains of starved children

                            shiny bones

flesh torn off the bodies

Shocked and awed

by the images of mothers

miscarrying their unborn children

Shocked and awed

by the silent fear

countless civilians

dead dead dead

These are images

we should put in a frame

Mount them in our homes

so we never forget;

the true horror of war

and hopefully we will be able to find other solutions in conflict then full fledge war... lets use the war logs to stop future wars - fight war not wars! 

My speech at Woodstock 5 Stelle

I have seen signs

the end of the world

as we know it

has begun

Don't panic

it might look terrifying

on the surface

but inside every

human being

a choice

to go under

or act

Earth is calling

Sky is calling

God is calling

Creation is calling

wake up, wake up now

Generate the capacity for love

for compassion in your heart

Now is the time

to yield to the call of growth

to the call of action

you are the change makers

Sleepers of all ages

wake up

wake up now

The 21^st century will be the century of the common people – the century of YOU of US

The ideologies of the old school of politics, media, monetary systems, corporations , and all known structures are in a state of transformation. They are crumbling. Now is the time for fundamental change on all levels, we have to seize this moment. Because this is THE moment.

It is rare that generations and so many individuals get such an opportunity to transform the world as we know it. The big question is how do we transform it? Lets start by turning the pyramid of power upside down.

It is obvious that we are running out of planet, many people have lost the vital connection to our environment, most of humanity doesn’t comprehend cause and effect of lack of sustainability anymore and many of us feel lost, displaced and lonely. All the structures we thought would take care of us, be it systems, ideologies, religion, politics or institutions are failing. Big time!

To follow my intuition as a politician makes a lot more sense to me then the rivalry and manipulations of left or right ideology. The right and wrong  ideology  of the old  world has simply outgrown itself. No longer do we have strong parliaments with a direct link between the general public and decision maker. We have so called professional politicians that are far removed from the reality most of us live in.

Parties and politicians are often in an unhealthy marriage with corporations and corruption is thriving in the political arena all over the world. Many governments and politicians talk about transparency yet the process of politics and laws is shredded in secrecy.

When everything collapsed in Iceland in 2008 I sensed that within this crises was to be found an incredible opportunity for change. Because of that I helped create a political movement February 2009. Its chief agenda was to bring forth democratic reform, such as people being able to call for national referendum and sever the ties between corporations and politics.

In order for profound change to be possible those of us inside parliament have to behave like activists by changing the traditions and revealing the unwritten rules of power.

We are creating a haven for freedom of information in Iceland. Information will set you free and thus it should be free to access by everyone. We went on a quest to find all the best possible laws from around the world that ensure freedom of expression, information and speech. By basing our laws on legislation that has already proven to be strong enough to withstand attacks from those that want us to live in a world with less flow of information about the darker side of politics, international corporations, war and oppression.

Information doesn’t have any borders any more. We live in a world where the super powers want to put global censorship laws on the Internet. We have to be a step ahead of them.

I joined forces with Wikileaks because I feel it is so incredible important that there are places in our world where whistleblowers and sources can feel save to drop important documents that governments and corporations want to hide from us.

Immi will make it possible for investigative journalists from around the world publish their stories if they are under treat to be placed under gag orders in their own countries, everyone should have free access to information, in our world there should be no gag orders, no prior restriction. Immi will provide a shield against that.

We should have a haven for those that are willing to risk their lives to blog or write news about things in their own world, even if we might not be able to save them from the risk they take, we could at least make sure that their stories will not be taken down  from the internet, no matter what.

My hope is that immi will transform into the International modern media initiative, because everyday the freedoms we want to protect with it are eroding at an alarming rate. Here in Italy you are witnessing the end of the freedom of media with a new set of laws called legge bavaglio. There is no copyright on immi. Use it now! Without freedom of information, you don’t really have democracy but dictatorship with many heads.

The 21^st century will be the age of us, the common people, where we will understand that in order to live in the reality we dream of, we have to participate and help co-create that reality.

I strongly encourage you to join this incredible Movement Beppe Grillo has co-created, run for office, be part of this opportunity of change. If I could become an MP in the Icelandic parliament, anyone can become a member of parliament.

Here is our first task: If there is something we have to make sure stays under the guardianship of nations not corporations then it is the following, water companies, energy companies, social welfare, education and health systems. 

We have made everything so complex and grand, perhaps it is time to return to more simple ways, more self sustainable ways, we can do that by learning from each other, by helping each other locally and globally and by remembering that we as individuals can change the world, and now is the time to step forward – take on that challenge and be the change maker. Don’t expect others to do it, your time has arrived to make a difference!

A year and a half ago, I was temporary unemployed, single parent with the simple goal of figuring out how I as an individual could help create a sustainable future for the next generations. Needless to say: no one really believed I could be where I am today. Yet it is not a Cinderella story but a story I co-created with my society.

Most people have seen that left and right politics doesn’t have any meaning anymore. To create political movement based on common agenda of pressing issues of basic human rights and democratic reform is so important right now.

In order for the common people like us to co-create our society we have to have the democratic tools to do that. People need to get into parliaments to change the laws so we all can have the power that is rightfully ours, to impact our society and apply real pressure on those in power to work for us, not the elite.

M political movements chief aim has been to inspire ordinary people to take on political responsibilities. We don’t want people with political training, we don’t want professional politicians and we above everything else don’t want to be a political party.  And remember no matter what they will tell you: power corrupts and disconnects people from the reality other citizens live in.

We created the Movement 8 weeks before elections, we had no money, and no one knew us, yet we got more then 7% of the vote at the general elections in 2009. I hope to see the same sort of numbers for your Movement in the 2010 elections.

One of the reasons why it is so important for groups to get representatives into places of power, is that it is a lot easier to get media attention on your causes, and it is handy to be able to confront or talk with ministers and other mps about important issues without delay.

When I was working as an activist one of the hardest challenges was to get the attention from both the media and the people in power to the cause, getting some changes implemented was nearly impossible. Now that I am getting a better understanding on how things work within the legislative body I have much better chance to help other activists and the general public to get attention and even legislative changes and resolutions on issues they are concerned about.

What might seem impossible now might be quite possible tomorrow because we are experiencing very rapid changes on all levels. So I encourage you to start to make the blueprint for the future you want to live in, to be passionate about your cause and to believe that everything is possible, today failings might turn into tomorrows successes.

But the most important part is if you have a chance to work within the belly of the beast to not become like them but to listen to your heart, to listen to your intuition and to be impeccable with your word. And finally not care at all if you loose that place of power.

Thank you all the people of the Movement in Italy – I know I am experiencing a truly historical moment here today. Thank you all who dare to be part of this massive movement of transformation of politics.

Transformation of politics

 the 21^st century will be the century of the common people

I have seen signs

the end of the world

as we know it

has begun

Don't panic

it might look terrifying

on the surface

but inside every

human being

a choice

Earth is calling

Sky is calling

God is calling

Creation is calling

Wake up, wake up now!

Generate the capacity for love

for compassion in your heart

Now is the time

to yield to the call of growth

and unlimited love

to all that life is

So wake up

wake up now

The ideologies of the old school of politics, media, monetary systems, corporations , and all known structures are in a state of transformation. They are crumbling and now is the ideal time for reform on all levels, if we seize this moment.

I am sure we can get sustainable change in our world if we use the concept of globalization in our advantage to push for changes in a joint effort locally and globally.

Iceland is in many ways an ideal place for experimental work in this regard, being a country with only 316.000 souls living there yet our society is among the most developed in the world. With a tiny bureaucratic body compared to similar societies, we can move radical change much quicker through our system.

Right now we are doing an experiment in this regard with the Icelandic modern media initiative, also known as IMMI.  The concept behind immi was to take an international form of legislation used to benefit the big corporations known as tax havens. Tax havens are created by pulling together all the best legislation from around the world to create secrecy to hide financial transactions and funds, to create shady companies, a cozy swindle haven.

We wanted to use the same concept to create a transparency haven. 

We went on a quest to find all the best possible laws from around the world to ensure freedom of expression, information and speech. By basing our laws on legislation that has already proven to be strong enough to withstand attacks from those that want us to live in a world with less flow of information about the darker side of politics, international corporations, war and oppression, we are also supporting the laws in those countries we are basing our legislation on and it will also make our laws stronger in the global context.

The immi proposal is already having an impact globally, there has been much dialogue all over the world as a result of this proposal, about the reality of freedom of information in a world where information doesn’t have any borders any more and the same applies to the legal firms that specialize in gagging journalists and media firms, they don’t have any borders either.

No one believed immi could be pulled through the icelandic parliament with such overwhelming support, all the MPs present and members of the government voted for it. I was sure it would pass – it just had everything going for it and by going with the flow following my intuition all the way through with it – it is becoming a model mps and people who are passionate about freedom of expression all over the world are using, to push for reform in their own countries. My aim is to make it into the International modern media initiative. Because everyday the freedoms we want to protect with immi are eroding in our world at an alarming rate. Here in Italy you are witnessing the end of the freedom of media with a new set of laws on whistleblowers. I have been asked by journalists and organizations from Italy if there is anything I can do to help. And I am wreaking my brain,  how can I possible help this ancient culture with such incredible people who have put their mark on the history of the world. You surely have the manpower, the passion and the heart to make reform happen. There is no copyright on immi. Feel free to use it.

It is rare that generations and so many individuals get such an opportunity to transform the world as we know it. The big question is how do we transform it?

It is obvious that we are running out of planet, many people have lost the vital connection to our environment, most of humanity don’t comprehend cause and effect of lack of sustainability anymore and many of us feel lost, displaced and lonely. All the structures we thought would take care of us, be it systems, ideologies, religion, politics or institutions are failing big time. 

Something big is happening

Gaia has regained her consciousness

her way of surviving

An image

growing in my mind

of a whole universe of possibilities

to make the invisible seen,

the impossible possible

to be part of

this movement

of awakening

To learn to listen to our mother’s voice

through her infinite creations

To trust,

to be trusted

I keep making the picture bigger

so I won't lose myself

Earthquakes move through me

volcanic eruptions of insight

as the revolution

of silent changes

of daily rituals

begins

To follow my intuition as a politician makes a lot more sense to me then the rivalry and manipulations of left or right ideology. The right and wrong  ideology  of the old  world has simply outgrown itself. No longer do we have strong parliaments with a direct link between the general public and decision maker. We have so called professional politicians that are far removed from the reality most of us live in. Parties and politicians are often in an unhealthy marriage with corporations and corruption is thriving in the political arena all over the world. Many governments and politicians talk about transparency yet the process of politics and laws is shredded in secrecy.

When everything collapsed in Iceland in 2008 I sensed that within this crises was to be found an incredible opportunity for change. Many others sensed this as well and grassroots movements appeared out of thin air with the aspiration for real change for a society based on integrity, compassion and equality where the general public should and could be able to help co-create society.

As a result of an attempt to have the grassroots groups work together on larger issues and of course to join hands in protests and pressure for change I helped create a political movement February 2009. Its chief agenda was to bring forth democratic reform, such as people being able to call for national referendum and to be able to vote for individuals not only parties. We also are aware of that no matter who you place in a corrupt system in thrones of power, even fine individuals get corrupt with power and the fear of loosing power.  In order for profound change to be possible those of us inside parliament have to behave like activists by changing the traditions and revealing the unwritten rules of power. Information will set you free. Now once we have the information what are we going to do with it? What sort of world do with want to live in and are we ready as individuals to put the time energy and effort into creating the blueprint of the future?

The 21^st century will be the age of us, the common people, where we will come to a profound understanding that in order to live in the reality we dream of, we have to participate and help co-create that reality. But how?

Yet again an Icelandic experiment might be an answer. All nations have done this at some point. We are going to rewrite our constitution. Usually it is the elite that writes the constitutions, we however have managed to make sure that the general public will take part in both the dialogue about what should be in our constitution and to vote on each new constitutional law before the parliament has its final say. This is fundamental in order to ensure that the constitution writing will be a part of a broad dialogue and consensus on what we agree on as a nation should be the foundations of our society. If this experiment works for us I strongly recommend that all nations will follow suit if the constitution is not something you know by heart and has a profound meaning towards the future. Perhaps we can once that process is over make a constitution together for the world – in Bhutan for example they put in their constitution that they would have instead of GDP measure, happiness measure. The annual growth of happiness.

The concept of gross national happiness (GNH) was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than gross domestic product (GDP). I think every constitution on our planet should include something about the importance of happiness among its nations. I hope ours will.

The real value I see in the rewriting of constitutions is the dialogue between people in each country and this platform of co-creation.

The root of most of our problems as humanity on this planet comes from greed and hunger for power. We have war upon war upon war and we all know in our hearts that war is always about these elements. How do we counterbalance this and all the lack that seems to be all over our world. We all know that there is enough food, land and water in our world for everyone. Yet starvation, war, conflict, disaster and hatred seem to be the only thing we get to know about other nations on a regular news basis.

In order to counterbalance this we must change our monetary systems. Fractional reserve banking is creating money out of thin air and in the end the bubble always burst and who ends up paying? The motto of the banksters has always been; privatize the profit, socialize the losses. So why do we let them get away with it? Is there really no alternative? Well I got news for you, there are many alternatives, there is never just one way of doing things. But those in power tend to want to maximize their own profits at the cost of those they are supposed to be serving. Explore new monetary solutions, there are plenty of models to explore. I encourage you to see Money as dept, the Money masters, the secret of Oz and Capitalism, a love story.

I might be a dreamer, but I am not the only one. Everyday I come across people who have the same dreams, who want to do something both locally and globally. We as humanity almost stopped the Iraq war, because we worked together globally through the internet, wrote articles, took to the streets, organized events and rallies.

If there is something we have to make sure stays under the guardianship of nations not corporations then it is the following, water companies, energy companies, social welfare, education and health systems. 

We have made everything so complex and grand, perhaps it is time to return to more simple ways, more self sustainable ways, we can do that by learning from each other, by helping each other locally and globally and by remembering that we as individuals can change the world.

A year and a half ago, I was temporary unemployed, single parent, living below the so called poverty line, with the simple goal in my heart of figuring out how I as an individual could help create a sustainable future for the next seven generations, how to make this planet smile from within, how to co-create my society.

During my life I have been given many difficult lessons, death and great loss has been my companion and I have lost many dear friends and relatives to various modern social ills. I chose to use these difficulties to make me stronger and more compassionate towards the difficulties of others, I chose to make me more humane. It has not been easy yet I wouldn’t change a second of it. It has made me into me and I am content with how I have developed.  Needless to say: no one really believed I could be where I am today. It is not a fairy tail though but a story I co-created in partnership with my society.

First of all it is not as hard as one imagines to create a political movement. Most people have seen that left and right politics doesn’t have any meaning anymore. To create political movement based on common agenda such as  a youth party to focus on issues young people find to be important is something I would like to see happening.

My political movement was based around democratic reform because that was what was the most needed in our country at this time. Get ordinary people into power who have no political training and who will stay only for a short period of time in power. Because no matter what they will tell you: power corrupts and disconnects people from the reality other citizens live in.

We created the Movement 8 weeks before elections, we had no money, no one knew us, yet we got more then 7% of the vote at the general elections.

One of the reason why it is so important for groups to get representatives into places of power, is that it is a lot easier to get media attention on the cause, and it is handy to be able to confront or talk with ministers and other mps about important issues without delay.

When I was working as an activist one of the hardest challenges was to get the attention from both the media and the people in power to the cause, getting some changes implemented was nearly impossible. Now that I am getting a better understanding on how things work within the legislative body I have much better chance to help other activists and the general public to get attention and even legislative changes and resolutions on issues they are concerned about.

The key is to apply pressure and changes from within the system during pressure building from outside. What might seem impossible now might be quite possible tomorrow because we are experiencing very rapid changes on all levels. So I encourage you to start to make the blueprint for the future you want to live in, to be passionate about your cause and to believe that everything is possible, failings might turn into tomorrow successes.

It is important to learn the game the people in power play in order to keep their place of power.

But the most important part is if you have a chance to work within the belly of the beast to not become like them but to listen to your heart, to listen to your intuition and to be impeccable with your word. And finally not care at all if you loose that place of power. I don’t care if I am out of work tomorrow, I am only focused on what I can do today. It gives me incredible freedom to follow the flow of this very moment.

Finally here is a poem that sort of explains why I co-produced the Collateral Murder Video published by WikiLeaks during Easter this year. You should look at this video no matter how hard it is to experience the lack of humanity displayed there and then look up another video with a speech from the soldier who discovered the children in the van. He wrote to us and wanted to do something for the children, he has stepped forward with incredible courage and compassion to mend for what he was part of during this ongoing war. Helping making this video with awful war crimes, available to everyone who dares to see our world with its many wounds was my Cry from the Heart in action. I hope it will inspire you to work for peace, work with compassion in our world.

Cry from the Heart

Tears run impulsively

bitter sea of colossal grief

cluster-bomb in my heart

for every life taken

Who are we to act like a force of nature

Self destruction the distinctive human trait

Revenge

abort the revenge

Fear not the Arabs

Fear not the "Terrorists"

Fear not the Communists

Fear not the tree huggers

Fear the triangle of righteous doom

Fear the glorification of the apocalypse

Fear the mass consumerism

Fear the leaches who suck in and spit out

this planets resources

Doomsday in the heart

Doomsday in the mind

as the Inconvenient truth

about the destruction

the genocides

the mutilations

the endangered species

flow out like 1000 wounds

Will it heal

Will this heart ever beat again

this heart of hope

for humanity

As it heads towards glorious self destruction

yet again

part II

Despair

rivers of despair

wounds

oceans of pain

Patriarch

Matriarch

ism

ism

ism

Means nothing to me

nothing at all

Flesh, blood, earth, dirt, gravel, sand

and that single yellow flower on that highland hearth

drowned in the silt of greed

But this time

the times are changing

Into a dream of universal

equality

Please

don't look the other way

We are the same

I feel the pain

I feel the hope

This eternal ethnic bond

with each grain of sand

each grain of blood

infusion of humanity

Please let me be you

Feel your pain

Feel your healing

But what are we

Aliens on this Earth

Parasites

Are we controlled by the external or internal parasite

of duality

of Heaven and Hell

Who made this hell

Who can undo what has been done

Only you, only me, only us

Related links:

IMMI (the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative)

http://immi.is/?l=en&p=intro

The Wizard of Oz (video)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D22TlYA8F2E

The Money Masters (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv-ZCj1_HHI

Money as Debt (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oeqZVTCFzg

Capitalism, a Love Story (video)

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/capitalism-love-story/

FLOW: For the Love of Water (video)

http://www.documentarywire.com/flow-for-the-love-of-water

The Story of Stuff (video)

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-story-of-stuff/

Icelandic Modern Media Initiative and WikiLeaks (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCmjmDXp7TI&feature=fvw

Collateral Murder: video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&feature=channel

WikiLeaks' Collateral Murder: U.S. Soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kelmEZe8whI