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00'04
Nestled in the remote mountains of Eastern Iceland, where few men dare to tread, lies the immense Karahnjukar dam. At 195 metres tall it is the highest dam in Europe.  

Constructed at the height of Iceland’s economic boom, between 2003 and 2008:  the dam was marketed as a ‘green’ way to support Iceland’s economy. Nearly 2 billion euros of foreign investment flooded in to finance it, a figure three times the sum of the entire state budget.  And controversy clung to it.

 
00'34
OT Andri Magnason, filmmaker "Dreamland" (Loew-Cadonna)
Those were vulgar times, really. Testosterone hung in the air. It was a group of very macho managers and bankers who wanted to make a huge building. It was ‘not for ‘sissies’.
 
00'56
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00'59
The second largest wilderness in Europe was sacrificed for the dam. And enough electricity to power the whole of Iceland was generated by the country’s powerful mountain streams. Yet all of the energy went to ALCOA - the world’s largest aluminium producer had set up a smelter plant a stone’s throw from the dam. The politicians sold ALCOA as Iceland’s great economic hope, bringing jobs and prosperity. But most Icelanders, had no idea what ALCOA actually did.
 
01'27
Alcoa Open Spot
 
01'31
ALCOA is part of the American military machine..
 
01'37
Textinsert: Alcoa Defense Commercial
Making tomorrow’s military - lighter, faster, stronger.
 
01'42
Open
 
01'43
John Perkins lives in Florida in the Unites States. He worked for 12 years for the ‘American National Security Agency’, enforcing the interests of US corporations abroad. For him, Iceland’s economic collapse is no mystery. Rather a result of foreign countries wanting a piece of Island’s abundant resources.

02'12
OT John Perkins, ex-EHM (Couzyn)
Iceland is a classic case of a country that was targeted by economic hitmen. So the aluminium companies primarily ALCON and ALCOA went to Iceland and said hey listen you know if you take out huge loans and build some big hydroelectric plants, then we’ll locate our factories here, we’ll bring the raw material up from Jamaica, but we’ll process it here, because we need cheap electricity. And so Iceland went out and borrowed all this money, hired foreign corporations like Bechtel in the United States to build these gigantic facilities- a hydroelectric plant which produced 600 watts of electricity.

02'50
Today construction is underway on a new aluminum smelter. This time another US company ‘Century’ is the investor, set to consume more electricity than all of the households in Iceland combined.
 
03'05
OT John Perkins, ex-EHM (Couzyn)
The people of Iceland thought that they were sitting on a goldmine. You have all this electricity and hydro-electric power and so go and spend the money. Your collateral is in the ground so go out and spend the money.
 
03'18
Vikings became venture capitalists, buying entire streets in Copenhagen, even a British football club. They took to the new business with all the zeal and fearlessness of their seagoing past. And when the first doubts about their strategy set in, they had a new idea: tapping private business savings accounts.
 
03'38
Open
Subtitle:
What is for humanity the ideal savings account?
I think it’s one that offers the highest possible interest rate..
Without any conditions!
And it's name is - Icesave.
 
03'53
Icesave offered online savings accounts on behalf of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki. Hundreds of thousands of savers stowed their money in Icesave accounts- until the bubble burst in October 2008. Landbanki was placed into receivership.   
 
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04'07

First comes the wealth on loan, then comes the bill for the people. Unable to access their money, foreign investors demanded their money back. And Iceland’s taxpayers are expected to front the bill, adopting a debt of 15,000 euros per person. The placards say it all:

‘Debt for decades’
‘Ice-Save-slavery!’
 
04'26
OT Rosa (Kong)
The bankers should repay the debt, not the people. We should not pass on private debts to the citizens. Not in Iceland and not anywhere else.
 
04'34
OT wife (Neuhauser)
We can fool you. And we are going to keep on fooling you as long as we can.  
 
04'41  
Once a week, a prestigious group hoping to save Iceland from its debt come together - lawyers, bankers and managers all gather at Magnus Skulason’s kitchen table in Reykjavik. They are part of a citizens' initiative known as ‘The Defenders”.
 
05'03
OT Magnus Skulason, Economic Adviser (Loew-Cadonna)
Each and every family of four gets an IOU of 48 thousand euro. For the UK alone it’s 700 billion pounds of debt. This is a huge obligation and I don’t think any country would take that kind of obligation and turn it into a sovereign tax.
 
05'27
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05'30
In early January the Citizens' Initiative besieged the house of the Icelandic president. They collected 62,000 signatures against the Icesave ruling and the government’s decision to cave in to foreign pressure and accept the debt, including all interest. Iceland could fund its entire school system for half a year with the annual interest payments alone.  
 
05'53
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson refused his signature and opposed the government. He says what people think - Iceland cannot be blackmailed. And the pressure of the people forces a referendum – a win for Magnus and his friends.
 
06'15
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06'17
 
Speaking just days before the March referendum, Iceland’s Foreign Minister expressed concern about what would happen if the referendum resulted in a rejection of the Icesave bill. Like many of Iceland’s politicians, he hoped to recover from the financial collapse in the bosom of the European Union.
 
06'38
OT Ossur Skarphedinsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland (Couzyn)
This is the view of the public. This is our constitution. The public will in the end have a say. They will either say yes or no and to be honest as it stands now they will vote no…if nothing changes. This puts us in quite a difficult political situation. If worst comes to the worst and the referendum will actually lead to a 'no', then we will have to go back to the European Union and talk to England and the Netherlands.
 
07'07
Along with tourism, the fishing industry is Iceland’s number one revenue source.
Joining the EU would mean the imposition of quotas and in all probability, an end to Iceland’s controversial whaling industry. For these fishermen, it is entirely out of the question.  
 
07'37
OT Gestur Olafsson, fish exporter (Loew-Cadonna)
I would say no to the EU, we certainly have nothing to gain from it. They would only intervene in our business. No, I am very against it.
 
07'48
This ship has been five days at sea and brings a bounty of 70 tons of cod. For the fishermen this is a small fortune: their goods will be invoiced in dollars and euros, not in the country's broken currency. Throughout the ages, the sea has been Iceland’s economic backbone, and today, the stable global demand for fish is particularly welcome.
 
08'10
OT Jon Eldjarn, Fischer (Couzyn)
This is one of the best jobs that you have in this crisis, which we’re all living through. I'm fine ..
 
08'22
Iceland's most famous foreign export is eccentric music artist ‘Björk’. Perhaps this is why Iceland continues to invest in creative people.
 
08'35
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08'37
In a rare television interview, Bjork gives her opinion on how Iceland can brave the crisis.
 
08'46
OT Björk, singer (Kong)
We focus on far too many big companies in Iceland and forget about the small, creative businesses. That’s why I founded a company called "The Spark", which aims to support new business ideas. Many of these small start-ups have proven to be very successful business models. There are numerous examples.
 
09'10
ELM Design is one of these creative small businesses. Everything is “Made in Iceland” in a small sewing factory. The company has risen to global brand status with stores in London, New York and Cape Town.
 
09'28
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09'31
ELM is the flagship company of the new Iceland: creative, successful and female-orientated.
 
09'37
The brand is now a highly sought after investment both at home and abroad: its nature-inspired designs replace the tarnished reputation of Iceland’s banks. And as for the financial market, new Investment Company Audur Capital hopes to be a pioneer, promoting a commitment to ‘sustainable economies’.

9'56
OT Thoranna Jonsdottir, Audur Capital Investment Company (Kong)
What we are trying to do is to combine doing good and doing business. So we don’t think it’s either about doing business or making money. We think you can accomplish so much more if you take care of both side of the coin.
 
10'11's preference
Bjork has of course established her own Investment Fund: which offers funding for any Icelandic projects which are both ecological and female-orientated.
 
10'28
OT Thoranna Jonsdottir, Audur Capital Investment Company (Kong)
Bjork primarily is a very good businesswoman. She went around the whole country to talk to people and encouraging them to think outside of the box and to find new ways of creating employment and to do business. As even though we are a small business, we can’t rely on just one solution.

10'48
The future may be in the hands of  the creative people, innovators like the designers behind ELM. Macho men who play Monopoly with huge sums of money, are decidedly out of fashion.
 
 
11'07
OT ELM designers
Women 1 (Neuhauser): We are a small people, accustomed to bad weather and difficulties. Challenges make us nothing. We find it rather inspiring. Oh look, there is a storm, let's get started. More so.
Women 2 (Kong): Creativity you know is something that happens in a crisis.
Neuhauser woman 3): yes, you have to get the most out of it and be positive.
 
11'34
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11'36  
They say it is in the nature of the Icelandic people to fight until the death. People who virtually live on an active volcano, must always be forging on…. And whilst the financial crisis has shaken this once-rich nation, that notorious Icelandic optimism, is going strong.
 
12'06
END PART 2
 
EDITOR  and AUTHOR PATRICK A. HAFNER
Posted: Patrick A. Hafner
Camera: Jon Jenssen / Sigurdur Grimsson / Israel Rodriguez
Editor: Erich Lazar / Petra Higher