Socialist regional policy

The Socialist Party's message in the parliamentary elections on September 25, 2021: Eleventh offer to voters presented on August 26:SOCIALIST REGIONAL POLICY

One of the main characteristics of the neoliberal years was a blind belief that increased efficiency and concentration would always lead to better utilization of resources and thus to the best results. This conviction collapsed in the 2008 Crash and was finally exposed in the corona crisis. It became clear that industries, infrastructure, and basic systems that had been run according to these goals for decades were too weak to withstand shocks. These systems lacked flexibility, strength, and resilience.

This is pointed out here because the current situation of the countryside bears all the hallmarks of the government's over-reliance on efficiency and concentration. Fisheries have been managed with the goal of increasing rationalization through economies of scale, with accompanying concentration and inevitable regional disruption; quotas are torn from one settlement to increase efficiency in the next. The management and maintenance of basic systems, such as roads, energy, and telecommunications, were moved from a decentralized system to a centralized behemoth where decisions were made far from the residents. Demands for efficiency and concentration in the healthcare system led to the weakening of healthcare services in the regions to feed the growth of a centralized unit. Rural industries, which had been decentralized with many centers, increasingly took on the appearance of branches, transforming the settlements into a kind of fishing outposts that created value that was disposed of elsewhere. The independence of the settlements was broken down.

Thus, the regional policy of the Independence Party and the Progressive Party has played the countryside; weakened the settlements, moved power and money away, and deprived residents of control over resources, the natural assets that are the prerequisite for habitation. These parties, which present themselves as guardians of the countryside, bear the greatest responsibility for government regional policy during the republican era and especially over the last thirty years. And the government's policy has been to weaken the settlements and strengthen the centralized power of the state and the largest companies, reduce competition and new business formation, transform communities from independent units into powerless fishing outposts or branches.

The Socialist Party of Iceland rises up against this policy. Its goal is to overthrow neoliberalism and restore public power over communities. The Socialist Party wants to rebuild the cooperative movement and people's ability to create their own job opportunities, bring the quota home, move decisions about the development and shaping of community infrastructure and basic systems out to the settlements, and build security in housing, healthcare, and social systems.

It is the goal of socialists to build a society that provides security and a guaranteed livelihood for everyone. Socialist regional policy implies that this applies to all parts of the country; that people have the right to all basic community services wherever they live.

What is socialist regional policy?

With a socialist regional policy, we can reverse decades of decline and begin vigorous development in the countryside. Begin the long-overdue development of the welfare system with social solutions. This development is based on people's needs, hopes, and expectations, and is on their terms. Socialist regional policy is about strengthening the political and economic power of the settlements.

The fundamental policy of the Socialist Party is to bring power and services home to the settlements. The Socialist Party is a rural party, and socialist regional policy is one of the party's key policy issues.

To achieve this goal, the Socialist Party emphasizes six tasks:I. Build a healthcare system for the entire country

We want to build a free and state-run healthcare system in the countryside and, among other things, utilize technological advancements for this purpose. With great ingenuity, the staff of Landspítalinn built an electronic system that made home isolation viable during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is one example of how ingenuity and technological advancements can assist traditional operations.

We need to recreate healthcare services in more dispersed settlements, bring services to people with the best technology, and stop demanding that people move closer to centralized institutions to receive adequate healthcare.

II. Bring the quota home!

Let's abolish the quota system and build a new and democratic system.

The quota system has drained power and authority from the settlements. It has taken wealth and power from the many and transferred it into the hands of a small wealthy class. This has caused deep-seated corruption and utterly corrupted the political class. We want to bring the quota home, abolish the current system, and transfer power over marine resources to the settlements, which will then seek different ways to best utilize the resource for the community. This will yield many times more funds into common coffers than the fishing fee does today.

III. Development of social housing throughout the country

We propose a real solution to the housing problem in an offer to voters for the construction of 30,000 apartments in 10 years. Instead of the housing market being tailored to the needs of capital owners and contractors, a major effort will be made to produce affordable and good residential housing under social operation. To increase mobility between regions, it is necessary for residents to have access to affordable, social housing. The rental market needs to be de-speculated now and people freed from the usurious rents of rental speculators.

IV. Socialist agricultural policy

Socialists have developed a detailed agricultural policy that emphasizes smaller and medium-sized farms and the development of family-run and cooperatively-run tourism. We want to provide a discount on electricity prices for greenhouse cultivation and impose residency requirements or other restrictions on land that is sold.

Socialist regional policy ensures food security in Iceland with stable and increased domestic food production and reasonable food prices. Socialists want to increase innovation in agriculture, especially when it comes to greenhouse cultivation and organic production, and provide farmers with favorable loans for this purpose. Emphasis will be placed on direct connection with farms and the removal of unnecessary intermediaries.

Tourism has become an integral part of modern agriculture, and it is necessary to ensure that the country's natural gems are not overexploited.

V. Keep the road system free

The entire road system should be free of charge, funded by the state, and all citizens guaranteed free passage on it.

Our road system has been a public good almost entirely, but now decisions by the current government are imminent regarding a radical systemic change in the spirit of neoliberalism, where all major projects can be expected to be privatized and road tolls imposed. We completely reject that path and fight against it with all our might.

VI. Reconstruction of the cooperative movement

In 1882, farmers in Þingeyjarsýslur came together and founded a cooperative. This was the country's first cooperative society. Farmers discovered that cooperation in purchasing and selling was the right way to escape the overwhelming power of merchants. From this grew a powerful cooperative movement that the Progressive Party took over. Suffice it to say that during the Progressive Party's watch, the cooperative movement was left in ruins after party members had stolen the best bits from it. This happened after the party embraced neoliberalism.

The Socialist Party wants to rebuild the public cooperative movement and keep the Progressive Party away from it. It is our belief that cooperation and mutual insurance for sea and land is one of the most powerful tools of the common people against the overwhelming power of capital.