Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Birgitta Jónsdóttir (is an Icelandic politician, anarchist, poet, and activist. She was a Member of the Althing (MP) for the Southwest Constituency from 2013 to 2017, representing the Pirate Party, having been elected at the 2013 election. She was previously an MP for Reykjavík Constituency South from 2009 to 2013. In November 2017, she has announced to retire from politics “for now”. She published her first book of poetry at the age of 22, and later became a web developer. She was a noted Icelandic activist, and took on a number of roles during the protests following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

She was first elected as an MP representing the Citizens’ Movement in the 2009 election. Later in 2009, she left the Citizens’ Movement and joined The Movement. She became involved with WikiLeaks during Julian Assange‘s visit to Iceland in 2010, and also helped to produce the Collateral Murder video. Following her time with WikiLeaks, she created the International Modern Media Institute, of which she became executive director in 2011. She was also involved in two court cases in the United States during her parliamentary term, one of which was the high-profile case Hedges vs Obama. In 2012, close to the end of her term, she co-founded the Icelandic Pirate Party, becoming their first MP.

In the 2013 election, Birgitta was elected as a Pirate Party MP, alongside two others. She was portrayed in the 2013 film about WikiLeaks, The Fifth Estate, of which she was critical. She also served as Chairman of the Pirate Party from 2014 to 2015, when they became the most popular party in Iceland.