IRAQ REFLECTION: Searching For a just future
September 9th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
9 September 2008
IRAQ REFLECTION: Searching For a just future
by Garland Robertson
On 30 July 2008, a citywide demonstration in Suleimaniya took place, following a similar march in Kirkuk the day before, when a suicide bomb attack by a female activist had killed more than twenty-five persons and injured at least 180.
The issue that generated these demonstrations is a recent decision of the Iraqi Parliament directing a deviation from the previously established constitutional election process. In the new election requirement, most of the votes to determine whether Kirkuk will be a province of Iraq or Iraqi Kurdistan are to be distributed equally among the Iraqis, Kurds, and Turkmen. Christians and other minority groups will receive the remaining 4%. Because the population of Kirkuk is about 70% Kurdish, this recent action by parliament directly discriminates against Kurds.
If Iraq is serious about democracy, then the government must honor the will of the people. Crafty maneuvering in order to accomplish some predetermined preference only complicates the already tenuous maturing process of building community among the diverse peoples of Iraq.
This kind of political craftiness is only a recent example of a history of unjust actions that have undermined the wellbeing of the people. In Iraqi Kurdistan, those who take time to recognize them observe evidence of corruption and behaviors motivated by self-interests—and the cost of reporting these transgressions is high.
On 22 July, gunmen assassinated Soran Hama, a twenty-three-year-old independent journalist, in front of his home and family because of an article he had published on behalf of marginalized people living in Kirkuk. He had received death threats and had appealed to supporters in London to help him leave Iraq. His story is the most dramatic among those of other journalists who have also suffered threats and assaults during the past year because of their commitment to expose political leaders who betray the people to whom they are responsible.
The cycle of violence continues to plague the people of this historically rich country. Such events seem desperately disruptive, yet the life of the people goes on. They have become accustomed to unpredictability and have managed to find a way to live into the future, knowing that at any moment anything can happen.
9 September 2008
IRAQ REFLECTION: Searching For a just future
by Garland Robertson
On 30 July 2008, a citywide demonstration in Suleimaniya took place, following a similar march in Kirkuk the day before, when a suicide bomb attack by a female activist had killed more than twenty-five persons and injured at least 180.
The issue that generated these demonstrations is a recent decision of the Iraqi Parliament directing a deviation from the previously established constitutional election process. In the new election requirement, most of the votes to determine whether Kirkuk will be a province of Iraq or Iraqi Kurdistan are to be distributed equally among the Iraqis, Kurds, and Turkmen. Christians and other minority groups will receive the remaining 4%. Because the population of Kirkuk is about 70% Kurdish, this recent action by parliament directly discriminates against Kurds.
If Iraq is serious about democracy, then the government must honor the will of the people. Crafty maneuvering in order to accomplish some predetermined preference only complicates the already tenuous maturing process of building community among the diverse peoples of Iraq.
This kind of political craftiness is only a recent example of a history of unjust actions that have undermined the wellbeing of the people. In Iraqi Kurdistan, those who take time to recognize them observe evidence of corruption and behaviors motivated by self-interests—and the cost of reporting these transgressions is high.
On 22 July, gunmen assassinated Soran Hama, a twenty-three-year-old independent journalist, in front of his home and family because of an article he had published on behalf of marginalized people living in Kirkuk. He had received death threats and had appealed to supporters in London to help him leave Iraq. His story is the most dramatic among those of other journalists who have also suffered threats and assaults during the past year because of their commitment to expose political leaders who betray the people to whom they are responsible.
The cycle of violence continues to plague the people of this historically rich country. Such events seem desperately disruptive, yet the life of the people goes on. They have become accustomed to unpredictability and have managed to find a way to live into the future, knowing that at any moment anything can happen.