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Political impasse in the Iraqi Kurdistan
region
24.7.2008
By Rozh Ahmad
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July
24, 2008
The Kurds of northern Iraq saw the 2003 US-led
Liberation of Iraq and the autonomy that was granted
to them by the US-backed Iraqi government, as a path
to achieve freedom and independence. However, the
result has turned out to be the opposite of what the
majority of the Kurds expected.
Rozh Ahmad
The autonomous government is headed by the two
Kurdish nationalist parties - the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) and the Democratic Party of
Kurdistan (PDK) - both of whom have a history of
perpetrating outrages against one another, including
the catastrophic Kurdish civil war of 1993-1998.
But now they are one 'family' who, between their
corrupt officials, together share all the resources
of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG).
Since the KRG has been formed it has suffered from
insecurity and political instability. The region is
also in a state of shock because of the corruption
and oppression that is carried out daily by the KRG
nationalist officials.
This government is unable to provide people's basic
daily needs such as electricity,www.ekurd.net
water and surprisingly
oil and gas, even though Kirkuk's oil field is one
of the biggest oil reserves in the world.
On Wednesday 9 July some of the streets of
Sulaimaniyah, the Kurdish city in north east Iraq,
were blocked by thousands of young Kurdish
protesters who gathered in the city demanding water
and electricity.
At the start only a couple of hundred people
attended the protest but when they started walking
through the city they became thousands. Even in
those streets that lead to the new Western-style
shopping centres (that have not benefitted the
majority, poverty is actually increasing), people
joined the protest.
The main slogan of the protest was "water and
electricity", but then people added other words to
the main slogan: "democracy", and "the right of
self-determination". They carried on their protest
and then headed toward the city council.
Broken promises
The police forces received a phone call from the
city council telling them to stop the protesters
from reaching the building. The police hurriedly put
on the uniforms and equipment that were given to
them by the US and UK armed forces in the region.
Two protesters were arrested as the police blocked
the council building, ready to crush any movement by
the protesters in front of the building. Then,
suddenly, the head of the council announced he
wanted to negotiate with the protesters.
Representative members of the protest went into the
building to negotiate their demands, but after a
little while they came out empty handed, saying:
"The councillor has promised to take our demands to
the parliament". Then the protesters headed back to
their homes. Again it was another promise, another
lie.
Protests similar to what happened on 9 July happen
every summer. In the summer of 2006 instead of one
protest there were a series of demonstrations
throughout all the cities and towns in Kurdish
northern Iraq,www.ekurd.net
demanding basic needs.
However, all the protests led to failure because the
people are not politically organised. An independent
opposition does not exist in the current political
scene in the region.
The majority of the political parties have given up
the idea of an independent Kurdistan. Besides, the
left are generally not organised and the communist
parties are nothing more than a shadow of dogmatism
and opportunism.
Therefore the political scene illustrates the need
for an independent Kurdish party that is able to
connect the national liberation aspiration to social
liberation for workers and the poor as well. Because
without social liberation, democracy and
independence will only be words on the tongues of
the corrupt Kurdish officials like they are now in
the current Kurdish regional government.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
socialistparty org.uk
The contents of this article reflect the author's
personal opinions, and we accept no responsibility
for the views or opinions expressed in the articles
either direct or indirect.
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