Mohammed Yaseen
 In a new further step in Iraq of today (Iraq Iran) parties of religious power in Baghdad could make another success added to series of successes that they realized so far! In targeting all that might suggest the symbolism, heritage, culture and history of this ancient country and removing it from existence, for the art in all its forms of performance, theatre, music, singing, painting and sculpture is deemed the basic complementary of any country culture, and a vital and main organ in the civilization body and historic legacy, and hence represents the factual depth of tradition and authenticity of peoples.                  

In all regimes and government of the world, the art is considered among the most prominent features, civilization and cultural aspects they, as such, work to strengthen and activate at the local and international levels, and boast about them being their mouth and history and they are proud about their folk and traditional arts, except in Iraq, for since the advent of religious factions after the year 2003 it is living in a vortex of huge radical transformations that have utterly changed its features and marks and sent it back to middle and stone ages, and what is ironic  (the worst misfortune is the one that makes you laugh) that Mesopotamia civilization and for centuries was the primary source of culture and art which formed together its civilization front by which it was renowned and thus became the beacon of science, culture, art and creativity; it seems that the stage we are going thru now in Iraq is one of the more retrogressive and obscurantist stages in the country history because fanatic and extremist clerics are targeting the removal of all features and marks of this ancient country altogether, the murder of life therein and the effacing of its people creations.    
   
By unjust and obscurantist decision, the Ministry of Education (Iraqi-faced and Iranian-content) has issued a decree to ban the teaching the courses of theatre and music and to close their divisions in the institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and consequently to remove the statues from the entrance which express a state of creativity of the institute students' over its long life, whereas the institute of Fine Arts had graduated most notable Iraqi innovations and capabilities in the field of art: performance, singing, music, painting, literature who raised the name of the country high in the regional and international circles.

Prior to this unjust decision there was a decree concerning the closure of recreation and social clubs in Baghdad which impelled a constellation of intellectuals, politicians and civil activists to organize a demonstration in the downtown capital Baghdad protesting the unfair decision of closing those clubs which are the only refuge for this constellation of Iraqi intellectuals and authors for the exchange of views, discussions and creation.

It is noteworthy here to talk about the purpose behind those procedures and their future reflections on Iraqi society, as they are part of an intellectual invasion scheme hatched by religious parties loyal to Tehran, this started with a change in educational and academic curricula by deleting and adding other curricula that serve those intellectually and ideologically extremist forces and parties proportionate to their rotten and outdated ideas drowned in the mazes of time, passing by a long series of odd religious and mental customs that invaded our healthy and sound Iraqi society by their destructive nonsense and were imposed by sheer force upon it.

So whoever pays a quick visit to any government department or institution, Iraqi university or school will note the huge difference between today and how they looked formerly, so opposite to having those places an example of science, culture and urbanization they turned to an example of intellectual, religious and racist backwardness, ignorance, and extremism due to utter dominance of religious parties over them, the fact which contributed significantly in lowering the level of education and culture to a minimum not ever reached before.

So, where is the democracy, its lofty foundation and principles of all what is happening today in Iraq?!! There is no doubt that what is happening today complements the serial of assassinating Iraqi scientists, thinkers and intellectuals over the past seven years, so the draining of Iraqi arena from creative Iraqi capacities which swarmed all fields, does serve those religious factions and their outdated ideas and diseased distorted creed in the promotion and establishment for a backward an ignorant society to be herded at their wish and thru which to pass it its divisive dangerous schemes.

As such, the picture has become quite clear today in the form of plans and objectives of those religious parties per their nature of behaviors on the way to achieve their obscurantist projects and plans, even they targeted the Iraqi National Museum in the early 2003, stole and smuggled Iraq antiquities, which are its face of civilization and historical depth, to be listed among  their destructive schemes of the religious factions in order to drain Iraq of its civilization and historic symbols and impoverish it of its creative capacities and brains on the way to achieve the divisive plans.

In all of those things we talked about we find a material object of the religious parties centered around establishing a society wants of civilization and history and lacks bright minds and creation in order to impose its control via entrenching their unhealthy creed and domination over the society and the rising generation of young people to win them over to their narrow ideas, feed and settle their existence in the social life of Iraq and the standing political mobility.

Undeniably, we will see a lot of those wrong decisions in various walks of Iraqi life in an effort to restrict public freedoms, media and independent press and to crack down on platforms of thinking, culture and creativity, but that in the face of our absolute faith in our Iraqi people, intellectuals, thinkers, and talents that they will not surrender and we will not give in to such shameful disgraceful acts that wanted to discredit our ancient history and civilization extending for more than 7000 years.

Hence, pressure generates explosion, and our people is not used to those views and sick narrow ideas within fake and shabby frameworks and will not adapt to them. So if they could today force their will thru their existence in power over the shape and nature of our life effecting changes according to their sick sight then they will not succeed to reach into the heart of the creative and intellectual free Iraqi human and change it as they wished to.

Thus, the democratic masks phony clergy possessed from the Western countries have dropped off their ugly faces and revealed the essence of their sick radical ideas per their conducts, performance and decisions, for their faces and intent are indisputably Iranian, and it seems that we are witnessing the dark obscurantist age of Iraq history under the domination of those religious parties and dominance over the power, and as it looks, that our Iraq is moving with them towards an Islamic Republic much like the Islamic Republic of Iran!