Eng. Izdihar al-Shathir
The uprising bells of the 25th last February have rung and announced to the world the true face of the corrupt and fake-democracy government, and this uprising and great demonstration have produced a new cultural and political entity started off from the national yard and shouted its outcry though of different races and walks and formed a foundation for an ascending social and political unity that began the assembly in the middle of Tahrir square and ended up in a full people mobility in all Iraqi cities from north to south and in a new direction aligned with what is wanted and required.
This mass organization developed by the Iraqi situations, constitutionally, politically, and in security, and brought to maturity by the historic moment that surges in the region from place to place, is no coincidence, rather it was not to occur except at its real current time in the February of free Iraq and it could be counted as the second moment in Iraq after the dictatorship fall.
Since our people is an integrated national picture, they lay down the first political brick and consolidate the first of their claims in an initial acquisition of the national identity import; however, the demonstration is characterized by its peaceful nature, spontaneity and high discipline, and was free from violence aspects and politicization either in yells or banners raised amid the crowds of demonstrators, and was also free of sectarian, racist or factional slogans.
And whereas demonstration is a legitimate right secured by the constitution on which the Iraqis voted, and an advanced paradigm of the democratic concepts, so democracy is not a mere legislative elections nor even provincial council elections but extends beyond that to be a package of legitimate practices that provide healthy climates for the emerging democratic marches in building a new home that has just emerged from the abyss of dictatorship.
If we run over the democratic system in Iraq since the fall of the Ba'ath regime in 2003 to present time, we find that it was a mere ink on paper, and not applicable due to back and forth pulls among the parties of political equation, as there is no majority rule and no minority opposition owing to abhorrent allocation which was named thereafter the " national partnership" (only a form of allocation).
And today, as the winds of change have blown in and angry Iraqi voices have shouted condemning fiscal and administrative corruption, complaining against poor political and living conditions, deteriorated services, unemployment, aggravation of food and housing crises to the end of a list packed with a vast number of legitimate demands and occluded rights which have sparked a public overwhelming anger wherein issues have exceeded the ability of people to bear anymore, be patient and wait on a corrupt government with false promises, while the expression of these masses was peaceful and democratic for the purpose of achieving their legitimate demands.
This is beside Iraqi woman's demands to appropriate funds from the budget of oil proceeds to develop woman and child, widows and orphans, protect the citizen from violence and terrorism, pay salaries to Iraqi martyrs and look after their families, attend to the process of building and development, attend to street children victims of violence and terrorism who have come to be without caretaker, gather them and establish a house to shelter and protect them, provide livelihood and good work for them in order to save them from slipping back into violence and to re-integrate them into society, that in addition to engage seriously in literacy and adult education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, further to other legitimate claims.
However, the free will of people is still determined to continue its march toward liberation till victory has been totally achieved… this spirit bent on making a change, has broken all fetters and smashed the highest concrete barriers and rushed in tides to recover the robbed dignity, the squandered rights, and the shackled freedom…
It is the crowds of right that have raised their voices and will not fall silent again from now on… they are coming to you, O Monument of Liberty, for the sake of democracy, freedom and dignity… and live long Iraq.