World Youth Movement for Democracy

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Iyad Al-Mallah
Iraq
in Arabic

"Democracy as an option"

In a certain city, when one voice is raised, ordering the blade of the sword to shine, prodding the hooves of horses to scatter the unanxious dirt, and writing the word "war" on the gates of the city, we realize then that a dictator seized power in the city to stabilize his illusion represented by the principle of "I", and ignoring all the voices of peace that sound hoarse in the mouths of the people. Rather, he crowns his disregard by burying and stifling those voices, and then he infiltrates the minds to copy the map of memory and replace it with slogans similar to potato chips, large in form, fragile in content and small in application. The human scene turns into cheers and loud songs behind the hysteria of which hide bloodbaths, assassination, arrest and the confiscation and the marginalization of the most basic human rights.

What can happen in a certain city happened in Iraq, as it did in many beautiful cities throughout history, it happens now, and will happen in other cities unless the human being reaches a phase where he realizes that he is entitled the most to the ownership of his mind, his voice and his fate, and that no dictator could be in control of a people that grasp the flavor of freedom and the greatness of mature awareness. Such a people must know that it is inevitably heading towards democracy, since democracy here means "we" instead of "I", and it also means "citizenship" instead of "sole leader" as the highest value that intellect and behavior can simultaneously contain.

A prompt belief - which is of course wrong - prevailed among Iraqis after the fall of the previous regime, that the implementation of democracy in Iraq will take place in a short period that might not exceed several months! This naive belief was the secret face of hope deeply lodge in Iraqi chests after all they have suffered in terms of repression of freedoms and persecution in all and the worst forms by the former regime, so they looked forward to democracy as a savior, substitute and a guarantee that the previous ideology represented in the leadership of the sole party would not return. Certainly this belief was not based on objective and correct bases, since democracy cannot be a substitute as a necessity unless it is first and foremost a sensible and realistic option. Those believers - dreamers - ignored the fact that the Iraqi society, which for over a quarter century had put up with an ideology-based isolation from the entire world, suffered the loss of the most important elements of its stability as a flexible societal presence that is capable of achieving progress and development especially when the individual needs to activate his value system instead of the rule of law. The previous regime had created fragile educational, ethical, social, economic and political structures which were falling apart and worn out at many of its joints. The previous social institutions such as the clan institution were no longer capable of controlling individual behaviors as in the past, and especially after everybody discovered that the behavioral controls imposed by the clan institution did not voluntarily secure the obedience of its sons as a result of being convinced or faithful, but rather resulted from fear of oppression by the former regime in one way or another because it was the primary supporter of this institution and its leaders. The former regime had succeeded in converting even the decent clan values to customs that were imposed on the society in order to serve the ideology of the one-party and the sole leader, so a need to find a civil social institution that could meet the new aspirations arose and thus civil society organizations emerged.

When the former regime collapsed, the Iraqi individual found himself caught in a vacuum and started suffering from a loss of identity after the former regime had established the idea of exclusively belonging to the sole leader. The idea of citizenship only meant the name "the commander of necessity." What really stirs up the pain is that the formation and building of civil society organizations, although it had preceded the formation of the interim and permanent forms of the Iraqi government, has been relatively slow due to the great need of the founders of these organizations for training, education and raising awareness of democracy and democratic action and the frailty of the financial and logistical support provided to it, and which was mainly restricted to the support provided by American international organizations. This provided an opportunity for religious and political parties which derived their financial and logistical prowess from some of the personalities that have been called (opponents of the former regime) by the other States with political and economic interests in Iraq. It ignited the fuse of sectarian war, and the flame of terrorism spread before these organizations could establish their presence as civil institutions that play the role of implementing accountability and oversight. Yet they certainly succeeded in spreading awareness of democracy to a relatively large extent.

After the fires of sectarian discrimination and hateful terrorism burned the lives of thousands and possibly millions of members of Iraqi society, and after financial and administrative corruption had consumed the seeds of hope in new-fangled reform, the Iraqis realized the need to strengthen democratic construction, through three main axes: the first axis is to build a democratic educational system in terms of educational curriculum and teacher preparation, and the second axis is the extensive involvement in working with civil society organizations as civil democratic organizations, and the third axis is the democratization of the government and parliament not only in the form of the electoral system, but also through the creation of a philosophical democratic system which the constitution would be based upon first then the action of government and parliament would follow. The Iraqis began to realize that all the mistakes that happened and were produced by the sectarian and nationalistic quotas were due to moving away from the essence of democracy as a mental and behavioral method, although the government and parliament now constitute the most important challenge facing pro-democracy advocates who look forward to construction and reform. For despite the government and parliament claims of democracy, by controlling the executive and legislative branches, without real oversight or accountability, they provided a real opportunity for the political blocs that make up the parliament and the government to establish armed militias that work on spreading panic and intimidation of any advocacy that could alter the map of the existing situation. However, democratic activists now realize more profoundly and with more awareness that the path to constructing democracy is long and quiet. They are not revolutionary heroes who adopt violence to replace one authority with another; rather they are rational and calm advocates who believe that the democratic construction requires organized work and a relatively long-term scheme. This is a logical choice that the crisic reality which Iraq is living through socially and politically imposes, since democracy is a drug that can be prepared in order to treat the crises created by the political conflicts that have a negative impact on society.

Allow me to place a magnifying mirror in front of the face of democracy to clearly reveal its features! It has the same face despite all the make-up that each society heading towards democracy applies to it! Is it not strange that this strong face with its clam features and expressions would show impressions of pain and perhaps death? Those are the impressions that scared the people of the Middle East that aspire to democracy while they followed Iraq's experience through the media which is full of scenes of blood, murder and destruction and the rise in the number of civilian victims to record level in many cases.

It seems naive to blame democracy as a procedural concept. Reality indicates to us that many societies have experienced transitions towards democracy without shedding a single drop of blood, such as the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, yet the essence of the tragedy suffered by the Iraqi society lies in the weakness of community awareness of the ethics of democracy and the conditions of transformation to it, and the erroneous education represented in the doctrine of the "sole leader" established throughout decades, because this people remained confined to the tactical war media and to the geographic boundaries for more than a quarter of a century. Those who found a way to break free from the captivity of the former regime were an exception and constituted the so-called "opposition to the former regime," which carried the banner of grievance and complaints to generate external sympathy, yet some of its figures soon sat on the thrones of the parties that internalize the idea of the "sole leader" despite their slogans that call for democracy. These parties that seek the focal point of power in Iraq did not look at Iraq's damaged face. They were rather looking at Iraq's wealth, and instead of lending a hand to the members of society to uplift them to an authentic period of democracy building, they assassinated democracy and awakened the seeds of sedition and sectarian fighting in all its possible forms, and turned the political process into a container of blood which they seek to add more blood to, and the forms of financial and administrative corruption seemed as a natural consequence for freedom that was not respected by its political proponents.

I do not think it is too much to say that democracy, as a procedural concept, has not yet materialized in Iraq, despite the fact that the electoral process appeared in its superficial form as such. Democracy cannot follow its natural course unless it is preceded by a period of awareness of democracy. That is the prime role played by the civil society organizations in Iraq (in their majority), for democracy is not achieved without genuine freedom that includes patterns of thinking and social behavior with total awareness of its content as mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Legitimacy. Furthermore, democracy cannot be achieved without societal education of its ethics, principles and foundations, since it is a method of thinking and behavior and is not a absolute goal.

The role of civil society organizations in spreading awareness of democracy, advocating the topic of national reconciliation, and lobbying for constitutional amendments, are but confident steps on the way to building a democracy and political reform to save the situation in Iraq.

Is the civil society activist a political activist? Yes, he is a democratic activist who quietly and peacefully builds sound bases for a free society that bears the values of citizenship and tolerance and advocates a better future. Therefore, he does not look forward to a throne, but draws plans for a collective throne based on freedom and which is constructed by bricks of peace.

I realize that this road is long, but I believe that it is the best way to the happiness of my society in Iraq, therefore, my only option was to be active in the area of democracy, and I am happy with that choice.