- التفاصيل
- المجموعة: English
- الزيارات: 2864
Tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad and several other provinces on 1st October 2020 to mark the first anniversary of the Popular Uprising that shook the foundations of the corrupt political system. Despite succeeding in overthrowing the government and forcing the ruling groups to succumb to the demand for early elections, other demands for radical reform and change remain unfulfilled. Key among the demands is investigating the killing of more than 700 young protesters and bringing the criminals to justice.
The all-encompassing structural crisis gripping Iraq, on political, economic and social levels, that led to the eruption of the Uprising on 1st October 2019, continues. It has been further aggravated in recent months by the coronavirus pandemic and the financial crisis caused by the fall in world oil prices. The country relies heavily on oil revenues which make up more than 90 percent of its budget.
The essence of the deepening crisis lies in the policies pursued by the ruling political blocs that continue to perpetuate the sectarian-ethnic quota system (‘Muhasasa’) that was installed after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.
Rampant corruption and plundering public money have been endemic features of this political system.
Among other grave challenges is the growing role of militia-type armed formations and organized crime, undermining the state’s sovereignty and its ability to assert the rule of law. The relationship between the federal government and the Kurdistan regional government also continue to be fraught with tension. The terrorist ISIS, that had suffered a big military defeat three years ago, has been rearing its ugly head again in some areas.
Many political forces continue to rely on external support, opening the door to regional and international interference in Iraq’s in internal affairs, serving foreign agendas and interests. This situation threatens to turn Iraq into a battlefield to settle scores at the expense of its own independence, national sovereignty and people’s interests.
All these factors have contributed to deepening the political deadlock and social tensions and polarization. The gap between extreme affluence and abject poverty has deepened, with high unemployment especially among the youth who have lost faith in the ability of the ruling blocs to offer solutions to the chronic problems and crises bedevilling the society.
Popular anger exploded in a heroic Uprising on 1st October 2019, on a scale unprecedented for many decades in the country’s modern history. Mass demonstrations and sit-ins were met with bloody repression, resulting in more than 700 protesters killed and thousands injured. It demonstrated the burning desire of the people, especially the youth, for change and getting rid of the existing corrupt and sectarian political system, to build a better life and achieve a secure and prosperous future.
The previous Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi was forced to resign in late November 2019 after refusing to respond to the demands of the peaceful protesters, resorting instead to brutal repression and giving militias a free hand to kill, kidnap and torture young protesters and civil activists. After 6 months of deadlock, fierce disagreements and infighting and among the ruling political blocs, an interim government headed by a new Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, was approved by the parliament in June 2020.
Interim Government
The new government’s programme included a number of these tasks: Investigating the killings of protesters and bringing the criminal to justice, early elections, investigating corruption cases, tackling the coronavirus pandemic, and tackling urgent economic and social issues to alleviate the suffering of the people.
US-Iran Consensus
However, the approval of Kadhimi’s nomination was a result of an America-Iranian consensus and came as a compromise among the dominant ruling blocs.
This precarious equation, with all parties concerned, whether internal or external, exerting pressure to ensure that Kadhemi’s government serves their agendas or prevent it from threatening their interests, has led to vacillation in its measures.
Escalating Protests
During recent weeks, protests have escalated on various issues, including demonstrations by hundreds of unemployed graduates and engineers in Baghdad.
One other main cause of mounting popular anger is the deterioration of health services and the deep concern that hospitals are losing control as coronavirus cases surge. According to latest official figures, the total number of deaths is 10,254 and there are 427,000 confirmed cases.
Early Elections
The Prime Minister Kadhimi declared that early elections will take place on 6 June 2021. Early elections, that are fair and credible, was a principal demand of the October Uprising and the protesters. It is seen as a principal constitutional means for peaceful democratic change. However, this requires reforming the whole electoral system. The early election is therefore another arena of fierce political struggle.
The factors that triggered the Uprising on 1st October 2019 continue to exist. There is, therefore, a very real possibility of the renewal of protests. A peaceful mass protest movement is essential to achieve the just demands of the Uprising, defeat the sectarian quota power-sharing system and corruption, and bring about radical change by asserting the will of the people and move towards a democratic civil state, based on citizenship and social justice.
18-10-2020
- التفاصيل
- المجموعة: English
- الزيارات: 2823
17 September 2020
A ceremony was held in Washington DC yesterday for the signing of the normalization agreements between the UAE and Bahrain on one hand and Israel on the other hand, under the auspices of Trump and Netanyahu, in another humiliating step in the humiliating process of normalization with the Israeli occupation.
This step came after the normalization agreement last month between the UAE and Israel, with American blessing, and despite widespread popular rejection. It is no secret that the timing of the announcement of the normalization of relations between some Arab countries and Israel, which had been taking place behind the scenes, came about under pressure from the US president for electoral purposes and to enhance the position of Netanyahu, who is being legally pursued for corruption in Israel, and to appease the Zionist lobby in the US. These agreements confirm the involvement of these Arab regimes in implementing the infamous so-called "Deal of the Century" as part of US imperialist strategy to enhance its hegemony over the Middle East region through the establishment of a new regional alliance led by Israel.
The Arab League’s position, expressed in the statement of Arab foreign ministers on 9 September 2020, totally disregarding any reference to Emirati-Israeli normalization, was effectively a green light and a political cover for other countries to scramble for normalization with Israel.
The misleading media of the countries involved in these humiliating agreements portray them as just peace agreements that bring security, stability and prosperity to the signatory states and to the whole region. But they conceal the fundamental meaning of these agreements which Netanyahu, who is enraptured by the political gain he has achieved, claims are based on “peace for peace”, not land for peace, which is the principle adopted by most factions of the Palestinian national liberation movement, as well as by the “Arab Initiative” and UN resolutions. According to these humiliating agreements, the right of Israel to the lands it has usurped since its establishment is recognized. In addition, the right of return for the displaced and those who were dispossessed of their lands by the Zionists is relinquished. These agreements also endorse the acts of aggression committed by Israel against Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries, the oppression and violations against the Palestinian people and their basic rights, and the annexation of territories.
All UN resolutions have affirmed the recognition of these just rights of the Palestinian people and obligated Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in 1967.
Any agreement that is not based on assuring the basic and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people on their land, putting an end to the Israeli occupation and recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent national state on the land of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, can only be described as a surrender agreement that blatantly denies the just cause of the Palestinian people and their struggle, that is full of sacrifices, to end the abhorrent occupation. It will not bring security and stability to the region.
Confronting these accelerated normalization steps to legitimize the Zionist occupation under the auspices of the Trump administration, which also threaten security and peace in the Middle East region, requires all patriotic and liberation forces in the Arab countries to mobilize the energies of their peoples to intensify solidarity with the Palestinian people and the unified position announced by their national organizations and factions, and support their popular initiatives. It also requires developing effective forms of coordination with them, to block the path of the shameful normalization scheme and expose its goals. In addition, defeating this scheme requires active participation with all the free people in the world in order to raise the voice of solidarity, to demand the implementation of UN resolutions on Palestine, and call for an end to the Zionist occupation and enabling the Palestinians as a people to exercise their right to self-determination, return to their homeland and establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Political Bureau
Iraqi Communist Party
17-9-2020
- التفاصيل
- المجموعة: English
- الزيارات: 3443
Dear Comrades,
We convey the warmest greetings of Iraqi Communists to the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Turkey. We also join you in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the TKP’s foundation. This special occasion in the life of your fraternal party is a reminder of the heroic struggle and sacrifices of Turkish Communists in the battles of national liberation, independence, freedom and democracy, against dictatorship, reaction and imperialism. This history testifies to their fidelity to the ideals of socialism and communism. The centenary anniversary also provides inspiration for Communists and their Left allies to intensify the struggle in defence of the rights of the working class and people, for democratic rights and social justice.
We are confident that the 13th Congress will contribute to strengthening your party and its role in the ongoing mass struggles. This is crucial for developing a broad Left front mobilizing the people against the ruling bourgeoisie and the onslaught by Erdogan’s regime on democracy and the rights of the Kurdish people, as well as its aggressive and expansionist policies in the Middle East. Its blatant interference in the affairs of other countries in the region is evident in Syria, Iraq and Libya. In this respect, our party has strongly condemned the repeated violations of Iraq’s national sovereignty by the Turkish army and air force, including recent attacks on areas deep inside Iraqi Kurdistan. It has called for an immediate end to this aggression.
Dear Comrades,
While wishing your 13th Congress every success in its deliberations, we extend our wholehearted greetings to its delegates and all the members of your fraternal party on its 100th anniversary. We look forward to developing the relations between our two parties in the joint struggle for freedom, peace, democracy, social progress, and socialism.
Long live Internationalist Solidarity!
Central Committee
Iraqi Communist Party
7 August 2020
- التفاصيل
- المجموعة: English
- الزيارات: 2437
To: The Political Bureau of the Communist Party in Denmark, KPiD
Dear Comrades,
It is with great sorrow that we received the sad news of the passing away of Comrade Betty Carlsson, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party in Denmark.
On this sad occasion, we convey our deepest condolences to the family of the late comrade, to the Central Committee of your fraternal party and all its members and supporters.
We came to know Comrade Betty during the International Meetings of Communist and Workers Parties, and also for a long time through our party organisation in Denmark. We remember her internationalist solidarity with the Iraqi people and Communists, and her role in strengthening the relations between our two parties.
Comrade Carlsson will always be remembered by her comrades for consistently defending the interests of the working class in Denmark and upholding the lofty values of socialism and communism.
Political Bureau
Iraqi Communist Party
1 August 2020
- التفاصيل
- المجموعة: English
- الزيارات: 2653
Dear Comrades,
We convey the warmest greetings of Iraqi Communists on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of Britain.
On this special occasion in the life of your fraternal party, we salute the history of struggle and sacrifice of British Communists and their dedication to uphold the lofty values of communism and fight relentlessly for a socialist future. Throughout these 100 years, confronting an enormous political and ideological challenge of facing up to the one of the world’s oldest capitalist and imperialist powers, they have held high the red banner of socialism, communism and Marxism. This history is today an inspiring example for British Communists and their allies in the labour movement and society to intensify their struggle to defend the rights of the British working class and people and achieve a popular left alternative. It is also an inspiration to Britain’s young generation as they look for an alternative to a bankrupt capitalist system that stands condemned for its systemic failures in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating economic and social consequences that will impact their lives for years to come. Today, more than ever before, the role of the Communist party and progressive forces, in Britain and worldwide, is indispensable for providing inspiration and a guide for action to achieve change. It is vital for building a better future, a society free of exploitation, all forms of oppression, racism, fascism, wars, poverty and disease; ensuring freedom, democratic rights and social justice; laying the foundations for socialism.
Dear Comrades,
On this centenary celebration, Iraqi Communists join you in remembering with pride the role of Britain’s Communist Party in providing internationalist support and expressing solidarity with the fighters against fascism and war, and in building the world peace movement. An outstanding example was the participation of British communists in the International Brigades and their courageous fight against Franco’s fascists. Another example was its contribution to the fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Britain’s Communist Party also supported national liberation movements in the fight against British colonialism, for freedom and national independence. This had special importance for the Iraqi people in their bitter fight to win true independence after Iraq fell under British occupation in 1917. This fight continued until the 14th July 1958 Revolution which overthrew the reactionary monarchy that was a British puppet.
Iraqi Communists recall with pride the relationship that developed with Britain’s Communist Party during the 1940s. It actively campaigned to save the life of Comrade Fahd (Yousuf Salman), the leader and founder of the Iraqi Communist Party, when he was sentenced to death after his arrest in 1947. Under the pressure of this international campaign, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. But following the party’s role in the popular uprising against the Portsmouth Treaty in 1948, he was re-tried along with two members of the party Politburo, sentenced to death and executed in February 1949.
Following the CIA-backed bloody fascist coup in Iraq on 8th February 1963, in which thousands of Communists and supporters were physically liquidated, British Communists again supported an international solidarity campaign to expose and stop the bloodbath.
The British Communist Party also provided vital support for the solidarity campaign that was launched in Britain in 1979 after the escalation of bloody repression by Saddam’s fascist Baath party against the Communists and democrats. This internationalist support for the Iraqi people continued over more than two decades, during which our people suffered the catastrophes of the Iran-Iraq war and economic sanctions after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. Iraqi Communists participated in the anti-war demonstrations, alongside British Communists, on the eve of the US war and occupation of Iraq in 2003, under the slogan “No to War .. No to Dictatorship”. The ties of friendship and solidarity between our two parties continued during the years that followed, despite the difficult struggle waged by our party and democratic forces under complex conditions against the occupation, political sectarianism, corruption and terrorism, for freedom and national sovereignty, and to build a civil democratic state based on social justice.
Dear Comrades,
On the Centenary of the birth of your party, we seize this occasion to express once again our appreciation for your internationalist solidarity with the Iraqi people, democrats and Communists.
We warmly salute all the members and supporters of Communist Party of Britain, and look forward to strengthening and developing the historical relations and internationalist ties between our two parties, in the joint struggle for freedom, peace, democracy, social progress, and socialism.
With warmest comradely greetings,
Central Committee
Iraqi Communist Party
30 July 2020
المزيد من المقالات...
الصفحة 13 من 25
