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Sunday, March 20, 2005

We Will Crawl There

From Big Pharoah, who is an Egyptian blogger, I was directed to this post by the Democracy in Iraq blog. The post addresses those who are protesting the war again on its two year anniversary, saying that this issue is not about Bush, but about the average Iraqi, the "average man with an average dream." And what is that dream?
Iraqis see the finish line, the finish line of freedom and democracy and a functioning nation. We can smell it, taste it, and like a sprinter, one who has broken his legs, but who has a heart full of passion, we will crawl there no matter what the cost. No matter what we must endure, we have realized what we can become, and that is the biggest result of the last two years.

Noone can take that from us. Not the terrorists, not those who want to question the good of the removal of Saddam, not those who want to reduce our glory for politics, none.

We have been brought from darkness to light. And not only has the future been made better for Iraq, but the martyrs of our nation, their blood is watering the roots of democracy across the world. We are watching our neighbors come closer to the light, and this only pushes us more, and makes us stronger in our burning desire to reach the finish line, to realize the dream that our people have had for so long.
Big Pharoah commented that he thought this post should be published in newspapers worldwide. What moved me so much about it was the pride in it. That's what I have been reading in Iraqi blogs. They are proud of themselves for voting in spite of threats, for defying those who tried to prevent it. They see the devastation of decades of brutal dictatorship, the war to take out Saddam and the terrorist war within their borders, yet they are still able to look past this. They begin to feel that they can take control of their destiny, and they think they have done something noble and are setting an example that will free others.

So much for the Arab street - it cries for freedom. Big Pharoah is also running pictures of the Lebanonese protestors.

Free Iraqi has posted about events in Basra (southern Iraq). The religious faction attempted to move in after the election and impose a religious regime; Free Iraqi reports that the students have risen against it and thrown the religious police out of their universities:
Some western experts argue that since there is no democratic society in Iraq, the American liberation of Iraq did not and will not lead to democracy . The first part of this statement is true but the conclusion is flawed.

Iraqi society, like most Arab/Muslim societies, is cursed with many problems that chain it and prevent the progress of democracy among its components. The worst of these chains and the hardest to break is dictatorship. By toppling Saddam, America offered Iraqis freedom from dictatorship but it couldn't and would never be able to liberate Iraqi from all other chains. Once Iraqis tasted this freedom the majority of them used it to back up their religious figures that were similarly oppressed at Saddam's hands and thus the religious parties won easily. This chain was not forced but was created by ignorance and the emotional bond between Iraqis and their religious symbols.

However, once those religious parties started to use their power that is given to them by God (as they believe) and by the people (through the vote) Iraqis got shocked! This is not what they jeopardized their lives to vote for! They were not freed from Saddam only to face another tyranny, and therefore the same people who voted for the Coalition List have revolted against its fanatic religious components and they will continue their revolt until they win. This will be a peaceful struggle that takes its nature from the fact that American troops are on the ground to prevent any large scale oppression although it can't prevent smaller scattered violations of Iraqi citizens' rights.
See also Free Iraqi's post about students throwing an anti-Syrian demonstration in Lebanon and saying they were forced to march in a pro-Syrian rally last week.

Iraq The Model reports (yes, this is original first-hand reporting) that some Iraqi wholesalers have set up a spontaneous boycott of the Syrian merchants:
My cousin explained saying:

I had a number of Syrian products which I couldn't find this time. The wholesaler that I usually deal with said that there has been some kind of an agreement among many of the main Iraqi importers to boycott the Syrian products.
and he reacts:
Frankly speaking the story amazed me because for the 1st time I see merchants putting economic benefit in the second place and the decision was made spontaneously, unlike Saddam's orders of boycotting western products back in the early 90's which forced wholesalers as well as small shop keepers who depended on those products for a great portion of their incomes to adopt a high level of secrecy in their exchanges.

This time it's a result of the growing sense among the public that the Syrian Ba'athist regime must be held accountable for a great deal of terrorism in Iraq. Maybe this isn't going to change much of the situation but it indicates that the people have begun to realize their duties towards their country.
They began to understand that fighting terror is not only the responsibility of the coalition or the government and that they can always contribute to securing their country even with a small part like this initiative.
Yup. The Arab street speaks again. It's turning out to be a pretty democratic place. I don't find this surprising because of the Muslims I have known from different countries. Some of them were students, some immigrants, but none of them seemed the types to ask for a hobnailed boot in the middle of their backs, notwithstanding Professor deLespinasse who had opined:
Given Iraq's history and ethnic and religious divisions, any leader who is less willing than Hussein to kill large numbers of people may not be able to govern at all. The one thing worse for the average person than a government like Hussein's is the total absence of government.
So much for that piece of brilliance. See Juan Cole's take on Iraq being headed for a religious government, and contrast it with the reports of the goings-on in Basra. See also Juan Cole's worries about "instability" in the region:
The continued instability in the Middle East, which may or may not have been exacerbated by President Bush's interventionism, yielded on Saturday a harvest of deadly bombings in the region.
The esteemed professor (what is it about Michigan?) discusses bombings in Pakistan, Lebanon and Qatar. He concludes with this cryptic comment:
These bombings were unconnected, and mean something distinctive in eaqch setting. But it soes seem incraeasingly clear that we need to start taking journalists out.


Comments:
GREAT post with terrific links, MoM! Thanks so much!
 
The world of blogging has genuine potential to bypass the elites of the world and connect people from different countries.
 
I concur with Esther. I've tried to build on your impressive foundation.

I agree about the potential of blogs. One problem: the anti-war left seems to have forgotten how to read.
 
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