For the second month respectively, popular protests continue to demand the improvement of the country’s political, economic and social conditions, and followers of the Iraqi issue agree that they are legitimate demands, and from its part, the government responded to a large package of these demands.
It is well known in the political literature that the popular protests are aimed at changing the policies of governments in line with the demands of the protesters, without prejudice to the prestige of the state. Here, the protests are essentially a form of civil state , but the protests to come out of its peaceful path to become a serious internal concern that threatens the security of the entire state , here , the protests will be out of its right path ,.
In the case of Iraq, the protests did not officially show that they have a leader or party background, but the reality of the protests and the accompanying events indicate the opposite, that there is some body and secretly that acts as a mind of it “!
This leads us to say that it is no coincidence that the protesters rush to control the vital bridges of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and threaten vital facilities in the Iraqi state such as storming the Central Bank of Iraq or sabotage, demolition, destruction or occupation of buildings or public property belong to government offices or services or public facilities or State facilities, including the closure of the port of Umm Qasr in the province of Basra in southern Iraq.
In the face of this dangerous situation, which threatens the entity of the Iraqi state, we wonder what is required from Adil Abdul Mahdi as the Prime Minister of Iraq, and the Iraqi security forces, to accept this situation?! Certainly no a ruler at all, not only in Iraq, but at the international level accept this, because the maintenance of internal state security is the primary responsibility of the governments, including the Iraqi government, and in order not to misunderstand the evaluation of the situation , this is not a call for the government to exercise the violence against protesters, but to maintain the security of the Iraqi state , this requires the Iraqi government to deal firmly with any deviation in the context of the protest.
Any government, whether in Iraq or in any other country, does not accept the invasiveness of state institutions, governmental and non-governmental, and if the protests slip to this level, the government must defend the prestige of the state, and victims of the security services and protesters may fall , and here the secret mentality emerged which runs the movement of protests in Iraq and demanding revenge, and this is very dangerous, to move Iraq after sixteen years of the dilemma of sectarian and sectarian and ethnic intolerance to revenge intolerance , revenge is not related to Islam, it goes back to the era of ignorance and the values of the negative tribe, and institutionally not related to Civil concepts and Modernity but goes back to the pre-state era.
There is no protest movement aimed to continue but to achieve its objective ,and this requires a serious dialogue between the Iraqi government and the representatives of the protesters, and they must exert pressure on the government peacefully through dialogue , there are Arab models that the dialogue between the government and the opposition has contributed to get out of the dark tunnel as the Sudanese case, the Sudanese realized that the security of Sudan comes at the top of the priorities, and that the national dialogue is capable of solving the outstanding problems, and this dialogue must also apply to the Iraqi situation, the Iraqi government should seek to gain the confidence of protesters and show the sincerity of its intentions in achieving their demands, and It should set a timetable in the implementation of the demands of the protesters, it should also exclude corrupt members of the state administrative apparatus, hold them accountable for their financial and administrative crimes, change the Electoral Commission and enact a new election law, and it should propose draft laws to facilitate political participation by Iraqi youth in political decision making in Iraq, such as becoming MPs or ministers in the Council of Ministers.
Either we do not turn to dialogue and put it aside, and we appeal to the street, “violence and counter-violence.” This means that Iraq is entering a dark tunnel, and this is not acceptable to a people whose land was the cradle of genuine human civilization.
Iraqi Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies