6-07-06, 8:58 am
In this piece, Salam Ali, member of the central committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, is interviewed.
The ICP Central Committee met recently for the first time since the parliamentary elections. What were the main issues it considered?
Though separate, all these issues are intimately interlocked in the political situation in Iraq today and require careful and specific handling.
How serious is the security situation?
For ordinary people this is the main source of concern. Civilian deaths have sharply increased, including the killing in cold blood of many workers and those seeking employment. Particularly worrying is the growth in armed militias that are beginning to seize the powers of relevant bodies in the state. Many acts of assassination and kidnapping have taken place without proper response by government. There has also been an escalation of terrorist operations against civilians, covering a bigger geographical area and selecting targets with greater accuracy with the aim of influencing the political process and intensifying sectarian polarisation. Nothing has been spared including places of worship!
What does the ICP see as the solution?
Our Party has always pointed out that the security issue should be tackled by adopting a multifaceted and integrated approach, including political, social and economic measures rather than resorting to direct military force alone. As part of this approach, the Iraqi government must develop its own military and security forces that are based on national unity that is, forces which represent all Iraqis irrespective of their ideological and political affiliations, ethnic origins or religious beliefs.
How bad is the economic crisis and how far has it brought mass resistance?
There has been a dramatic deterioration. This is particularly so for public services and the supply of water, electricity and petrol products. 20 per cent of the population is living in absolute poverty. Between 30 and 50 per cent of the labour force is unemployed, especially youth. Inflation has risen over 30 per cent.
There were big demonstrations across Iraq against the price increase of refined petrol products in December. There have also been demonstrations on pay by health workers and by the unemployed seeking work.
A big protest movement has been developing against the notorious Decree 8750 issued by the transitional government in August 2005. This enables the government to exercise detailed control over non-governmental organisations including trade unions. It includes the power to freeze their assets and to disband them. As an indication of the dangers to come, this month saw the arrests of striking dock workers in Basra.
The Central Committee sees this movement of protest and resistance as critical for the future and needing active support and development.
How does this fit in with the Iraqi party's opposition to occupation?
The foreign military presence constitutes a violation of national sovereignty and the government's capitulation to external economic pressures and the diktat of international financial institutions is one continuing facet of that violation.
The party welcomed the Accord Conference convened in Cairo by the Arab League last November. This sought to bring together the differing political and social forces in Iraq and issued a call for a firm timetable to be set for the withdrawal of occupation forces. The Central Committee believes this represents the way forward. The ICP opposed, along with other political forces, the action last June of the transitional government, without the support of parliament, in calling on the UN to renew the mandate of the occupation forces.
The Central Committee welcomes the reconvening of the Accord Conference planned for next month. It sees this as providing an avenue for the necessary compromises among Iraqi political groups required to push forward the movement for the restoration of sovereignty. The party has already called on the government to work for the withdrawal of occupation forces from the cities and for it to create the material, political and security prerequisites for the ending of the foreign military presence.
What are the internal political obstacles to the recovery of national sovereignty?
The biggest internal obstacle is the growth of sectarianism and sectarian conflict. This has four sources. It derives from the openly sectarian policies of the ousted dictatorship. It was consolidated by the policies of the occupiers who resorted to an ethnic categorisation of our society. It was further worsened by some political forces employing sectarian-ethnic polarisation as an alternative to political programmes in order to seize political power and secure positions in government. This was evident during the recent election campaign. Finally, terrorist forces have concentrated on exacerbating the resulting hostilities to the point of open conflict! The attack on the holy shrine at Samarra brought large-scale inter-communal killing and forced relocation.
There remains, however, a level of popular commitment to an Iraqi national identity and the creation of an Iraq that is home to all Iraqis irrespective of ethnicity and religion. The ICP seeks to develop this commitment. It is a key to the recovery of national sovereignty.
What was the approach of the ICP to the elections and the subsequent battles over the formation of a new government?
The Central Committee spent some time assessing the options for the ICP in the elections: whether it should have fought independently, as part of a coalition of progressive democratic forces or within a broader democratic coalition. The decision to contest as part of a broad democratic coalition, along with other progressive forces, was taken after extensive polling of opinion at cadre level and in face of the intensification of sectarian politics. The Iraqi National List included a range of political parties, individuals and movements that were generally non-sectarian, liberal and democratic.
The elections were marked by widespread violence and malpractice. The outcome was, however, positive in so far as the level of participation was high and no single sectarian-based political group was able to dominate the new parliament. The Party from the beginning has argued for a government that incorporates all political forces and abandons the sectarian quota system for allocating government posts.
The government formed on 20 May emerged after lengthy negotiations. The idea of setting up a broadly based national unity government was eventually endorsed - though reluctantly by some forces. Initially there was an attempt to allocate posts purely along sectarian-ethnic lines and to exclude the broad democratic and liberal coalition, the National Iraqi List. This ranked fourth in the elections with 9 per cent of the vote and includes the Communist Party.
Eventually, the Iraqi National List was allocated five ministries including Justice, Communications and Human Rights. Raid Fahmi, a member of our Central Committee, became Minister for Science and Technology. The leading government posts were still distributed on ethnic-sectarian lines to the mainly Shia Iraqi National Alliance, the Kurdistan Alliance and the mainly Sunni National Accord Front.
The Iraqi National List stated that its 'participation in the government is based on its recognition of the importance of consolidating the principle of national unity and Iraq's security, safety and stability' and called on the Prime Minister to honour previously agreed commitments. These include the need to remedy the 'flagrant shortcoming in the proportion of women's participation in ministerial posts' – only four women are ministers out of 37 – and to disband the militias and integrate them within state institutions `as individuals rather than organisations.'
The newly-formed government therefore falls short of our Party's aim for a national unity government. But its composition, which is no longer totally dominated by one single bloc, opens up the potential for greater say in the decision making process. There is a relatively better representation of the political spectrum and diversity in Iraqi society.
The ICP sees its continuing role as combating the damage caused by sectarianism and terrorism, consolidating national unity and democratic forces, strengthening the integrity of the Iraqi national security forces and preparing the way for the end of the occupation. At the same time it seeks to mobilise struggle for the restoration of basic services, for employment for the unemployed and to stop factory closures, sackings, short-time working and the erosion of living standards.
Combined with these struggles outside parliament, the ICP sees its role in parliament and the government as bringing together those forces that will advance national sovereignty, oppose externally imposed neo-liberal policies and defend the needs of working people.
The government has a four year term and will have a significant impact on the way a new Iraqi state will emerge.
--John Foster is international secretary of the Communist Party of Britain.
From Morning Star
