THE PROTEST MOVEMENT IN IRAQ, GOALS, DEMANDS AND SLOGANS

الترجمة الانكليزية لوثيقة الحركة الاحتجاجية في العراق، الأهداف والمطالب والشعارات

The wave of mass demonstrations in Iraq, which began on October 1, 2019, continues to grow and its specter continues to threaten the authorities of the ruling bourgeoisie currents of political Islam, nationalists and neo-liberals despite its brutal repression by the authorities.
Hundreds of protesters and civilians have been killed and thousands injured in Baghdad, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, Basra, Kut, Amara, etc.., and thousands remain in detention and In hidden prisons or facing constant persecutions, but the deprived and marginalized masses are determined to enter the protest squares with greater power and determination, the 25th of this month has been set as a date for renewed demonstrations.

THE CLASS CHARACTER OF THE CROWD,
AND ITS VAST SOCIAL BASE.

The masses taking part in the protest movement are an essential element of the forces of revolutionary change in society as a whole, because the class character of these opposing masses is the youth who aspire to modern and decent life, especially the unemployed women & men, the urban poor, workers and laborers and those in precarious jobs, as well as disadvantaged people belonging to different Social groups.
The demonstrators are not alone, they enjoy the support of the wider masses in Iraq, and therefore the social and class forces of this protest movement are much broader than the scope of the demonstrators, and the means and mechanisms of their struggle are broader and more diverse.
Workers and the majority of employees in the public and private sector and in all industries, services and trade, the masses of women who suffer from the highest levels of unemployment and the worst discrimination and economic, social and cultural marginalization, sons and daughters of workers In the military and police forces, and all those freedom and humanity lovers and advocates of equality, are not only the broad social base of this protest movement, but, with the masses of demonstrators, the main driving forces to bring about revolutionary change in society.
The entry of the working class and the broad proletarian masses into the independent political struggle through demonstrations and strikes will be a decisive step in the course of the emancipation political struggle in society and for the progress of the protest movement and the achievement of its political and social objectives.

CORRUPTION, NEO-LIBERALISM, THE QUOTA SYSTEM,
AND THE CURRENT MASS MOVEMENT
The rise of the masses of unemployed workers, toilers and liberal youth is mainly against the tragic economic and social conditions they are living and against their deprivation of rights and freedoms under the existing political system in Iraq and against corruption and the giants of corruption that plunder the sustenance of the masses and the wealth of the Society to extents un-paralleled in the world.
The protest movement is an uprising against what the masses are suffering from, of economic misery and social marginalization caused directly by the neo-liberal economic policies carried out in the fiercest forms by successive governments of the currents of political Islam and nationalists.
These policies have imposed poverty and unemployment on tens of millions of people and have robbed them of the right to free health, education and social housing, as they subjected the provision of such services to market mechanisms.
The first step towards the economic well-being of citizens is to abolish the neo-liberal economic policies of the government.

BOURGEOIS CURRENTS AND PARTIES AS THE FORCES OF
“COUNTER-REVOLUTION”,
AND THE PROTEST MOVEMENT.
It is well known that the bourgeoisie, its parties and its political and social currents in power and in the opposition did not stand idly by in the face of these demonstrations and protests. The Islamic and nationalist currents in Iraq are closely tied to the agenda of the imperialist and regional states, implementing them and using them to perpetuate their domination over the masses.
At present, both America and Iran are trying to exploit the protest movement for the benefit of their own agenda and conflicts in Iraq and the region, and in this process these bourgeois currents are coordinated with these two countries in different forms.
America is trying to impose its political and military alternative, taking advantage of the current situation. The Iranian regime is also taking advantage of the current situation to tighten its grip on the course of the situation in Iraq.
There are groups within the demonstrations promoting the American political alternative, they are nothing but forces hostile to the mass movement. They are taking advantage of the protests for the benefit of America and its reactionary strategy in Iraq and the region.
The list of bourgeois anti-revolutionary parties and currents that want to control the protest movement is long, starting from The Arab- nationalists and Islamist- nationalists to the remnants of baathists and neo-liberal bourgeois forces, all of whom are linked in one way or another to the agenda of America and Saudi Arabia as well as other imperialist and regional states and their interests in Iraq, down to some bourgeois parties and currents that are themselves part of the system.
After the Sadrist movement and the Sai’iroon, as parties of the regime, adopted an anti-demonstration stance earlier this month, they began recently adopting a new tactic!, the tactic of aborting the protest movement by participating in the protest movement itself, the tactic of mixing papers and “softly” crushing the movement. In this context, the Sadrist movement announced participation in the demonstrations scheduled for the 25th of this month.
One of the main dangers surrounding this protest movement, which hinders its transition to a broad mass movement and a general revolutionary crisis that brings about revolutionary and radical change, is the containment of this protest movement by the bourgeoisie through the influence of its prospective and political alternatives, which are essentially counter-revolutionary, on the political agenda of the masses of workers, the hard-working, the demonstrators and the protest movement.
In this regard, it is no different that the efforts to abort the protest movement come from an Bourgeois- Islamic or nationalist- “secular-patriotic” movement, or a liberal or reformist-civil-bourgeois movement in the name of the left.

some of the banners raised by the protestors in Tahreer Square Baghdad

from right to let: Civil disobedience and General Strike are the ways to topple the regime All the power to the protesting masses There is no place for the ruling parties and their currents in the demonstartion squares

Slogan “Overthrow the system”,
Since its inception, the protest movement of the past few weeks, has gone beyond the framework of demands for partial reforms, summing up its political objective with the slogan: “Overthrow the Regime.”
The brutal bloody repression carried out by the authorities against the protests and the campaign of arrests and prosecutions against demonstrators by these forces, have deepened the practical meaning of this slogan on a broad social level. This oppression demonstrated to millions how this regime stands in the enemies ditch against the masses and revealed in a glaring way, the blatantly false claims of the ruling currents and parties being representatives of the masses.
The bloody “events of October” are the beginning of the end for this regime and the last threads of its connection to society and the masses. Therefore, it has become clear to those millions that the system is the obstacle, the oppressive force in the face of fulfilling their demands and aspirations to gain freedom, work, well-being and an equal life for all.
As the protest movement advances and is armed with its independent politics, which guarantee the interests and objectives of libertarian youth, workers, toilers, the masses of the unemployed and disadvantaged sectors, the more it draws a line between itself and the prospective and political alternatives of the different bourgeoisie currents, the deeper the revolutionary crisis becomes in the country.
It is the liberal social cause for which the vast masses have engaged that must shape the economic and social content of any political alternative.
Raising the slogan of the overthrow of power by the masses without being matched by hard work to promote the political and organizational readiness of the masses of workers, toilers and liberators as quickly as possible and on a broad social level and without drawing the boundaries between these masses and the agenda of other local, International and regional bourgeois forces, would mount to aborting the movement before it could be a factor to advance it.
When the bourgeois imperialist, regional and local forces, raise the slogan of “overthrowing the regime”, they seek to establish their counter-revolutionary political alternatives and turn the protesting masses into fuel for conflicts in the bourgeois camp and its local and global forces.
At the same time, however, raising the slogan of “overthrowing the regime” by the masses means establishing their political alternative and achieving their just social and economic agenda, which requires the greatest degree of struggle for the organization of the masses of workers and toilers in a competent liberal political movement.
The revolutionary status and government alternative
The emergence of a revolutionary situation and the progress of the mass movement to overthrow the political system through the revolutionary uprising, no doubt, are the results of the embodiment of the militant energy of the working class, the toilers and all the oppressed and the poor, and the masses of women who suffer doubly, in a revolutionary mass political movement. Such a revolutionary political movement can triumph when it is armed with a socialist and liberational social and political horizon, and fight against the entire political and social system.
The bourgeoisie in opposition, those in power, terrorists of the style of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, nationalist and sectarian fascists of all kinds, try to pass their policies and agendas in these conditions in order to control the situation and suppress the revolutionary energies of the masses. Imposing a retreat on all these criminal endeavors depends on the degree of political, organizational and intellectual readiness of the working class, working masses and liberal youth.
The embodiment of the revolutionary alternative to the government and the current political system by the rising masses begins with the revolution, begins with the progress of the protest movement into a revolutionary mass political movement that achieves the independent political will of the working class, the masses of toilers, the poor and the young men and women in the form of their councils or revolutionary committees.
The embodiment of this kind of political alternative means organizing the political life in the neighborhoods, shops, factories and institutions on the basis of the direct political will of the masses and up to the country level.

There cannot be freedom for women or equality without the removal of the system of Political Islam

Socialism,
And the current protest movement
The source of misery, economic exploitation and social marginalization of workers, toilers, the poor, the disadvantaged and the masses of unemployed people in Iraq is the prevailing contemporary capitalist relations production in the country, which is the control of capital in the lives and livelihood of the people.
The source of their deprivation, the wide-ranging denial of political and individual rights and freedoms to the vast masses, and subjecting them to repression, discrimination, oppression, the tragedies of war and violence, is part of the perpetuation of these relations, which is the inherent political and ideological construction. Neoliberal economic policies are also the economic policies of this system.
It is not possible to talk about the social revolution without escalating the mass struggle to break the pillars of all this economic, social, political and intellectual system and to cut off this ring from the chain of global capital in Iraq.
Socialism, the socialist struggle and the socialist movement are linked to this revolutionary struggle and to the class and social groups that have an interest in bringing down this whole system and saving society as a whole from its grips.
The achievement of socialism depends on changing the balance of class and political forces within society in favour of the masses of workers and toilers, the masses of the proletariat and the socialist proletariat against the bourgeoisie.
The more the socialist goal becomes the banner of the revolutionary movement in Iraq, the more it can achieve economic, social and political reforms and the immediate demands of the masses in the most radical, broad and profound forms.
The independent political will of the rising masses,
Alternatives to the bourgeois government
Radical change cannot be achieved through political projects put forward by islamist bourgeois, nationalist and reformist currents such as the “National Salvation Government”, “Re-election” and others. What is needed now and in essence, is to realise the political will of the rising masses and to transfer powers to them.
The protest movement is a movement deeply embedded in society, so the masses in the neighborhoods, factories and institutions must be the political decision makers in the midst of the transformations that society will go through.
It is possible that the forms of representation of the will of the masses may be varied, depending on the actual situation, but they must be based on the independent political will of the masses who is organised in the councils and committees in the neighborhoods, shops, institutions, factories and nationwide.
The nature of the regional protest movement,
And it transcend of national and religious boundaries.
The current wave of protests in Iraq, despite its specificity, is a part and a continuation of the protests taking place in the Middle East, in Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Iran and Algeria, and is linked by the common internationalist interest, which transcends borders and national, religious and sectarian boundaries.
What binds these movements is the common class interest of the masses of workers and liberal youth in the face of the capitalist system and neo-liberal policies that have imposed misery and anguish on hundreds of millions of people, particularly young people in this region.
The bourgeoisie, its various currents and parties are united and allied against the working class and the deprived in the Middle East, our power is in our unity, which can overcome the false national, religious and sectarian divisions that the bourgeoisie creates and imposes on us.
The protest movement in Iraq is part of the struggles of the masses of workers, toilers, the unemployed, the liberal youth, the yearning for a modern and decent life in the region, and our cause is a common cause of salvation from the misery of capitalism and its reactionary political systems.

Western regions and Kurdistan
And the protest movement.
As the current protest movement advances in central and southern Iraq, rising against the ruling Islamic and nationalist bourgeois regime and its forces and militias, it paves the ground for the masses in the western region and Kurdistan to rise against the local ruling authorities and the political currents that Imposed a material and moral retreat on the masses in these areas.
The workers, toilers and youth in the western region and Kurdistan are a major social and political force to bring about change and they need to unite their struggle with the struggle of the masses throughout Iraq and stand up to the nationalist and sectarian currents in their regions in order to bring about revolutionary change throughout Iraq.

URGENT TASKS

1. Actively participating in protests and fighting to achieve their progressive economic, social and political goals.
2. Strengthening socialist and progressive youth groups and gatherings, politically and organisationally and promote their active participation in the protest movement.
3. The initiative to form committees and councils of workers and the masses in neighborhoods, institutions and factories and participate in initiatives that organize the ranks of the masses in any way that serves the progress of the protest movement forward.
4. Working together with all activists to strengthen the protest movement, its progress and its victory, in spite of political and intellectual differences.

The main slogan for this phase:

Work, freedom and equality for all

Key demands

• Providing housing, employment, free education and health care for all.
• Providing work or unemployment insurance for the unemployed.
• Providing electricity and water services to all citizens from the state budget.
• Abolish all neo-liberal economic policies of the state, no to privatization and plundering the wealth of society.
• Repeal all laws that limit the full freedom and equality of women.

Slogans in the protest movement

• Let us join forces in workers and people’s councils and committees throughout the country.
• The outgoing masses want to overthrow the regime and the foundations on which it is based and replace it with direct rule of the people.
• The real representative of the people are the demonstrators, and there is no authority above theirs.
• There is no authority above the will of the masses in Iraq.
• The freedom and equality of women is a prerequisite for any revolutionary change in society.
• The general strike and the expansion of protest across Iraq is the way to impose what the masses want.
• Ending corruption and the suffering of the masses depends on the end of the sectarian-nationalist system.
• The ruling parties and their currents have no place in the mass uprising.
• Shooting protesters, using violence and tear gas is a major crime against society and a betrayal of the people.
• Prosecuting and arresting protesters is a crime that must be stopped immediately.
• All acts of violence against demonstrators must be stopped immediately.
• All militias must be disbanded immediately.
• All detainees must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Victory for the protest movement in Iraq and the region

Organisation of Communist Alternative in Iraq23 October 2019

Translated from Arabic by Shireen Abdula

عن Albadeel Alsheoi

اضف رد

لن يتم نشر البريد الإلكتروني . الحقول المطلوبة مشار لها بـ *

*

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