Rapid Revolutions; radical changes

02 April 2011 | 16:33 Code : 10850 America
An Exclusive Commentary by Sayed Sadr al-din Qobanchy, the Friday Prayers’ Preacher of Najaf and an Iraqi leader in the Supreme Islamic Council
IRD: What’s happening in the Arab world is fast, and fundamental changes are in the making of the new Arab history where tyranny and despotism are overthrown and the nation, although with many sacrifices, will eventually regain its will and triumph.

In the Arab world, changes are happening very quickly and they are so fundamental in a way that no one could have imagined. The protests reflect the innocence of the oppressed Arab people. What is occurring in the various regions of Arab countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain and Jordan is in fact the voice of the oppressed poor people weary of the corruption and tyranny of the ruling administrations.

It is for the first time that there are demonstrations in the Arab community with the participation of millions of people, similar to those in Iran (1979) and Iraq. Today, we live in a historically flexible world that may reform humanity and direct governments toward the governing of Allah, as cited in the Quranic verses such as: “fill the earth with fairness and justice when it is filled with injustice and tyranny.”

We witness oppression and tyranny in Libya, practiced by Muammar Qaddafi and not yet determined in size; oppression and tyranny with the use of any possible tools, even foreign military forces, in Bahrain to suppress the nation that defends their legitimate rights. It is the movement that in the silence of the international community led to the suppression of tens of thousands of Bahraini Shiites, immediately labeled unfairly as tribal, and promoted as a mere conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.

From now on, revolutionary Arab countries will definitely take a new historical path which is very different from that of the past, and very similar to the historic Iraqi historic, excepting that the Iraqi people not only offered many sacrifices and were murdered by tyranny, but also were oppressed by blind terrorism, rioters, and monafeqs seeking tribal wars.

Nonetheless, what happens now in Iraq can be a good model for other Arab countries, which have the experience of Iraq in many respects. Modeling is inevitable, but it is hoped that this experience will not be bloody for them like it has been in Iraq, and from now on, there will be a “white” experience.

It is true that the Iraqi people demonstrate and can freely express their demands, but this protest is very different from the protests in other Arab countries. If the Iraqi people today protest, they demand reform in and correction of the current situation of the country, but not the overthrowing of the system. The Iraqi people now have the right to freely express what they want, but also believe that their rights are not fully obtained to claim whatever they want. However, some are not just and consider the Iraqi people’s protests connected with foreign agencies, such as al-Qaeda and Baathists, which is really implausible.

However, the Iraqi people now seek only economic and social rights, they complain of an increase in unemployment in the country and a rise in corruption, and are unhappy with the lack of welfare, health and educational facilities, which are in the worst possible situation. The Iraqi people demand the solving of these problems, while in other Arab countries, the least demand of the protestors is the overthrowing of the regimes.

Currently, the revolutions are transforming Arab communities. The almost 8-year experience of the Iraqi people is what Arab society wants to gain, and it can have Iraq and other democratic Islamist countries of the region as models. The region will soon change, but undoubtedly the countries that changed before the rise of the revolutionary waves are immune. We will soon witness a democratic Middle East, in which all governments are elected by nations of people.