draining's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iraqi voice for peace Body: Atlantans, we have a rare opportunity to hear directly from an Iraqi talking about efforts to build nonviolent opposition to the U.S. occupation and sectarian violence. AFSC is sponsoring a tour of Samir Adil of the Iraqi Freedom Congress. The IFC is dedicated to building harmony among all Iraqis, regardless of religious or ethnic identity and promotes democracy and secularism through a people's movement -- based in the student, labor and human rights communities. Its members are also creating a television station that focuses on peace issues. Tuesday, May 16th, 7:30 pm => About Samir Adil & IFC -- Samir Adil, March 14, 2006 The purpose of the Iraqi Freedom Congress is to promote democracy and secularism in Iraq. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from an Iraqi about efforts to build nonviolent opposition to the US occupation and sectarian violence. The Iraqi Freedom Congress is dedicated to building harmony among all Iraqis, regardless of religious or ethnic identity. It is a people?s movement -- based in the student, labor and human rights communities. The Congress is linked to the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, the Organization of Women?s Freedom in Iraq and the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq. For more information: http://www.ifcongress.com/English/index.htm Samir Adil on the US led war and occupation as such: The occupation has destroyed everything in Iraq. For almost three years we have been witnessing the absence of the state, social services, security, growing unemployment, and corruption in almost every single office. The Iraqi society today is more like a jungle where gangs of thieves, thugs, sectarian and ethnic groups are killing and slaughtering in the daylight. What we witness today of ethnic and sectarian violence is an implication of the occupation. You have witnessed how blowing up the Shiite shrine erupted a sectarian war leaving (as opposed to the announced number) more than 2000 people dead. If you asked me whether the political groups in power have done anything to avert this war, I would say these groups are the one to be blamed for this conflict ??. The ethnic and sectarian division was legitimized in the eve of the occupation in London conference and officially recognized just after the occupation began, through a governing council, interim government and the fiasco of elections and constitution. We have mentioned over and over that there is an ongoing undeclared sectarian violence and there are hundreds of crimes were committed against civilians in which the ethnic and religious identities are the main targets even prior to the incident of the shrine. The political forces attempted to take advantage of the shrine incident into their best interest, and every one of them began to call for calm while their armed militias conduct a daily carnage. Many of whom killed because their names indicated certain sect. actually a new political phase has just begun. Having mentioned that, however these are not the only incidents that take place. The crimes committed by the occupying troops and their policy are another part of the story. The major issue facing the Iraqi society is the occupation. I have my own view to this issue and mentioned it often times in several TV and newspaper interviews, that is the political Islam and in order to defeat the US project, it tries to implement the strategy of chaos. Giving the fact that surging sectarian war by attacking the workplaces of the workers who are considered Shiite, bombing markets, assaulting mosques and churches and kidnapping, killing, and throwing people in remote areas, are clear examples of how the political Islam pursues its goals. Furthermore the political Islam (both Shiite and Sunni) do have one interest in this strategy. The Shiite Islam who is supported by Iran attempts to drown US in the Iraqi predicament as the analysts describe. The Sunni Islam represented by Zarqwi on the other hand has the same interest and justifying its violence by stating that it is fighting the occupation, and the Fatwa issued by him six months ago was part of this strategy. In addition the US troops are committing tens of crimes on a daily bases. They torture, arrest randomly and use the burnt ground policy and much more? Today the Iraqi society endures two major issues, the occupation and the resulted ethnic-sectarian conflict. Ending the occupation and forming a non-ethnic and non-religious state are the only ways to stop the society from sliding down to the abyss. 10:26 p.m. - 2006-05-09 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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