It is strange that the Iraqi parties affiliated with political Islam did not interpret the June 30 events based on the conflict between civil and religious forces in Arab societies. Some of them have even said that the Egyptian change resulted from the Sunni-Shiite conflict. Moreover, they expressed emotional support for change. This interpretation is superficial, not to mention misleading.
For Iraq, the Egyptian movement must be interpreted in its true meaning. Such an interpretation requires Iraqi religious parties to have concerns for their future. It also requires them to reconsider the series of mistakes that produced Iraqi popular anger, which was partially expressed in the ballot box. It is still unknown whether these ballot boxes can contain popular anger given shrinking turnout.
The Iraqi parties were not concerned, which is a real problem. Relaxing in the face of the distribution of roles produced by the political conflict in Iraq, and feeling the strength of the popular base that believes in these parties, reflects a stagnant understanding of future contexts in Iraq and the region.
The Iraqi popular base was never stable. It is often dynamic and influenced by conflict and fears. Moreover, its reactions are actively affected by the variables of everyday life more partisan ideology.
Defining and recalculating the main issues of Iraqi popular anger is the safest way to protect the Iraqi experience and Iraqi political Islam parties from dangerous pitfalls. Reconsidering the situation is mainly necessary to calm the current political conflict and to achieve a consensus that leads to acceptable levels of security and services.
In contrast, the interpretation of the Iraqi civil and leftist movements that showed enthusiasm for the Egyptian June 30 events, and considered them the beginning of the political Islam project’s collapse in the region, was for its turn limited and incomplete. They should understand the reality on the ground and history, which does not indicate that these parties can be out of the political game in the region in the long run.
It is an opportunity for Iraqis and Arabs to understand the future as a place of coexistence, not of exclusion, which accommodates religious, liberal and secular parties. This is the only loophole that can be implemented, and without it, it will be hard to assume that there will be a future in the first place.
Mustafa al-Kadhimi is an Iraqi writer specializing in defense of democracy. He has extensive experience in documenting testimony and archiving documentaries associated with repressive practices.
Keep the priests and religion outside politics