[Marxism] Only Socialists Can Form a Secular Government in Iraq-Issam Shukri(LWPI)

["Metin Sarp" <metin_sarp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Only Socialists Can Form a Secular Government in Iraq

An Interview of the Worker-communist Party of Iran WPI weekly newspaper,
Anternasional with Issam Shukri, head of Executive Committee of the Left
Worker-communist Party of Iraq LWPI.



Anternasional: The LWPI was founded on October 17, 2004. Why, how and in
what process was this party established?



Issam Shukri: The party was established to answer the need in the Iraqi
society for a socialist party that continue the line of worker communism as
put by Mansoor Hekmat after the deviation of the leadership of the
Worker-communist Party of Iraq away from worker communism movement. It
happened after a fierce struggle of some comrades inside the WCPI to oppose
the hasty and right leaning position of that leadership vis a vis the split
in the WPI. The leadership of WCPI which was formed under the auspices of
comrade Mansoor Hekmat back in the nineties had decided to ally itself with
the line of Koorish Modarresi who adopted very controversial and rightist
theses put forward as the true line of Mansoor Hekmat?s approach. The
protesting comrades had tried sincerely to maintain the unity of the party
through establishing a fraction. But the response of the leadership was
suppressive and bureaucratic and apolitical. This situation was finally
dissolved through the expulsion of 3 of our comrades and the suspension of
the 4th. We had to continue our struggle outside that party. Therefore and
in collaboration with other comrades from outside the ranks of WCPI we had
established (or re-established) the party of worker communism as outlined by
comrade Mansoor. The Left Worker-communist Party of Iraq was established
shortly after we reached a deadlock with the right wing leadership of WCPI.
Today we have an office in the city of Baghdad and a formal committee
working to build a strong and mass movement party.



Anternsaional: You and Samir Noori have just come back from your recent trip
to Iraq. What was the aim of your trip? What are the organizational
achievements? At what level have new members joined to the Party?



Issam Shukri: Our basic aim was to establish the party. Since we announced
the party some groups and individual communists have joined us or showed
their interest in our party. Our aim was to organize these people and forces
and form them in one organization. This mission was successful toward
achieving this goal. However short, concise, and dangerous it was we managed
to meet the key figures of our newly formed party and established the
organization inside Iraq after almost one month of being established out
side of Iraq. For me that was relatively fast. The main issue was to form
the committee of Baghdad and to a lesser degree the committee of
Sulaimaniyah. We managed to form the committee of Baghdad, set up a
temporary office and started actively to promote the party inside Iraq. The
committee of Baghdad is meeting now on a regular basis and plan to increase
its membership through tens of our comrades that we couldn?t possibly meet
due to the dangerous and insecure situation in Iraq and Baghdad in
particular. We had also met with other comrades who were impressed by the
vitality and sharpness of our ideas toward the situation in Iraq and our
platform. The committee of Baghdad was distributed around workers, students,
media, financial, and military organizations. In addition the head of the
organization was elected unanimously. As for Sulaimaniyah we had held many
meetings to explain our differences with the WCPI and their position toward
the split and the issues related to that. As our visit was very short to
Sulaimaniyah we are closely following with the comrades there in order to
set up the party organization there soon.



Anternasional: What are the most important problems for the Iraqi people at
the moment?  From LWPI?s standpoint, how can these problems be tackled?



Issam Shukri: The most important and pressing problems are the lack of
security and normality of life. These are issues that people are eager to
have back. They face fear and insecurity every day in the streets and even
at their own homes. Life in Iraq is continuously disintegrating in terms of
civility. Civil society is not there. As you might know that Iraq is under
the influence of many backward forces which were brought about by the US war
and the scenario it had created. The so-called interim government is phony
and no one in Iraq trusts it or eve n considers it as such. Other problems
are all related to the people?s civil rights and hegemony of Islamic forces
and nationalists and tribalism. Women are particularly suffering from a dim
situation where they are forced into a middle ages and patriarchal
practices, abused, and marginalized socially. Girls and students are
suppressed and abducted for ransoms. Youth are brain-washed into religion
and superstitions. Thousands of curriculum books are being altered from
ultra-nationalism of Saddam?s regime into ultra-religious and political
Islamic contents. For example Islam is taught for 5th grade students in two
books one is the Koran and the other is Islamic education!!. Students are
disgusted from what they are being told in these classes. Workers have lost
the most as many of them are being laid off and lost their incomes. Many of
them are faced with their families with no income. They had to work in the
army with the US forces for few hundred dollars to support their lives.
Thousands are being robbed off their few accomplishments like benefits,
regular pays, work safety and other remuneration which are being taken away
from them as they lost all their little government support and protection
they had before and left bare in front of greedy and ferocious capitalists.
The only way to tackle this situation is throw sweeping the forces which
cause them aside. We must push the US out of Iraq and disarm the vicious and
dark forces that maintain this situation. Without these preconditions we can
not talk about any viable way out for the society.



Anternasional: And finally, what is your massage to Iraqi people?



Issam Shukri: My message for them is to rally around the alternative of
socialists. Our party is new but it represents the aspiration of the people
of Iraq, workers, women, and the youth. Our party has a strategy that could
show the way to the people out of this dark scenario. This strategy and
steps paves the way for a real change in Iraq. It is true that revolution or
socialism is farfetched in Iraq at the moment but it is also true that
socialists have the answer to the current situation, a practical one that
could end the dark scenario. We demand the pull out of the US, disarmament
of dark scenario forces in Iraq and then establishment of real free and fair
elections in Iraq. If these conditions are adopted, a true elections could
be held in Iraq. We are saying to the people and the whole world we would
win the elections under these true and fair elections. Only we could lead
the country out of this situation. We put people?s aspirations at the top
and not the interests of the elite and the bourgeoisie. We ask the people to
support our program and demand and call upon them not to recognize the play
that the Americans are setting up in Iraq which they falsely call elections.
We will not recognize such elections or the outcome of it. We ask the people
to follow our path to save the country and free the masses from the dark
scenario.

http://www.socialismnow.org

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