As the loss of human life continues unabated in Iraq, civil society actors both within Iraq and around the world are searching for ways in which to contribute positively to the tragedy that has been unfolding in Iraq with ever growing intensity. In a recent article by Martina Pignatti Morano, of the Centro Gandhi in Pisa, Italy and Zaid Wardi - al Mesalla in Bagdad entitled The power of nonviolence: a transformative force for the Iraqi conflict they reflect on recent efforts to foster a culture of non-violence in Iraqi society. I am grateful to both of them since this week’s column largely draws from their article.
They suggest that seeds of hope are finally being spread amongst Iraqi civil society these days. A network of organisations and individuals belonging to different ethnic, ideological and religious groups is being established through an on-line publication www.laonf.org (laonf can be translated as “no to violence”). As they state in the website, “they all agreed to adopt the strategy of non-violence as the best way to struggle for building an independent, democratic, peaceful, strong and wealthy Iraq”. This group has begun to gather documents and articles on historical examples of non-violent strategies that led to people’s liberation from authoritarian systems of governance. They have also looked at the reconciliation processes in divided societies.
Morano and Wardi note that: “After experiencing the violence of a dictatorship, that of the embargo, and finally that of the military occupation, Iraqi civil society is now being broken by sectarian conflicts whose real political factions are hard to map. A large share of the population endorses simple and transparent objectives: “peace by peaceful means, and self-determination for the Iraqi people in a united country”.
This week sees the launch of the Iraqi week for Combating Violence that will be held between the 27th of May and the 2nd of June. In the run up to this week of action the organisation that is coordinating the initiative, the Baghdad-based, al-Mesalla, is aiming at the empowerment of Iraqi civil society. It has already released a leaflet with the endorsement of a diversity of organisations that involve secular organisations as well as those across, what is sometimes now called, the sectarian divide.
The central part of the document is an invitation to make a pledge for peace. The campaign has been organised in collaboration with student unions, who strongly believe that violence can be resisted by social movements with a bottom-up approach; since political leaders at the moment do not want to address the desire of ordinary citizens for peace and unity. Some of these students have already held an initiative to mobilise students, professors and colleagues of different sects and religions, signing a covenant for the unity of all Iraqis, denying and refusing the principle of fighting violence by violence whether at a personal or political level.
During the last weeks, in spite of the danger involved in performing this task and the personal threats received by activists, hundreds of posters saying “To the loyal sons of Iraq an invitation to renounce violence” have been affixed in Baghdad. The core of the campaign will be the distribution of 20 000 leaflets with the document and the pledge at four major university complexes in Baghdad and in other locations across the country.
Iraqi universities are not safe places to organize public events on this issue, and even a visible banner would be putting at risk the safety of the activists, hence the major activities and speeches will be held during Friday prayers. A Christian church in Basrah promised to speak about the event in a special pontifical mass, which will be held on Friday instead of the usual date of Sunday. Other organisations from the North of Iraq have also showed interest in the campaign and will probably get involved in the next stages of the campaign. For further information, or to support the initiative, contact: info@laonf.org.
The slogan “An Injury to One is an Injury to All,” made popular by many trade unionists around the world, does evoke the need for us to take a stand when people live in the kind of insecurity that our brothers and sisters in Iraq are having to endure. Let’s hope that this week of action in Iraq is one that lays the basis of a strong civil society movement that can bring a new dynamic and momentum in the absence of effective political leadership both within Iraq and globally.
The crucial question of civil society’s role in addressing conflict as well as the specific question of how non-violent actions can make a positive contribution to addressing the current fragmentation we are seeing around the world will be an important focus at the CIVICUS World Assembly which is now only weeks away. We are grateful to our colleagues at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, who are organising a mini-plenary on the topic The Right to Rise Up: Why Civic Disruption Can Lead to Civil Liberty.
We hope you might be able to still join us in Scotland soon and to share your views on how civil society can act together for justice in, sadly, an increasingly unjust world.
