Faiza, of “A Family in Baghdad” is participating in an interesting exchange
on the “Open democracy” site.
In addition, her blog now carries the English-language version of a long
post
she wrote in Arabic on october 3. Here are some interesting excerpts:
We went, my friends and I, to attend a lecture about Democracy,
and the Elections. The lecturer was an Iraqi lady, who said she attended
some work-shop discussions about the subject, and she’ll explain it to us,
so we could explain it to others. She spoke about the meaning of the two
words, and their relation with each other. Then she spoke about the methods
of elections, and their traits, then the civil society and its role in elections,
the relation of the civil society with the parties, and the danger in the
party’s dominance over the civil organizations.Then the elements of elections, which are: The Base, The Candidates, and
The Campaign; and the method of delivering a message of every candidate to
convince the public
Helena, I must first thank you for being the person to Faiza and her family’s blog. It is amazing and she especially is able to express things in a very open and honest way. The OpenDemocracy correspondence is also enlightening. I wish that when Anthony Swofford writes “The soldier who tracked you down and apologised for his aggressive behaviour –he is the face of America” that it weren’t true. As Faiza had just pointed out, he had treated her callously and, though apologizing, said that those were his orders. Maybe that really is the face of America. Somewhere in here there are lots of people who are good people, loving, caring, but we keep that separate from the war, because in war you have to follow orders. Very sobering.
Hi Helena,
I’m always a little nervous to pipe up on the same page as really good writers and observers like yourself. This post set me off a bit, though.
I’m a Canadian, but feel like I’ve lived in a real democracy: Switzerland. Politics verges on a national hobby there, and the mindset is fundamentally different from the one which puts our Canadian elected aristocracy into power. I really had my ideas readjusted. Swiss power lies in the hands of the townships, who allow some power to flow to the counties, and even less to the Federation. The “President” is a one-year, rotating assignment from the Federal Council. I was there when the Federation tried to reduce unemployment benefits, but could not do so because that important needed to be decided at a referendum. The debates carried on over page after page of the newpapers, as they do so every 6-month cycle of referenda and elections. I was impressed when the vote was “no”, as it was to a another referendum to cancel the (very successful) doctor prescribed heroin program.
“Base”?! “Message”?! “Memorize”?!
It sounds like the Iraqis are being “trained” to imitate the worst aspects of what I’ve come to see as the most perverse, marginally democratic end of any system ever to carry the title. As a concerned outside observer of an increasingly bizarre, infantile, Machiavellian presidential selection process (and I’ll leave the “s” on selection until it can be demonstrated otherwise) I sincerely hope the Iraqis have the good sense not to imitate it.
Too bad U.S. efforts in Iraq have been so misguided that no other country in its right mind will touch the situation. The Swiss would have been able to help a true democracy to emerge. Then again, maybe the U.S. wouldn’t want that.
Best regards
— Simon