Happy Referendum Day!
Daily Non-Sequitor: Suicide bombers, indirect fire, drive-by shootings...I'd like to see Puff Daddy try his "vote or die" campaign here. (Brian, on Iraq)
So, today is October 15th, the day that the Iraqi people get to vote on the US-backed Constitution, which will decide the direction their country will travel in for at least the next few years -- religious authority vs. secular authority, the role of women in Iraq society, voices for ethnic and religious minorities -- these are the questions that need answering, and today, your average Man-About-Baghdad gets to answer them. Pretty heady stuff.
Ignore the fact that many Iraqis are afraid to vote; anyone seen as a collaborator with the American forces in Iraq is labeled an enemy of Islam and as such, a target for al-Zarqawi's suicide bombers.
Ignore that your average Iraqi woman has little faith in the Constitution's ability to improve her social standing or secure her rights.
Ignore that the other Islamic countries in the region -- Syria, Iran, Turkey -- are casting a worried eye on Iraq's ethnic Kurds, who have been given an unprecedented voice in Iraqi politics and may be legally recognized as independent if today's Constitution goes through.
Ignore all that, and see instead that a formerly oppressed people are exercising their democratic power for the first time. Despite the troubles that roil just beneath the surface -- or the bombs that I can hear going off outside our perimeter -- a country's first vote is something for the record books.
Democracy is never a painless process. It has distinct phases...we can look to our own history as Americans as a predictor of what the Iraqis have to look forward to.
1) Independence Phase. 230 years ago, we had our own crazy dictator to worry about (King George had porphyria and used to run naked around his palace. Saddam Hussein used Sarin gas on his own people -- totally the same thing, right?), our own war to throw off the yoke of oppression (Example: the British had authority over all judicial cases in the Americas, and used to ship criminals back to England for trial without the benefit of a jury of their peers. Saddam's security detail executed 160 men, women and children and incarcerated 1200 more -- without trial -- following a failed assassination attempt in the town of Dujail), our own insurgency against the occupying power (Tea in Boston Harbor...bombs over Baghdad. This is the best metaphor ever). Anyway, Iraq finished this phase -- with a little help from the Third Infantry Division -- in 2003.
2) Constitutional Phase. Back in 1787, we were having our own referendum to decide on a Constitution, similar to what the Iraqi public is going through now. Then as now, no faction was entirely satisfied with the finished product. The Iraqis are a bit more enlightened than our forefathers were (at the moment) -- there's at least lipservice to women's equality (American women didn't get the right to vote until 122 years after the Constitution was ratified) and ethnic Kurds count as a full person as opposed to 3/5s of one. When it comes to voting equality though, Americans and Iraqis are on the same page -- Iraqis have to worry about getting blown up at the polling places, Americans had to worry about getting tarred & feathered (1790), lynched (1860), raped (1920) or beaten (1960s). See my next blogspot, Great Moments in Voting History, for all the gory details.
3) Civil War (Genocidal) Phase. It's interesting that when a country turns in on itself, we have two different words for the resulting bloodshed, depending on how badly the winners kick the losers' collective ass. We had a Civil War because the North and the South were both white, primarily Protestant, and each managed to put a serious hurting on the other at one time or another. Lee had his Gettysburg, sure...but Grant lived with the shadow of Chancellorsville on his soul for the rest of his days. The Iraqis may have a Civil War between the Sunnis and the Shi'ite majority, but if either side turns on the Kurds (hey, they're used to it), that will probably be genocide...especially if Syria and Iran join in the Allah-u-akBOOM shenanigans.
Anyway, the point is -- setting up a legitimate Democratic process isn't easy, and we can expect a lot more its citizens to water the tree of liberty with their patriotic blood (and brains, and fragmented body parts) before Iraq is ready to sit at the big kids' table.
Until next time...
So, today is October 15th, the day that the Iraqi people get to vote on the US-backed Constitution, which will decide the direction their country will travel in for at least the next few years -- religious authority vs. secular authority, the role of women in Iraq society, voices for ethnic and religious minorities -- these are the questions that need answering, and today, your average Man-About-Baghdad gets to answer them. Pretty heady stuff.
Ignore the fact that many Iraqis are afraid to vote; anyone seen as a collaborator with the American forces in Iraq is labeled an enemy of Islam and as such, a target for al-Zarqawi's suicide bombers.
Ignore that your average Iraqi woman has little faith in the Constitution's ability to improve her social standing or secure her rights.
Ignore that the other Islamic countries in the region -- Syria, Iran, Turkey -- are casting a worried eye on Iraq's ethnic Kurds, who have been given an unprecedented voice in Iraqi politics and may be legally recognized as independent if today's Constitution goes through.
Ignore all that, and see instead that a formerly oppressed people are exercising their democratic power for the first time. Despite the troubles that roil just beneath the surface -- or the bombs that I can hear going off outside our perimeter -- a country's first vote is something for the record books.
Democracy is never a painless process. It has distinct phases...we can look to our own history as Americans as a predictor of what the Iraqis have to look forward to.
1) Independence Phase. 230 years ago, we had our own crazy dictator to worry about (King George had porphyria and used to run naked around his palace. Saddam Hussein used Sarin gas on his own people -- totally the same thing, right?), our own war to throw off the yoke of oppression (Example: the British had authority over all judicial cases in the Americas, and used to ship criminals back to England for trial without the benefit of a jury of their peers. Saddam's security detail executed 160 men, women and children and incarcerated 1200 more -- without trial -- following a failed assassination attempt in the town of Dujail), our own insurgency against the occupying power (Tea in Boston Harbor...bombs over Baghdad. This is the best metaphor ever). Anyway, Iraq finished this phase -- with a little help from the Third Infantry Division -- in 2003.
2) Constitutional Phase. Back in 1787, we were having our own referendum to decide on a Constitution, similar to what the Iraqi public is going through now. Then as now, no faction was entirely satisfied with the finished product. The Iraqis are a bit more enlightened than our forefathers were (at the moment) -- there's at least lipservice to women's equality (American women didn't get the right to vote until 122 years after the Constitution was ratified) and ethnic Kurds count as a full person as opposed to 3/5s of one. When it comes to voting equality though, Americans and Iraqis are on the same page -- Iraqis have to worry about getting blown up at the polling places, Americans had to worry about getting tarred & feathered (1790), lynched (1860), raped (1920) or beaten (1960s). See my next blogspot, Great Moments in Voting History, for all the gory details.
3) Civil War (Genocidal) Phase. It's interesting that when a country turns in on itself, we have two different words for the resulting bloodshed, depending on how badly the winners kick the losers' collective ass. We had a Civil War because the North and the South were both white, primarily Protestant, and each managed to put a serious hurting on the other at one time or another. Lee had his Gettysburg, sure...but Grant lived with the shadow of Chancellorsville on his soul for the rest of his days. The Iraqis may have a Civil War between the Sunnis and the Shi'ite majority, but if either side turns on the Kurds (hey, they're used to it), that will probably be genocide...especially if Syria and Iran join in the Allah-u-akBOOM shenanigans.
Anyway, the point is -- setting up a legitimate Democratic process isn't easy, and we can expect a lot more its citizens to water the tree of liberty with their patriotic blood (and brains, and fragmented body parts) before Iraq is ready to sit at the big kids' table.
Until next time...
posted by Sunny @ 3:18 AM
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