For many decades now greedy thieves and criminal tyrants have coveted your land and resources. You are destined to suffer the world war mongers and local dirty politicians, manipulating our natural ethnic and faith lives to divide and rule. They scramble amongst themselves for the ill-gotten spoils in the service of the occupiers, at cost of the spilled blood of our children and the ruins of our holy places.
Your dignity, honour and wisdom must be in refusal to play this criminal game. Cherish the life of the children born of you and the agony of the mothers giving birth to you, and let motherhood and childhood innocence awaken consciences and guide you to upholding all our human values. Being united in our Iraqi-ness means being united in our endeavours to live, all of us, in freedom and dignity, and at peace with ourselves and our neighbours.
Those who gamble with our lives and future through this game put their despicable short sighted political interests before those of the country and human life. Let us reject those who ill-trade in our children’s future. Let us reject the killers of the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds the Turcoman, and all the richness of our identities. All murderers at the end of the day serve the interests of the hated occupiers and their stooges.
We must act to heal the divisions, and thwart civil strife with our vigilance and unity. Let us reject the occupiers’ policies of sectarian quotas that strip us of our human identity and reduce us to meaningless numbers. We are all Iraqis; we all belong to the human race.
International Women’s Day is upon us; let us renew our determination, to reclaim our destiny and future for the sake of our children. Our journey is hard, our path is rugged, we are facing difficult times, but only when we eject the occupiers and reject their plans will this nightmare ever come to an end.
Let us not lose hope. History has shown us many examples of nations rising from the ashes and ruins of war to reclaim their freedom and dignity in life.
Womens Will Association - Baghdad
Member of the Iraqi National Foundation Council
Forum for Cultural Dialogue - Baghdad
March 2006
DEMOCRACY!
