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Iraq: Economic Injustice in Place of
Integrity
17.7.2008
By Rauf Naqishbendi
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July
17, 2008
A democratic system dominated by a powerful special
interest group will lose the true meaning of its
founding principles. Such a disparity provides the
privileged and well-connected with tremendous
advantages while undermining the interests of the
greater general public. Economic justice in a
democratic society is intertwined and inseparable
from social democracy. Economic affairs, to a great
extent, are designed by high authorities through
enactment of legislation including tax regulations,
commerce, and budget allotments to social programs.
The revenue and proceeds acquired by government
belong to the nation as a whole. But when this fair
entitlement loses its balance, economic injustice
will prevail with its poisonous maladies that
inundate the well-being of society. This disease has
been plaguing Iraq ´s social and economic structure
for a long time and has been amplified since the
commencement of the American occupation.
A sizable middle class is one of the refinements of
the great societies. |
Rauf Naqishbendi |
The transformation from the
lower class, or impoverishment, to the middle class
is a degree by which poverty is dwindled. The
greater the transformation, the more citizens are
able to share in economic prosperity. This is a
process of fighting against poverty by providing
equal economic opportunities to all citizens. It
should be realized that expanding poverty is a means
of destabilization and disturbances. Poverty is a
mother of revolution. Therefore, one of the crucial
tasks of any leadership is the impetus to lift its
people from poverty with all means at its disposal;
otherwise, the widespread poverty could cause social
unrest among people trying to shake off the yoke of
those in high offices.
In the Kurdistan region of Iraq , where two leaders,
Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, have monopolized
power for decades, very little attention has been
given to any aspect of the aforesaid economic facts.
Attention has been paid to a privileged few while
the mass population has been ignored. Take,www.ekurd.net
for example, Mr.
Talabani´s shedding light on his achievements,
broadcasting around the world his creation of three
thousand millionaires in the city of Sulaimaniyah ,
while there were formerly only three of them during
Saddam´s time.
Great societies are not glorified with the rise of a
few wealthy individuals, but rather how a society
compassionately takes its needy into the comfort of
its bosom. Barzani´s and Talabani´s success should
not be measured by how much they have done for their
family members and cronies, but what they have done
for those who are at the rock bottom of the
financial hierarchy of their communities, and how
well they have worked for the nation as a whole.
The thousands of peshmarga, who proudly and
selflessly bestowed their lives on the battlefield
for the freedom of the nation, gave their lives and
left their families behind without breadwinners. Who
deserves more charity or reward, the fat cronies
surrounding the Kurdish leader or the martyr
peshmarga families? While peshmarga families are
destitute, Barzani and Talabani families are
carrying on with their extravagant lifestyles. In
Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, every inch of valuable real
estate has been granted to the well-connected and
privileged cronies, while those who were devastated
during the war with Saddam have received nothing.
Another example concerns the unfortunate Kurdish
families who were victims of Saddam´s genocide, as
he attempted to modify the demographic makeup of the
vast oil field region in Kurdistan . These people´s
rights were eviscerated, they were forcefully
dislodged from their birthplace and replaced with
Arab settlers, their properties and businesses were
extorted, and they were dislocated to Arabian desert
, a living hell they inhabited for decades. Most of
these people died from homelessness, poverty, and
disease. Upon ousting Saddam, those who survived
returned to their birthplace to reclaim their
confiscated properties. To their surprise they found
Saddam´s legacy well and alive, thanks to Barzani
and Talabani. In Kirkuk they were placed in open
areas and subjected to harassment by Islamic
extremists and Saddam´s remnants with no roof over
their heads, without any necessary living
accommodations, their children left to suffer from
disease and malnutrition.
Mr. Barzani, with billions of dollars in annual
proceeds from oil transit that he collected for
almost a decade in Ibrahem Khalil, could have
purchased back all these people´s businesses and
properties. It is ironic how Mr. Barzani talks about
Kurdish rights in the wake of these injustices,
which he could have remedied, but to which, instead,
he remained indifferent. Eventually, the sacrifices
of these people strengthened the case for the
Kurdish cause, but Barzani and his clan are the only
beneficiaries as they live aristocratically, leaving
these poor people to be consumed and welted in their
miserable circumstances.
Speaking of justice, the story of Kawa Muhamamd Amin
reported in Hawlati, last week, is nothing less than
a tragedy – disheartening, to say the least. Kawa is
a young man from my native town Halabja, which was
bombed in 1988 with chemical and biological agents,
by Saddam Hussein. Kawa is now 27 and has undergone
18 medical procedures. His entire family has been
devastated. After enduring everything,www.ekurd.net
Kawa has been left
homeless and sick in Sulaimaniyah. Little more than
a vagrant, he seeks work as a day laborer to
survive. Last month he was beaten and jailed – a
consequence of what has become a war against the
homeless. The homeless need to be provided with
homes, not placed in jail. This is an example of the
devastation suffered by the Kurds, their lack of a
remedy to improve their circumstances, and the
morally corrupted Kurdish leaders who have turned
their backs on the misery of their fellow men. Where
is the Kurdish leaders´ sense of humanity in the
face of such national tragedy? Where is their
principal and conscience toward the needs of those
who are devastated?
As stated earlier, Mr. Talabani cited the creation
of three thousand millionaires in Sulaimaniyah. In
fact, since the beginning of the US occupation, a
record number of millionaires have been created, and
almost all these moneyed people are cronies and
families of Iraq ´s leadership, including Barzani
and Talabani.
However, one must realize that the remaining
residents aren´t doing that well, or Mr. Talabani
would have loudly announced that to the world, as
well. In the same city a single-family house costs
$1,100 to rent, a teacher´s salary is less than
$5,000 annually, and construction workers make even
less. Meanwhile, the cost of food and energy is
tantamount to that of the United States . When
calculating these figures, one concludes that the
vast majority of the people are living below the
poverty level. This is what Talabani does not
mention.
Economic prosperity and social progress are not
measured by a few moneyed people, as Talabani and
Barzani perceive, but rather by the well-being of
the greater general public. Economic stability is a
God-given right. No sensible man, in his own free
will, would ever choose to be poor if he could help
it. This is the essence of humanity, and its realm
is not limited to one´s clan, as Barzani sees it.
The Kurdish population in Iraq is measured in
millions, not three thousand millionaires, as
Talabani cited. This is a matter of justice and
morality, and there has to be a profound change to
right the wrongs of the past and present. To this
end leadership must restore the rights of the
greater general public, which has been
disenfranchised by a few wicked elites and their
cronies.
Rauf Naqishbendi is a contributing columnist for
Kurdish Websites, American Chronicle and has written
Op/Ed pages for the Los Angeles Times. He has just
completed his memoirs entitled "The Garden Of The
Poets" which reads as a novel depicting his
experience and the subsequent 1988 bombing of his
hometown with chemical and biological weapons by
Saddam Hussein. It is the story of his people's
suffering. Rauf Naqishbendi is a software engineer
in San Francisco Bay Area.
The contents of this article reflect the author's
personal opinions, and we accept no responsibility
for the views or opinions expressed in the articles
either direct or indirect.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
americanchronicle.com
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