Interview of "International" *
with Issam Shukri regarding LWPI 4th Plenum
Anternasional:
The plenum of the left-worker Communist Party of Iraq is now over. Please give
the readers of Anternasional a quick picture of what happened and what subjects
was the main focus of the plenum?
Issam Shukri:
Thanks for allowing me to address the readers of Anternational regarding our
party and its latest plenum. This is the 4th plenum of the central
committee of LWPI. It was held in Iraq between 19 & 20 of April, 2009. The
plenum was attended by the majority of members of the central committee, both in
Iraq and abroad. It was a very successful and important event and I believe
mostly for the working class and the socialist movement in Iraq.
The most important aspect of plenum 4
was the political discourse it initiated and the debate it created. It presented
sharp political analyses around the situation of Iraq, the dark scenario forces
installed by the US, and also the position of America after the last changes in
its politics and course. It also tackled the position of our movement, its
presence and ability to address the pivotal issues in the society of Iraq after
6 years of war and catastrophe. In my view the main focus or theme of the plenum
was its ability to point out to the paths of struggle, and eventually, progress
of our party and in large, our movement as a whole.
Anternasional:
what were the main and the most important resolutions passed in the plenum?
Issam Shukri:
The main resolutions presented were: The
political situation in Iraq under and the global political and economical
changes; the party Finances, and lastly a thesis / resolution called Party and
Partisanship. The first two were passed by the plenum after elongated
discussions; however, the third needed more time to take its final shape. The
plenum had decided to forward the resolution of Party and Partisanship to the
politburo to discuss and hopefully pass it.
Anternasional:
Can you elaborate on the main issues of the resolution passed about the
political situation in Iraq under the global political and economic changes?
Issam Shukri:
The resolution dealt with the current political situation in the world and the
impact of the demise of the New World Order of the USA and the change of its
course from confrontation and militarism to bargaining and negotiation with
Political Islam. It also addressed the political situation in Iraq and the
position of the Dark Scenario forces within those changes. It also delineated
the political features of the current situation in Iraq passing through a
transitional and uncertain phase after 6 years of war and destruction and the
tear down of its civil society. It has pointed out to the probability that the
coming situation in Iraq might still be even more dangerous and insecure while
eminent threat of ethnic and religious wars still loom. This is due to the
policies of all religious, sectarian and nationalist forces in Iraq.
From the other side, the resolution
dealt with the deep crisis that sweeps through capitalism and the floundering
and inability of the bourgeoisie to find any solution to its crisis. The
resolution talks about the impact of the international economic crisis on the
already-deteriorating situation in Iraq due to the political impasse and the war
that the US waged on Iraq 6 years ago. The resolution also talks about the
prospects of the US withdrawal from Iraq and the end of occupation and its
effect on the re-polarisation and alignment of the forces, how this prospect
could turn the struggle into more transparent between the front of people from
one side and the front of the whole bourgeoisie from the other. In the end the
resolution stressed its conclusion of the importance and vitality to strengthen
the front of workers and people versus the bourgeoisie and the position of the
LWPI within the working class in leading that humanitarian front in Iraq.
Anternasional:
America attacked Iraq in 2003. The direct consequence of American military
attack was the quick and bloody rise of Islamic and nationalist movement. And it
seems that the Islamic movement was the main winner!
Issam Shukri:
In my view the Islamic movement in Iraq has reached political power. We know
that the question of political power is still open in Iraq; however, looking at
the issue from a global perspective, the government of Al Maliki and his
alliance is the embodiment of political Islam (i.e. Political Islam in power).
It is true that the Islamists have failed to create an Islamic republic with
full-fledge oppression against women and Shari’a reactionary laws etc, but
politically the ruling parties are mostly Islamic and the West now has
recognized them as such. It is worth noting though that, on the street level, so
to speak, the people of Iraq, for the first time, and probably due to the first
fact, are showing more and more contempt and disgust of this barbaric movement
both as a political movement and an ideology. This change has been overwhelming
and it is recognizable in the everyday scene in Baghdad for example. The society
still fears the explosions and instability but the people are turning more
towards secularism, modernity, and defying political Islam. This situation could
well be the consequence of the Political Islam’s own impasse; its impotence to
mobilize around its clichéd slogans of “No No America”, or “Down with the big
Satan” etc... Once Al Sadr and his gangs have been forced to play by the US
rules (i.e. became part and parcel of the Iraqi government), this movement has
in fact lost its ability as a major political player against the West and the
US. For a political Islamic movement this is a declaration of annihilation!.
Anternasional:
The Obama administration is planning to withdraw its military forces from Iraq
in 2011. What would be the political consequences of American withdrawal?
Issam Shukri:
As I mentioned in a previous answer, this issue has been addressed by our 4th
plenum specifically in its first resolution. We think that America’s withdrawal
from Iraq would lead, in terms of security, to further chaos and deterioration.
The different religious, sectarian, and nationalist groups currently secured by
the presence of a huge US army, are all willing to wage whatever wars in order
to secure their own position and maintain their current influence. Due to their
own political identities as religious, sectarian, tribal, and nationalist
groups, they would use those slogans and propaganda to mobilise people to their
inhumane ends. However, I think that the US will not completely withdraw from
Iraq at this point and will keep enough forces to wage serious battles against
the enemies of their ally in Baghdad (the central government in the Green Zone),
namely Al-Kaeda, the Baathists, and other Shi’a groups supported by the Islamic
regime in Iran. Mr. Obama is
willing to end the occupation of Iraq and this will mean, if the country was not
dragged into chaos and a civil war that the fight will turn from against “the
imperialist infidels” into against “the government”. This, if happened, will
polarise the people around their own material conditions to fight for their
rights and win over one camp of exploiters, rather than being torn in the fight
of two terrorist camps. This will turn the whole struggle around into a
transparent confrontation. People will be less bewildered about which camp to
choose. !.
Anternasional:
We know that the American military attack shattered the
Iraqi civil society and in a socially, economically and politically
crushed society, the workers and left movement were the main victims. How is the
situation now?
Issam Shukri:
The civil society in Iraq was crushed because the US destroyed the government
and replaced it with Islamic militias with the support of the reactionary
regimes in the region especially the Islamic regime in Iran. This had caused a
dangerous deterioration of the civil society which effected every citizen in
Iraq especially workers, women and choldren. The working class has been
struggling for many years now; unemployment in Iraq is in its peak. Poverty is
strikingly high and millions of people are deprived of the basic necessities of
life; health, clean water, electricity, medicine and good health care are all
became things of the past. I think that without ending the occupation and
establishing a sort of normal condition to the society, the working class
movement, however promising, rising and alive, will not be able to fully engage
and free itself from the shackles of deprivation, political exploitation of the
religious and tribal parties and groups, and eventually show its strength to
intervene and decide its fate and the whole society. That is why we kept calling
for the expulsion of the US as an important element to retain the normalcy of
the situation.
Anternasional:
What are the main focuses of the left-worker Communist party of
Issam Shukri:
However the US has changed its policy and is now willing to withdraw and has
declared that in fact, and however the Islamic militias have become a ruling
political power in Iraq with the support of the West, the society is still as it
was 6 years ago if not, in certain aspects, worse. With the defeat of the US
policy, the collapse of the neo-conservatives, the world economic crisis of
capitalism, the impotence of the bourgeoisie as a class, the field is now more
open for our advancement. Certain issues now will be the focus of our party in
Iraq. Those are societal and urgent issues, for instance we will continue to
struggle against political Islam as a barbaric and reactionary political
movement, defend and lead workers demands, demonstrations and intervene in their
struggles, protect and advance women’s call for equality and end of oppression,
stand for the youth and their freedom from religious and sectarian divisions and
its hypocrisy, advocate for children’s rights, and so on. Our priorities come
from the people’s concerns and problems. We as communists are duty bound to lead
the struggles to achieve a better condition for the people and set off a radical
change in the society of Iraq.
Without us the
situation will definitely be bleaker no matter what the bourgeoisie decide. We
consider that worker communism and our party represents the hope of humanity in
Iraq and with this in mind we move confidently forward to achieve these goals.
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* Newspaper of
the Worker-communist Party of Iran- WPI, issue no. 297 - published in Farsi.
Issam Shukri is
the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Left Worker-communist Party of
Iraq - LWPI