A Time For Non-Violence In Iraq?

Sadly, non-violent resistence often becomes an option only after the self-defeating cycle of violence has led to its logical, absurd conclusion. Violence begets violence begets violence, till all who claim to speak for the masses are bathed in the blood of those same innocents.

I recently suggested that the time is more than ripe for a massive demonstration to demand the withdrawal of US troops. Now a follower of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr is calling for just such a demonstration:

"Passing laws that contradict Islam will be tantamount to treason to the marajaiya (religious authority) and not insisting on a timetable for an end to the occupation is even greater treason," said Sheikh Nasser al-Saedi in his sermon at the Grand Mosque in Kufa, south of Baghdad.

"Last Friday I called for a million-strong demonstration to demand a timetable for the end of the occupation and I repeat this demand again and I call on all political forces to take part in this demonstration."

A pity that such a call for peaceful protest comes from someone so closely associated with violence. A pity that it is clothed in language which seeks to associate a call for US withdrawal with a demand for Islamic law. But it will be interesting nevertheless to see if the call is heeded by the Iraqi people and/or other Iraqi leaders, of if others begin making similar calls.

It will also be interesting to see how the allegedly sovereign, ellegedly democtratic and allegedly freedom-loving Iraq government responds to such demonstrations. The signs do not look promising.

On Sunday, for example, about 50 guards were demonstrating peacefully outside the offices of Iraq's Science and Technology Minister Rashad Mandan Omar, claiming they had only been paid a part of their wages. One man was killed when the minister's own bodyguards opened fire on the crowd. As usual, Juan Cole has some interesting comments:

Generally, I'd say you want to avoid killing the people who guard your building if you are a cabinet minister in Iraq (many ministers have had assassination attempts on their lives). In fact, I'd say if you made sure anyone was paid, it should be the guards outside your building. (Does this mean the Iraqi government is broke, having been badly hurt by oil pipeline sabotage?)

The incident recalls a previous article about US puppet and former CIA favourite Iyad Allawi personally murdering Iraqi prisoners as a way of demonstrating the ruthlessness he required from his followers. It seems the lesson has been learned, by some at least.

The one thing corrupt rulers fear more than the naked truth is the wrath of their own people. As Sean Gonsalves says this week:

Nonviolence is not "doing nothing," nor is it naive. It's based on a fundamental insight into the nature of power, which is if the oppressed and their allies refuse to cooperate with the rulers, the rulers lose their power. The key to government power is obedience and legitimacy. If the people don't see the authorities as legit, their power base evaporates.

A massive demonstration against US occupation could also lead the the populare overthrow of the US-installed government, and they know it. Throughout history, real change has tended to come not from the barrel of the gun but from the slow but un-stoppable tide of public outrage. Gonsalves quotes "Bush's favorite political philospher," Jesus Christ, who once issued this dire warning:

"If only you had known... the things which make for peace but are now hid from your eyes! For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will make a trench around you, and surround you on every side... and your children with you; and they will not leave one stone unturned because you knew not the time of your visitation (Luke 19:42-44)."