As October 15 approaches, and the referendum on the Constitution nears with it, I’ve been watching the many Iraqi blogs to see what they have to say about it.
Here are a few you might like to read.. I would highly recommend reading them all, they all give valid perspective.. much more valid than anything I could say.. because they are Iraqi, and I am not. These are in no particular order, I found Riverbends post first… now I’m just working my way down my blogroll on the left.
From River at Baghdad Burning, a HUGE but very interesting post.. she is perhaps one of the most fluent English speakers of all the Iraqi bloggers.:
I frowned and tried to hand her the Arabic version. “But you should read it. READ IT. Look- I even highlighted the good parts… the yellow is about Islam and the pink is about federalism and here in green- that’s the stuff I didn’t really understand.†She looked at it suspiciously and then took it from me….
“You’ll actually vote?†She scoffed. “It will be a joke like the elections… They want this constitution and the Americans want it- do you think it will make a difference if you vote against it?†She had finished clearing the top edge of the wall of the wilting tooki and she dumped it all on our side. She put the now dusty, took- stained sheets of paper back together and smiled as she handed them back, “In any case, let no one tell you it wasn’t a useful constitution- look how clean the wall is now! I’ll vote for it!†And Umm F. and the hedge clippers disappeared.
……
And then the military operations on Sunni areas like Tel Afar, Ramadi, Qaim and Samarra began once again. The feeling has been that Sunni areas are being intentionally targeted prior to the referendum to keep Sunnis from voting. When your city is under fire, and you’ve been displaced with your family to some Red Crescent tent in the middle of the desert, the last thing you worry about is a constitution.
RoseBaghdad has moved to the UAE and is looking for work for her and her family. Nor is Iraq and Iraqis it seems.
Secrets in Baghdad is preoccupied with a conversation he had with a friend… and a rather.. graphic.. analogy.
X said:
I don’t care, let the resistance just stop the fight, so many people are getting hurt.
Alright, let me put it this way, women might understand it better though:
If someone is trying to rape you, wouldn’t you fight back? And then he tries and tries, and you fight and fight and fight, and he insists and you try to hurt him, even if a little to make him go away, you are bleeding, and he tries and hits you, over and over, to make you surrender, your nose is broken, you are screaming in pain, you push and kick, you cry for help, he beats you more and more and more, your tooth is broken, you hit him on the stomach as hard as you could, you see pain on his face, he tries to cover it and look strong, you cant see with your left eye, your throat hurts you because of the screaming, people pass by and do nothing, and you scream and fight with every drop of power, with every piece of strength, with everything, and anything, you realize your life is in danger, tears and blood are all over your face and parts of your body, your clothes are torn in many places..Every part of your body hurts….and then someone on the window, right behind you, drinking ice tea, sitting on a comfortable chair, relaxing and watching the whole scene right from the beginning opens the window and says: hey, what’s the matter of you? Why are you so violent? Let him do it honey! It’s a lot of fun, enjoy it, and he will probably pay you good money too!
and you feel stabbed in the back, and his words hurt you so much, you wonder in shock: how is this my fault? How do I let him do it? What is wrong with you? Why aren’t you helping me? Why isn’t anyone helping me? How do I let him do it? What about my honor, pride and dignity? How am I gonna live and face myself everyday? How am I gonna face my children? How am I gonna face my grandchildren? How am I gonna face the history?
So simple, so tragic.
Iraq the Model finally has something to say about the constitution:
The Iraqi National Assembly took a very worrisome step by abolishing the value of Iraqis’ votes in the upcoming referendum through giving two different interpretations of the word “voter†in the law that will govern the referendum and decide whether the draft constitution is ratified or not.
….
I wasn’t worried at all when the final draft came with several articles I didn’t agree with since I thought my voice would count and could change things in either direction but now?
Now I feel like I’m facing a challenge of having my voice ignored and hijacked again and that is something I cannot accept.
An Average Iraqi hasn’t mentioned the constitution lately…
A Star from Mosul Is busy learning the Iraqi National Anthem… her political cartoons speak her opinion on politics in Iraq.
Hammorabi has other things on his mind lately.
A Family in Baghdad, whom I do not think are actually in Baghdad anymore.. has a massive post.. this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is an opposition against the new constitution, which carries among its folds the seeds of ethnic and sectarian drifts, encouraging the separation and detachment spirit, under many pretexts, with nice titles and ugly substance, which are rejected by the nationalist people who still maintain an awareness of what is happening, in spite of all the occupation’s attempts to waste and delude the Iraqi’s awareness, through daily bombings which no one knows who is the real committer of, and a security and political chaos unmatched anywhere…….
And each side will try to achieve his demands in whatever way…
The Iraqi people are busy burying the victims of the mysterious daily explosions, or sinking in the daily worries of providing bread, the suffering of the lack of electricity and water, or, standing for hours in queues in front of the petrol stations… and the Iraqi government is sinking in her “justifications” of the horridness that are happening in Iraq, justifying her failure in controlling the situation………….
Raed is talking about Iraq from the comfort of San Fransisco.
The Messopotamian has a link to the Constitution, but that’s it..
Hmmm.. maybe I need to update my blogroll.. because the links above are the only ones that have been updated within the past month.. some haven’t been updated for over a year… they must just be “busy” doing other things, right?