Iraqi Elections an Iraqi writes...

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Friday December 16, 2005 11:50

by iosaf

There comes a stage in the progress of a people through their misery when not even our words may offer proper description or testimony to their suffering or optimism.
I can not underestimate my respect and admiration for the writer known as "Salam Pax". I first read his posts on http://www.almuajaha.com which was the name used by 7 Iraqi students for their collective which proposed in 2003 one week after the US invasion to start "baghdad indymedia".

This was the mission statement :-

"For decades almost all governments in the world, including our own, abused and terribly ignored the basic humanity of the Iraqi people. Al-Muajaha aims to provide an open forum for all Iraqis to freely debate current issues, and in so doing educate themselves and the world."

Noble words written at a time of great danger, and with help from indymedia groups worldwide (notably the Bristol collective) they began their project in 2003 and despite serious reservations amongst some of us as to the timing of an "imc" in iraq, and the conditions in Baghdad to allow "passionate true reporting" they carried on their work for almost a year, though thier appelation as "baghdad imc" was eventually declined.

I remember with sadness how their newswire was swamped by trolls and bait coming mostly from the states. I remember with happiness the emergence of poets and writers, of what one sensed were young Iraqis "just like us" writing on subjects of such normality that they inspired immediate respect. And Salam Pax wrote through it all. By mid 2003 and early 2004 many anti-war organisations had started the difficult task of donating computer equipment to Iraqis, of paying their phone bills. I remember the cost for one hour's internet access then was roughly 30€ payable in american dollars. And Salam Pax wrote through it all. I remember our own Irish activist Caoimhe Butterly was one of those who brought the iraqi's such equipment (though for another collective).

Pax is latin for peace. Salam is arabic for peace.
just as Shalom is hebrew, Paix is french, Paz is spanish, Pau is catalan, Bake is basque, Siochain is Irish &.., Many of us have written out all the words together at some time. Websites come and go. Al Muajaha is no more. There were sadly but not unsurprisingly stories of true suffering, deprivation, intimidation, even death. I lost less than a two hundred words published , which were on reflection probably unimportant. I would have preferred that the team had lived in different times and diferent circumstances. Soon enough ironically for their use of western hardware and It systems, their use of English, their championing of Western rights and equality, the team underwent increased hassle from the US occupation (which moved quicly to stop trade union mobilisations - preferring an iraq divided on religious or ethnic lines to an Iraq embracing freedom on any socialist or class analysis philosophy) {better a mad mullah than a red}

But Salam Pax wrote through it all.

Last night, I read the RTé news report on the Iraqi elections with dismay, the journalist in Donnybrook dublin 4, choosing to describe the elections as coming "after Saddam was ousted".
This morning likewise journalists "the dismal profession" tell us that iraqis now vote after Saddam, after US invasion, after an insurgency.

Years ago now, & it seems so long, after our mobilisations to stop the war, which at end exposed the war as illegal and immoral and most probably delayed the start of war, and ensured at least some levels of consideration for civilians and the rules of military engagement (Which I maintain would not have been observed if we had not protested the whole thing)

Al Muajaha was the first website to be launched in Iraq to report from the ground. It was started by volunteers from the indymedia organisation. And one of the writers who emerged Salam Pax began his career.

He has now chosen by the English "The Guardian" newspaper to "blog" on the elections.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/12/15/holiday_in_baghdad.html

al anur salam!

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Comments (6 of 6)

ooooops.

Fri Dec 16, 2005 17:37

I wrote " I can not underestimate my respect and admiration for the writer known as "Salam Pax" ".

of course that should have been " I can not overestimate my respect and admiration for the writer known as "Salam Pax" ".

thats what you get when you're so used to being critical in a sloppy way.

al anur salam!

OOOOOOPS

Fri Dec 16, 2005 18:04

I'll be honest I'm not sure which is better - not being able to underestimate or overestimate respect. So I'll put it another way, for my own benefit and perhaps if any one bothers to read imc ireland "the readers".

When Salam Pax started writing for free on open publishing systems, over 80% of his countrymen had no job.
The most powerful army in the world had just declared a victory in a war which had mobilised the greatest single day widest international protest movement ever in history.
There was no running water.
There was no electricity.
The journalists who earned on a daily basis the monthly wage of an iraqi (before the war) lived in a hotel.
The US army fired tank shells into that hotel and killed a camera man and journalist.
There was no museum.
There were no people on the street.
People still talked about WMD
They didn't do body counts.
The police force which had served Saddam had just been reinstalled 3 days with less than ten "changes" in personel.
There were still statues of Saddam.
No-one knew if the money with his picture on was worth anything.
Condoms were valuable.
So were cigarettes.
There was one bar in the hotel where the journalists of RTE and BBC and CNN drank for 42 million.

If you sent a computer to Baghdad most people thought you were assisting terrorists.

Thank you Salem Pax and all those who did the same thing. Brave & truly Free.

al anur salam!

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

by saoirse

Sun Dec 18, 2005 07:41

what a bunch of BS...
and of course,
the commies and brain dead @ indie swallow it all better than monica lewinski did.
write back to abdullah and let it be told --
70 % of iraqi participated in the most recent election held dec.15.
did it ever occur to you kornkobs that the crap you're being spoonfed is written by a ba'athisT ?
of course it did and you participate in the same abomination as did sadmN and all his followers.

I'd like to reply to those points actually.

by iosaf - (another citizen)

Sun Dec 18, 2005 17:13

saoirse, monica lewinksy didn't swallow, thats what the stain on the blue dress was all about. As for your other "point", I take it you are opposed to the re-instatement of Saddam Hussein, quite common that one, and enjoying the TV trial is all what a democracy is about. But it may surprise you that democracy goes deeper than that. its about a very complex systems of values. Democratic values may not be imposed on a people by outside force, or military might especially when that force seeks to change the nature of a state be it authoritarian or elected. Democratic values may not be assigned some arbitary excusable number of innocent civilian or non combattan deaths whilst "we wait on it to emerge". Democratic values allowed the continuing space for a writer known as "Salam Pax" to write from 2003 till today. As an Iraqi. And I don't think being a "baathist" or not comes into it. The lack of electricity, the same cops, the price of cigs, the blood on the street, the unending terror from all sides. That came into it. & still does.

al anur salam!

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

You can now watch Salam Pax as he reviews 2005 on Video

Sat Jan 07, 2006 15:56

for The Guardian newspaper England at this link (duration 6minutes 56seconds)

other Iraqi Bloggers

by redjade

Sat Jan 07, 2006 17:21

iosaf

♣‡ Thanks for the link to Salam's video - I didn't know he was doing video as well these days.

You said: 'thats what you get when you're so used to being critical in a sloppy way.'

Heh! I had to laugh at this one - reminded me of my recent awareness of Alex Chen.

Back in Dec 9 2005 I blogged about the 'The French Democracy' make by someone with the pseudonym of 'Koulamata' - I made the assumption that this person must have been a French Arab because the topic was Arab immigrants rioting in Paris.

Whoops! Assume = Assumptions make an ASS out of U and ME!

Koulamata's real life name was later to be been discovered to be Alex Chen, a French born Chinese French 22 year old guy who claims to be a practicing Buddhist! A video war gammer who just recently got into making 'Machinima'

• See: Machinima & 'The French Democracy'
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=73388

I made a lot of assumptions about Salam Pax as well - and out friend's comments above that he is a former Baathist was not one of them.

Apparently 'Salam Pax' is gay - not that there's anything wrong with that - of all the assumptions I made of Salam Pax, this was not one of them

. . . .
• Baghdad calling
March 24, 2003
'To start with, there is the mystery of his cryptic name. It doesn't take long to realise that "Salam Pax" is a simple play on words meaning "peace" and "peace" in Arabic and Latin respectively. This mirroring motif is reflected in the website's address, www.dear_raed.blogspot.com, with its palindromic "dear" and "Raed". There has also been a lot of chatter about the true identity of the eponymous "Raed" from the website's title, Where is Raed? Is "Raed" a euphemism for a family member in trouble with the Iraqi authorities? Or is he Salam's gay lover? Speculation has been rife. But isn't he just understandably protecting his identity?'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,920505,00.html

• Salam's story
May 30, 2003
'Not only had Salam criticised the regime, he had written openly about the fact that he is gay. It was a frank admission in a repressive dictatorship and one that, even in the new, postwar Iraq, which at heart is still a conservative, Islamic society, represents a significant risk. And so he continues to guard his identity. "I am not going to be the first one to carry the flag. I hide behind computer screens," he says.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,966819,00.html

• more about him...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salam_Pax
"One day, like in Afghanistan, those journalists will get bored and go write about Syria or Iran; Iraq will be off your media radar. Out of sight, out of mind. Lucky you, you have that option. I have to live it."

——————————

♣‡ There are other lesser known Iraqi Bloggers out there - I used to keep track of most of them, but these days there are so many.

One should not make too many assumptions about them either. The Freedom Institute a while back made a list of 'Iraqi Bloggers' that they liked ('like' meaning ones that agree with the Freedom Fries point of view) funny thing is now - some of those bloggers are now anti-occupation or are now highly critical of it.

here's some more (English writing) Iraqi Bloggers to watch (that i try to watch, anyway)

• 'Baghdad Bunning'
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

• 'A Citizen Of Mosul'
[A 57-years-old medical Doctor, Male, married and have three daughters.]
http://moslawi.blogspot.com/

• 'A Family From Mosul'
[Daughter of 'A Citizen Of Mosul' Blogger]
'My father used to tell me not to believe what I hear unless I see it. Now I believe in this statement more than before because I saw intellegent and educated people who believe what is really a pure political propaganda.'
http://mosulfamily.blogspot.com/

• 'Free Iraq'
http://abutamam.blogspot.com/

• Dahr Jamail [not sure if he's an Iraqi though]
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/

• Peshmerga Women
[written by a jewish kurdish iraq, see! don't make assumptions! sadly no longer active]
http://peshmergawomen.blogspot.com/

...connected to the above blog is a group blog called

• 'Kurdistan Bloggers Union'
http://kurdistanblog.blogspot.com/

♣‡ The issue is for all these iraqi bloggers is not whether they now have the freedom to write but will they continue to have the freedom to write.

Are the freedoms they now experience a by-product of America™ or are they just the flower emerging from the chaos only to be squashed later when either A) a Pro-US regime finally brings order to Iraq or B) a Pro-Iran regime finally brings order to Iraq.

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