Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The neoliberal constitution. posted by lenin
This is news:Contrary to the impression purveyed by the media, federalism is opposed by a clear majority of Iraqis - by a majority of Sunnis and a majority of Shi'ites alike. According to a July 2005 survey conducted by the International Republican Institute, a US government-funded entity tasked to build the machinery of pro-free market Iraqi political parties, 69% of Iraqis from across the country want the constitution to establish “a strong central government” and only 22% want it to give “significant powers to regional governments”. Even in Shi'ite-majority areas in the south, only 25% want federalism while 66% reject it.
There's more:
The Iraqis - even those who were willing to cooperate with the United States - wanted, at least on paper, to build a Scandinavian-type welfare system in the Arabian desert, with Iraq’s vast oil wealth to be spent on upholding every Iraqi’s right to education, health care, housing, and other social services. “Social justice is the basis of building society,” the draft declared. All of Iraq’s natural resources would be owned collectively by the Iraqi people. Everyone would have the right to work and the state would be legally bound to provide employment opportunities to everyone. The state would be the Iraqi people’s collective instrument for achieving development.
And yet:
"Article 25: The state shall guarantee the reforming of the Iraqi economy according to modern economic bases, in a way that ensures complete investment of its resources, diversifying its sources and encouraging and developing the private sector."
And, according to Dahr Jamail:
Just before Saturday’s so-called constitutional referendum vote in occupied Iraq, one of my close friends in Baghdad wrote me, “I would like to point out that we are three days away from the referendum, yet very large sectors of Iraqi people couldn’t receive part of the five million copies [of the constitution] from the UN, ie- they will not know what the constitution contains. Subsequently, they will vote according to their backgrounds or religious or political preferences. Many people who will vote yes do not know why they will vote yes...what kind of vote is this?”
