The protests, which started in several cities in southern
Iraq last week, quickly spread to the rest of Iraq, reaching their peak on 7
August. Around half a million people came out in Baghdad alone, chanting
slogans against the corrupt and reactionary rulers. Hundreds of thousands of
others have demonstrated in Samawah, Al Diwaniyah, Basra, Nasiriyah, Najaf and
Amarah. Slogans such as ‘Neither Shia nor Sunni, but secularism’, ‘The religious
regime has ripped us off’, show the real meaning of the protests of the people
of Iraq.
Starting on 31st July in Baghdad, Basra, Najaf
and Amarah, the protests spread to Sulaymaniah, Rania, Qaladiza, Chamchamal,
Darbandikhan and Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. The power and water cuts in Iraq’s
deadly heat wave gave the pretext for people to voice their deep anger and
discontent against poverty, insecurity, lack of rights and Iraq’s corrupt and
reactionary government. According to reports from the Left Worker-communist
Party of Iraq, several well known workers’ leaders, such as Falah Alwan and Saeed
Nema, as well as the prominent women’s rights activist Hana Edward, spoke at
Baghdad’s rally today. According to this report, left and secular forces have
played a leading role in these protests.
We support the struggle of the people of Iraq for freedom
and call on the people in Iran to support these protests. The people of Iran
have experienced the barbaric rule of the Islamic Republic and share a common
cause with the people of Iraq, and welcome the escalation of their just
struggle. The slogan chanted by the people of Iraq today, ‘Neither Shia nor
Sunni, but secularism’, is a key slogan of the people of Iran too. The
reactionary Islamic regimes in Iraq and Iran should get lost so people can gain
control over their lives.
Victory to the struggle of the people of Iraq!
Worker-communist Party of Iran
7 August 2015
