Monday, February 22, 2010

Goran Movement; a revolution inside the revolution

goran-logo-2.jpg

  • KurdishMedia.com 
  •  By Aso Ali
  • 22/02/2010 

It is said that when revolutions come to success, new reforms are needed for them to accommodate to new tasks of post-revolution which is the task of ruing society and its affairs, providing basic life standard, and a level of justice and recovery. Here, the revolution should translate its political, economic and political goals into practice to change the life of its people through making improvement in their daily lives and ensuring reliable collective happiness. In fact, after victory of the revolution people wait with fervor to see the capacity and credibility of the revolution in realizing its pre-victory promises and ideas for which they have fought and sacrificed their best. This point is very fundamental turning point in the relation between the people and the revolution and, precisely, the impression which the revolution can derive for itself in the mind of the people.

The commitment of any revolution to its primary ideas of providing good life and public happiness for its people is crucial to the revolution to get public legitimacy and obedience in post-revolution period. However, the danger of degrading of the revolution into a wrong way is usually a threat, a great threat in fact. In socio-political science, the accommodation of any revolution to the tasks of post-revolution era usually faces challenges of corruption, inexperience, chaos, and infighting. Here, a new energy and vision is needed in order to generate a new spirit and power to the revolution to make it not falling into this wrong way.

Unfortunately, the revolution in the south Kurdistan fall into this category of national movements which deviated from its principles of making public happiness and peoples life its main concern. That is why since the beginning new reform and review have been needed to revive its ideas and spirit.

After the partial victory of the revolution in this part of Kurdistan, the people had great hope that their revolution would bring happiness and justice to them for which they fought for long time. Sadly, since the early days the revolution with all its political groups began to fall on a wrong way. Corruption, nepotism, partisanship, personalization came to replace public wellbeing, justice, rights, and law. Above all, the eruption of long bloody infighting and internal war destroyed the credibility and ability of the revolution further making the revolution like a kind of warlordism among groups fighting for group and personal gains not a movement of a nation. The absence of public institution, of law, of justice, of citizenship rule, of national order destroyed people’s confidence of the revolution, and, thus, disappointment replaced hope. The spread of demonstrations in the last few years was evident to this public disappointment.

Here, ‘Goran movement’ comes into the fore to bring back some hope and confidence to the relation between the people and the revolution by turning revolution to credible institutions. It comes to be an answer of widespread disappointment of Kurdistani people from about two decades of bad governance of two main political parties. Here we can see the importance of the task which the Goran Movement should perform. This means that rule of law should replace rule of factionalism, citizenship should replace partisanship as the source of rights and privileges, government should replace parties’ hegemony, public service should replace private enrichment, and public wellbeing should replace high life for few. These goals are not a deviant form the true primary goals of the revolution, but instead they are at the core of people’s expectation of the revolution. So, Goran movement is not coup against the revolution. It is a completion of the revolution through voting paper. To paraphrase Marx, the Groan Movement is the continuation of the revolution but by elections. The Goran movement is a revolution inside a revolution which needs a lot to realize its true goals of public wellbeing and sense of justice to restore its credibility and purity.

Aso Ali is a political researcher in southern Kurdistan’s capital Erbil

  • KurdishMedia.com - By Aso Ali