Leading Iraqi democrat talks to Labour Friends of Iraq of his hopes for the future of his country

Ali Fadhil, a 34-year-old doctor and senior member of the newly formed Iraq Pro-Democracy Party, called for people across the world to give their support for democracy in Iraq to “show that democracy is something that the whole world approves of.”

Ali, a well known Iraqi internet blogger, is standing as one of 12 candidates for the Iraq Pro-Democracy Party in the January elections. For him, this election is a sign of the huge progress made in Iraq since the American-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein last year:

“Our ambition, my dream, was that we would win freedom by ourselves and many Iraqis tried. So many small groups just vanished without anyone knowing of their sacrifices. When the Americans came it was just… I can never think of anything to compare this too. I can’t think of any historical parallel that makes this look like it was a bad thing.

“I’m ready. Many Iraqis are. We would prefer to live in these conditions for tens of years with no improvement without spending one more year the way it was under Saddam. Iraqis want freedom, they want to have their own choice, to have their voices. That’s very important. The terrorists will not win here”

Ali, who lives in Baghdad, also talked of his own experiences of everyday life post-Saddam, and his faith that the elections will take place as planned:

“I think [the elections] will happen. There is a belief inside me. Most of Iraq is peaceful. I am sitting here in my house and I watch the TV and listen to the radio and see horrible things, hear terrible news, and I feel like hell is breaking loose all around me. But I go outside my house and I see people shopping and the roads are crowded in the centre of Baghdad. I see families and children and it just doesn’t make sense… Even in Baghdad, it feels like it is normal but then some attacks happen. But children are going to school, everything is normal. The highest number of terrorists is 20,000. 20,000 people cannot destroy a country.”

Ali recognises that as a small and newly formed organisation, the Iraq Pro-Democracy Party will struggle to attract much support in time for the elections early next year, yet he is optimistic that they can make a difference in the long term:

“It is not the first election that will make a difference – it is the second, third and fourth. Even if we don’t win a seat this time, if we win a good number of votes that will encourage the rest of the party and other parties to think more collectively, to have more hope.

“We need a real democracy in the Muslim world. All Iraqis are responsible. What we need right now in Iraq is more democratic, independent parties, more liberal parties. Parties that don’t attract members based on their ethnic group, religion or sectarian beliefs.”

But Ali and his colleagues are finding it difficult to gain recognition for their party among the wider public. He believes this is due in part to the lack of funding and an inability to gain publicity to communicate the aims of the party:

“There is no publicity available for small parties – people are only aware of large parties. We are trying to form a coalition of small parties, to get into the elections together. This is not a good situation. In the elections, Iraqis will choose the names they know. We want to give them another alternative and show power does not have to be divided between fanatic groups, the ethnic parties and major political parties.”

“Some NGOs are transforming into political parties. These are people who were oppressed at time of Saddam. There is a group of thinkers and writers and artists. They are still very poor, still not really found their voice. They are very interested in joining us and most likely they will.

The Iraq Pro-Democracy Party was established after the war ended. Ali had wanted to do something to change things in Iraq before this but he said this was just not possible, as people were too scared to meet to discuss these issues in groups of more than two or three. It was when Ali started blogging that he realised that there were many others that shared his views:

“We didn’t know much about [blogging] at first. Not many people were actually reading it, but some people were dying for information that was not filtered. We provided a window to the world – we still couldn’t travel, and the internet was a great way to see how others think as well as express our opinions.

“Through the internet we found out that people in Iraq wanted to say what we were saying but they were either shy or afraid. We knew intuitively that not all Iraqi people are all fanatics. Through the web we have come together.

While public opinion in Iraq is difficult to gauge, Ali believes that the resistance fighters are losing support. He thinks that the people of Iraq are turning their backs on them because they “want people to fight and kill themselves to prove they are Muslims.” Ali argues that the global media coverage of the situation in Iraq does not help to build support for UN timetable for establishing a new state and makes the situation in Iraq even more unstable:

“In Iraq we are used to propaganda, but even Western media are showing only the negative parts. The American administration is making mistakes, definitely, but we should not forget about the good things. The western media say every destruction and every death is the fault of the US. People in Iraq are starting to say this because they hear it every time they turn their heads. When Iraqis see a terrorist attack, they don’t think about the insane guy that did it, that killed our children, and blame the leaders of the private armies. They just blame the Americans. We should direct our anger, our actions against the people that are sending these mad people to kill our children”.

Ali Fadhil was speaking to Alan Johnson