The purple finger: violet is the new black!

There’s a long way to go yet but the Iraqi people’s bravery in giving the purple finger to the gunmen and the suicide bombers is a major revolution and starts to change the prospects for peace, democracy and human rights in a united Iraq. It should also force all those who denied the possibility of such a success in the elections to rethink their position. Those who opposed the war, like most of us, need not surrender any of their analysis and those who supported military action need not change their colours. But both sets of people should now heed purple power – as our revamped web site does symbolically – and unite behind the Iraqis struggle to end terror and retrieve their sovereignty. (GK)