Events
Event poster which attracted 160 attendees at Imperial College London
The date had been set, the parties had been rallying, and Iraq seemed set for yet another general election, a whole 7 years and 3 prime minister terms down the line from the change in regime since the 2003 war.
Whilst this election saw more reshuffling of the competing parties, new coalitions and new party splits, the overriding election campaign message from each of the leading parties seemed identical to the lay minded individual. Both the State of Law Coalition, led by PM Nouri al-Maliki, and the Iraqi National Alliance, with former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as one of its forerunners, had recurrent themes of unity, equality, nationalism and sovereignty within their pre-election campaigns. Iyad Allawi’s al-Iraqiya party was also growing, and was campaigning for similar notions, and all three coalitions had rallied for executive party membership from a majority of religious and cultural backgrounds in Iraq. Even the names of these coalitions were virtually inseparable!
This aspect, culminated with the persisting question in all the minds of the British Iraqi youth, “should I really exercise my right to vote in an election that affects the lives of people on the other side of the world?” necessitated a platform where party policies could be more objectively clarified, and more specifically, an event to be held in the heart of the student Iraqi corpus of Britain. Such was the spark that fuelled the Imperial College Iraqi Society to invite representatives from four of the key parties in the elections for a Question Time event in London on the evening of 24 February 2010, where such objectives could hopefully be met.
With an attendance of over 160 students and professionals, the event was introduced by a representative from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of Iraq, Dr Alaa Abdul-Latif, to explain the proceedings of the election day in the UK, the election centres, and more importantly, the requirements for eligibility of voting. For the enthusiastic youth, it was promising to hear that the proof of Iraqi citizenship through a number of documents was possible, including the provision of proof for Iraqi parents, for which the Iraqi embassy was available to work at providing.
After establishing the reality of voting ability for most, if not all, Iraqi youth in Britain, the audience was allowed to hear from, and ask questions to, representatives of the State of Law Coalition (Zahra al-Rikabi), National Iraqi Alliance (Dr Khudair Abbas), al-Iraqiya (Safwan Amin) and Etihad al-Shaab (Emad al-Hamadani). On the agenda for discussion was tackling corruption within the Iraqi government, international relations including neighbouring countries, security, economy and education.
Probably the main drawback of the event was that it failed to explore the real contribution oversees voters can have on the future of the country. Yet most people did leave with a clearer idea of what the parties stood for and who they personally would be more likely to vote for, although some may have left a little more confused with the potential overlap of different party policies. Having said that, many Iraqis do feel foreign to the still quite infant neo-Iraqi politics, and hopefully events like these will work towards familiarising politics with its people.
A blog has recently been started by a group of British Iraqis called The British Iraqi Forum. It is a collaborative attempt at providing a platform for free debate and a constructive environment. It can be visited at www.britishiraqiforum.com
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