The Uprising: Between the People’s Glory and the Authority’s Shame, Who Auctioned Off the Achievements?

Mohammed Hussein Mawlood – Activist 

When the flames of rage from the rebelled people of Ranya and other Kurdish cities toppled the palaces and bastions of the Ba’ath regime on March 5, 1991, the people believed that the era of slavery and subjugation had ended forever. But alas, history has proven that a nightmare was on its way—a nightmare far more dangerous than the Ba’ath, because this one arrived under the guise of “Kurdishness” and behind the veil of “liberation,” seizing the ready-made spoils and stealing the uprising from the people.

The authority that today parades over the corpses of the uprising’s martyrs in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah is the same clique that returned after the uprising like “scavengers at a ready-made feast,” monopolizing all public achievements for their narrow partisan and dynastic interests. Those who today sit in their “White and Yellow Palaces” counting billions of stolen oil dollars and national wealth are the same merchants who used the blood of the youth in Ranya, Halabja, and Kirkuk as a bridge to reach absolute power.

It is a profound disgrace that after 35 years, we are still debating the goals of the uprising, while the regional authorities have committed the ultimate betrayal against those goals. They did not only loot the people’s wealth; they auctioned off the very dignity of the Kurdish land. Who were those who, to protect their thrones, brought the tanks of invaders and enemies into the heart of the capital and the cities of Kurdistan? Who were those who held the hands of the killers of Kurds and paved the way for them just to eliminate their internal rivals? History cannot wash away this black stain; because of your filthy greed and power struggles, thousands of innocent citizens and children of this land became victims, and their blood was spilled.

Today, under this “opportunistic” authority, Kurdistan has become a playground for the Turkish military, the Iranian guards, and the remnants of the Ba’ath. You have not only failed to protect the freedom that the people bought with their blood, but you have also taken the people’s bread and livelihood hostage for your own pockets. The youth of this country, instead of flourishing in the shade of the uprising, are now either languishing in your political prisons or becoming food for fish in the seas of exile.

My message on the anniversary of the uprising is clear: The uprising that began in Ranya has not yet ended. Rebelliousness against the Ba’ath was only half the journey; the other half is the uprising against this tyrannical and treasonous authority that has treated the nation as war booty for 35 years. You are not the representatives of the uprising; you are the murderers of its dreams.

A day will come when the very same streets that drove out the Ba’ath regime will become the graveyards for all those who betrayed the blood of the martyrs and the wealth of the public.