Sarmand Ismail Salih – Activists
There is a constant and repetitive slogan heard: “We will no longer accept!” — yet, in practice, everything continues to be accepted. This is not a form of public governance; it is rather a low-quality political theatre. A performance that, at times, borders on satire, while beneath its surface lies the tragedy and misfortune of a nation in decline.
The politician who issues loud threats, only to retreat into compromise, is not defending the public interest. He is, instead, a broker of national dignity, bartering it away under the guise of diplomacy.
Those who raise their voices, draw red lines, and then erase them with their own hands are not allies of the people — they are instruments in negotiations from which the public is excluded. They are not confronting power; they are part of its machinery.
A political figure who knows nothing beyond issuing threats on one hand and compromising on the other should not be presented as a pioneer or a role model. Rather, such behavior exemplifies the very contradictions undermining democratic transformation.
The bearer of the slogan “We will no longer accept!” is often the first to accept — the moment shares of power are on offer. Before every election, threats are made. After elections, these same figures fight fiercely to secure their party’s share of influence in Baghdad.
This is not politics — it is a degraded culture of opportunism. It is the act of publicly rejecting, while privately conceding. It is the loud performance of populist outrage, while quietly consenting to the very structures one claims to resist. That is not leadership — it is political commerce.
In short: the louder the cry of “We will no longer accept!”, the more likely it is that the integrity of such figures is already for sale.
Period.
