01 July، 2017
Happy Eid and Victory to all Iraqis. We start our dialogue by saying that there is a huge impact of politics on the public perception of many issues, and we should benefit from the experiences of the countries and learn from them. However, some see that we work based on a proud culture that refuses to learn from the experiences of others. Some also see that the calls for reform are but logos and are not based on a firm institutional ground. Other people see that Erbil became unsecure for journalists due to threats of armed groups that belong to influential political parties, and achieving security in Mosul is related to the political work that should avoid the mistakes of the previous stage before ISIS in Mosul and eliminate terrorist incubators. In return, some see that the issue is too big to be solved politically due to its big dimensions, among of which is the social dimension that includes martyrs, abductees and displaced people.

 

 

 

30 June 2017

 

 

 

Also, emphasis was placed on keeping opportunists away from stealing the achievements of the victory against ISIS, and avoid alienating those who fought on the battlefield. In addition, there was a discussion about the year’s conference to be held in Baghdad, as everybody is invited to an event that brings together all Iraqis and unites them, on the condition of excluding the politicians who fueled the sectarian conflict and supported the terrorism in a way or another, in addition to the corrupted politicians. Some think that the conference was the result of regional prior agreements. Moreover, there was a discussion about considering the liberation day of Mosul as a national day, while some refused this, saying that the event is not that big and the occupation of Mosul should not remain in the Iraqi memory. Discussions also excluded the possibility of a popular revolution in Iraq due to the public near-silence during the last ten years, despite the bad situations on all levels. Others disagree with this, saying that there are indications that emerging young leaderships will unleash the potential of youth, and the possibility of a revolution is very likely, and nobody can predict or uncover the underlying psychology of the crowd. Discussions also pointed out to the fact that some people intentionally conflate separating religion from politics with separating religion from society, despite the huge difference between the two concepts.

 

Conclusions:

 

·         Iraq needs to strengthen its foreign policy that suffers from a vulnerability to regional actors that have unilateralist tendencies.

 

·         There is a semi-public disrespect to the law due to the reflection of the state’s administration on the society after 2003.

 

·         There are interventions by some neighboring countries in the Iraqi components, based on sectarian grounds that destroy the unity of Iraqis.

 

Recommendations:

 

·         Iraq should work with strong partners that have international acceptability recognized by political sectarian retrenchments.

 

·         A new strong state should be constructed, whose pillars include respecting the law and applying it on all Iraqis regardless of their affiliation.

 

·         Conferences must bring together all Iraqis, stemming from the needs and facts of the internal situation of the homeland and citizens.

 

Term Definition:

 

Generation Gap: a popular term used to describe the differences between young people and elderly, especially between children and their parents’ generation. The term was first popularized in the Western countries during 1960s, describing the cultural differences between the young and older generations.

 

Names of some participating members during the week's dialogue:

 

1.      Mr. Rafea Abdul Jabbar

 

2.      Dr. Nadim Al-Jabiri

 

3.      Mr. Alaa Al-Khatib

 

4.      Dr. Sattar Al-Jabiri

 

5.      Dr. Hassan Nadhum

 

6.      Farhad Alaaldin

 

7.      Dr. Al-Amir Al-Asadi

 

8.      Mr. Abu Firas Al-Hamdani

 

9.      Dr. Basel Hussein

 

10.  Mr. Mohammed Al-Karbouli

 

11.  Ms. Srwa Abdulwahid

 

12.  Abdul Rahim Khasro