Basra intellectuals prefer civil state to theocracy

BASRA / Awat al-Iraq: Intellectuals in the southern Iraq city of Basra converged that their role is marginal in the elections, indicating that the best option for the nation is to have a “civil state” despite attempts by several powers to turn it into a “theocracy”. “The socio-economic devastation and havoc that befell Iraq and the low-profile of the middle class have all caused a yawning gap between intellectuals and their audience,” said Khaled Khudeir, a moderator of a session at the Ibda’a (Creativity) Cultural League, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Qassem Hannoun, a writer and politician, said the society depends on its intelligentsia as carriers of the torches of progress and enlightenment. “We are concerned with the issue that literature and art should have a fundamental objective of re-creating the world and that is why men of culture have to contribute to the change in the country and make it more rational,” said Hannoun. Lawyer Tareq al-Beresam said that the idea of the sectarian quota system has proved to be a failure. “The option that we all have to pursue is to establish a civil state where everybody are equal in the eyes of the law regardless of their religious or sectarian or partisan affiliations, but unfortunately there are some powers who push the state of affairs in the direction of a theocracy,” said Beresam. He called for replacing the sectarian plurality with a politically-based multi-party system. The Ibda’a Cultural League, promulgated on January 22, 2010, is an independent cultural group that comprises several men of letters and intellectuals in Basra and is concerned with holding cultural events. The league, which meets twice every month, aims to enhance cultural and literary dynamics in the city. The oil-rich port city of Basra lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 3