Chermaine27 maart 2008 – 13:45

Debate
Nicky Aerts, from the VRT, led a debate about the future of Iraq with well-known academics, namely Anne Morelli, Khalil Shakir Al-Zubaidi, Shafik Alsamarraie, and Rik Coolsaet. Anne Morelli, professor at the ULB, says that there are still no links found between Al-Quaida and Saddam Hussein, and that there is no evidence of weapons of mass destruction being present in Iraq. Concluding to the obvious: the only motivation for initiating the war is oil. The United States were and still are denying this. Morelli thinks the war was inevitable, for the US had its mind set to go to war and there was little the Iraqi people could do to prevent this. What is controlling Iraq now is medieval anarchy, complete chaos. Morelli says the fact that Iraq is still occupied, encourages different religious extremists to take advantage of the situation.

Khalil Shakir Al-Zubaidi and Shafik Alsamarraie, both professors at the Al-Hurraa University in the Hague, say the social structure of the Iraqi society has always been very complex, comparable to a mosaic. Though before the war, at least the different parts lived together in harmony. Now, the unemployment rate is 85 percent, there is lots of crime and insecurity, and a lack of basic foods, drinks and medicines. Besides, there are 4.5 million refugees who have no place to go, on which Morelli stated that the Belgian government is not going to welcome them for sure. Moreover, she thinks that laicity is the solution for the situation in Iraq. Rik Coolsaet then pointed out that laicity cannot be encouraged from outside the country, so this is up to the Iraqi's themselves.

In conclusion, Jean Bricmont, doctor in Physics, said that people from the Western world should protest to the war more strongly. He thinks this phenomenon can be called the crisis of the Western world. He also talked about the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention and trying to import democracy to other countries. In the case of Iraq, it's true that Saddam Hussein's regime was horrible, but what happens now is even worse.

Poetry slam
After the debate, the writers Kurt de Boodt, Layla Nabulsi and Gie Bogaert, turned to the audience with “Messages to the People”, which is a literary reflection or poetic text, in which they artistically refer to five years of war in Iraq. The messages are being collected by 'Het Beschrijf', a literary movement, and get offered to the Belgian media for publication.

Iraqi artists speak up
Iraqi artists who live in Belgium confirm the ongoing humanitarian crisis in their home country. Photographer Karim Abraheem fled to Belgium in 1980 en just recently went back to his birth land. His pictures of Iraqi people in their seemingly peaceful environment, are being exhibited in Passa Porta until the 13th of April. Taher Alwan is an writer and professor at a university in Baghdad. The war in Iraq forced him to escape to Belgium 1,5 years ago. Both artists speak about the consequences of the war, and the fact that five or less Iraqi people live of a dollar a day, and they must lock their doors and stay in their houses before sunset. Five years after the beginning of the war, there is still no water and electricity. The people don't say: "give us democracy", but: "give us water and electricity." And Iraq is supposed the be one of the wealthiest countries in the world because of their oil.

To close the Literary Wake, the Iraqi lute player, Ali Abdulrasol, played music inspired by the situation in Iraq. His main message is for the US Army to leave Iraq as soon as possible.