Is Political Criticism all? A question
for Kurdish intellectuals
By: Muhammad Waladbagi
July 28, 2007
Analysts always view the intellectuals as apex of enlightenment, development and
cultural progress of
nations. Simultaneously, nations have high expectations of their intellectuals.
They expect them
to work as beacons for saving the nation during the troubled time and lead them
to peaks of success and
victory. That’s the same for Kurdish nation. Especially the current sensitive
status of Kurdish
nation has made the task and duties of Kurdish intellectuals far greater and
harder.
The reason I decided to write this article is the tragic reality I have observed
in some Kurdish websites. Unfortunately, the performance of some so-called
Kurdish intellectuals(!) or writers in Kurdish websites is not only
disappointing for any sensible Kurd, but also it makes our enemies laugh at us.
While Kurdish intellectuals are supposed to unify the Kurdish nation, work for
advancing Kurdish language and culture and attempt for developing it in all
different academic fields, they are obsessed with insulting each other or
writing articles filled with destructive criticism. In some cases they are just
attacking everybody and everything like a blindfolded guy with a sword in his
hand. In such cases they forget their duties and status and just act like
illiterate folk fighting on the street. The only difference is that the fight of
illiterate people on the street just harm the persons involved, while the
written quarrel of intellectuals spoil the reputation of a nation and set a bad
sample for people. Regrettably, another common practice among Kurdish
intellectuals is focusing all their energy on political criticism and neglecting
all other issues.
By this, I don’t mean our writers should abandon criticism. As it is said,
“constructive criticism is motivated by love”. What I mean is replacing cynicism
with proper criticism helping the nation in this critical situation. For
instance, I have seen some Kurdish writers with the title “dr.” in front of
their names trying hard to prove the corruption of Kurdish politicians at any
expense. Even in some cases it looks like personal enmity rather than anything
else. However, I wonder how these intellectuals have never thought that as a
doctor in their field it is their duty to help the development of their nation
in that field. I wonder what will be their reaction if somebody criticise them
of being corrupt as well. Will they be brave enough to accept that as Kurdish
academicians they have betrayed their professions by doing nothing significant
in their field for their nation? Will they accept that they are as guilty as
corrupt politicians for not carrying out academic researches, writing or
translating books and setting good models for their nation? Isn’t it as
important to work for changing the culture which breeds dictators than to
criticise dictators for their corruption? Of course revealing the treason of any
corrupted official is necessary, but not to the extremes of personal enmity and
revenge. Also, it is better to work on the culture of society so as to make
people refuse obeying corrupted officials rather than just criticizing the
corrupts. At least people, and even the intellectuals themselves, have a part in
continuation of this corrupt culture and should be blamed just like the
politicians. Our intellectuals should understand that even a change in top will
change nothing if the society itself is corrupt from below.
In conclusion I hope instead of igniting the fire of enmity and propagating for
the culture of disrespect,
Kurdish intellectuals start setting excellent models of Kurdish creativity and
advancement in their fields
and pave the way for evolution of our nation.
