Depending on their character people might react to injustice with submission,
assertiveness, or aggression. Anybody with a sound mind would recognize which of
these options would lead to a win-win solution. Unfortunately a sound mind seems
to be a rare commodity among those who feel entitled to make decisions for our
people without giving them a choice.
Still obsessed with territory and size, some generals in Ankara perceive the
progress in Hawler toward self determination as a danger and have been reacting
with threats, a behavior typical of terrorists. Despite their ideological
differences, other primitive and abusive governments in the region are united
with them in making sure our disadvantaged people have no choices but to remain
at their service, a behavior typical of chauvinists. Also unlike Woodrow Wilson,
most western politicians from the right and the left are not interested in self
determination rights and have only a self serving agenda, typical of
hypocritical corporations and missionaries. To put an end to terror, arrogance,
and hypocrisy, some peshmergas or jangawars still believe they should choose the
methods of the past to resolve an unjust conflict that has been imposed on our
people.
In the past some jangawars chose to submit to the commands of non native rigid
emperors, kings, sultans, sheikhs, ayatollahs, permanent presidents, and lords
to protect them, their ideologies, and their marked territories. In return they
were labeled as brave gate keeping children of Saladin by their masters and as
jawsh or xenophiles by their own people. Some other jangawars had found the
unjust and violent methods of dictators intolerable and chose aggression to
defend the people they were supposed to serve. In return they were marked as war
lords and terrorists by some aggressive establishments and as xenophobes by some
submissive cosmopolitans.
For the past decades or so, the ex-peshmargas at KRG have been behaving
differently and neither their foes nor their friends can mark them with past
labels anymore. Since they chose doing real politics professionally, the ex-peshmargas
at KRG have been the most productive in the modern history of our people;
despite the universal and relatively negligible flaws such as corruption and
nepotism of some of them, as a team they deserve to be congratulated for their
achievements. Their success could be due to their assertive use of the civil
method and language of international political game players. Thank to KRG’s
choice of new methods, some Western politicians seem to have finally recognized
that supporting democratic minded people in our troubled region is more
advantageous to all than supporting brutal dictators.
In short, past is over and so are choices such as submission and aggression; the
first is an insult to self and the latter to others. Neither of these methods
helps our present and future generations to achieve their ultimate objectives.
Instead of using the methods of the past, our politicians should create an
atmosphere in which our people can freely use assertiveness to make a choice
such as the ones at: www.art-in-mind.net/petition
Dr. Artin maintains the website www.art-in-mind.net
