International TV interview with Muayad Ahmed
July 19, 2004
Maryam Namazie: I want to ask you about the horrendous news that we have received recently about Mohammed Abdul Rahim, one of the activists of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI), who has been assassinated by a political Islamic group in Kut, Iraq. Can you please explain the circumstances?
Muayad Ahmed: Yes, Mohammed Abdul Rahim was an activist of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI). He had joined the WPCI a year ago when we started a new round of activities in Baghdad and the south of Iraq. He was originally from the city of Kut, which is located in the south of Baghdad. Before he was assassinated, he was kidnapped by the Islamic group called the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which is linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran and which is part of the current Provisional government.
They kidnapped him; after a few days his body was found on the border between Iran and Iraq. And we found out later that this had been done in co-operation with agents of the Islamic regime of Iran.
Maryam Namazie: We had heard that he had been threatened prior to this?
Muayad Ahmed: Exactly. Prior to his assassination, he was threatened because Mohammed was very active and spoke out openly and courageously against the Islamists and exposed their oppressive means against the people. He used to distribute the WCPI’s newspapers like Al Sheoiya Al Omalya and Ela Al Amam as well as communiqués of the Party. Following those activities and confrontations with the Islamists, he was threatened. This was general knowledge and people witnessed his kidnapping.
This shows not only the barbarity but also the hypocrisy of the SCIRI which is itself a part of the Iraqi puppet government; they say they are against terrorism but you see that they themselves are carrying out terrorist actions. We call upon everyone to take a stance against this.
Maryam Namazie: And to condemn it.
Muayad Ahmed: Yes, to condemn it unequivocally and to take action against them. We have already started this and will continue to expose them everywhere.
Maryam Namazie: This is the political Islamic movement that you often hear being labelled as the ‘resistance’, for example in Iraq. It’s despicable what they’ve done to foreigners that they’ve captured as well as what they’re doing to the Iraqi people. What would you say to that?
Muayad Ahmed: Yes, the Islamic terrorists, the groups who are not part of the government are doing the same; they are killing on a daily basis – almost ten people in Iraq, innocent people, are killed daily. In this case, those that are part of the puppet government for the USA’s forces are doing the same. The Islamists are all the same; they haven’t any other means than to terrorise and kill and assassinate people.
Maryam Namazie: One of the things you hear that is really outrageous given what political Islamic groups are doing in Iraq is that their methods are a form of resistance and they’re justified in what they do given that they’re faced with a very brutal occupation by USA forces. This is something you hear often, and a lot of times from some Western Leftists as well. Now though with all the pressures exerted by WCPI, we now hear some Left groups saying it’s okay for WCPI to fight against Islamic groups but this is not something that Western leftists should do because their job is to oppose the imperialists in their own country. What would you say to that; I find that completely irresponsible!
Muayad Ahmed: It is irresponsible. They just want to talk about or be engaged with their own bourgeoisies, with their own governments and leave the rest of the people and the working class all over the world on their own. That’s a nationalist point of view and this is commonplace amongst the Left in the West and we have suffered a lot because of these ideas. Actually, such ideas and opinions help regressive forces in Iraq and everywhere – not only in Iraq but in Iran and other places as well. Islamic terrorists in Iraq benefit from the situation. The USA occupation has helped them to flourish and mobilise their forces to carry out terrorist actions on a large scale in Iraq.
When they say that’s a sort of resistance, that it’s a justified response, I think it’s not only a nationalist view, but a criminal one as well. Nobody should justify the carnage, nobody should justify for any reason, be it occupation or anything else beheading of people in front of the whole world or such murders and assassinations. It should be condemned; and when the Left don’t this, it is because they are not sensitive enough to what’s happening in the world and they want to choose their isolated life, and they want to be isolated from the political process and the struggle that we are already engaged in Iraq and everywhere in Islam-stricken countries.
Maryam Namazie: It denies unity and solidarity with people, progressive movements and the working class throughout the world, irrespective of where the working class and people happen to live; this position completely ignores that and basically, like you said, it’s a very nationalist, isolationist perspective and disregards the solidarity and support that people in Iraq need. Now you’ve called for opposition to both the occupation in Iraq, as well as against political Islamic groups. Can you explain exactly why it’s important to do both?
Muayad Ahmed: It’s very important, it’s vital, because millions of people in Iraq are already suffering from the social oppression of Islamist traditions, values and thoughts. Women, half of the society, are suffering from the oppression of the Islamic movement and Islamic traditions and values; it’s not right when there is a new situation like the occupation of Iraq to justify these regressive forces. This is a task for the people; people deserve to be rid of both of them; they are already engaged in this struggle. Ordinary people, the WCPI, my Party, and other organisations, are demanding freedom and equality in the society, modernity, secularism and are engaged in a struggle with these forces. When the Left says that ‘it’s OK; their actions are justified,’ actually, they are going into alliance with them – it’s not innocent sort of idea – it’s a political alliance.
Maryam Namazie: Thank you very much Muayad Ahmed. I urge all of our viewers to unequivocally condemn the brutal assassination of one of the activists of the WCPI. You can get more information on what’s happened and what you can do on their website which is www.wpiraq.net. This is something we urge you to do in solidarity with civilised humanity in Iraq – it’s an urgent task of everyone across the world today.
The above is a TV International English (www.anternasional.tv/English) interview dated July 19, 2004.