In the name of Allah the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. May. Allah's blessings be upon Muhammad and his immaculate Household, and his chosen companions.
Your Sovereignty, Eminence, Virtue, and Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen of attendees
May Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you!
It is the great occasions and great events that are immortalized in history and leave resonance to be passed on within generations and are filled with lessons and thus deserve to be remembered and inspired by at all times.
From these great situations emerges the first day of the month of Safar, which is the day of the entry of the family of the Prophet (PBUH) as captives and prisoners to the Levant, so that those days recorded in history will take root in Our grief and heroism simultaneously, Grief for that heinous crime against women, children, wounded, sick, captives, that were imprisoned, violated, tortured, intimidated and starved, which are vocabularies carrying a flagrant violation of human rights in that time and in our present era, and heroism for those situations led by the leaders of the steadfast Al-Husseini revolution, headed by the greatest woman, and the bravest, Sayyida Zainab Al-Kubra, daughter of Imam Ali, peace be upon him, and sister of Abu Al-Ahrar, Abu Abdullah, Imam Al-Hussein, peace be upon him, who stood in the face of tyrants that injustice, violence, and tyranny is a way to destruction, and that honor, dignity, and pride are a way to eternity and survival, This was what she (peace be upon her) personified and embodied.
- These major crimes committed against the captives and the earlier events in Karbala urge us to recall and draw inspiration to put an end to all forms of violent crime and to combat this abhorrent phenomenon at all times and places.
- Any reform process to address negative phenomena in societies, including those (violence against women, childhood, or domestic violence in general) needs the trio of (diagnosis, healing, and accumulation).
- At the level of diagnosis: elites and those interested in this matter, should search for its roots and backgrounds of it, to develop the right method to be taken in the healing process, knowing and diagnosing the roots of this phenomenon will have the largest share in the path of dismantling and correction.
- A specific and focused list of definitions and causes of the phenomenon of violence as a general concept and violence against women, the family as a whole, and children, in particular, is required to initiate the process of community and legal review and healing.
- Violence doesn’t only mean physical violence, as common in the mind, but it also includes all forms of psychological violence, harassment, coercion, marginalization and illegal identification of women are prominent entrances to the practice of violence against them, which may be deeper forms of physical violence and require many treatments at the social, cultural, legal and judicial levels, and doesn’t end with educational, health and economic healing.
- The cultural and media accumulation in showing the status of women and enhancing their roles at the level of the family and society represents an urgent necessity and a correct prelude to addressing the obstacles to their progress and empowerment and the restoration of their social rights.
- Strengthening the status of women in the family and assigning their important societal roles at all levels, taking into account the legal and social norms, raising their scientific level and developing their own potential, is one of the duties of political, cultural and academic elites. we have called in previous conferences for the need to combat violence against women in all its forms, and we still call and stress the need for Women's empowerment at all levels.
Ladies and gentlemen
regarding political affairs:
There is no doubt that the complexities of the arena and the imbalance of political balances and lineups that occurred after the elections and the ongoing media conflict have taken time, effort and anticipation from the country. Citizens are still awaiting the solution and the end of the political blockage, which has become detrimental to the interests of the people and disrupting the functioning of state institutions.
- Throwing accusations, shirking responsibilities, and open escalation are all things that do not serve citizens in any way and only increase their alienation and anger toward all parties.
- Raising the ceiling of political demands without the existence of realistic and practical projects does not represent an entry point for resolving the outstanding issues in the service, urban and economic fields.
- We all have to realize that the policies of puritanism and bullying cannot be a substitute for the effect of the dialogue as we are not in a fort of open choices and timings, but we have one choice only which is to move forward and overcome problems together with altruism, awareness and, perseverance.
- We must always remember that Iraq is bigger than all of us and accommodates everyone, and the homeland cannot be reduced to one nationality, sect, or one side without another.
- Mobilizing all social and political energies, investing in them, and unifying their compass represents the best solution to what we are going through, as all spectrums and entities must be present and effective in this sensitive and dangerous time period of Iraq's.
- The presence of everyone does not mean the participation of everyone in the governmental and executive work on the basis of quotas and negative consensus, but means the effectiveness of everyone in decision-making, supporting achievements and successes, and providing constructive recommendations and proposals by which the state is strengthened and the government succeeds in serving citizens and their interests.
- We have already indicated and affirmed today once again that we will not participate in the next government cabinet not out of evasion of responsibility, but for giving space to the Prime Minister to choose his successful and harmonious team, and we will support every successful achievement, in which we believe that it is a success for all of us and we will point out the faults out of keenness and constructive criticism away from weakening the state and its institutions, as what we have always done in strengthening the state and its institutions.
- We reiterate our call to all parties to give precedence to the supreme national interest through cooperation and constructive dialogue, leaving aside emotions and accusations.
We all have to respect every opinion stated, and not to ascetic with any national energy that can participate in decision-making and provide the best of visions and projects.
It is not flawed to disagree on ideas and visions, but it is shameful that we do not find a solution to our problems and do not identify common points of convergence that unite us in building the country, safeguarding its interests, and, strengthening the state.
- Many of the national projects put forward in our arena that aim to develop the system, modify the paths and correct mistakes are real projects that we adopt and believe are necessary as we shall share with others from the benevolent matters in moving them forward. we have announced many of them in the past decade.
- We continue to believe in the importance of achieving a new, more solid, sophisticated and unanimous social and political contract, and we continue to call for the review and development of many constitutional provisions that experience has proven to be incomplete or impractical. and we believe in the need for trans-sectarian and national alliances, and we emphasize the need to overcome negative quotas through duality (active majority and constructive opposition), as we also embrace the need for fair and balanced representation of social components and management of diversity in our country.
All these projects and others we have put forward, considered and initiated to approach all parties to them previously and we reiterate our position on the need to proceed with them according to the following principles:
First: Safe and logical gradient:
We believe that major projects under democracies need a triad of maturity, consensus and codification, and it is not possible to rush and excludes them and go beyond the legal frameworks in imposing or passing them.
- Large projects such as constitutional amendments, sensitive laws, and national strategies need the active participation of all social components and academic, cultural, and youth elites to move them forward in a stable and unproductive environment.
They are not limited to parliamentary and political presence but are national issues that require the genuine participation of all.
Second: Dialogue and understanding: The process of correction and change in democratic systems is based on effective dialogues and openness to all opinions.
Imposing wills, exchanging accusations and cutting bridges of dialogue are impervious dams to any positive and secure political and social transformation in the country.
Third: The right timings: A secure democratic transition needs a sound environment and the right timings, what is required is to move to a more stable, strong and prosperous stage and not to impose on the state and society immediate and passive projects that will take us out of a deep crisis to deeper and more complex crises.
-We desperately need to calm souls before modifying texts and liquidating intentions before settling scores and accepting the other instead of deleting or ignoring it and to share and cooperate instead of disharmony and intersection.
Fourth: Mutual trust: The lack of trust, suspicion of the other, monopoly on the right to change and ignoring others are shocking and disruptive obstacles to any positive transformation in the country.
I call on all parties, partners, and brothers, whose sincerity, patriotism, and good intentions I do not doubt, to give precedence to the interest of the homeland, to shake hands with love and brotherhood and to rely on each other to overcome the current crises together towards a secure and prosperous future for our people.
I also send a message of love and appreciation to our brother Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr and the sons of the Sadrist movement and say to them:
We were, still are, and will always be the children of one homeland, one history, and one family, we shall not be separated by differences of opinion and misunderstandings, nor shall our unity be torn apart by the hands of strife, ignorance, and hatred.
- We have never asceticism our fraternal relations with you, despite the media escalation and the wrong practices against us and against state institutions and their disruption, and we were with other brothers from the national forces in the Coordination Framework and in others the first initiators to persuade you to refrain from boycotting the elections, the first to congratulate you on your victory in them and the first supporters of the national majority project with its required terms, including preserving the status of the biggest social component.
- We have been allies in many social and political fields for many years and we appreciate and respect the differences in views and do not see this as a reason for any accusation or doubt.
- We still believe with the brothers in the Coordination Framework of the importance of the Sadrist Movement's sons, their presence and effectiveness in decision-making centers, and work in state institutions, not only for their electoral merit but also because of the presence of benevolent and national vibes in this movement.
What I know from my brothers in the Coordination Framework is that they have made and are exerting maximum efforts to preserve national cohesion, the unity of the largest social component, and the real partnership in the decision, and the doors of love and fraternity will remain open and a method that is a satisfaction to everyone that takes the national interest as an obsession and a goal.
- Going to early elections needs preliminaries and parliamentary and legal debates that make this option a safe and acceptable practical path for all partners, which is a debatable, understandable and implementable option after the formation of the new government, the amendment of the electoral law, ensuring the proper functioning of the Independent High Electoral Commission and providing the logistical and technical requirements required to hold fair elections that address the mistakes of the recent past and approve the country's general budget.
