The Uprising: A Memory and a Recurrent Enemy

By Fadhil Mirani

March 5, in our national, intellectual, partisan, and political calendar, is not an ordinary day. It was never ordinary for us, nor was it ordinary for the enemy at that time.

The regime intensified its pressure on our people and tightened its grip on the path toward our rights. It used all its means of repression and all its regional and international connections to carry out aggression against us, supported by some and silently tolerated by others who were aware of what was being done to us. In response, as had happened before and repeatedly, our people rose in an uprising that removed the regime from large parts of our lands. Our people united with their political movement—especially and fundamentally the Kurdistan Democratic Party—to achieve what could only be described as a miracle, one that only free and conscious peoples can accomplish, removing the atmosphere of terror imposed upon our nation.

Despite all its pain, wounds, and sacrifices, our noble people became a refuge for those who laid down their arms—many of whom had been forced by security policies and coercion to become victims of propaganda and distorted narratives about the nature of relations among the peoples of Iraq, where loyalty to authority was placed above loyalty to the homeland and its people. Our party and our people presented one of the finest examples of struggle and sincerity toward national goals.

Together, we hastened to unify ranks and fill the vacuum left by institutions whose mission had been far removed from serving our people. In their place, national institutions and dedicated cadres were established—selfless and committed—to serve the people of Kurdistan without discrimination. The Kurdistan Front stood as an outstanding political, national, and conscious model. It was the result of years of struggle and high-level coordination, grounded in a deep understanding of our nation’s history and future.

The Front fulfilled its responsibilities and spared no effort in representing the Kurdistan Region legally and administratively, preparing for the region’s first parliamentary elections without delay. Security, education, and health and social services were managed successfully despite the immense challenges that followed the changes in Iraq after the Gulf War and the subsequent liberation of Kuwait. These achievements exceeded expectations given the limited resources available at the time.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, along with other constructive political forces in Kurdistan and Iraq, the efforts of the international coalition, and—above all—our people, who remain the source and reserve of our strength, proved that the path of Mustafa Barzani and those who followed it with sincere conviction is the right path toward achieving the aspirations of our nation and of every people seeking freedom, peace, and democracy.

Today, as we commemorate the glorious memory of March 5 and remember all the men and women who raised the banner of Kurdistan—before that day and ever since—we are reminded that the same date also finds us living under renewed aggression threatening our lives and the future of our existence. It is an existence watched by those who oppose a rightful sense of belonging to a homeland that we strive to build and to be worthy of.