The Coalition Authority Explains Democracy to the Iraqi People

The Coalition Authority Explains Democracy to the Iraqi People

The Coalition Authority Explains Democracy to the Iraqi People

We’ll give you back the country soon.
Your leaders at the end of June
Will be there democratically.
We’ll let you know soon who they’ll be.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

We’ll give you back the country soon.
Your leaders at the end of June
Will be there democratically.
We’ll let you know soon who they’ll be.

Democracy is on the way.
We smashed this place to free it.
Democracy is on the way.
You’ll know it when you see it.

Your press is free forever, but
The papers we were forced to shut
Should know, when all is said and done,
It’s free, though not for everyone.

Democracy is on the way.
We smashed this place to free it.
Democracy is on the way.
You’ll know it when you see it.

A person’s treatment post arrest
Can be democracy’s true test–
Though, sometimes, soldiers are unkind,
Because… that is… oh, never mind.

Democracy is on the way.
We smashed this place to free it.
Democracy is on the way.
You’ll know it when you see it.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x