2007年VOA标准英语-Experts Discuss Federalist System's Chance of S

By Margaret Besheer
Irbil
15 July 2007

One of the unanswered questions about Iraq's future is: can a federal system of government, one in which power is divided between a central government and regional or provincial¹ ones, work in Iraq? VOA's Margaret Besheer talks to Iraqi and international figures in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, where a conference took place this week to discuss Iraqi federalism.

Iraqi and international figures discuss federalism in Iraq

In 2005 Iraq adopted a new constitution which enshrines the concept of federalism. But as sectarian differences threaten to divide the country, can federalism really keep it united?

Absolutely, says Egyptian human rights activist² Saad Eddin Ibrahim, one of the participants at a week-long conference on federalism in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

"Federalism is not utopia, it is not a panacea," said Ibrahim. "Federalism is not perfect, it has its problems, but it is better than fighting each other and then one group subjugating³ the others."

Iraq is home to Shiites, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and many smaller groups, such as Assyrian Christians⁴ and ethnic⁵ Turkmen. Arabic is the official language, but Kurdish is also widely spoken, especially in the northern Kurdistan autonomous⁶ region.

Iraqi Kurdistan is flourishing politically and economically and is often held up as Iraq's biggest success story. Conference organizer Bakhtiar Amin says the rest of the country can learn from the Kurdish experiment with federalism.

"How they [the Kurds] faced different challenges and difficulties; how they overcame some of these, and to learn also from the experiences of other federal systems around the world," said Amin.

Experts from four continents attended the conference and shared their views.

Paul Dewar, a member of Canada's parliament from Ottawa, notes that his country shares similarities with Iraq in that it also has two languages, two main religions, and significant oil resources which must be shared among several provinces.

"Canada actually has a relevant model; it is not a matter of one size fits all, and federalism is different in different political contexts, but it seems to me that Canada is one that makes infinite sense to look at," said Dewar.

Canada has a central parliament and 10 provincial legislative⁷ assemblies with a relatively⁸ high degree of autonomy. The Canadian constitution was written to take into account the colonial distinction between French- and English-speaking regions and their cultures.

Iraqi parliamentarian Mahmoud Othman cautions that many Iraqis still do not understand the concept of federalism. He also wonders if it might be too soon to try to get them to embrace it.

"Somebody who gets up in the morning he has no gas, no electricity, no safety, no food, unemployed⁹, do you think he will listen to you when you talk about federalism or our constitution? It is nonsense. They have been working in the wrong way in this country," said Othman.

He says the government must first guarantee a minimum of security and basic services to the people before talking to them about federalism.

The conference, sponsored by two international human rights groups and with support from the Italian and Kurdish governments, brought together many Iraqi political figures from the Shiite and Kurdish communities, but Sunni Arabs were notably¹⁰ absent.

Several were invited, but only two attended as the others stayed in Baghdad to deal with the political crisis relating to the removal of the Sunni Arab speaker of parliament.

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 subjugating   

v.征服，降伏( subjugate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

4 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

7 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。