Identity in the trap of ideology

A brief about the book "Identity in the Trap of Ideology" by Abdul Jabbar Al-Rifai. We are in urgent need of instilling national identity in the political conscience, nourishing its psychological, emotional, and cultural presence in the children, developing it, and enabling them to cross the narrow passages of parental identities, which still distract them with borrowed ideological identities from the past, or with sectarian and ethnic identities that disregard the national identity, which has burst its suppressed complexes over long decades, serving the interests of groups and leaders competing for power and wealth, or to achieve gains for other countries that see the erosion of Iraq's identity and the strife among its components as a guarantee of the fragility of the state and continued dependency. This does not mean denying the sub-identities in society; the multiplicity and diversity of identities are a rich source of community vitality and creativity. I pointed in various parts of this book that some identities and affiliations begin to multiply immediately after a person's birth, such as inheriting the religion of their ancestors, their community, their sect, language, and culture. These identities grow and solidify in the environment in which they are raised. In the modern nation-state, diversity of identities is a source of strength, not weakness, but this requires an equation based on making the national identity a unifying framework, from which the national, religious, and sectarian identities branch out without overshadowing it. The national identity is a broad political foundation that accommodates diversity and recognizes the citizen's right to be different, transforming society into an integrated system that turns diversity into a source of richness and strength.