Mocking clerics, falling in love at rallies and mending a broken society: Even if Iraq’s young protesters have failed to overthrow entrenched politicians, they have scored by shattering decades-old taboos.
Since October last year, the country of 40 million has been rocked by a large grassroots movement with big goals: ending corruption, unaccountable sectarian parties and overreach from Iran.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December, only to be replaced by former Iraqi minister of communications Mohammed Allawi, slammed by protesters as too close to the ruling elite.
Photo: AFP
However, what they have so far been unable to win politically, demonstrators have made up for with social change.
“We scored one goal by bringing down the government, but socially we have achieved much more,” Ali Khraybit, 28, said.
His best friend just proposed to a woman that he met while marching in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-government movement.
Like other squares across Iraq’s mainly Shiite south, Tahrir Square has become a social experiment, a free space where conservative norms have been toppled.
Demonstrators chant against a once-untouchable cluster of politicians and paramilitary commanders, while women spend nights in tents next to men.
Students defy orders to return to class and neighborhoods once seen as dangerous are buzzing with people on their way to demonstrate.
Slogans such as “Forget outdated traditions,” “End classism” and “No more differences” are trending on Twitter in Iraq.
“Tahrir lets us dream,” wrote one activist whose friend — who ekes out a living driving a rickshaw — has fallen in love with a medic from a prestigious family.
Since the 1970s, Iraq has endured former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian regime, back-to-back wars and devastating sanctions that isolated it from the world.
There were few cellphones and barely any Internet access until the 2003 US-led invasion that collapsed Saddam’s nominally secular regime.
Sectarian fighting gave rise to hardline Shiite and Sunni militias, as society became more divided and religious.
When Iraq defeated the Islamic State group in 2017 after years of fighting and displacement, many anticipated long-overdue peace and prosperity.
“The young generation was in a coma for many years, but stability opened their eyes to the truth: There is more to life than just surviving,” protester Ahmad Haddad, 32, said.
“There’s living in dignity in a civil society, breaking conservative norms and loosening the grip of religious parties,” Haddad said.
Instead of easing into normality, it was a sudden uprising that transformed Iraq, but it has come at a high price. About 550 people have been killed and 30,000 wounded in protest-related violence.
Few protesters are old enough to remember Saddam — 60 percent of the population is under 25 — and blame their elders for Iraq’s slide into broken politics.
The rallies exposed “a huge rift” between the two generations, Iraqi researcher Khaled Hamza said.
The movement is at a crossroads: The number of protesters has dwindled, as organizers face an intimidation campaign and political parties seek to recapture momentum with a new Cabinet.
“Now, it’s time to unite under a new vision, a plan that addresses Iraqis’ needs,” protester Mohammad al-Ajeel said. “What’s happening is huge, but it’s new for us. We can’t expect everything to happen overnight. It might take years.”
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