Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | – ( Niqash.org ) – Iraq’s ongoing anti-government protests are turning out to be about more than just political demands. They’re also changing the country’s culture around sexism, ageism and other long-held prejudices. Despite a lack of coordination between all the different groups of Iraqi protesters taking part in anti-government […]
The Iraqi Street Revolution of 2019 is still Challenging the American-Installed Order
Mustafa Habib | – (Niqash.org) – Neither of the two opposing groups seem to want to give any quarter and despite impactful events and legislative manoeuvres, nobody is any closer to common ground. 6.12.2019 | Baghdad Politics A man in Baghdad’s informal “museum of martyrs”, a memorial to the young demonstrators who have been killed. […]
Baghdad’s Youthquake: Iraq’s Young Protestors ‘Have Nothing Left To Lose’
(Niqash.org ) – Anti-government protests in Baghdad were led by the younger generation, one that has grown up under military rule, lived a more liberal life online and is now questioning the very basis of local, political culture. More than a hundred deaths and over 4,000 wounded as a result of five days of anti-government […]
How Iraq Is Standing Up For Itself, After Israeli Attacks
(Niqash) – Mustafa Habib Often trapped between Iran and the US, Iraq’s foreign policy experts have been playing a wily game to avoid it happening again – especially after suspected Israeli attacks inside the country. 6.09.2019 | Baghdad Politics Unusual: Iraqi leaders came together to formulate a measured response. In Iraq, both politicians, military and […]
Is Wave of Anti-Corruption Demonstrations in Iraq Doomed to Fail?
Baghdad (Niqash.org) – There are anti-government protests in Iraq every summer. But the recent batch are different, and in ways that could hinder any resolution. The protests that have been rocking the Iraqi political establishment for almost a month now began when dozens of unemployed young men from the village of Bahila, on the outskirts […]
Fearing Repression, Iraq’s Sunnis won’t Join Wave of Protests
Baghdad (Niqash.org) – A few days ago, a resident in the northern city of Mosul posted a comment about ongoing protests in southern Iraq on Facebook. “We greet you from Mosul,” wrote Imam al-Qaysi. “Our hearts are with you and we know what it’s like to live in these tragic conditions. We don’t have state […]
In Remote Iraqi town, US Troops and Iran-Backed Militias are already Facing Off
Baghdad (Niqash.org) – Locals in Al Qaim, Anbar, worry that the current stable security situation can’t last. It’s being upheld by US troops and Iran-allied militias, whose antipathy toward one another is becoming more overt all the time. Iraqi troops searching a secret IS base near Al Qaim. (photo: Iraqi Ministry of Defence). The people […]
Why Muqtada al-Sadr’s Shocking Victory in Iraq Elections isn’t that Shocking
Iraq’s Election Winner Just Giving The People What They Wanted