SOPHIE SOLOWAY ’23
Following months of citizen protest, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced his plans for resignation on Friday, Nov. 29. Protesters — made up largely of the country’s young and poor — have criticized the country’s political party system and failing infrastructure. These demands came just months after the initiation of a new Iraqi government in May which followed the eradication of ISIS in the region.
“My generation has not known an Iraq absent from government corruption, large population living under poverty and lack of jobs, infrastructure and proper education,” Jasmine Ali Fawzi ’21, a Mount Holyoke student from Baghdad, Iraq, said.
Since the start of the protests on Oct. 1, over 300 demonstrators have been killed and approximately 8,000 civilians injured, according to Time Magazine.
“Many are also suffering because of the violent force the government is using against protesters,” Fawzi said. “Employing militias and snipers to use live bullets, tear gas, beatings, abductions, blackouts, internet cut-offs and more. They actually aim tear gas canisters at heads or backs, not the ground. Many have died, many have lost limbs, and so many families [are] grieving.”
President Barham Salih has also announced plans for a new electoral law that will shift the power of Iraqi political parties. According to Fawzi, this would not have been possible without the protests.
“Just in downtown Baghdad, in Tahrir Square, there are gatherings of 300,000 demonstrators,” Fawzi said. “Universities and even high schools are organizing protests, forcing administrations to close down. And almost everyone is a part of it. The fruit stand lady is cutting up all her produce and offering it to everyone on the street. Barbers are giving out free haircuts ... Store owners are donating all their winter blankets to the street campers, and this is probably the only time of year they could sell their products.”
“There is a sense of unity and collective support, and that’s definitely what is keeping the demonstrations alive,” Fawzi said.
Mahdi’s resignation followed the Nov. 27 protest in Najaf, during which citizens attacked an Iranian consulate and replaced the flag with an Iraqi one. According to Al Jazeera, this action was representative of the larger conversations that Iraqi protesters have been having regarding Iran’s influence on Iraqi government.
According to The New York Times, leaked intelligence reports show that the Iranian government has been seeking to prop up Mahdi since he became Prime Minister in 2018. This, along with the political sway that Iran holds over Iraq, has forced many protesters to seek political agency beyond their country’s leadership.
“Iran definitely has its interests laid in Iraq: it relies on Iraq to get around sanctions, sell its gas, manufactured products and announce its power in the Arab world,” Fawzi said.
Fawzi said that Western media has not been focusing on the situation in Iraq as much as it needs to be. As an International Relations major, she said that conversations about Iraq seem outdated and ignorant of current events.
“In every one of my political science classes, we read about the U.S. invasion of Iraq,” Fawzi said. “And we talk about it like it’s a thing of the past,” Fawzi said. “No one knows much about Iraq now. No one knows the struggles many people are facing, whether in Iraq or here, because of the aftermath of the invasion.”