Iraq protesters to government: Listen to us (not to Iran)
| Baghdad
Rasoul Adel has been wounded three times at the front lines of Iraq鈥檚 increasingly violent antigovernment protests. But that has made him only more determined to see the country鈥檚 political elite uprooted, wholesale.
Canisters of military-grade tear gas 鈥撀爃eavier than those normally used for crowd control, and shot directly into crowds 鈥撀爐wice smashed into his leg, breaking his right shin. A percussion grenade exploded on his back.
But like hundreds of thousands of protesting fellow Iraqis, disenfranchised by a corrupt and sectarian political system that has failed to convert Iraq鈥檚 vast oil wealth into wider prosperity and jobs, Mr. Adel knows what he wants, even if he can鈥檛 articulate the next steps to get there.
Why We Wrote This
For democracy to work, people need to feel their concerns are heard. When that doesn鈥檛 happen 鈥� or protest is met with violence 鈥� sharper lines can be drawn, making compromise and a path forward much more difficult.
The resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, on Nov. 29, was only a first step, he and other Iraqis say, in meeting their demands for top-to-bottom reforms of Iraq鈥檚 political structure, and for less influence by neighboring Iran in Iraqi politics.
鈥淭he citizens will make the decision who will be prime minister and who will be in the cabinet,鈥� asserts Mr. Adel, as he stands on crutches,聽his right leg in a cast, among a throng of protesters on the bank of the Tigris River. 鈥淲e are the biggest bloc to choose the government. Our motivation has increased because we won the first round, but we need support.鈥�
Where that support will come from is unclear, especially given the lack of both leadership among the protesters and a political rising star with a vision that appeals to an increasingly vocal and restive population 鈥� which this time is noisiest in nine mostly Shiite provinces and Baghdad, places that would normally back the Shiite-dominated government. But amid a lack of political action and a harsh government crackdown, the stakes are rising sharply, as deepening divisions聽set off a cycle of violence between competing camps.聽
鈥淲hen the protests first started, the demands were reasonable: people wanted jobs, services, and to fight corruption,鈥� says Sajad Jiyad, head of the Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies, a think tank in Baghdad.
鈥淭he problem is the government鈥檚 response was very violent, and people鈥檚 demands became maximalist: change the whole system, get rid of everybody,鈥� says Mr. Jiyad, adding that a lighter touch might help reverse that escalation and yield 鈥渕ore realistic鈥� demands.聽
鈥淏ut right now, there are no confidence-building measures being done by the government to get anyone to do anything different,鈥� says Mr. Jiyad. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just continued bloodshed and intimidation, so [protesters] feel like, 鈥榃hy should I back down from those demands?鈥欌��
Iraq鈥檚 top cleric speaks out
In his Friday sermon today, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani 鈥� Iraq鈥檚 highest Shiite religious authority 鈥撀燾alled on the new premier to be named within a constitutional deadline of 15 days, and 鈥渨ithout any foreign interference.鈥�
Mr. Abdul-Mahdi聽was widely seen to owe his post to a deal brokered last year by Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force of Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guard Corps. General Soleimani has been in Baghdad again this week, 鈥渂ack to strike the next deal,鈥� according to one Iraqi official who asked not to be named.
Iraqi officials say General Soleimani was instrumental in organizing the heavy-handed crackdown against the Iraqi demonstrators. That included the sudden use of snipers against the crowds in early October by Iran-backed Shiite militias, which helped raise the death toll toward 450,聽an unprecedented figure since the American military toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
More violence erupted overnight Friday near Tahrir Square, when scores of unknown, masked militants attacked a six-story parking garage filled with demonstrators, killing at least 14, with some taken away, according to witnesses. That followed a series of stabbings in Tahrir Square that wounded at least 13 demonstrators the day before.
General Soleimani and other Iranian officials also sought to prevent Mr. Abdul-Mahdi鈥檚 resignation.
But despite the protesters鈥� success in foiling that effort, they are bracing for the long haul.聽
鈥淚 won鈥檛 leave the square until we expel the corrupters from the Green Zone,鈥� says Mr. Adel, whose determination is widely echoed on these streets. 鈥淭hey should go to court like Saddam Hussein.鈥�
High above him on Jumhuriya Bridge, which leads from the epicenter of the protests at Tahrir Square to the Green Zone, protesters have fortified barricades, while聽young men carry sticks, clubs, and walkie-talkie tactical radios, and sometimes wear masks as they sleep behind concrete pilings that form the front.聽Security officials have built their own fortified defensive line just a few dozen yards away.
Backing the demonstrators all around Tahrir Square is a system of food and water delivery, makeshift clinics, shrines to the 鈥渕artyrs鈥� killed already in this fight, and often a carnival atmosphere where Iraqis take selfies in front of revolutionary graffiti art. Protesters have turned a tall abandoned building, damaged in previous wars and known as the 鈥淭urkish Restaurant,鈥� into an unofficial headquarters.聽
The makeshift clinic closest to this front line, on the ramparts of the bridge, is one of 40 or 50 treating thousands of injured protesters.
鈥淲e are part of the people, we are part of this revolution,鈥� says a thickly bearded medical assistant in a doctor鈥檚 white coat, who gave the name Abu Skandar.
鈥淧eople need all the cabinet to be expelled. People here want a government for the people, not the parties,鈥� says Abu Skandar.
鈥淲hen you see all the classes of the people here, you have more motivation. For 16 years our rights have been taken, and we need to take them back,鈥� he says. 鈥淥f course, there is no retreat unless there is a victory.鈥澛�
But how do you define victory?
Any reshuffling of old faces to form the new government will be akin to 鈥減utting lipstick on a pig,鈥� says independent Iraqi analyst Hamzeh Hadad.
鈥淭here are power centers now, patronage networks, and you just can鈥檛 expect these power centers to give up,鈥� says Mr. Hadad. 鈥淢y hope from these protests is not an overhaul, because it鈥檚 never going to happen like that. My hope is that we build a movement, that leadership comes out that can present me an alternative [and] proper civil society.鈥�
A harder view prevails on the streets, says a psychology graduate who gave his name as Dr. Marwan. He is wearing a sand-colored tactical military vest in which the pockets for聽clips of bullets and grenades have been filled instead聽with medical bandages.
鈥淲e are here for two months because the government is corrupt and killing people, and stole the people鈥檚 money,鈥� says Dr. Marwan. 鈥淧eople will stay here until there is a new government with clean hands.鈥�
But Iraq鈥檚 long-entrenched political class appears to be searching for solutions that will preserve its control. That is despite a socioeconomic malaise that made 鈥淚raqi people without hope鈥� pour into the streets in anger, says the government official.
鈥淲hat Iraq is missing is true national leadership that provides Iraqis with a vision for the future, which then leads us to having hope,鈥� says the official.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l ask 10 people what they want, and they鈥檒l give you 10 different answers, and most of them will give a slogan, like 鈥榃e want a nation.鈥� What does that mean?鈥� says the official.
鈥淭here is no blank page. It鈥檚 vested interests. It鈥檚 pieces of the cake,鈥� he says.
Still, he notes, Iraq鈥檚 democracy is in its earliest stages.
鈥淎fter 7,000 years of history, we鈥檝e been only democratic for 14,鈥� says the official. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 given it a long enough time to work. And the system we do have is imperfect, so what we need to do is reform it, enhance it.
鈥淭raditionally, revolutions are a failure,鈥� he continues. 鈥淢ost likely, this revolution will fail. What it will lead to is a hastening of the next set of demonstrations. It hopefully will lead to civil society organizations, and us upping our discourse ... so the glass is still half full; it鈥檚 not half empty just yet.鈥�
*This story was updated to include the shootings that took place overnight Friday in Baghdad.
