Iraq, for Baghdad leopards, the epidemic is a panacea. But the popular movement resists

After six months of confrontations with the government and the pro-Iranian militias that defend it, at a cost of more than 600 dead and thousands of wounded among the protesters, the movement had announced (March 21) the interruption of the demonstrations so as not to increase concentration. infections.

However, the appeal was not followed by everyone. In many continue flowing in the seats, sometimes alternating the presences to make distancing. Even the enemies of the movement did not stop for the closure: on April 5 the militant Anwar Jassem Mhawwas She was shot dead at her home in Nassiriya. Two weeks later, the government announced a relaxation of the curfew to facilitate Ramadan rituals. A demonstration then took place in Baghdad, but has been repressed with weapons.

The movement shows resistance and tenacity hard to describe, rare even for the painful history of the Middle East. It is made up of women and men, characterized by a strong generational intersection and by the presence of salaried workers and students, young people in the “front line” supported by relatives and old people in the rear. He is the son of an exasperation of twenty years for lives lived hostage by foreign powers such as the United States and the United Kingdom, who occupied Iraq from 2003 to 2011 (with the support, among others, of Italy), but also Turkey and Iran, which have specified their areas of influence specifically to the two Anglo-Saxon countries.

It is precisely in the southern Shiite cities, where the sentiment of many is close to official Iranian doctrine at the confessional level, that the struggle for independence for the United States has recently joined that of economic and political autonomy for Tehran. The protests in October denounced the working and income conditions of a southern working class often employed by Iranian companies, which was not surprisingly burned down by protesters with the headquarters of the Iraqi militias financed by Tehran. However, the movement was not limited to contestation on an economic and national basis. The attempt an entry way to politics, calling for an electoral system that also allows independent candidates to enter party lists, hitherto blocked, to revitalize a future parliament. The determination of the place imposed the promulgation of a new electoral law in late December.

Therefore, the post-invasion political class has felt threatened and has tried, in recent months, to elect a prime minister to replace the one in office in October. Abdul-Mahdi, overwhelmed by the protests. The attempt was every time to agree national and international parties with the moods of the crowdmission so far impossible. Against the Gattopardesca solution, the squares first demanded (December) to be consulted on the names of the main candidates and then (February) they proposed their candidate: the pharmacist Alaa al-Rikaby, from Nassiriya, known face of the protest. The reaction of religiously inspired militias has still been more violent and protesters peaked dead and wounded just as the new Covid arrived in Iran and Europe.

That is why the pandemic is perceived as a panacea by a ruling class whose incompetence we should not underestimate as well as being ruthless. The official number of infections and deaths (to date 2,296 and 97) raise serious questions, and the blockade itself has been partially reduced to farce of the bribes that he is apparently willing to accept the police. A generation that grew up under Anglo-American bombardment and between the Al-Qaeda and ISIS attacks does not appear to be in such a context willing to go home in silence. The sense of responsibility and fear also changes the meaning in different contexts.

An opponents’ motto has been, from the beginning, “now or never again.” It won’t be long before we know whether the cynical predictions of Parliament’s leopards hit the mark.

Ilfattoquotidiano.it support: never like now
we need you.

In these weeks of pandemic, journalists, if we do our work with conscience,
We do a public service. That is why we are also proud every day here at ilfattoquotidiano.it
offer hundreds of new content for free to all citizens: news, exclusive ideas,
expert interviews, surveys, videos and much more. All this work, however, has a great economic cost.
Advertising, at a time when the economy is stagnant, offers limited income.
It is not in line with the access boom. So I ask those who read these lines to support us.
To give us a minimum contribution, equal to the price of a cappuccino per week,
fundamental to our work.
Become a support user by clicking here.

Thank you
Peter Gomez

THANKS FOR READING NOW XX ITEMS THIS MONTH.

But now we are the ones who need you.
Because our work has a cost.
We are proud to be able to offer hundreds of new content every day for free to all citizens.
But advertising, at a time when the economy is stagnant, offers limited income.
It is not in line with the boom in access to ilfattoquotidiano.it.
For this reason, I ask you to support us, with a minimum contribution equal to the price of one cappuccino per week.
A small but fundamental sum for our work. Help us
Become a support user!

With gratitude
Peter Gomez

Support now