Iraq Needs Serious Reform, Not Another Ill-Fated Revolution
Iraq Needs Serious Reform, Not Another Ill-Fated Revolution
By David Romano
Since early October, Baghdad and parts of southern Iraq have been racked by the most significant protests of the post-Saddam era. A generation of young Iraqis who grew up after Saddam’s regime appears to have lost patience with a corrupt status quo.
Lack of jobs, lack of basic services, lack of adequate living conditions, and lack of future prospects give them little to lose. A heavy handed response against the protestors that has killed nearly 300 over the past few weeks seems to only enrage them more.
Their basic demands differ only a little from those of Arab Spring protests of a few years ago. Although Iraqis live under a real electoral democratic system, unlike Egyptians or Tunisians in the time of the Ben Ali regime, their elected officials appear incapable of delivering anything more than corruption and state paralysis. For similar reasons and under a similar system, protestors in nearby Lebanon express a similar end of patience for such a status quo.
The protestors in Iraq appear overwhelmingly to be poor Shiites. They blame Iran and its heavy hand in Iraq for much of their problems, despite their shared Shiite identity. The protestors regularly attack buildings and facilities owned by Iran and its Iraqi Shiite militia proxies. They call for an end to sectarianism in Iraq, which many believe serves as a cover for corrupt sectarian leaders to win elections and then divide the country’s wealth between them.
Exhausted from the war against ISIS and still under heavy suspicion by the government, Sunni Arabs in places like Mosul and Anbar have, in contrast, not taken to the streets. Few doubt their sympathy towards the Baghdadi and southern protestors’ rhetoric and demands, however. The very emergence of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq stemmed in large part from the same kind of grievances.
In Kurdistan, the “other Iraq” remains quiet. With better infrastructure, an electricity grid that works, more jobs and relatively much improved services, the autonomous Regional Government bought itself more breathing room than authorities in Baghdad. Although Kurdistan’s people also complain of corruption, insufficient public services and what amounts to Iraqi Kurdistan’s own version of sectarian divisions (between the KDP and PUK), these problems remain much less serious than in the rest of Iraq.
If the protestors in the rest of Iraq retain a good idea of what they want – jobs, infrastructure, services, and clean government – how to get it seems much less clear. Calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi, new elections, a new constitution and a change of the current political system to turn it into a presidential one have been made. Unfortunately, none of these demands seem likely to improve things. In many cases, they will likely make the situation worse.
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