Protest struggles for relevancy in Iraq
Virus is latest setback as Tahrir Square draws not thousands but hundreds
BAGHDAD — At the hub of the largest anti-government protest movement in Iraq’s modern history, crowds have dwindled, and donation boxes have sprouted up. Loudspeakers resound with calls by activists for funds to keep their hard-fought revolution alive.
The 6-month-old movement has faced one setback after another, from the shifting positions of a Shiite cleric to an apathetic political class — and now fears over an outbreak of the coronavirus that Iraq’s decrepit health system has struggled to contain, with about 93 confirmed cases and nine deaths.
Where once Baghdad’s Tahrir Square had seen thousands every day, now only a few hundred protesters turn up. Morale has been dampened among young Iraqis who first took to the streets Oct. 1 to decry rampant government corruption, poor services and unemployment.
Protesters have found it difficult to revive the strength of their leaderless movement after scoring victories early on, like pressuring lawmakers to pass a key electoral reform bill and forcing former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to step down.
In Tahrir Square, a group of young men recently shared a hookah pipe under a tarp by a tunnel replete with the wall art of their revolution. Together, they embodied the spirit that first brought many into Iraq’s central squares to protest.
Marwan Ali, 23, had attended university to study communication but could only find work as a barber after graduation. Mohammed Abbas, 19, didn’t bother pursuing a higher education, convinced it wouldn’t secure a job. So in October he picked up a banner and joined the movement.
Hussein al-Hind, 22, was a teenager when he heeded a call by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric to take up arms and defeat the Islamic State group with what would later become the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces. He soon became disenchanted as his one-time war heroes joined the ranks of the political class by running in the May 2018 election.
The young men have also suffered the violence that has met the movement. Al-Hind showed off two bullet wounds from clashes with riot police; Abbas was detained by police for three days early on in the demonstrations; Ali’s family has received messages from unknown groups threatening his life.
Now, the future of their hard-fought protest movement depends on the ability of these youths to keep to the streets.
“We are disappointed,” Marwan Ali said. Asked why he was still coming to Tahrir, he said, “This isn’t about the homeland anymore, we are here for the blood of our martyrs.” More than 500 people have been killed since October under fire by security forces who have used live ammunition, tear gas and recently pellet guns to disperse crowds.
In nearby Khilani Square, clashes still rage between a core group of protesters and security, with at least two demonstrators dead last week.
The movement was dealt a blow in January when radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who also heads a major political bloc, withdrew support after elites selected a prime minister candidate he backed, Mohammed Allawi. Al-Sadr’s reversal instilled a climate of fear in the square as militiamen affiliated with his group, which once protected protest sites, intimidated demonstrators who refused to back Allawi, activists said. Allawi has since withdrawn from the post.
“We were tools in al-Sadr’s game,” said Kamal Jaban, an activist.
Three months since, protesters said in hindsight that the lack of core leadership had hobbled their movement, enabling figures like al-Sadr to do exactly what they had feared.
Al-Sadr’s move also diminished Tahrir Square’s status as the central voice of the movement. Activists started looking to Haboubi Square in the southern city of Nasiriya for orders. Nasiriya’s protesters have been resilient against infiltration by political parties, partly because of support from local tribes.
In hindsight, said Ali, this weakened the movement.
“Tahrir Square became tainted with al-Sadr supporters,” he said. “At first Nasiriya was listening to us, now we listen to them.”
By February, protesters were marginalized as political bickering over Allawi’s government formation ignored the core demands of the street. Allawi withdrew as prime minister-designate March 1 after failing to secure parliamentary support for his Cabinet.
Back in Tahrir, Ali Jumaili, 22, said all hope was not lost.
“Every day, I sit on the sidewalk with my friends and weep because of the weakening demonstrations,” he said. “The revolution will repeat itself with more vigor in the future.”