It is good to see shoe thrower Muntadhir Al-Zaidi back again to support and participate in the demonstrations in Iraq, the demonstrators need a leading figure, as Al-Zaidi himself wrote few weeks ago criticized these demonstration:
The lack of a leadership that unifies the protest movements and the absence of regulation, despite the advance preparations that took place in the Internet …. Those behind their computer’s screen are not on the ground to lead the demonstrations in Tahrir Squa. But, the most dangerous thing which I observed is the alter ego by a large number of participants, which took the demonstrations to different directions.
The last paragraph also mentioned by Iraqi writer Muwafaq Al-Rifai in his article “The emergence of awareness among the Iraqi Youth”:
Iraqi people do not have a culture of protests, as is the case with many of the Arab peoples, also does not even have culture of demonstration … Many young people who participate in these protest are are also engaged in sectarian struggle reproducing as we can call it “sectarian pollution”.
Muhammad Al-Samawi analysis the reasons why Iraqi demonstration lost its momentum in nine points; the government’s heavy hand in dealing with these protests, the sense of despair among the protestors that they are not able to change the reality in Iraq, and the attempts by political powers to hijack the demonstrations.
Maybe the image above taken from a Facebook group “The Iraqi revolution” supports the feeling of disappointment felt by the protestors. An Iraqi complains:
I went to Tahrir Squa. and there were no more than 150 demonstrators, 50 real demonstrators and the rest are from political parties, see the number of the participants in this Facebook group I sense the victory, going there is different … Alas … Iraqi youth can not even reach the same level as the Tunisian and Egyptian youth.
But I missed point “10” in Al-Samawi’s article which is the role of the religious clergies to oppress the demonstrations, a fresh example is this article written by one of the clerics and published on Al-Hayat today, Mohammad Ali Taqi — Imam Shirazi Center for Studies and Research:
It is wrong to compare what is happening in the Arab countries with the situation in Iraq … In Iraq there are cultural and religious institutions working day and night to promote its ideas freely. Arabs are unable to choose their representatives in the parliament, as is happening in Iraq. Arab countries need total authority change, but in Iraq we reforms only, bearing in mind that this issue in Iraq is easier and closer to achieve than in other countries because we in Iraq have a clear social, economical and political picture of the future.
Palestinian writer Niqola Nasr provided evidence supported with data and figures, saying that unemployment and corruption compared to Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries, makes Iraq’s reasons to demonstrate double. The same figures [and worst] reported by Al-Quds Alarabi’s Op-ed “The forgotten revolution”:
Living conditions in Iraq is much worse than many Arab countries, ranked second after Somalia most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International, 30% unemployment, electricity supply down to less than four hours a day, while the health sector in its worst, and the same is said for the education sector as well.
Mushriq Abbas — Iraq affairs analyst Al-Hayat, agrees that Iraqi people want to fix the regime, not to topple it but he pointed out to another reason for the continuation of the protests:
Iraqis don’t need to be reminded of the chaos preceded the war,and ghosts of the sectarian war still haunt their minds … But with a sense of frustration, their is a physical and psychological isolation between the street and the “Green Zone” as one commentator said: Politics and power sharing is made there, in an island called the “Green Zone”.
The ritual of weekly demonstrations will continue regardless the level of participation from one province to another, add to this differences among Iraqi parliament — Iraqi Council of Ministers – political blocs will continue and can fuel the angry protests more and more.
The battle is long has just begun, and Maliki’s government will not bow or fall down easily without trying all the methods and tools of oppression, supporters and critics all agree that in the coming months with the high summer temperatures, Iraqi street will start to boil again.