This post features my translation of a very interesting article written in 2010 by Faris Kamal Nadhmi. Nadhmi is a major intellectual leftist figure in Iraq and social psychologist, working out of the University of Baghdad and affiliated with many academic, union, and activist associations. The article lays out […]
1001 Iraqi Thoughts have picked up my article on Montadhar Naser, which can be read here.
Update: 23rd August 2016 Montadhar Naser was yesterday acquitted by an Iraqi court and charges against him of defamation were dropped. In a victory for press and freedom of expression campaigners, the judge in the case declared there was insufficient evidence to uphold the charges which many regarded […]
The Sadrists’ 30 day hiatus from participation in the protests for reform continues (details of this can be found in an earlier post). One reason Muqtada al-Sadr gave for the 30 day withdrawal was to allow space for other groups to participate in the movement, and especially those […]
On the 30th of July a conference was held in Baghdad, facilitated by the Iraqi Communist Party, and attended by around 600 young civil society activists (al-shabaab al-madani) from the city (quite an impressive turnout). The conference was interesting in that it sheds light on the role of […]
Analyses, in both Western and Arab discourses, of Iraq’s ongoing protests against corruption and ‘sectarian quotas’ tend to be inflected with an elite-sectarian framework. This framework foregrounds sect-based identities and their manipulation by elite actors and institutions in its explanations of these mobilisations. Consequently, political protest in Iraq […]
Last Saturday (July 30th, 2016) Muqtada al-Sadr released a statement in which he announced that the Sadrist trend would not participate, for a period of 30 days, in ongoing protests against corruption in Baghdad’s Tahrir square. In his statement Sadr said that: ‘There are those who do not […]
An expanded version of a recent post has been put up on 1001 Iraqi Thoughts. “Iraqi activists are currently fighting against a draft law, the ‘Law of Freedom of Expression, Gathering, and Peaceful Protest’, which contains a number of amendments which seek to severely restrict basic civil liberties. […]
Iraqi activists are currently fighting against a draft law, the ‘Law of Freedom of Expression, Gathering, and Peaceful Protest’, which contains a number of amendments which seek to severely restrict basic civil liberties. Activists from across the civil trend spectrum, including Madaniyoun, Mustamerroun, journalists, and students have engaged […]
Below is a translation of a statement delivered at the launch of a new group in Iraq’s civil trend called Madaniyoun (2nd July 2016). One clear purpose of the statement is to distinguish Madiniyoun from the existing leadership of Iraq’s protest movement which centres on Mustamerroun and the ‘Higher […]
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IRAQ: AFTER OCCUPATION 