(October 2019) and the birth of a new actor

Harith Rasmi Al-Hiti

We did not imagine, while we were reading invitations made by people on social media, that an exciting and amazing event that we would witness, an event that we would later consider as a major comma in our contemporary history and that we would date it for our coming days, we will say before and after October, and the reason for our inability to imagine is due to a number of factors, including the despair that It was creeping into our hearts as a result of what we have lived and are living through, and the other reason is that events have passed in successive years without causing a noticeable change, at least among the public. Not to mention the belief of some in the futility of any societal movement in terms of its ability to bring about the change they desire.

On the first of October of the year 2019, hundreds of people gathered in other areas of Baghdad, and later these gatherings spread and included most of the main areas and squares in the capital, followed by the same thing in the central and southern governorates, so that these crowds received excessive government violence, but what is new in October 2019 is The use of live bullets against the protesters, using it after directing the barrels of the rifles at the chests and heads of the demonstrators, the weapon was used this time publicly, directly or indirectly, from an official government weapon, and another whose names differ (unruly, third party, outlaws) the important thing is that it performed its mission and finished the lives of hundreds of protesters.

This time, these crowds stood apart from the previous protest movements, devoid of any political/partisan motive or ideological background. Rather, we do not exaggerate if we say that not even prominent activists, intellectuals, or bloggers stand behind them. They stood up to surprise and astonish everyone, the government and all political movements and activities She was insisting that she was the only one who had the power to move the street, or so she imagined, forgetting that poverty, deprivation, and despair all constituted a sufficient reservoir that was burning in the hearts of people, waiting for a spark to explode, so that those political actors would later manage their position and join in the midst of that movement, which will be held accountable later. Everyone who lags behind and because, since the fall of the dictatorial regime in Iraq, society has been plunged into vortices of secondary conflicts, sectarian at times and national at other times, to find itself after all those bloodbaths that it is living in a reality far removed from that experienced by those political classes that fueled the fire of that Conflicts under the pretext that they represent and defend that component and that nationalism!!

Those crowds stood up to confirm that the issue of class struggle still retains its currentness, which makes it a major actor in societies. Yes, it is not the only motive or engine, but it is an actor that cannot be overlooked, present at decisive and fateful moments, and an unavoidable changer for many of the rules of the game. That thin thread of what is supposed to be a solid rope that connects the system and the social actor, launching with all of this the beginning signal for the end of the old obedience to “symbols” and replacing it with thinking and interest, the beginning of society’s participation as an actor in the public sphere. All this after her conviction and belief that all religious, national and sectarian slogans have ruined the state and society at the same time.

In a country whose economy is one-sided and relies heavily on oil rents, the leaders of the new regime, after 2003, sought to maintain the rents of the economy. They went in this direction not out of ignorance, but rather out of their belief in the ability of these revenues to create armies of supporters who are mobilized every time their influence and status is threatened. In it, not to mention what these “armies” constitute as a voting base that gives these “leaders” their legitimacy in the elections. Thanks to this trend and excessive reliance on oil rents and the distorted relations it created based on loyalty, economic disparities entered a new phase that was not usual in Iraq. This economic disparity appears clear when we notice the huge difference between the highest income and the lowest!!

We can talk about two waves in the 2019 movement, the first that began on the first of October and lasted for days before stopping to start on the twenty-fifth of the same month. Video clips spread of the moments of suppression and sniping of protesters in the squares of Baghdad, and scenes of the blood of some of them that covered the sidewalks. I say, an overwhelming desire was born for a broader participation by people, and this is what happened. The second wave, which may have witnessed participation by groups and sectors that have nothing to do with political affairs or protests Or something else, but what happened made them rush this time under great fear that their fate would be like the fate of these people if they demanded their rights one day.

What happened in the first and second waves, which lasted until the moment of writing this paper, represents the peak/complexity that the situation in Iraq has reached. This complication is the result of an old that is unproductive and unable to do what it must do, and a new one that is trying to be born or to find for itself. A place on the ground, this new one that gave thousands of martyrs, the disabled, and the disappeared.

These protests, which were not created out of a vacuum, nor did superpowers and wills interfere in their manufacture, as some would like to generalize, but rather came as a result of long years that amounted to nearly seventeen years, the protest movement in post-2003 Iraq, which we can date to its beginning since February 2011 As the most prominent movement, it was expressing issues related to the state as a whole and others to freedoms, and it was affected in one way or another by the “Arab Spring” movements that were taking place at the time. He remained present on the scene until he reintroduced himself forcefully again in July 2015. This time too, the slogan of reforming the political system remained the slogan that the protesters agreed upon, in addition to the demand to fight corruption and provide services and job opportunities, but what is new here is the slogan (in the name of religion). Bakuna the thief), which could be considered an eloquent message by the protesters, as they accurately identified the title of the banner under which they were stolen in reference to those who were presenting themselves for leadership as representatives of religious "components" and "sects". This slogan carried with it the society's attempts to reject What they considered an offense to a higher value represented by religion, this wave of protests later resulted in an electoral alliance that included the Iraqi Communist Party and the Sadrist movement under the name of (Sairoon). In it to repair the devastation that was and some of them got involved in it.

Then came the parliamentary elections in May 2018, those elections that constituted, according to my belief, a big leap in the level of awareness among the Iraqi voter, and the campaign to boycott the elections reached its climax this time, as the elections recorded the weakest participation rate in post-2003 Iraq, reaching (44%). This is the language of numbers, which was absent. In the minds of the leaders of the authority or they ignored it, a warning bell sounded for a long time without them noticing it. In the first elections of 2005, the participation rate reached (79%), which is the highest, while these percentages continued to decrease every time, so the 2010 elections recorded a rate of (62%). While the percentage was in the 2014 elections (60%).

The above outcome, despite its simplicity, is able to show the depth of the gulf between the ruling class and its masses. This gulf, which was increasing day by day without the attention of those in charge, is numbers that indicate a loss of trust between the "leaders" and their masses, or between society and its political representatives, and here it was. Protests are one of the most important means of transferring political action to the street, or in other words, it was tantamount to stripping the ruling political elites of the right to own political action after the protesters presented themselves as a powerful player after this was limited for a long time to political parties, parliamentary blocs, and the interventions of international players.

The protest action in Iraq did not stop throughout the previous periods, even if some of the protests were sectoral in nature, carrying the rights and aspirations of different groups and segments of society, yet they gave a clear picture of the lived reality, as before the first of October 2019, many of Baghdad’s squares and streets were witnessing demonstrations Multiple, the demonstrations of doctors, graduates of oil institutes and veterinarians whose tents were with the army contractors and the popular crowd in Tahrir Square were the first witnesses to the bloodshed of the authority in the face of impeachment, not to mention the demonstrations of holders of higher degrees and the accompanying great popular disapproval after the brutal way in which they faced their stand on Cabinet doors.

Not far from this situation was the state of push and pull in which the US policy towards Iran put us and its use of economic blockade and its constant hinting at the military option. The reckoning is between America, the single and strongest pole in the world, and a neighbor that holds in its hand the keys to many areas of strength and influence inside Iraq. This contrasts with another trend that was pushing towards sparing Iraq more calamities if it placed itself in this conflict of axes.

This situation, and what preceded it, the many interventions and pressures exerted by Iran in the Iraqi affairs through many politicians and leaders, and the Iraqi society referred to it a lot, matched by direct and indirect American and regional interventions that prompted a new generation that launched this wave of protests to think about the national identity, which is astute to miss her. A generation of educated young people living in the era of the massive information revolution found itself a victim of a political system that does not keep pace with its ambitions and aspirations. Instead of those in power building the new state on the basis of the unifying national identity, and redistributing wealth fairly, they went towards deepening the divisions on the basis of sub-identities, which developed the clientelistic relationship between those who owe loyalty to this authority and those who have money, to find the majority of those in Society They live outside the circle of distribution of oil rents, after the absence of the least form of social justice.

From this aspect, it is possible to see the depth of this act of protest, and from it we also know the extent of its continuity and the currentness of its causes. The issue of its launch and determining the time for its end will remain valid as long as all the above reasons remain. But time after time, the act of protest grows and its slogans and ceiling of ambitions rise until it reaches its desired goal of (we want a homeland).

This protest movement has achieved a lot so far, and perhaps it is logical that we pay attention to it as long as its activities and events will move the stagnation more, and will work to increase its scope and ranges, and based on the search for national identity, this movement was louder and more effective in advocating for the rights of Iraqis as a whole, it dropped the idea Dividing society into sects and nationalities, each looking for his own interest. Rather, this time there was talk of a homeland and a nation, so to speak, of poor people who are getting poorer and finally able to organize themselves in the protest arena as a large group, if not a majority, if we take into account the unprecedented support that was received. He was protested this time, against rich people who were not satisfied as long as this country had resources that would enable them to increase their wealth. They succeeded, and since 2003, in organizing themselves into continuous alliances, which served the same purpose every time.

Here, the movement was able to achieve the most important thing that it was unable to do previously, which is to increase the cracks and fissures within the ruling class alliance, which has been able to reproduce itself since 2003 with different colors each time while preserving its same essence. These large cracks that almost brought him down in an instant.

In connection with the above camps, this protest/political act witnessed the entry of many groups and segments that were absent from the conflict arena without that absence meaning that they were far from its influence. The unions had a pioneering role in increasing the momentum of the movement and pushing it to extents that no one could have imagined. For decades, no one could have imagined it. We are witnessing what the Teachers Syndicate did, for example, when it challenged the authority and risked announcing a general strike, and thus managed to paralyze the entire educational sector, in addition to what the lawyers, doctors, and others did. Not far from these, some merchants played a major role in perpetuating the momentum of the protest movement by donating all the foodstuffs and medical supplies the squares needed, and this reflects how close the aspirations and hopes of different segments of the protesters were. Not to mention the entry of families this time into the field of protest/political work through their permanent and noticeable presence in the arenas of demonstration and protest, even in the most dangerous places in terms of security, as we saw them on the barricades of Al-Sinak and Al-Jumhuriya bridges, Al-Khilani Square and the Abu Nawas Corniche, in a step that reflects a flagrant and great challenge, and culminated in These families became active when they were able to break the curfew imposed by the authorities more than once in an attempt to isolate the squares and prevent people from joining there.

However, the strangest thing this time, and the most beautiful and most challenging thing, is what the students with the white shirts did. They recorded the most important thing that can be counted for the protest movement this time. After announcing a gathering for them before setting off there, similar to those great movements that the students used to lead decades ago, moments that remind us of what we had read about their great struggles when they stood up, with their white shirts also, in defiance of "Great" Britain and the government of Saleh Jabr, and managed to overthrow an unjust treaty they were They rejected it. And bring down with it the government that agreed to put Iraq in that humiliating position. Not to mention the prominent role played by the Iraqi woman this time, after her presence was not commensurate with her position in the previous protests, but she recorded a large presence since the first day of October. The resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi on November 29, 2019 demonstrated one of the successes of this movement and its peaceful method, as it confirmed that the peaceful option is capable of To achieve a lot, it is not the path of the weak, but rather an option adopted by the strongest as long as I believe in the rightness of his slogans and the patriotism of his goals and their loftiness.

And in connection with the above, it is possible that this latest wave of protests could lead to the establishment of a large social movement, which may last for a long time, as long as the factors and causes of its launch remain without real treatments, a protest movement that takes it upon itself to work on raising its problems and issues directly without the need for mediation. Politicians at the present time, at least, as a result of the lack of confidence of a large number, if not the majority of society, towards its political representatives on the one hand, and the growth of the active self on the other hand. To be ourselves, these regimes and authorities that work to transform us into a constituent of their political system and their authority that holds everyone’s activity and purposes), this active self whose presence we can sense in its volunteering to serve the very image that seems to it the justification for its existence and its hope. It can be considered a new social movement as long as it does not start from the principle of changing conditions and economic relations only, but goes to defend the freedom and responsibility of every individual, alone or in a group, against an existing system that decides what is normal or anomalous, permissible or forbidden according to Turin as well.

A social movement seemed very clear this time. If we go to Charles Tilly's definition of social movements, we will see that one of the most important conditions for its definition has been applied to the Iraqi case, as it expresses (comprehensive organizations composed of diverse groups of interests that include important classes if they are formed) and it is very clear that the Wide sectors and multiple groups of society in the recent movement, associations, parties, trade unions and federations that represented the entire Iraqi spectrum, driven by one concern and a general sense of injustice and injustice based on the common awareness of the absence of democracy in a specific political situation and at a specific time. This is the second point in the following definition.

 This wave will succeed in establishing a social movement whenever it succeeds in bringing people of different identities together in common positions for a goal or set of common goals that affect the daily lives of citizens, and it maintains various forms of objection that uses tools devised by protesters to express rejection or resist the pressures on them. It will succeed in turning into a social movement if four elements are present in its composition:

1. The act of objection (protest).

2. The objector (societal group or organization....etc.)

3. The objectionable object (a community group or an existing authority)

4. The subject of the objection (social, political, cultural)

* Protest movements in the Arab world (a study in the variables of stability and instability of political systems) a group of authors, issued by the Arab Center for Strategic, Political and Economic Studies in Germany, 2019