Fresh Protests Hit Iraqi Cities

[Delirium]

Reports of deaths as thousands turn out to demand better service delivery and jobs from government.
February 18, 2011

Violent protests have taken place at various locations in Iraq, with anti-government protesters rallying against corruption, poor basic services and high unemployment.

In Basra, the country's second largest city, about 1,000 people rallied on Friday, demanding better service delivery from the government, jobs and improved pensions.

They called for the provincial governor to resign, and blocked a bridge for an hour. Protesters shouted slogans saying that while Friday's protests would be peaceful, ones held in the future may not be.
"We're living in miserable conditions, no electricity, dirty, muddy streets. We have to make changes. We should not be silent," said Qais Jabbar, one of the protesters.

"I have filed my papers with the provincial council but have gotten no job until now," said Hussein Abdel, an unemployed 25-year-old. "There is corruption in Basra - they have to start taking care of this city and must stop making fake promises."
Protests in Kurdish region

Protests were also held in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which generally enjoys more economic prosperity than other parts of the country.

A Kurdish regional opposition party's offices were attacked by looters, officials said on Friday.
Seven offices of the Goran party in the northern Kurdish provinces of Arbil and Dohuk were attacked, in what officials say was a response to an attack on the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) offices in Sulaimaniyah a day earlier. Two people were killed in that protest, after security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

Iraqi and Kurdish leaders have pledged to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice. They have also attempted to head off the protests by slashing the salaries of ministers and MPs and diverting cash earmarked for the purchase of fighter jets to buy food for the needy.

On Thursday, one person was killed during protests in the southern city of Kut. Forty-seven others were injured in the protests, prompting New York-based Human Rights Watch to call for an "independent and transparent investigation".
Protests were also held on Friday in the southern city of Nasiriyah and elsewhere in the country.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said on Thursday that peaceful protests were the right of all Iraqis, but warned that those inciting violence would be brought to justice.
"I welcome those who demonstrate peacefully for their legitimate rights, but I am not in favour of those who exploit those claims to incite riots," he told reporters in Baghdad.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011218104510878522.html

[CynicalIdealist]

Oh SHIT.

[Os Cangaceiros]

USA: Isn't it great that these brave, pro-democracy people are revolting against corrupt regimes?

....oh wait. :bored:

[Delirium]

They have already had peaceful protests, riots, and violent insurrection without the iraqi government caring. I'm not sure what this extra little bit of pressure is going to do.

and i feel disempowered...

[Crux]

Iraq

“Down with Barzani – Game over!”

www.socialistworld.net, 19/02/2011
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI
Protests in Iraqi-Kurdistan and across Sunni and Shia areas
Abbas Sdiq, CWI Sweden
http://www.socialistworld.net/img/20110221Grafik5375682007957958617.jpg
The revolutionary volcano in the Middle East reached Iraq, this week. The largest protests took place in Iraqi Kurdistan. Around 2,000 people marched to headquarters of the ruling party, the KDP, in Sulaymaniyah. Two protesters were killed when stone-throwing youth were shot at by security forces.
The widespread discontent against poverty and unemployment in the "peaceful" Kurdish region in northern Iraq intensified after widespread electoral fraud during elections on 25 July 2009. A new movement, Gorran (‘Change’), was formed by a former deputy leader of the PUK. The new party took 25 seats and, for the first time, there is some form of opposition in the regional parliament.
The KDP and PUK have shared power in Iraqi Kurdistan since the civil war between the two parties in the mid-1990s. The KDP is led by the region’s President, Massoud Barzani, and the PUK is lead by the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani. Both are allies of US imperialism.
Now the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt have reached Iraq and Kurdistan. Protesters in Sulaymaniyah carried photos of Mubarak and shouted, "Down with Barzani - Game over - 20 years is enough!” Some protesters carried bread to show their anger at price increases. Most participants were young.


The local regime responded with harsh repression. Two protesters were killed and 43 were reported to have needed hospital care. In two other cities, Gorran offices were burnt down by KDP-mobs. Faced with a new demonstration in Sulaymaniyah on Friday 18 February, the KDP mobilized 3,000 armed fighters to prevent people from gathering. All traffic was stopped. Barzani attacked Thursday’s protesters as “criminals”.
There were also demonstrations in other cities in the north on Thursday, for example, the in Kurdish capital of Irbil and in Kirkuk.
Growing protests throughout Iraq

In the rest of Iraq, there are also growing protests in both Sunni and Shia-dominated areas. Around 6,000 people joined a Facebook group called ‘Iraq revolution’. In Fallujah, west Baghdad, 1,000 people marched with slogans against corruption. In Kut, in the south east, three demonstrators were killed on Wednesday during a protest against the ruling governor. Demonstrations continued in Kut on Thursday, when 1,000 people demanded that those arrested by the police should be released. Smaller demonstrations have also taken place in Basra and Nasriyah.
The revolutionary example of Egypt shows show a way forward for the masses in the region. In Iraq it provides an opportunity to overcome religious, ethnic and clan-based divisions and conflicts. The Iraqi government is afraid of mass protests. It is trying to scare people from taking to the streets by warning that the demonstrations could be exposed to terrorist bomb attacks.



But the protests show that the Kurds are far from being firm supporters of Barzani and Talabani, just as the Sunni and Shite politicians do not represent the class interests of the mass of Iraqis. A united workers’ and youth movement in Kurdistan and Iraq, in opposition to both the national, sectarian based and pro-market politicians and the imperialist occupiers, is the only way to start the process of changing society and ending conflict, poverty and joblessness. The last few days of mass protests mark the first steps towards the goal of building workers’ unity and creating mass organizations of the working masses and poor.