Revolver
11th August 2014, 18:50
I have been doing a little bit of reading on the ISIS/IS situation and trying to determine what revolutionary factions are on the ground in Iraq and Syria, and if they have need of or desire for any American-based support. Interestingly, I came across this article (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/22/an-iraqi-group-helping-women-and-gays-is-receiving-death-threats.html):
"An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats"
By Jacob Siegel, The Daily Beast
At a park near the still vibrant heart of Baghdad’s literary and intellectual communities, Haidar relaxes with a group of communists who know that he is gay but don’t care. Those in the small group are some of the only people who know his secret.
“I always have to hide,” said Haidar. “It feels like I live in a prison.”
Haidar said he could never love openly and that he did not have a boyfriend. Then he laughed and made a “who knows” face as he nodded toward one of the men discussing how to bring Marxism to power in Iraq. “Yes, he is my boyfriend. Not all the time, but I love him.”
Obviously we do not know much from this article; everything has been anonymized for obvious reasons. There is even a chance that it could be fabricated, but it is consistent with the recent emergence of secular groups (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/iraq-atheism-spread-rights-recognition.html#) who are looking for alternatives to sectarianism and religious extremism (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/iraq-religious-identity-conflict-extremists-secular.html#):
Secular movements have become an unprotected minority that are threatened by all other religious groups. Despite the sharp differences among these religious groups, they share hostility toward secular movements. This has led to three types of reactions among secularists. The first is an inclination toward irreligion and anti-religion. The second reaction is to resort to religion in a way that might contrive a humanitarian religious model that coexists with secularism, while the third reaction uses jokes and irony to criticize religious extremism (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/articles/opinion/2013/06/shiite-cleric-hussein-sadr-interview-iraq.html).
The first reaction is evident through an increased demand in various parts of Iraq for books that deal with irreligion. When visiting Mutanabi Street (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/09/historic-baghdad-book-market-ransacked-by-iraqi-police.html), the historic center of Baghdad’s bookselling trade, one might notice that books on the various trends criticizing religions — such as communism, atheism, existentialism and others — see high sales figures, especially among the younger generation. This generation thirsts for an alternative to the tragic life they live, in a country with no discernable present or future. The strangest manifestation is the formation of youth groups keeping up with the latest books and trends criticizing religion in the various cities of Iraq, and even in conservative regions and sometimes radical regions, such as Anbar.
Anbar has seen the formation of an underground group (http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/81435/أنباريون-يعتنقون-الفكر-اللا-ديني-ويعتبرو/ar) that secretly trades books on atheism among its members for fear of oppression by their families and radical religious groups. There are also several Facebook pages criticizing religiosity and disseminating principles of atheism and irreligion. The most famous pages are Iraq's Atheists (https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D 9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%8A%D 9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%8A%D 9%86/489136734474524?id=489136734474524&sk=info) and The Concerned Reader (https://www.facebook.com/Delving42). The latter publishes the philosophical work of leading atheists such as Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins.
This is of course not much to go on, but we know that there is a revolutionary current among the Kurds (http://roarmag.org/2014/07/kurdistan-rojova-syria-autonomy/) and there is also one present in Syria. The question becomes what, if anything, can be done to help foster that over here? And how? It is something that I am giving much thought to these days.
"An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats"
By Jacob Siegel, The Daily Beast
At a park near the still vibrant heart of Baghdad’s literary and intellectual communities, Haidar relaxes with a group of communists who know that he is gay but don’t care. Those in the small group are some of the only people who know his secret.
“I always have to hide,” said Haidar. “It feels like I live in a prison.”
Haidar said he could never love openly and that he did not have a boyfriend. Then he laughed and made a “who knows” face as he nodded toward one of the men discussing how to bring Marxism to power in Iraq. “Yes, he is my boyfriend. Not all the time, but I love him.”
Obviously we do not know much from this article; everything has been anonymized for obvious reasons. There is even a chance that it could be fabricated, but it is consistent with the recent emergence of secular groups (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/iraq-atheism-spread-rights-recognition.html#) who are looking for alternatives to sectarianism and religious extremism (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/iraq-religious-identity-conflict-extremists-secular.html#):
Secular movements have become an unprotected minority that are threatened by all other religious groups. Despite the sharp differences among these religious groups, they share hostility toward secular movements. This has led to three types of reactions among secularists. The first is an inclination toward irreligion and anti-religion. The second reaction is to resort to religion in a way that might contrive a humanitarian religious model that coexists with secularism, while the third reaction uses jokes and irony to criticize religious extremism (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/articles/opinion/2013/06/shiite-cleric-hussein-sadr-interview-iraq.html).
The first reaction is evident through an increased demand in various parts of Iraq for books that deal with irreligion. When visiting Mutanabi Street (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/09/historic-baghdad-book-market-ransacked-by-iraqi-police.html), the historic center of Baghdad’s bookselling trade, one might notice that books on the various trends criticizing religions — such as communism, atheism, existentialism and others — see high sales figures, especially among the younger generation. This generation thirsts for an alternative to the tragic life they live, in a country with no discernable present or future. The strangest manifestation is the formation of youth groups keeping up with the latest books and trends criticizing religion in the various cities of Iraq, and even in conservative regions and sometimes radical regions, such as Anbar.
Anbar has seen the formation of an underground group (http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/81435/أنباريون-يعتنقون-الفكر-اللا-ديني-ويعتبرو/ar) that secretly trades books on atheism among its members for fear of oppression by their families and radical religious groups. There are also several Facebook pages criticizing religiosity and disseminating principles of atheism and irreligion. The most famous pages are Iraq's Atheists (https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D 9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%8A%D 9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%8A%D 9%86/489136734474524?id=489136734474524&sk=info) and The Concerned Reader (https://www.facebook.com/Delving42). The latter publishes the philosophical work of leading atheists such as Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins.
This is of course not much to go on, but we know that there is a revolutionary current among the Kurds (http://roarmag.org/2014/07/kurdistan-rojova-syria-autonomy/) and there is also one present in Syria. The question becomes what, if anything, can be done to help foster that over here? And how? It is something that I am giving much thought to these days.