Iraqis went through one of their bloodiest weeks recently, with 61 people killed and more than 200 wounded by its third day, after having already gone through the bloodiest Ramadan since April 2003. Last week, attacks against teahouses and football grounds continued in Iraq, both targeting in particular young Iraqis. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the ongoing violence has made many young Iraqis think about emigrating. On International Youth Day of 12 August, UNAMI published a statement that said that the Day would be marked with an urgent call on the government of Iraq to protect and empower young people, as the worsening security situation and limited employment prospects drove them to seek their futures outside the country. “The global theme for International Youth Day in 2013 is migration,” said Gyorgy Busztin, deputy special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for Iraq. “In Iraq, migration is often a symbol of lost hope, fear and desperation.” In a 2009 national youth survey, almost 17 per cent of young Iraqis said they would like to emigrate. Busztin said that recent attacks targeting youth in cafes and football grounds had been likely to increase fears of insecurity for yet another generation. “It is sad that many young Iraqis see a visa to emigrate as their best option for a better life,” he said. He expressed his concerns at the young Iraqis' future. “The young are being pushed out of their homeland because of insecurity and the lack of prospects,” he said. “If this generation flees, who will stay to build the country and to promote the tolerance and dialogue needed to achieve stability? Leaders must galvanise their efforts to reach political accord and create an enabling environment for peace.” Yet, there are many young Iraqis who insist on staying in Iraq and doing their best to restore ordinary life. They see in the actions taken by young Egyptians a model for continuing their efforts, and the young Iraqis have begun their actions by setting up a National Campaign to Cancel Parliamentary Pensions. Every Friday, young Iraqi writers, students and activists gather in Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad to discuss how to restore the values of a country that was turned upside down because of wars, blockades and ongoing violence. The situation in Egypt has also become a subject for discussion among young Iraqis. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has expressed his government's solidarity with the Egyptian people against the backdrop of the current chaos and bloody events in Egypt. A statement by the prime minister's office quoted Al-Maliki as saying that “we strongly support the Egyptian government in applying the law, and we deeply regret the casualties and bloodshed in Egypt.” Regarding the situation in Iraq, Al-Maliki vowed last Wednesday that the security forces would keep up their campaign of mass arrests and the targeting of militant camps to counter Iraq's worst outbreak of violence since 2008. At the same time, the Iraqi parliament asked for security force commanders to be questioned regarding the latest security breakdowns. MP Mohamed Khaledi was quoted as saying that “high-ranking commanders will be questioned, and anyone who refuses will be removed from his post.” “As long as there are political disputes, the violence will continue,” political analyst Ahmed Yehia said, adding that “reducing the disputes will help to control the situation.” While US think tanks have begun warning about another sectarian war in Iraq, Iraqis are insisting that this cannot be allowed to happen. Ibtisam Mahmoud, a young activist, said that “the Iraqis, especially the young, stopped the previous sectarian war with their blood even though it was the war of the politicians and was not their war.” “Iraqis are aware of the agenda behind the sectarian conflicts,” she said. According to Mahmoud, Iraqis used to live together without sectarian feelings, and intermarriage among different sects and ethnicities was once common. “Although it is still ordinary to see mixed marriages, we celebrate such marriages now to show the politicians that the conflicts are their own and that we do not take part in such conflicts.” Some days ago, the Iraqi media reported on a Shia young man who had married a Sunni young woman, both of them from Abu Ghraib, a hot spot west of Baghdad, and university students. Both families said that love was stronger than conflict. While the government is trying to control the situation in the country, young Iraqis have taken it under control through love. “Love is our choice to survive and live our lives as young people,” Mahmoud said, adding that “I hope the politicians will discover the power of love.”
