Will the current round of protests in Iraq lead to real change in the country, asks Salah Hemeid Undeterred by promises, threats and intimidation by the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, thousands of Iraqis attended protests in Baghdad and other cities on Friday to call for democracy, reform and an end to the country's endemic corruption. In Baghdad, authorities imposed automobile bans and deployed large numbers of police bolstered by dozens of armoured vehicles to prevent protesters assembling in the city's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the three-week-old demonstrations. Similar tight security measures were also imposed in Basra, Nasiriyah and other major cities, where demonstrators tried to stage protests to press their demands in what organisers had billed as the "Friday of Dignity" on the social-networking site Facebook. Despite the strong police presence, defiant protesters made their way to the Square, evading checkpoints and police searches and chanting anti- government slogans. "Liar, Liar, Nuri Al-Maliki" and "oil for the people, not for the thieves," they shouted, while carrying banners that read "yes for democracy and the protection of freedom." Iraqi security forces used water cannon and batons to disperse the protesters before they overran the Square, forcing the remaining small group of protesters to leave the site. Planned rallies were also disrupted in several other cities. On Monday, the protesters returned to the Square in what they called a "Day of Regret", in order to mark one year since the parliamentary elections that brought Al-Maliki's government to power. Some protesters had dyed their index fingers red and bit them in anger in order to illustrate the contrast with the purple-stained fingers that smiling Iraqi voters, emerging from polling stations, had waved on voting day last year. They also denounced politicians who had taken more than nine months to form a government and one that has failed to improve living conditions in the country eight years after the US-led invasion that ousted the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. On Friday, Iraqis will demonstrate again in what they call the "Day of Righteousness" in order to press ahead with their demands amid what they see as the government's reluctance to solve deep-seated hardships. Demonstrations have been taking place in Iraq over the past month, with protesters decrying a lack of improvement in their daily lives, including a lack of adequate electricity, clean water, healthcare facilities and jobs in the still war-ravaged country. At least 14 peaceful demonstrators were killed and more than 130 wounded as a result of clashes on 25 February. The rallies have thus far led to the resignations of four top officials, three southern provincial governors and Baghdad's mayor. In response, al-Maliki has pledged to carry out some reforms and given ministers 100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be fired. Al-Maliki has blamed local councils for the lack of adequate services and corruption, indicating that he might call for early elections to replace local councilors. In northern Iraq, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, whose regional administration has also been facing growing protests, called on ministers to implement a 17-point reform plan approved by Kurdistan's parliament. Barzani urged the Kurdish parliament to accelerate arrangements for the provincial elections, and he called on citizens not to resort to violence during expressions of "their natural right" to protest. However, there were also harsh crackdowns, with journalists covering a protest in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra being beaten by security forces. A journalist watch group was also raided by security forces, and a TV and radio station in the Kurdish region were attacked by gunmen. In Baghdad, police ordered the offices of two political parties that had led the demonstrations to be shut down. Officials from the Iraqi Nation Party and the Iraqi Communist Party said that dozens of armed security personnel had come to their offices in Baghdad on Sunday and ordered them to close. Demonstrations against the government's shortcomings have been rising in Iraq as disgruntled Iraqis, inspired by protests around the Arab world, have demanded reforms and the better services to which they have aspired for a long time. Many observers have noted that unlike in other countries in the region where protesters have demanded the ouster of long-ruling autocrats, Iraqi demonstrators have so far not called for the overthrow of the central government and have stressed political and economic demands instead. With protests in Egypt and Tunisia toppling the countries' respective regimes, and protesters in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere in the Arab world taking to the streets or fighting to overthrow the regimes, the question remains why Iraqis are demanding only reforms and better public services. Some observers have even mocked the current "petty uprising" in Iraq, adding that the Iraqis had relied on a US-led invasion to remove former dictator Saddam Hussein from power. Yet, while the cost of the invasion was enormous, politically, economically and in terms of casualties, the truth is that the Iraqis had little other alternative to get rid of Saddam than a US-led invasion. In the uprising in the country that followed the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam's forces killed some 60,000 Iraqis, as the world stood by and watched the killings. Watching the current protests flare up in Iraqi cities, it seems that these demonstrations indicate a new stage in the struggle to rebuild a war- ravaged nation and to move away from the post US-invasion experience that has brought a government that is widely seen as being responsible for the political and economic stalemate. Despite being able to elect their leaders, many Iraqis are still unhappy with a political system that has left leaders with ethnic and sectarian power bases in office and that has thus far failed to restore basic services. The current protests represent exceptional popular engagement in this context, since Iraqis, who had been thought to be entrenched in deep sectarian divides, are now breaking ethnic and religious boundaries and taking things into their own hands in order to reshape their destinies. Instead of sectarianism, there is an extraordinary sense of national unity that can be felt behind the current Iraqi protests and a growing sense that a united opposition can emerge from the Tahrir Square protests that could change the Iraqi political landscape. Pro-democracy, secular, leftist and mainstream nationalists can be imagined coming together in support of a broad reform-targeted agenda that would seek to initiate a popular process to rebuild the war-devastated country. Many of the country's political parties and leaders have tried to ingratiate themselves with the protesters, either by joining them or by extending them their support. Even remnants of Saddam's former ruling Baath Party have been trying to capitalise on the revolutionary fervour and show that they are also on the side of the protesters. While the current Iraqi protests might not be a revolution yet, the protesters seem determined to push forward and to attract supporters from the silent majority and present ideas for alternatives to the status quo. Change in Iraq may remain remote, but it could be profound and far- reaching if it materialised. The incumbent sectarian-based regime may continue to fight the protesters using either the police or military force, but the more the protests continue the more they will create momentum for cumulative political and cultural change. What will be significant about the Iraqi democratic revolution when it happens will be its capacity not only to bring fundamental changes to the ruling elite, but also, and more importantly, to the structure of governance in a country that many have considered to be doomed by sectarian divides.
