Since 1 October, Iraq has been shaken by an unprecedented wave of demonstrations. The protesters decry a political system out of breath and corrupt. While the country is one of the richest oil in the world, one in five lives below the poverty line and 410 billion euros have been diverted over the last 16 years, twice the GDP. Protesters also denounce the stranglehold of Iran, who took the lead against the United States. Decryption with Adel Bakawan, director of the Center for Sociology of Iraq (CSI) at Soran University.
France 24: Protesters set fire to the Iranian consulate in Najaf on Wednesday night. Why such resentment towards the Iranian neighbor?
Adel Bakawan: Since 2003, Iran has projects in the economic, social and cultural fields in Iraq. Tehran does not just want economic domination in Iraq, it wants total domination over Iraqi society. Iraq is the red line for Iran, it is a question of national security.
Who are the protesters?
There are three major players, which represent heterogeneous entities.
- The "bulldozer" generation, which ranges from 14 to 23 years old and only controls destruction. They have no leaders, no program, no ideology and they organize themselves on social networks, especially on Facebook. They did not know the Baathist regime, the dictatorship or the wars. They knew only one Iraq crossed by the "militicization" and the systematization of the corruption.
- The "Lenin" without party: it is journalists, professors, intellectual elites from civil society who are engaged but without social base. They try to turn protest into social movement.
- The opposition: crossed by two actors, the Sadrists and the old Baathists.
What is the stratégie of power?
The brutal repression.
What outcome can we imagine?
If the protesters merge into a single movement that wants to bring down power, we are at a dead end because political elites will never leave without going through civil war. If this turns into a social movement and we present a program, there will be an exit.