What motivated the demonstrations in Iraq?

Demonstrations and protests that erupt in any country are behind the reasons as imposed and generated by the circumstances, and what is happening in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces has its reasons and motives.

The demonstrations did not come from a vacuum or even from recent events, but the accumulations of a decade and a half after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, succeeded by successive governments, thus began the head of the Center for Political Thinking Dr. Ihsan al-Shammari clarified on the main motives of the protests.

Al-Shammari said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the economic factor is advancing the reasons, where the country lives in a decline in the standard of living due to high unemployment and lack of services and the deterioration of infrastructure.

Samir Noah, executive director of the Nerej Investigative Network, said that the economic situation is one of the motives for the demonstrations, with unemployment reaching 30% among young people, and 22% of the population reaching below the poverty line with the loss of a whole generation of job opportunities.

On the other motives, Noah explained that after the elimination of the Islamic State in Iraq there is no excuse left for the government to open prospects for youth, but over time Iraqis were convinced that the opportunities were devoted only to the sons of officials and influential in power, and that there is no solution other than protest to stop the acquisition of public money.

The MP for the Alliance of Iraqi Forces, Abdullah al-Kharbit, went to Shammari and Noah, stressing that the reasons are no doubt purely economic and that the main reason is the expansion of the public sector known for corruption, which led to the absence of employment opportunities, especially for young people.

Politically
The accumulations were not confined to the economic side, Al-Shammari stressed that they are not without remnants of political mistakes, which is the continuation of the quota that generates great administrative corruption, in addition to the lack of actual political participation as there are no new personalities in the political process was like a recycling of faces.

For his part, Noah considered that competition within the Shiite house is a major reason, after the end of the war on the Islamic State "and the control of militants and factions close to Iran, which is building and Fatah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq on the political scene during the past two years, moved some of the Shiite blocs that felt their loss The balance within the Shiite spectrum was a new negative reflection on the political process. "

Not politically motivated
MP Hamid al-Mutlaq ruled out any political reasons behind the recent demonstrations, and attributed them to economic motives demand. He added that "the fairness of the protests from political affiliations so far and the lack of clarity of indicators for politicization from any partisan party is completely free from standing political reasons behind the demonstrations," adding that "what the suppression of young people is political ignorance and mistrust of some blocs to stand enemies behind them." .

Faleh al-Fayyad, the national security adviser and head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, accused the conspirators of trying to sow discord in Iraq, stressing the readiness of the Hashd forces to foil any "conspiracy" against the country's security if requested by the government.

Fayyad told a news conference a few days ago that the government knew exactly who was behind the violence, and stressed that the names of all the conspirators and all information about them will be revealed in a timely manner, vowing to just and deterrent those who wanted evil in Iraq without any room to tolerate them.

Loss of confidence
Al-Shammari says that the imbalance in the equation between the magnitude of the promises of great reform and the complete lack of implementation has disturbed the balance of confidence in the government, especially after a full year has generated shock for many not only the decline of the current economy, but even some aspects of its decline. Citizens distrust the government, the political parties resorted to fraud to fulfill their interests away from the conviction of the people. "

This is the same thing that Noah pointed out, explaining that the reluctance of more than 60% of the citizens of the last parliamentary elections is evidence of the lack of faith in the majority of Iraqis in the political process and the loss of confidence in science and its politicians.

For his part, writer and journalist Ali al-Baidar said that the failure of democracy can be counted as a lie that the government swings by playing to intimidate the current generation of the dictatorship of the former regime is an irreplaceable reason.

Al-Baidar says that the government has forgotten its actions by inciting tens of thousands of innocent people in detention, as well as those held without trial or even without charges, as well as the absentees, which have generated abhorrent sectarianism among the components of the people, triggering a strong reaction that prompted young people to resort to protest to change the situation. After they made sure the malice of the game of democracy.