Suddenly, the Iraqi protests or what was called the "October Revolution" did not return to that spark and enthusiasm that erupted in early October 2019 in the capital Baghdad and the central and southern governorates of the country as a reaction to anger at the deteriorating situation and the decline in the level of services and the spread of corruption in all sectors with the expansion of a patch Youth unemployment.
Questions were raised about the protests entering the stage of coma or immobility with the almost complete absence of periodic statements that were issued in response to the various events and situations from Tahrir Square in Baghdad after the formation of the new government headed by Mustafa Al-Kazemi.
Who bought the demonstrations?
Among the questions raised: Why did the protesters fast? Where are the data that were issued from the protest squares? Are the demonstrations actually sold? Or what? If so, who sold it? Who bought it?
The protesters demanded from the start that the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi be toppled, the formation of a temporary one, and the holding of early elections, as well as condemnation of foreign interventions, including Iran.
Hundreds of people were killed and thousands wounded, and hundreds were arrested during clashes between Iraqi forces and protesters using light and medium weapons, including sniping and live bullets. These protests were described as the bloodiest since 2003.
As a result, Abdul-Mahdi was forced to resign last November 30, in response to the request of Shiite religious leader Ali al-Sistani, as a prelude to new elections to calm the situation in the country.
Where is the tuk tuk?
The protests were accompanied by various local and foreign media outlets broadcasting programs that supported the demands of the demonstrators, but these voices suddenly disappeared after the formation of the Al-Kazemi government and became in recession, and the enthusiastic presence of the Tok Tok and motorcycles no longer disappeared with the disappearance of dozens of pages on Facebook, Twitter, websites, and TV programs that were supporting this revolution .
The conditions that Iraq has gone through in recent months, including the outbreak of the Corona virus, have pushed the demonstrations to another direction, and voices from camps in the demonstration arenas have been described as mercenaries - who are supported by political parties and parties backed by regional states driven by political parties - more influential and more than voices Independent protesters who went out for Iraq only.
What most independent protesters regret is the fall of thousands between one dead and wounded, along with hundreds of detainees and the disappeared, considering that the protests were sold by "weak souls" who were most concerned with personal gains away from the interest of the homeland, according to the prominent activist in Tahrir Square in Diyar Al-Rubaie.
The public split,
and the October revolution was not against Abdul-Mahdi as a person, says al-Rubaie, adding that it was against the entire current political process, and seeks to change the prevailing political system in the country, government, parliament, election law, and the "salaries of Rafhawi" (who are opponents under the late President Saddam Hussein) Unfortunately, however, the demonstrations achieved only 40% of their demands due to the mercenaries present in them.
What led to the weakness of the "October Revolution" was the division of its audiences into parties, nationalities and sects, and this was reflected negatively on its severity.
In his response to a question by Al-Jazeera Net about the mystery of stopping calls to detect and hold accountable the killers of the demonstrators, the researcher and political analyst Hussein Al-Rikabi says that the demonstrations came out with the support of political leaders, with tents in the squares managing the demonstrations belonging to political parties.
And the coordination of these political parties, according to al-Rikabi, got the green light from their financiers to withdraw from the sit-in squares, especially those in some regional and neighboring countries.
The Iraqi researcher attributed the reasons for the decline in calls against the government on the ground and on social media to the sale of demonstrations by parties that he said are now sitting in the palaces of political leaders and receiving salaries and imaginary funds to thwart the protests.
The return of the demonstrations,
according to al-Rikabi, because with these contradictions and suspicions, it cannot be said that Al-Kazemi meets the aspirations of the demonstrators, not even the Iraqi people in general, suggesting that he be given 6 months or more to monitor the performance of his government and his ability if he was able to lead the state and its institutions and fight corruption and its many heads. Terrorism.
In the event that Al-Kazemi weakens, like his predecessors, the protests will return strongly, as is the case with the provinces of Nasiriyah and Wasit and other areas where the demonstrations returned to these days due to poor services - including electricity - in the absence of the true vision of fighting corruption and holding his heads accountable.
The period of silence,
and the new government - which came up with the slogan of meeting the demands of the demonstrators and trying the killers while it did not lift a finger on these files - hit a large number of uprisings with "letdown", but nevertheless, the demonstrations are still continuing and for different goals.
The protests have retracted from major demands that concern the future of the country such as amending the constitution, dismissing local governments, prosecuting the corrupt, and providing job opportunities to partial sub-demands such as the dismissal of a general manager here or there, which only gives localization to them, and this amounts to a gradual elimination of the demonstrations and cutting communication between its links in The different provinces that were similar to the demands, according to investigative journalist Muntazir Nasser.
Nasser believes that the protests have entered a period of temporary silence, but it is likely that they will return back stronger than before if the protesters feel after months that their demands have been forged forever.
The brutal and bloody repression of the most prominent activists and actors in this movement - whether with kidnappings, assassinations or intimidation - played a role in entering the demonstrations as a period of temporary silence, as Nasser sees.
In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, the Iraqi journalist criticized the counter-media campaign that many partisan media practiced in ways that were not related to professional media, and the unethical practices that were practiced by criminals belonging to parties and groups outside the law to distort the image of the real uprisings, and the political agenda that was behind part From this movement, some of them are still frozen, while others are activated for specific political ends.