In Facing Protests, Iraq's Democracy Looks More Authoritarian

By: Ali Rawaf

Iraqi Forces surrounding Tahrir Square, where Iraqis protested poor services and high unemployment

Iraq, a democracy where elections were almost free and fair, didn’t treat its protestors any better than the rest of the authoritarian regimes in the region. The government took quick and violent actions to prevent Iraq’s protests from gaining momentum.

Since the inception of the protests, Maliki branded the activists who organized the protests as Baathists and member of al-Qaeda who were looking for opportunities to bring down the Iraqi government, despite repeated declarations that the protests were aimed at improving basic services and unemployment, not at removing the current government. This move, previously employed against political opponents, discouraged many people from voicing their discontent in the protests.  Another fear-mongering announcement from Maliki’s office was humorous. In it, Maliki predicted that terrorists dressed in police uniforms will beat the protestors so people should be cautious.

On the eve of the protest, a curfew was imposed by the Prime Minister’s office (The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces) until further notice. On the day of the protests, many of Iraq’s Sunni provinces had imposed curfews. Despite the curfew, people marched down the streets and expressed their anger with the current status of services and employment.

Freedom of the press, a constitutional right, was violated as well. Iraqi and foreign TV networks weren’t allowed to cover the protests live, therefore, people wouldn’t be encouraged to come join the protests after watching them on TV.

Journalists who were on the grounds of the protests were beaten, humiliated, and imprisoned by the Iraqi Army and police forces. Journalists, who were freed later, said they had seen leaders of civil society groups, actors, activists, and local civilians imprisoned and beaten by the Iraqi forces.

The protestors themselves were hosed with water cannons, beaten, and imprisoned.

The central government and Parliament found a way of diverting the blame onto local governments instead of taking responsibility for the shortcomings in their performance for the past years. Governors of two provinces had resigned and a few other governors are expected to do the same soon.  

To appease the protestors, Maliki and the parliament, cut their salaries by 20%, though originally intended to cut 50%. They also promised to give more food aid for the poor, place a halt on a newly approved import tax, and to improve basic services within a 100 days. Critics are skeptical  that such promises will be fulfilled.

If I could draw one main theme of the protests, it would be regret. Iraqis risked their lives on March 7^th 2010 to vote for a new government. A year later, that government hasn’t been formed completely, with key ministries such as the Interior and Defense still vacant. The very little faith Iraqis had that the past election cycle was going to bring about change, has been lost. The picture shows an Iraqi biting his index finger, a gesture of regret in Iraqi culture. His finger is still painted purple with voting ink.

Al-Arabiyah: An ocean of woven lies

Al-Arabiyah is one of the most heard and referred-to sources of media in the Middle East, if not in the world. It has proved to acquire such a position not because of its uniqueness, but because it has always acted as " The Tabloid" of politics in that field, bringing upon stories never heard of in the Middle East and acquiring data not available to other channels. that might show how excellent this channel is, but as I have followed its news since it was aired in Baghdad after the 2003 war, it has done more than just "telling stories".

My journey of investigating this channels credibility has started since 2004, when it played a very dirty role in agitating the so-called "civil war" in Iraq between Sunnis and Shiites. It used to bring uneducated, naive extremists of both sides and have them argue vigorously live on air. It used to tell stories of after-the-war Iraq not on an impartial basis, but by making up reasons behind such events and attributing the incident to its unreliable causes.

One supporting example is that as explosions were happening all over Iraq, especially in Baghdad, Al-Arabiyah used to report them as being done by certain terrorist groups that no other channel has ever heard of, Not even the BBC or Al-Iraqia, which is the official local Iraqi Media Network. How did this channel come to know that this group of people were behind this act? How did they get to make sure that it was "Shittes" who have blown a "Sunni" neighborhood, or vice versa?

Moreover, it was only Al-Arabiyah that received recorded tapes of Saddam during the period of time between the entry of the Coalition Forces to Baghdad and his arrest. No other channel received such tapes. They also showed tapes of certain militias announcing their plans of destruction in Iraq or even people showing their disgust of the new Iraqi government. All that they said was " an unknown source has dropped off this tape or picture ..etc . at the Al-Arabiyah headquarters in Doha, Qatar." Why is it always Al-Arabiyah that gets these sorts of tapes and recordings?

After closing its offices in Iraq so many times due to its involvement in stimulating conflicts in Iraq, this channel persists to broadcast stories of a negative impact about Iraqis that has never ever been told in the Iraqi streets whatsoever. Al-Arabiyah didn't just start the fuss of homosexuals abuse in Iraq, but it stated that Homosexuality is a fast-growing phenomenon of the New Iraq and that it is the American-brought democracy that was behind it.

A few days later, they showed another report about Dog-eaters in Iraq. I have lived in Iraq for 19 years and I have never heard of such an issue in our society. All the religions and traditions of Iraqi society don't approve or recommend the consumption of such meat. In fact, many poor families in Iraq suffer from anemia and other diseases due to nonavailability of eaten-meat. Had they been used to eating dogs, you wouldn't find so many dogs on the loose! or they wouldn't have even suffered from such diseases!

The Obama speech to the Arab World has been welcome by almost all leaders and middle-easterns. Today, Al-Arabiyah features an article about how Obama's speech increases the tension between America and the Muslim World, which is quite the opposite of what was deducted from his speech.

In conclusion, this media network is definitely not trustworthy based on all the evidence that I mentioned earlier in this article. It has to have ties to specific people that fund its hatred-filled news. I know for sure that Al-Arabiyah can never be a trustworthy reference, and this is just one truth that has to be revealed.

By: Fadi Al-Asadi