Daily Times

A year after Iraqi youths launched mass anti-government protests, elder veterans of past “revolutions” have praise for the idealistic activists but also words of caution born from tough experience.

Jamil Mozzan, 76, sitting in a Baghdad cafe, has watched with a wary eye as young Iraqis have looked ahead to the first anniversary Sunday of the start of the 2019 “October revolution”.

Like many other elderly Iraqi men, he likes to debate the country’s turbulent past and present over cups of tea and water pipes in the capital’s storied Al-Mutanabbi street, lined with cafes and book shops.

“I have experienced many revolutions in my time,” said Mozzan, reflecting on past revolts, coups d’etat and uprisings against former dictator Saddam Hussein.

“But I became disillusioned with the idea of change,” sighed the civil engineer whose country is still struggling to emerge from years of war, insurgency and societal chaos.

Iraq last year saw the biggest protest movement since the fall of Saddam in a 2003 US-led invasion, with Baghdad’s iconic Tahrir Square as its epicentre.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets demanding the ouster of Iraq’s entire political elite, whom they accused of ineptitude, corruption and being beholden to neighbouring Iran.

Around 600 protesters were killed and thousands wounded in months of street clashes before the movement lost momentum, then ground to halt amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The protests helped bring in new leaders, but they are yet to deliver major reforms for the youthful country where, the World Bank says, one in three young people is unemployed.

‘A generation will rise’

Mozzan recounted how he went down to the protests “to see what could be different this time.

“I couldn’t shout slogans at the top of my lungs because, you know, I’m an old man,” he told AFP.

“But I was completely sympathetic with the youth.”

Academic Khayal al-Jawahiri, the daughter of a famed Iraqi poet, recounted how when she went to Tahrir Square, she was deeply moved to see young protesters hoist a placard bearing her father’s verses.

“A generation will rise from the depths of despair … seekers of righteousness, mighty and determined,” read one of the lines by her father Mohamed al-Jawahiri, who grew up during Iraq’s anti-colonial struggle.

“His poetry explained the suffering of Iraqis,” said his daughter, pointing out how it resonates with today’s young people who have come of age in another turbulent era.

“This is a generation of youth that is politically conscious, that did not experience previous uprisings but was moulded by the tough living conditions under leaders unwilling to let go of their power.”