Daily Times

Muqtada al-Sadr has been considered since long as a heavyweight in the shaky Iraqi politics. When the firebrand Shiite cleric directed his Mahdi militia to attack US forces in 2004 it posed greatest challenge to the United States after the toppling of Saddam Hussein regime. Now after more than a decade the volatile leader has taken over the entire political arena of the country. Sadr’s power is undeniable, with his grassroots party that expands to working class neighbourhoods across Iraq’s Shia populated cities and its al-Salam Brigades paramilitary force present in every nook and corner. He is the most powerful Shia leader so far in Iraq history. Although the core of Sadr’s support is made up of the poor and jobless, it also includes educated Iraqis who believe in his message of equality and social justice. There is significant popular support for changing Iraq’s stagnant and corrupt political status quo and Sadr knows it very well, and is thus riding this wave very well. Halgurd Nihad Nheli, a political activist from Iraq, said that Sadr has consolidated his strength in and around the capital, and it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the Sadr movement is currently the de facto ruler of Baghdad.

The current movement that has rocked Iraqi politics with the storming of parliament by protestors started with the simple demand of better water and power provisions, but then changed into a call for political reforms, government reshuffling and an effective fight against corruption. The movement was started by artists and then joined by activists. Now it is being led by Muqtada al-Sadr. When protests were in danger of fading, the influential Shiite cleric called in his supporters and took control of the movement. Fuelled by Sadr, the situation escalated dramatically at the end of April. Practically speaking, Iraq still has no effective government. At a time when the soul of the citizenry is boiling with anger over rampant corruption, the war on terror is robbing the country of its last resources. Oil prices are in free fall and seem to be dragging the economy into the abyss along with them. The time seems ripe for demagogues. And it seemed like Iraq could not survive under its present system of governance, which centralises power in Baghdad. The Sadr-inspired siege shows that ultimate authority does not lie with Iraq’s elected officials but with Sadr or any other figure who can mobilise the masses.

In the current national scenario Sadr has emerged as the symbol of Iraqi nationalism and voice of the common man, and not just as a firebrand Shia cleric. For this image makeover Sadr worked very hard. He led several joint prayers for Shia and Sunnis to nip any sedition in the bud, disbanded the Mahdi Army after sectarian bloodletting nine years ago to distance himself from other Shia militias, and he ordered his political bloc in parliament to boycott parliamentary sessions unless MPs stuck to their promise of a new cabinet of independent ministers. After US troops withdrew from Iraq in late 2011, Sadr went into a self-imposed seclusion, even as his supporters ran for parliament and controlled key ministries. Sadr was waiting for his opportunity to play the saviour of Iraq’s Shi’ites. He has developed a model of a cleric who does not hold political office, but influences government in the form of the clergy as loyal opposition. The rationale behind Sadr’s politics of protest is part of his decade-long search for a political model to elevate him among the fray of Iraq’s Shia politicians, partisans and militias. Sadr’s latest political manoeuvring has demonstrated an increasingly hybrid model, which is not solely a religious network, political party, or militia but a combination of these and more.

Sadr today sits at the helm of the power by controlling one of the biggest political blocs in parliament and commanding a powerful militia. He clearly has his own agenda advancing a populist, nationalist cause that benefits his movement and his status in domestic political and social sphere. But for the moment, this entails bringing about positive outcomes for Iraq on the whole. He knows only too well from his personal experience that his best option is to be part of a system in which he himself represents the change. At this point in time Sadr has become a counter-balancing force to provide checks and balances against powerful elites, such as Nouri al-Maliki, who have been ruling undemocratically and unconstitutionally for many years. What matters most about Sadr’s enduring command over loyalty of thousands of Iraqis is the bargaining power it grants him. But his sway over the tides of popular opinion makes him both an asset and a threat to foreign actors interested in maintaining their footholds in Iraq.

The author is a columnist for the Middle East and Af-Pak region and editor of geo-political news agency ViewsAround. He can be reached at manishraiva@gmail.com