Baghdad, Iraq
Two rival Shi’ite Muslim blocs are waging competing droughts in Baghdad, raising tensions in conflict-weary Iraq, but shopkeeper Mustafa says he is more concerned about how he will make a living.
“We don’t have a job,” said the man in his 40s as a lone fan pumped hot summer air around his clothing store.
Both camps are “defending their personal interests,” he said, declining to provide his last name due to security concerns.
Political deadlock has left Iraq without a new government, president or prime minister after general elections 10 months ago.
Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr carry portraits of him as they gather in the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq’s Dhi Qar province in August. 12, 2022, to protest the nomination of a rival Shiite faction for the post of prime minister.
Rival Shia blocs
Supporters of fiery cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who once led an anti-US militia and has millions of devoted followers, stormed Iraq’s parliament late last month and began a sit-in, first in inside the building and then on its grounds.
They were angered after their Shia rivals, the pro-Iranian Coordination Framework, nominated a candidate they considered unacceptable for prime minister. The Sadrists are now calling for early elections.
The Framework brings together the party of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Hashed al-Shaabi, a former pro-Iranian paramilitary network now integrated into the security forces.
The alliance says it wants a new government as soon as possible, and its supporters on Friday began their own sit-in to press for that demand.
Supporters of the framework have set up tents on a road leading to the Green Zone, which houses government and diplomatic buildings, including parliament.
Iraqi vendors wait for customers in the capital Baghdad, on August 13, 2022.
Business slows down
Mustafa, whose shop is about 5 kilometers from the area, says his customers have stopped coming.
Both camps began protesting “and economic activity took a hit,” he said, his 8-year-old son sitting by his side.
“Since 2003, no politician has governed the country properly,” Mustafa said, referring to the year of the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict and endemic corruption.
It is plagued by ailing infrastructure, power outages and crumbling public services, and now faces water shortages as drought ravages parts of the country.
Despite its oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty and around 35% of its youth are unemployed, according to the UN.
The al-Sadr camp says it wants to fight corruption and bring change.
The Coordination Framework says it wants a government that can offer solutions to everyday problems like the electricity and water crisis.
“I have voted twice in my life,” Mustafa said. “Both times, I regretted it”.
Members of the security forces pose for photos as supporters of Iraq’s pro-Iran Coordination Framework set up tents on a bridge leading to the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, on August 13, 2022.
“own interests”
Some Iraqis were shocked after al-Sadr’s supporters managed to storm Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, facing tear gas but little serious opposition from security forces.
An anti-government protest movement that erupted in late 2019 was met with a deadly security crackdown.
“We didn’t even manage to cross the bridge leading to the Green Zone,” said communist activist Ali Jaber, 50, recalling the 2019 protests.
“It took eight minutes,” the official said of the Sadrists, alleging “indulgence” on the part of the security forces.
He dismissed the demands of both the Sadrists and their rivals.
“It is not a struggle to build a state, it is the ultimate political conflict in the name of its own interests,” he said. “They are in another world.”
“Intra-Elite Struggle”
Analyst Lahib Higel of the International Crisis Group said the demonstrations were “less a popular revolution than an intra-elite struggle, mainly pitting Sadr and his political supporters against Maliki and his”.
The clash has “once again exposed the fragility of Iraq’s post-2003 political system,” he said.
“While the oligarchic elites have come together after each previous election to divide up shares of the government pie, it seems they can no longer do so,” he said.
Ahmed, 23, said he was a supporter of al-Sadr but did not follow politics much.
“It makes you nervous,” said the law student, who also declined to give his last name due to security concerns.
He works in a phone shop with his brother and said daily life was difficult.
“Today, without electricity, we have to sleep with blocks of ice”, he said. “There are no power cuts in parliament.”
