Regret for political failures in Iraq - World - Al-Ahram Weekly

Al-Ahram Weekly

23-07-2025

Supporters of Iraq's protest Tishreen Movement have been unimpressed by apologies for political failures from MPs
In a scene that reopened wounds that have yet to heal, Iraqi MP Alaa Al-Rikabi, one of the prominent faces of the Imtidad Movement, publicly apologised for his failure to fulfill the promises he had made to supporters of the Tishreen (October) uprising this week.
His apology came four years after he was elected to Parliament to represent a movement born from the 2019 protests in Iraq, which rallied under the slogan 'We want a Homeland'.
In a television appearance, Al-Rikabi said that 'I admit that I failed to fulfill the promises I made to the Tishreen public. We have achieved nothing of what we aspired to do.'
However, instead of receiving appreciation, his apology was met with a torrent of anger and accusations from activists and observers. They saw his move as a belated confession that neither absolves him of responsibility nor restores the popular support the protest movement has lost due to political shifts.
In October 2019, when Baghdad's Tahrir Square ignited with chants of 'We want a Homeland,' crowds of young people, mostly from impoverished backgrounds, took to the streets and risked their lives to demand reform.
They were students, workers, street vendors, and the unemployed from various provinces and social classes in Iraq. Hundreds of them were killed by 'unknown assailants' or the so-called 'third party'. Many activists say that their blood was shed in vain when the uprising was turned into an electoral platform.
Observers believe that the real breaking point for the Tishreen Movement was not just when Mustafa Al-Kadhimi ascended to the premiership, riding on the blood of the martyrs, appointing figures affiliated with the protests to official positions, and raising a massive banner on the façade of the Turkish Restaurant building in the square, claiming he would turn it into a museum for the Tishreen revolutionaries, a promise he never fulfilled.
The true fracture happened when some Tishreen symbols, including Al-Rikabi, a key figure in the Haboubi Square protests in Nasiriyah in the southern province of Dhi Qar, chose to join the parliamentary game, stepping into a political environment still dominated by the same traditional parties and their laws.
Faris Harram, one of the key intellectual voices of the Tishreen Movement, did not hesitate to express his position.
In a detailed post following Al-Rikabi's apology, Harram wrote that 'you betrayed Tishreen twice: first, when you insisted on participating in the elections despite knowing the environment was corrupt; and second, when you voted for Mohammed Al-Halbousi as speaker of parliament.'
'I told you back then that you were deluded, and that the 'tent' you wanted to pitch inside parliament would not protect you. Now you've seen with your own eyes how the armed parties' bodyguards almost assaulted you under the parliament's dome.'
Harram also revealed a previous meeting with Al-Rikabi in Najaf, where the later admitted that 'we were beginners in politics and didn't know that participating was a mistake.'
Nevertheless, Al-Rikabi continued his role in parliament and in the Imtidad Movement, even after losing a significant portion of his supporters in Nasiriyah and other southern cities.
Among activists' comments, accusations repeatedly surfaced that most Tishreen's MPs, including Al-Rikabi, had prioritised personal gain over achieving change.
Harram wrote that 'the essence of your candidacy was personal benefit, luxury cars, lifetime pensions, while the protest tent inside parliament can go to hell.'
Activist Amir Fayadh commented that 'people have lost trust in Tishreen because of the catastrophic failure of its parliamentary representatives.' Murtadha Al-Sayyid added that 'we hoped you'd unite your ranks and set an example of political opposition, but instead you fragmented the public and gave the ruling parties the chance to mock your failure.'
Hussam Al-Kaabi said that 'this is the ugliest era in which the energy and sacrifices of youth were exploited. An apology after four years won't feed anyone.'
In another critical review of the Tishreen Movement's trajectory, some activists argued that the real mistake was not just participating in the elections but remaining in the protests while knowing that some sought to discredit them.
One activist spoke to the Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity, saying that they should have withdrawn and issued a statement exposing the actions of those behind the 'funded tents' who had damaged the Tishreen uprising, adding that there were genuine Tishreenis, but the funded ones had tarnished the movement's image.
'The mistakes have continued, and until now all we see is theorising. Shame on anyone who betrayed the memory of the poor youth and students who participated in Tishreen and died simply because they wanted a homeland,' he said.
The debates have rekindled an old but persistent question: was participating in the elections a betrayal of Tishreen, or was it the boycott that some promoted that allowed the ruling parties to remain in power?
Commentator Abdul Amir Al-Majar believes that the boycott was a grave mistake. He commented on Harram's post by saying that 'if we keep waiting for the parties to prepare the arena for us, change won't happen even in a hundred years.'
He pointed out that the 2021 elections were a rare opportunity, even if their results were limited. Commentator Alaa Hussein added that 'the boycotters are the ones who betrayed Tishreen, not just Al-Rikabi. If the Tishreen forces had fully participated in the 2021 elections, we'd be talking today about more than 100 MPs capable of breaking the sectarian parties.'
However, fellow commentator Yaqoub Al-Iraqi pointed to certain contradictions. 'What about your friends who put an X against Alaa Al-Rikabi's photo because of the elections, then participated themselves in the recent provincial council elections,' he asked.
Amid the wave of criticism, some have been asking whether the Tishreen MPs have achieved anything since the elections.
According to commentator Mohammed Mubarak, the answer is 'maybe 0.0000000006 per cent, but it's still better than zero.' He pointed to some independent MPs who have tried to break the traditional political mould, such as Amir Al-Maamouri, Mohammed Anouz, and some members of the Ishraqat Kanoun Movement, considering their actions as first steps worth building upon.
According to Iraqi human rights organisations, the Tishreen uprising left over 800 people dead and more than 25,000 wounded, including thousands who were permanently disabled, lost limbs, or suffered severe injuries without treatment.
Five years after the protests began, the identity of the so-called 'third party' accused of shooting protesters and attacking sit-ins in squares in Baghdad and Nasiriyah remains officially unknown.
In the 2021 elections, the electoral law was changed in response to Tishreen's demands, adopting smaller districts instead of a single nationwide constituency. This opened the door for new forces like the Imtidad Movement, the Ishraqat Kanoun, and several independents. But this gain did not last, as Iraq has now returned to a situation that allows the traditional political forces to tighten their grip once again.
During his recent apology, Al-Rikabi warned that 'money will dominate the elections scheduled for November.' He cautioned that the political blocs controlling Iraq's fate since 2003 will continue their grip and corruption.
The result, according to Tishreen activists, will be a repeated cycle of political failure, while the blood of Iraq's youth will remain suspended in the void without justice and without a new homeland.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 24 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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