Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Iraqi Youth Demonstrate against Sectarianism, in Favor of National Unity (Video by Cole)

Juan Cole 05/14/2013

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

During my trip to Iraq last week, I visited Mutanabbi Street, a district of bookstores, handicrafts, and cultural centers, on Friday morning. I kept bumping into people I knew, including historians from Baghdad University.

At the bottom of the street at a square abutting the Tigris, in front of the statue of the great medieval poet al-Mutanabbi, I was surprised to discover a youth rally going on.

Iraqi youth were demonstrating against sectarian divisions, insisting on Iraqi unity, and saying they are all Kurds, all Sunnis, all Shi’ites, all Izidis, all Sabeans (May 10, 2013). Some were wearing t-shirts, each with the name of an Iraqi ethnic or religious group on it, to celebrate the diversity of the country even as they insisted on its unity.

We have heard a lot about sectarian divisions in Iraq, which certainly are an important part of the political landscape. But the idealism of the youth, and their rallies against ethnic hatreds, is seldom reported on.

Anti-Sectarian Youth Rally, al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad Pt. 1:

And here they are chanting:

Anti-Sectarian Youth Rally, al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad Pt. 2:

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....