https://themilitant.com/2019/02/23/iraqis-proud-of-baghdad-booksellers-district-that-survived-war-repression/
Iraqis proud of Baghdad booksellers’ district that survived war, repression
By Ögmundur Jónsson
Vol. 83/No. 9
March 4, 2019
Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad’s historic booksellers’ district, on a
typical packed Friday Feb. 8. The stalls display books of every kind,
political and not, in Arabic, English and other languages.
Militant/Ögmundur Jónsson
Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad’s historic booksellers’ district, on a
typical packed Friday Feb. 8. The stalls display books of every kind,
political and not, in Arabic, English and other languages.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — “You must visit Al-Mutanabbi Street,” numerous Iraqis
told volunteers staffing the Pathfinder Books booth at the Feb. 7-18
Baghdad International Book Fair. “And you must go on a Friday.”
So we did.
The pride in Baghdad’s historic booksellers’ district is well justified.
On Fridays, the first day of the weekend here, crowds pack the street,
where many buildings — like in much of Baghdad — bear the scars of
decades of U.S.-organized imperialist war and of terrorism by groups
pretending to speak for the Shiite or Sunni populations.
People browse the street stalls and shops displaying books of every
kind, old and new, in Arabic, English and other languages. Turn into an
alley and you find a courtyard with yet more bookstalls, as well as a
busy outdoor cafe. Walk up the open-air stairway and you find balconies
lined with publishers’ offices and — you guessed it — more bookstores.
“Al-Mutanabbi” — Abu al-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn, for whom the street
is named — was a 10th-century poet whose statue overlooks the Tigris
River at one end of the road.
Top, “There is a struggle going on between the U.S. and Iran, and it is
taking place on Iraqi soil,” Adel Hatem told speakout at Baghdad’s
Al-Qushla fort Feb. 8. Below, protest against murder of novelist Alaa
Mashzoub, known for opposition to foreign intervention, Feb. 6,
sponsored by writers’ union.
Top, Militant/Ögmundur Jónsson; bottom, Riad Orpheus
Top, “There is a struggle going on between the U.S. and Iran, and it is
taking place on Iraqi soil,” Adel Hatem told speakout at Baghdad’s
Al-Qushla fort Feb. 8. Below, protest against murder of novelist Alaa
Mashzoub, known for opposition to foreign intervention, Feb. 6,
sponsored by writers’ union.
Nearby is Al-Qushla, a 19th-century Ottoman fort being put to much
better use in the 21st century. At one spot is a crowd listening to a
poet’s lively reading of his work, supported by a violinist; at another,
a speaker addressing a couple of dozen people on current politics.
Afterwards, Adel Hatem told this reporter what he’d been saying. “There
is a struggle going on between the U.S. and Iran, and it is taking place
on Iraqi soil,” he said. “But the Iraqi people have suffered too many
wars. This fight has nothing to do with us.”
The U.S. imperialist rulers maintain some 5,000 troops in Iraq, while
the counterrevolutionary cleric-dominated capitalist regime in Iran
sponsors Shiite sectarian militias here, above all the Hashd al-Shaabi
(“Popular Mobilization Units”). Putting the Baghdad regime — already
torn between dependence on both Washington and Tehran — on the spot,
President Trump recently said that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq,
among other things, “to watch Iran.”
Hatem told us that these speakouts and cultural events at Al-Qushla
started five years ago. The opportunity to read and discuss whatever you
like is not taken for granted by working people in Iraq. Faris Jejjo,
who showed us around Al-Mutanabbi Street, reminded us that we were there
on the anniversary of the 1963 coup that opened the way later in the
decade to the Baath Party dictatorship, soon dominated by Saddam Hussein.
The coup put a bloody end to what had been a period of revolutionary
upheaval. Jejjo pointed out a building where many were executed and
their bodies thrown in the Tigris. The bloodletting took thousands of lives.
Decades of war and conflict
In July 1958 a coup led by Gen. Abdul al-Karim Qasim, backed by a
popular insurrection, had swept the British-installed monarchy from
power. The Qasim government, politically supported by the Communist
Party, at first responded to mass pressure, initiating a land reform and
other measures in the interest of workers and farmers. The regime soon
became increasingly repressive, however, suppressing trade union and
peasant struggles and waging war on the oppressed Kurds of northern
Iraq. Qasim turned on his Communist Party backers, arresting many.
After the 1963 coup, all political opposition was driven underground. On
Al-Mutanabbi Street we met a veteran book publisher who used to print
and distribute material clandestinely for the Communist Party during
Saddam’s brutal dictatorship.
That regime was ousted in 2003 through an imperialist invasion led by
Washington. An unintended consequence of that assault was to open some
political space in Iraq. With no reason to fear any immediate challenge
to their hold on power, the occupying forces allowed political parties
to function openly again, including the Communist Party.
Soon after the invasion, reactionary capitalist forces using sectarian
appeals to try to turn the Sunni and Shiite communities against each
other began a campaign of terror. Explosions became a regular occurrence
on the streets of Baghdad.
One of these was a March 2007 car bomb that destroyed the famous
Al-Shabandar Cafe on Al-Mutanabbi Street, killing nearly 30 people and
injuring 100. The street was closed for a year. Mohammad al-Khashali,
the owner of the cafe, who lost four sons and a grandson in the
explosion, insisted on rebuilding the cafe and reopened it as the
Shabandar Martyrs’ Cafe. The beautiful 100-year-old venue is known as a
meeting place for writers, artists and political people to gather and
exchange ideas.
As crowds thronged the streets during our visit, one group held up a
banner and shouted slogans denouncing the Feb. 2 killing of novelist
Alaa Mashzoub. There has been widespread outcry, including a protest
organized by the Union of Iraqi Writers in central Baghdad, over the
assassination of the popular author. Mashzoub was gunned down in
Karbala, his home city, shortly after speaking out to criticize the
Iranian rulers’ interference in Iraq.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •School workers strike beats back gov’t attack
•Political crisis wracks toilers in Venezuela - US hands off!
•‘The working people need to build our own political party’
•Iraqis proud of Baghdad booksellers’ district that survived war, repression
•Liberals’ ‘Green New Deal’ scheme no road forward for working people
•Thousands protest in Haiti, demand president, prime minister resign
Feature Articles •Book by Cuban leader José Ramón Fernández launched
Also In This Issue •Thanks to ‘Militant’ readers, appeal goes over the top
•Muslim prisoner in Alabama executed, denied right to imam
•Thousands of workers strike in Mexico, win wage hike
•Stewardship of nature falls to working class
On the Picket Line •Coal miners in Ukraine march demanding back pay
•Quebec aluminum workers stand firm in over yearlong lockout
As I See It •Rail workers need to use union power to fight for safety
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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Carl Sagan
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind
and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the
fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan
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